"I can get myself ready," I whispered, knowing it would be futile. She'd picked my dress, down to the underwear she wanted me to wear. She would style my hair how it suited her, and apply my makeup to her exact specifications. We’d come to Oshal with just bodyguards and no one to wait on us because she wanted to control everything. After all, if she could seduce a King as a commoner, she knew how to obtain me the best possible match when my blood was blue.
"Don't be ridiculous," she laughed, tugging the towel so that my dark hair fell in a halo around my shoulders. Spritzing it with her particular favorite product, she combed through it roughly in her haste. I winced with every pull, but didn't bother to tell her. It wouldn't make a difference in the end.
"I don't want to do this," I whispered. I didn’t particularly hope that she would hear me. Did it really matter if she did?
She dropped the comb to the vanity, grabbing my chin and staring down at me. As it usually did when she required something of me that I didn't want to do, her voice turned soft and her face transformed to something one could loosely compare to a loving mother. Affectionate. Something she rarely was. “This face will bring Kings to their knees,” she said, cupping my cheek to stress just how desperately she wanted me to understand the significance of the night.
Sighing, I nodded. I'd heard it all before, but what did beauty mean if there was no love? What good could beauty do if there were no emotions behind it?
"I didn’t waste my youth in the bed of an old man just to have you take our lifestyle for granted. I gave your brother a kingdom of his own, as small as it may be. But you and this face can achieve so much more than he ever will. You can be Queen to one of the most powerful countries in the world," she said, picking the comb back up to resume her task. With hair as thick as ours, combing the knots proved to be no easy task.
"Couldn't I marry someone closer to my age?" I asked, looking at my hands in my lap. "I know you've said that Corbin is the best offer I'll receive, but what of King Reece? He's rumored to be wealthier than Corbin, and he's in his early thirties."
She shook her head quickly, pulling at my hair a little so I could look up and meet her eyes in the mirror. "Better to marry an old man than a cruel one, my darling daughter." She sighed and continued, "Reece has never expressed an interest in marrying, but even if he had, he's rumored to have very deviant proclivities. He's a sadist, and you my sweet, innocent girl are far better off without that in your life."
She went to her purse, pulling a photo out and setting it on the vanity for me to see. King Corbin's weathered face stared back at me. "Look upon the face of your future husband, and know that I only have your best interest at heart in encouraging such a match."
I nodded in silence, knowing she was right about one thing. An old husband was a vast improvement over a cruel one. While Corbin might not have been handsome, and was unable to make my heart race, I could only hope that he would give me freedom to be myself.
Perhaps he'd give me freedom to roam the Kingdom as necessary and actually serve in duties rather than being locked away.
Because all I truly wanted was to be seen.