Lady of Vodriala

The second child. Fruit of an affair outside the marriage. I never met my mother. Father took me in from a very young age as per mother request. Or at least that is what he told me. I was not made aware of this until of age, when my father’s wife, who I believed my whole life to be my mother, told it to my face over a family dinner. She smirked as she said it, while father explained that they have arranged to marry me off to a low level knight, who has recently became the lord of a small land, as a promise of him and his land to join the quest assigned by the king. Deep down, I knew this day would come. Living my life, you would expect it to come sooner or later. Anything should be better than having to live under the same roof as the lady and the eldest daughter of Brutheya. Mother never really cared for me, I always lived under the shadow of the real heir of Brutheya, my oldest sister Hisha. She was a true beauty, with a pale skin that gave her such a fragile look, but her long gold hair and light blue eyes gave her a look worth of a queen. Meanwhile, I had dark curly brown hair, similar to my father’s before the grey hairs started taking over. I also inherited the blue eyes which I believe it is what prevented the whole kingdom from figuring out I was a bastard sooner. Hisha was young when the marriage offers started coming in, every year a more important and prestigious lord would approach our house in hope to seal our houses through marriage with my older sister. Mother would persuade father to keep declining these offers in hope that the King’s son would approach Hisha and request her hand in marriage. I was left as a backup my whole life. Mother wanted to save my hand in case it was needed to decide a political faith of some sorts. But the day had arrived, after wearing the leftover clothes from Hisha for years, and from having to beg the tutor to teach me everything that a future lady needed to know, the day was coming. I would be married and sent off Brutheya soon. A war was on the verge of breaking down due to invasions of the rebels to the king’s land. The king had requested for the lords of his lands to gather their soldiers to deploy small armies across the border to protect his kingdom. My father took this opportunity to grow his alliances with neighbour lands, mainly through trade, but also marriage as it seemed. Vodriala was a small land, three days away from my town of Brutheya. I have only known this since my tutor pointed it to me on a map during one of our lessons once our engagement was announced, so I knew where my husband-to-be was from. While I knew where he was from, I was never told what the name of the Lord of Vodriala was until our wedding day. This was new to me. The maids had never spent so much time looking after me. They brushed my hair kindly like they never did before, and I had a beautiful white quite fit dress waiting for me. I never wore something so refined. As the maids helped me getting into the dress, mother was at the corner of the room, instructing me how I should behave, like every other day of my life. Reminding me that I should not talk unless spoken to, that I should keep my head lowered and understand my place. Mother always shouted how I would never be a lady as I was simply not fit for such an important role in a house. It made me happy that today could be the last day that I will tolerate those words.  ‘And when the time comes, you will undress and fulfill your duties, you shall not say a word, you must endure it’, said mother. While most of the time she would treat with indifferently, like I was not even the daughter of the Lord of Brutheya, she would at least make sure I would not do something embarrassing that would bring shame to the name of my father. ‘What do you mean, fulfill my duties?’ I had barely finished asking the question when she struck me ‘I have warned you Brallym! You never learn! You bring shame to this family. You are not to speak, never!’ she shouted as I caressed my cheek where she hit me, the maids would no longer flinch over mother behaviour with me, it was just another day at the house of Brutheya.  I was holding my father's arm while we waited for our cue to enter the church, where very soon, I would be a wife, a lady of some far away land. The thought of the responsibilities of a lady of a house kept coming to my mind. How long would I be able to hide that I was not ready to become a lady of a house, I was not as wise as my sister Hisha who has been preparing for marriage and to take over a house for so many years. I did not have her knowledge. I tried to catch up all the time, but the priority was always to get Hisha prepared for when the time came, but here I was, waiting for my turn to walk down the aisle and worried that my future husband would find out that I was not ready, that I was not fit to be a wife. I had to try and leave Brutheya once and for all. The conversation with mother earlier came back to my mind, I did not know what was expecting me tonight and I was scared. I have never been courted by a man before. Hisha had various candidates throughout the years, and even courted some high rank lords. I barely had the chance to keep friendships as mother always prevented me from socializing or going to the higher rank parties where I could potentially meet with lords as I was not to shadow the family or get in the way of Hisha. The big wooden doors opened and father started walking with me. I did not recognise most of the faces in the crowd as father walked me down the church. I could see my future husband. He had black hair, with a tall and well built physique. He did not turn around. For me that suggested that he did not want to see me, and that I was only to approach the altar and remain looking forward to avoid eye contact. This was not a good beginning for our marriage. We remained silenced through the ceremony until the priest finally directed his question to the Lord of Vodriala ‘Lord Kayd, of house Vodriala, do you accept Lady Brallym, of house Brutheya, as your wife?’ the room filled with silence and it felt cold, I could start shivering as the panic settled, I had just found out his name, but he did not seem like he was about to accept me as his wife and the new lady of Vodriala. ‘I do’ and weight was lifted, I felt warm as his husky and mainly voice said those words with a certain confidence to his tone. His reply did not seem as hesitant as I thought he was, I contained myself from looking at him, and I could remember was mother words about keeping myself to my place and the ceremony proceeded. The time had to come for me and Lord Kayd to walk out as a married couple as the priest presented us as Husband and Wife, Lord and Lady of Vodriala. Lord Kayd had reached his arm out to me so I could wrap mine around. As I did, he spun us around, and we started walking out, I had barely managed to see his facial features as everything was happening so quickly.  As we reached the big venue, Kayd had let go of my arm as a swarm of people came to congratulate him, both lords and ladies alike. I was left alone in the middle of the room as more people approached my family as well to show their appreciation for being invited to Brutheya for such a refined wedding. I felt out of place. I had never been part of such an event but today everything looked so expensive and luxurious around me, I guess my face of surprise could be read from miles away as mother approached me ‘Don’t worry, we had to impress our guests and your husband to make sure he would stick with his word. We would not want to embarrass the house Brutheya’ she said as she fixed my hair in an annoyed way as if she had to show the world she cared for me so people would not suspect a thing. The party continued and I remained seated in my place as I was always told to do. I hadn’t seen Kayd in a while. I finally recognised him well enough to make up who he was in a crowd, his big physique told him apart. I was able to appreciate his chiseled jaw and dark eyes when I was able to glance at him. He was quite handsome, and I guess any lady would be happy to be able to call him husband. I wondered how long I would be able to do that for. My thoughts were interrupted as a maid approached me and whispered ‘It is time’. She signed for me to stand and follow her, and so I did. We walked through the corridors of Brutheya castle. She was not leading me to my room, but instead to a guest room, I was unsure of the reason but I was too scarred I would be punished if I asked. We reached a guest room, the room was overall dark with only candles keeping quite a nice light. Maids were waiting for our arrival as they helped me get off the dress and change into quite a nice night gown. As they finished I was waiting for the maids to excuse themselves so I could get into bed, when one of the maids started instructing me ‘it’s best if you stay still and just let him do what he wants’ the words gave me the chills, I had no idea what they meant by this and it worried me. As they finished, the maids started walking out of the bedroom but I could hear another set of strong footsteps. Kayd was walking into my room.