Chapter Eighteen
Marion blinked her eyes a couple of times and looked around to find her bearings.
She sat upright in her bed and rubbed her eyes as she tried to figure out where she was.
After a few moments, she awoke enough to recall she’d been offered a chamber in the queen’s apartment after a long day and evening of fittings.
She could scarcely believe she would be marrying Alexander that day.
Yet here she was, having spent a day and a half being fawned over by the queen and her seamstresses who were surely bewitched by magical powers considering how quickly they brought her gown together.
She would quite literally be sewn into it this morning with clear instructions as to how the maids were to get her out of it later.
The queen had also insisted on several options for her wedding night, each making the heat rise even more to her cheeks.
She finally settled on a couple that balanced the naughtiness envisioned each time he was near with a respectable amount of modesty.
Moments later, a knock sounded at the door followed by a slew of servants carrying a copper tub with buckets of steaming water.
She was to be scrubbed from head to toe and her hair set in cloth strips to dry so as to encourage long loose curls.
The queen had suggested she wear a more modern hood, but Marion was firm she would wear her hair down and uncovered until she absolutely had to cover it.
Laying back in the steaming water, she thought about her mother and the item she had given together with its significance.
The pin she’d brought was made of silver in the shape of a gryphon head and for its eye a red ruby.
She had shown it to the queen who knew just how to incorporate it onto the neckline of Marion’s gown, which was a light-green soft velvet on which the brooch would surely stand out.
Marion let the maids lift her arms to wash then pour more water over her. She sat up as her hair was washed and rinsed. The whole experience was so soothing she wondered why she didn’t partake more often. Though she supposed she didn’t normally self-indulge as a rule.
Before long, she was out of the tub, dried off, and sat by the fire wearing a thick velvet robe while the maids took the time to roll her hair around each piece of fabric then tie it atop her head. By the time they were done, her neck hurt from trying to keep her head straight.
While she waited, she was brought a platter with a light meal and a tankard of her favorite mead to sustain her until the evening feast which she was told would be far more elaborate than that for the tournament the king had recently held.
She recalled her first impression of the courtyard and the mounds of pastries.
How they could possibly outshine that on such short notice, she had no idea, but she was excited to find out.
The door opened and in bounded her sister in a lovely blue velvet gown with her hair twisted into ringlets and a gold wreath with little white pearls on her head. She twirled in a circle and then stopped.
“Well?”
“You look a vision, sister,” Marion said. She would no doubt catch the attention of those gathered between her pretty blonde hair and outgoing personality.
“I do look a vision, don’t I?” she said as she twirled again.
“Where is Mother?”
“She is fussing over the boys and sent me here to help you get ready. Though I think she did not want me underfoot.”
Marion could believe it. The two younger boys were a menace when they did not want to get ready for church.
She could only imagine the havoc they would wreak when having to dress in even more formal clothes.
She nearly giggled at the thought of them wearing hose.
Her brother’s leg had healed enough so he could walk now with a crutch, and he was not happy about having to be careful.
“You look beautiful, Marion,” Alice said in an uncharacteristic somber tone. “I will miss you when you leave us.”
Marion turned to her and reached for her hands.
“Here,” she said as she pulled up a chair and drew Alice toward it.
“You may come and visit me whenever you like, though I think you will not miss me so much as you will be planning your own coming out next year. I heard Mother and Father agree they would not make you wait.”
“Aye,” she said with a mischievous grin. “I kept on them until I wore them down. I used all their arguments for you against them and they vowed to never speak about such matters with more than one of their children present at any given time.”
“You are too clever for your own good, sister. Someday someone will use that against you and then you will learn your own lessons the hard way.”
“But the difference between you and me, my lady soon to be countess, is that I know I am cleverer than most men. And that is how I know I will not end up with the wrong one.”
“Well, I sincerely hope you keep your wits about you. I have met some very unworthy people in this sphere who sidle up to you as a friend, only to toss you aside for their own benefit.”
“Excellent. Maybe I will find some who are worthy of the battle.”
“The battle?”
“Aye, sister. You do not get it at all, do you?”
“I admit, I do not know what you mean at all.”
Alice drew a deep breath. “I envision the king’s court like a battlefield.
There are those who are pawns who are sent in first to get things started, and then there are those who will be most affected by how the battle plays.
And then there are those who orchestrate the final outcome.
And I, for one, cannot wait to partake.”
“Exactly how is it you know so much about the king’s court that you have devised this elaborate analogy?”
Alice was clever, but this was even far beyond her imaginings.
“I have listened to our parents and particularly our mother plot her schemes in order to find suitable matches for us. But it wasn’t until Father Connor spoke of good and evil in the form of a battle that I really pieced it all together.
It is but a game, sister. You were fortunate enough to find a match with someone who, like you, despised that game. ”
Marion shook her head and laughed. “You are too wise for your own good, Alice.”
“I know it,” she said as she stood to go look out the window.
The lass didn’t have a modest bone in her body and Marion was certain she would not only acquire the upper hand in her future relationships, but she felt almost sorry for those who would enter into her arena.
After a time, the maids returned and checked her hair which was not fully dry.
They untied all the fabric which released each perfectly formed tress.
They pulled and tugged at it until it hung in long curls flowing down her back.
She was to wear a thin silver tiara offered to her by the queen which matched her brooch in style and shape.
The door opened again and in came the pieces of her dress.
She disrobed and raised her arms for first her shift and then a thicker skirt that would be tied around her waist. They pulled her arms through the bodice and tied that tight at her back which resulted in her breasts rising and showing deep cleavage.
Next was the outer piece that would need to be laced into the inner garments.
She was relieved that they had found a solution to sewing her into the garment, for she anticipated Alexander’s impatience once they were to retire later that evening.
She bit the inside of her cheek to not laugh at the vision of a frustrated and aroused Earl of Argyll.
Never mind that she was certain she would be just as anxious.
Once the skirt was laced into her inner garments, they drew her arms into the top bodice which was then laced to the bottom and up the back with a flap to hide the connection.
The sleeves were fitted down her arms to the elbow and then flowed to the floor.
Her neckline was just above her inner bodice and left little to the imagination, so they tucked a sheer scarf into the front on one side, around her neck, and then into the other side on the front.
This would help for modesty for anyone not standing beside her, but Alexander would have quite the view once they stood at the altar.
And there she stood, before the mirror with her slack-jawed sister standing beside her, wondering if she’d ever felt so pleased with her appearance.
The only thing left to do now was to marry an earl.
*
Alexander adjusted his fur-lined cape so that it covered most of his left shoulder, leaving the design of his dark-blue brocade doublet visible on his right.
He fidgeted until he got it looking the way he wanted.
His cape was longer than a typical mantle, but not as long as a full cape.
The fine embroidery on his leine was visible from underneath his doublet, and as he spied himself in the mirror, he became satisfied finally with his appearance.
His hair was shorter than many men of the time who often wore it tied at their nape, but he found that uncomfortable and so he wore it slightly shorter than his shoulders. He’d trimmed his beard so the shape would be clean, but he could not bear to have his face fully shaved and so kept it light.
And now there was nothing left but to put her ring in his pocket and make his way to the abbey.
The king’s jeweler had several styles he could select from and in the end, he chose a band of intertwined white and yellow gold in the form of a Celtic knot.
He would have something designed for her for later, but for today, he would honor her with this one.
Now standing near the Archbishop of St. Andrew’s no less, Alexander stilled his nerves and waited as patiently as he could for the first sight of his bride.
The abbey was as full as he imagined it could ever be as, true to their word, people had come from all over to witness these nuptials.