Psyche and Eros

Beauty's Curse

The drawing room is filled with the family today, and the sun shines through the floor to ceiling windows, illuminating the celebration ever so perfectly, while simultaneously blinding me.

The man's words fill the room while the entire family watches in glee.

"You are the gentlest, most graceful women I have ever known. Your body and soul is unmatched. There would be no greater honour than calling you my wife."

I roll my eyes, and lean back in my chair.

I know for a fact that I am far too ungrateful and far too fortunate to complain. Born into royalty, destined for riches and maids waiting on me for my entire life. I am what women have grown to hate and envy.

I wouldn't expect anything less but Aphrodite's hatred as well.

"Do you accept...my dear Cora?" The young King inquires, my dear sister is seated in front of him as he kneels before her.

Her hand rushes up to her mouth as she lets out a polite gasp. She acts surprised, but she isn't. This was an arrangement long time coming, very carefully made between the families, with several visits, and several gifts delivered for her.

It was only a matter of time before her third proposal came around. The first two were only to entice this third one to bend the knee, a clever bargaining tool our family adores to pull generation after generation to keep our family well-regarded in every piece of land we can think of marrying into.

When my father heard that men and women flocked and worshipped my image instead of Aphrodite in the temples, he was overjoyed, imagining hundreds of suitors for his youngest daughter, his greatest challenge yet. He imagined that I would have my pick of the litter, and only marry the wealthiest - and even better, have the choice of being with someone equal to my beauty if I wish.

However, the result was not what we pictured.

Suitors came, but only to take a glance at me, with no intention of proposing. I was a spectacle, a marvel...nothing but an object, no more so than a piece of art you'll never look at again. Once is simply enough, and then you move on with your life and marry someone from your village or town-someone your mother likes perhaps, but not me. They do not think there is any other substance or worth underneath.

So, father turned his attention back to his older daughters. They have been very successful. Since his attention has turned, I still maintain myself as a spectacle to marvel at, but nothing more.

And any complaints from me would surely earn me a slap upside the head from my sister's. Despite my lack of proposals, my two older sisters each got several already, from suitable men. I am happy for them both, but soon I will be the only child left at home...and my father is soon running out of hope. As am I.

"...Yes!" Cora finally answers, finally choosing to accept. This one was her favourite...and coincidentally the richest and most influential. She would be a Queen...a Queen far away from here where I may never see her for years at a time, but regardless it is still a triumph.

Mother and father gush, feigning surprise while their exchanged glances show a different story. My other sister and I get up and clap, hugging Cora one by one, giving our rehearsed congratulations. I barely hear myself at all.

I am happy for her no matter what. There's still time for me, and I wouldn't care too much to be married at all if the procedure were optional. My other sister, Alia the middle child, will soon be proposed to next, and then I will be the next target. Despite my many admirers, there are no current prospects.

My parents will become more desperate soon to marry me off to a man to take care of me. The next upcoming weeks are about to be Tartarus on Earth.

My mother sends me a smile as the claps begin to subside. I feel shame for even thinking about Tartarus at the thought of my family. I truly do love them...but I always knew one day it would all end with my childhood as the stress of marriage arrives. I have nothing else to achieve or strive for. They never ever worried that would even be an issue for me, given how radiant I was, even as a child, capturing all the eyes of all the little boys I saw in passing whenever I ventured outside the palace walls.

They kept me close, incredibly close. Mother and father did get me tutors, encouraging me to better my knowledge and amuse myself with reading from day to day. What else was there to do but examine every inch of the library once my tutoring was done?

My sisters did not take the same interest as I. They focused on etiquette, presenting themselves as the perfect wife, the perfect partner, Queen - whatever role is required to marry wealthy. They were quite successful in it too. They're both incredibly poised, sociable, well-spoken, respectable...and occasionally submissive when required. The most perfect quality to have.

I know how to be all of those things too, I just have little passion for it...well, no passion.

I don't care if I get married, especially if it's meant to be a man of pure social status and no substance. I do wish for love, but it barely feels like a real possibility if I cannot keep the interest of a superficial marriage at the very least. My expectations are now...are to hope I can make myself of use to the family otherwise - ah, who am I kidding? They will pay someone to marry me if worse comes to worse.

I have no choice. I never do.

A spoilt prisoner. I have loving captors - don't get me wrong! They just don't understand what it's like to have this horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, a feeling telling you that you were meant for something else. That perhaps, I am meant for something else I haven't determined yet.

Destiny is a funny thing, but I am fond of the idea. I was born this way for a reason, to this family for a reason....I hope. Otherwise, my life feels rather pointless. I am a mere statue of beauty on display, worshipped but not loved, admired but not commitment-worthy.

The families speak to each other joyously, and Cora sends me a brief sympathetic glance. She gives my hand a small unseen squeeze before moving on to her new future in-laws.

I slightly smile and uncomfortably cross my arms in front of me.

I wonder how many more moments we'll have like this...with any family left in the same room before I am forced to build my own to have any family at all.