The Everlasting

Six

When Rose awoke again, it wasn’t in her apartment. She didn’t recognize this room.

    She began to sit up and realized that she was dreaming. It was very similar to the dreams she had before. She wasn’t herself, but she experienced what the girl in her dream experienced.

    The room was made of stone, and she knew right away that this was a castle, and this was her home.

    Large tapestries hung on the walls, and a wide fireplace held a fire that warmed the room.

    The door to her chamber swung open and a robust woman walked in with an array of cloths in her arms, a young girl following behind her with a large tub of water.

    “Lady Cedany, still in bed, are we? And of all days.”

    The girl placed the tub near the fire place and she knew the girl’s name was Meredith.

    The large woman in front of her was Mrs. Gibbons, she was Lady Cedany Devereux, and her father was Borin Devereux, Duke of Canterbury.

    “Come now, child. Your father will none be too happy if you’re still in bed so late.”

    Cedany, she, let Mrs. Gibbons pull her out of bed and remove her clothes. She sank into the warm water and vaguely recognized the scent of Jasmine. It was her favorite scent, but today it turned her stomach.

    Meredith came back with a tray of bread and cheese and a chalice of spicy wine.

    Mrs. Gibbons scrubbed at her skin vigorously until it was tinged red.

    She stepped from the large tub, and watched as Meredith once again took the tub, and carried it from the chamber.

   Mrs. Gibbons unfolded a large sheet that hid a royal blue gown. Cedany’s stomach began to roil again, and she reached for the spiced wine.

    It was her wedding day. She had only met her betrothed once, but it was when they were both still very young and peering from behind the cloaks of their fathers, curiously looking at the other without thinking that this was the person they would have to spend the rest of their lives with.

    She and Mrs. Gibbons wrestled with the gown until she was satisfied with the way it looked. It was simple, as Cedany had wanted it to be. It fitted her breasts and narrow waist before billowing slightly about her legs. The sleeves hung off her shoulders, leaving them bare and cascading over her hands.

    It was a fine contrast to her creamy skin and fiery hair.

    Her mother came shortly after, dressed in a beautiful forest green gown, hair pulled away from her face in a braided chignon.

    Mrs. Gibbons and Meredith were busy pulling and tugging at her hair, pinning and stretching in ways that would complement her fine features.

    Cedany took another sip of the wine, ignoring the bread and cheese.

    Her mother quickly took the chalice from her, before giving Meredith a disapproving look.

    “Go on,” she instructed. “I will finish here.”

    Mrs. Gibbons and Meredith exchanged a look before curtsying, and hurrying out of her chamber.

    Her mother finished where the maids left off. She watched in the looking glass as her mother’s bejeweled hands weaved in and out of her hair.

    “I remember my own wedding day. Your father was so nervous, he could hardly place the ring on my finger,” she laughed demurely.

    “You would hardly tell it now,” she said, sighing with thoughts of times gone by.