The Dream Keeper's Dragon

3.28 Do They Not Understand?

Orken managed to negotiate himself and Nic into her Halbrook entourage. After reading the letter he sent them, Aurelie had no doubt that they'd agree to the terms. The phrase, "If yer dumb enough to have two armies at your doors, then you can decline and expect no further help or good intentions from my side," accomplished its task.

The harps had been at it since the early hours of the morning. Aurelie woke and found the music soothing to her soul, and then her mind cleared of sleep and she realized that today was the day of her wedding. Nic complied with all of her requests and they moved the wedding along. The day arrived so quickly, she barely had time to prepare for what it meant.

People gathered around the walls of the castle, waiting for her to walk out onto the terrace a married woman. The bells of the cathedral rang once every hour and the servants waited for the sound with baskets of rose petals and threw them down while the bells tolled. Even the King seemed cheery at breakfast.

Thoughts of revenge clung so deeply onto the walls of her mind that she let the deeds of a wife slip her mind. While she held up the false pretense of love, Nic would have expectations and she barely made it through one kiss without pushing him away.

The ladies prodded around her all morning, fighting about who would get to tie the strings of her corset until Casandra chased them all away, and with the help of overworked, and irritated, Penelope, dressed her, and decorated her hair with a replica of the flowered, rose crown that Nic made for her a couple of weeks ago.

They dressed her in the inside courtyard, and kept the gigantic, diamond decorated dress under a curtain, in the center of it. Aurelie had to be dressed there too, because the dress couldn't fit through any of the castle doors, besides the main entrance.

"Some of my finest work," she said, without adding the tone of pride that usually accompanied such a phrase. "Now," her droopy eyes locked onto Casandra, "unless you want another seamstress, please let me know sooner next time. I haven't slept in three bloody days." And with that, she left.

Casandra scoffed her off and came to stand next to Aurelie, wrapping her arm around her shoulder as they looked into the mirror.

"May he love you fiercely and forever dance around your skirt. May the children look like their mother," she smiled, and raised a naughty brow, "and outlive you both. Henceforth, may all the mysteries be gifts, and may you walk paths soft as clouds, and only bare a sweet taste in your mouth. May your dreams be deep and jolly, as they would if laced with poppy's milk. As your beauty fades, my child, may the wrinkles only come with wisdom. And when you die, let it be in lover's arms."

Aurelie leaned her head against Casandra's shoulder. "Is that a poem? I've heard it spoken once before."

"Just a saying for mother's on their daughter's wedding days. Since you don't have a mother and I don't have a daughter," she hugged Aurelie tighter, "it's only right I get to say it and you get to hear it."

They stood like that for a moment and Aurelie's head leaned down in thought, recalling the day she and Kirin got married. Everything was so different. There was nothing but joy and now . . .

"You don't have to love him. Just endure him for a couple of months until you get a child, and then send him away to Redayrah on some sort of business. We should probably go down to the carriage." Casandra winked at the mirror when Aurelie looked up.

***

Getting down the stairs to the carriage was quite the adventure. Five girls kept her skirt up while she walked, and then had to all but shove her into the carriage that could fit nobody else once the dress filled it. A second one arrived for the girls, and they were officially running late.