Chapter 5 Elaina
ELAINA
That night I’m so tired I wish I could go directly to bed—but even if I could, there’s no way I would be able to sleep.
I’m too keyed up—to nervous about what’s going to happen to me when Prince Dorian takes me for the first time.
Not that I’ve seen my new husband for some time.
He disappeared after the wedding feast, leaving me to my own devices.
I spent as long as I could in my own rooms with Tanzy—who will remain my maid, thank goodness.
She’s the only person I really like here in the Citadel.
Finally, I have to admit it’s time to go to the Crown Prince’s rooms. The sun has set and the evening is creeping in through the windows, cool and dark. I must go do my wifely duty for the first time.
Tanzy has bathed me and brushed my long silver-blonde hair until it shines like a river of silk.
Under my robe, I’m wearing the special gown Queen Virelda sent for this occasion.
It’s made of virginal white lace that covers me completely, yet clearly shows my breasts and pink-tipped nipples.
Down around the crotch level there is a vertical slit sewn into the fabric—a place for the prince’s shaft to slip through into my pussy.
I find the gown to be a bizarre mixture of modesty and brazenness but I understand the point of it—it is to entice my new husband and allow him to have me without too much of our flesh touching.
I guess that’s how they do things here in the Royal Citadel.
Back home, people just take off all their clothes and get into bed together—or so I’ve heard my married sisters say.
Either one of them might have been a Royal bride—we share the same blood, after all. But neither has the silver hair or the triple-ringed irises that I do. Which is why I am now a princess, I remind myself. Which is a fine thing to be—right?
That’s what I tell myself as I make my way to my new husband’s rooms. I knock timidly, but there is no answer. I try again with the same result. At last I decide I can’t wait out here all night wearing nothing but the lace gown and my thin silk robe and push my way in.
“Hello?” I call. “Your Majesty? Er…Dorian?” What is the proper way to address him now? Must I still be formal? We are married, after all.
But as I wander around calling, I realize something—there’s no one here.
I look around, noting that the Crown Prince seems to have excellent taste—I like his decorations which seem to include a lot of light blue fabrics, maybe as a nod to the color of his Drake.
He also has several lovely statues on pedestals around the large bedchamber. Most are of nude men in various poses.
I stare at them with interest. I’ve never seen a man wholly naked before.
I mean, I saw our stable boy half-unclothed once, but he didn’t look anything like this.
All the hard muscles so lovingly defined—each ridge and bulge sculpted to perfection.
I wonder if men really look like this with their clothes off. I rather doubt it.
The vast marble bathing chamber—three times as big as mine—is empty too. I come back to the bedchamber and contemplate the huge bed with its flouncy, light blue comforter. I suppose the best thing to do is just to wait for my new husband.
I climb on the bed and take off my robe.
I arrange myself in the center of the wide, plush mattress and look up at the canopy overhead.
It’s light blue also, decorated with flying drakes of all different colors.
The weaver did an excellent job depicting the details.
I pass the time examining their vast wings and long tails… their spines and scales…their—
“…thought it would never end! Such a dull affair.”
The voice is coming from the doorway. I look up and see Dorian entering with his best friend, Henri. The two of them are talking and laughing, just as if this was any other night.
But Dorian stops abruptly when he sees me lying on his bed. A look of shock and then disgust comes over his handsome face.
“What are you doing here?” he demands, glaring at me. “How dare you invade my rooms, you little guttersnipe?”
Guttersnipe? Well, that’s something I’ve never been called before.
“I was told to come to you,” I say and suddenly feel ugly. The way he and Henri are looking at me is the same way you might look at the disgusting mess your cat makes when it gets sick and spits up a hairball.
“Told by who?” Dorian demands.
“By…by your mother.” I’m sitting up now, aware that I’m flashing them both through the thin lace of the gown. I grab for my robe and pull it around me. “It’s our wedding night,” I say, trying again. “I…I’m supposed to try to…to give you an heir.”
My tongue feels numb and stupid—why should I have to explain these things? Shouldn’t he already know this?
“Get out!” Dorian points at the door, his face still screwed up into a mask of disgust. “Get out of my rooms and don’t come back! I want nothing to do with you.”
“But…but what about getting an heir?” I ask as I scramble off the bed. “The whole reason your father the King paid my dowry and brought me here—”
“Out!” he repeats, still pointing. “I mean it!”
Feeling like I’ve made a terrible mistake—though I don’t see how—I scurry past the Crown Prince and his best friend. Both men are looking at me like I’m dog shit stuck to the bottom of a boot.
I hurry through the door and they slam it shut behind me. I hear a key turning in the lock and then Dorian’s voice saying,
“Did you see how she was dressed? And lying on my bed too! I shall have to get all the bedding washed.”
I feel sick—I don’t understand what I did wrong. I followed the orders my Mother-in-law sent along with the gown. I went to his rooms that he might take me and make me pregnant with a Royal heir. That is literally my only reason for existing here in the Citadel.
What will I do if I can’t fulfill my function?
The King and Queen have made no secret of the fact that they want a grandchild as soon as possible. If I can’t give them one, they’ll have no use for me. Will they send me back to my family in disgrace? Or will something worse happen to me?
I haven’t been at the Citadel long, but I’ve already heard talk of how ruthless the Royal couple can be. There have been two beheadings just since I’ve been here for offenses that would have meant no more than a lashing back home.
I don’t know what to think…or what to do.
Slowly, I make my way back to my rooms. Tanzy meets me there, her eyes going wide.
“So soon? Was it that quickly done, my Lady?”
I almost tell her the truth…but then I clamp my lips shut. I like Tanzy a lot, but I haven’t known her that long. I don’t want to tell her or anyone else that I failed in my mission—that I remain a virgin, untouched and unwanted.
“It was…fairly speedy,” I say, as lightly as I can. “The Crown Prince preferred to sleep alone when we were finished so I have come back to sleep here.”
“That’s well and good, then. I’ll turn down your bed.” Tanzy cocks her head. “Er…would you like a bath to ease you? The first time is meant to be painful, I know.”
“Thank you, Tanzy, but I think I’d rather just go straight to bed,” I tell her.
“Well then…as you wish, my Princess.”
She lets me in and tucks me into bed before bidding me goodnight. After the door shuts behind her, I lay there in the dark, wondering…
What am I going to do?