Other Worldly

⪻Chapter Two⪼

The air from the princess' lungs was pushed right out as her mother pulled the corset of her dress tighter and tighter. 'If only you didn't eat so much,' her mother would say, 'then you wouldn't need me to pull this hard.' Not ever recognising her daughter would only eat a single meal a day to try and please her. The princess was now no more than 600 hundred years old. A perfect age for marriage her mother thought. She dawned a pearl white floor length gown with long sleeves and a cape. It was decorated with golden flowers, each delicately made by the hands of the finest tailors in Vanaheim. She would have adored the dress if her mother hadn't crushed her ribcage.

Freya on the other hand was wearing a beautiful light grey dress with an embellished bodice and sheer sleeves. Her mother was the Goddess of Love and Fertility, most mistaking her for the Goddess of Beauty. She had beautiful blonde hair, smooth porcelain skin and dark chocolate eyes. The only thing she inherited from her. Sigyn's copper hair was nowhere to be seen as her father demanded to turn it black, and that if he every saw the retched thing again he would chop it off along with her neck. It was too similar. Too similar to him. His name that should not be spoken.

"M-mother, I c-can't breathe," the princess stuttered.

"It will do you some good. If you learn to breathe a little amount you could finally look less like a boar,"

"I-I don't think-ah!" Sigyn was cut off from a tight yank of the corset.

"Oh shush you pathetic wrench," she scolded.

Sigyn looked down. Not wanting to see the eyes of her mother. She hated it when the princess called her that. Mother. Freya never loved her daughter. Never wanted her. Sigyn knew why. It was the same with her father. She wasn't even allowed to call him that. Everyone thought their family was perfect. But no one would look behind the curtains.

"Sigyn!" her mother snapped.

She shook out of her thoughts and quickly replied, "Yes mother?"

"Today is a very important day as this is the first time in a long time Vanaheim reunites with its sister realm. You are to do what I tell you to do, talk to whoever I say and must never leave my side. Know your place child, is that understood?"

"But mother why can-"

Sigyn was cut off by a harsh slap she received from her mother. She touched her stinging check with her soft hand as she looked back at her mother trembling in fear. Not today, not again.

"Do not question me and my ways, if it happens again I'll put another 10 leashes on your count,"

Sigyn cowered in fear. She had already been promised 5 leashes back home when she talked to Frigga without being told to. She fought the urge to cry. Princesses shouldn't cry. Her back almost looked like she was ripped apart and stitched back together. The only reason people never questioned the royal family about their ways is because they've never seen it. Never seen the scars on her back hidden by her mothers magic. Magic. Sigyn hadn't felt her magic in years due to the-

"Hurry up you pathetic child,"

"In a moment mother!"

As Freya left the room with an annoyed look plastered on her face, Sigyn turned and walked to her room to talk with Balder.

In the Great Hall

Bright flowy ball gowns and the smell of ale filled the Great Hall as Loki and Thor sat on their table on the Dais watching. The Feast of Gullveig was a wonderous celebration to the Asgardians. Filled with joy happiness and most importantly mead. Barrels and barrels. But to the young prince, the feast was just an excuse to drink excessively and dance until their legs were broken. To him, wonderous occasions were more like turning the floor tiles bright pink, making Thor's hair into strands of snakes or starting the first chapter of a good book. But alas, he could do neither due to their important guests coming for a visit. The Royal Family of Vanaheim whom he was yet to meet.