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❊ —
— 45 AP
DIANNE I
When Lady Elidora married a prince in line to the Throne, it created a ripple effect in the north, especially after she died from a fever shortly after childbirth.
Many noble lord's wanted their daughters to be the next considered woman as the wife and heir maker to Prince Deonidas. Dianne's father, for instance, was amongst the many. Lord Calden Grimes of Ironside was an ambitious man, to say the very least, his ego had an ego.
He became lord after his father passed away in 28 AP from gout. His younger brother was Branden Grimes, husband to the Lady of Mounthell, also infamously known as the ‘Lady in The North’, and he had felt he was always in competition with his younger sibling. Whether it was from the amount of ships he had or the grandness of the castle he lived in, to the furs and iron steel he produced, it would never be enough to satiate the lord.
His brother had more.
And not only was his brother wealthy, he was successful in love, whereas Calden was not. His third wife had died after bearing Dianne's little brother, Rhyk, just like the rest. He no longer considered love a valuable feeling he needed to exist among the rest, and so he grew heartless, even to his children.
Lord Calden wasn't unnecessarily cruel to them, he never struck them or beat them, or yelled at them for ridiculous reasons as if he were mad. But when affection and love was needed, it was never shown nor expected to be.
Calden saw his lawful fatherly care for the wellbeing of his children as the most love he was willing to give. And that is what led sixteen year old Dianne into the position she was in now.
Her father, lord of the second great house in Mounthell, had been keeping in constant touch with the Throne, specifically with Princess Amaryllis, mother of Prince Deonidas, and heir to the throne. Without her knowledge, Dianne's father had offered her hand in marriage numerous times, and each time was politely declined with the same reply, “ The prince isn't looking for a wife at the moment.”
That was until 45 AP, just before the War of the Roses. And when Calden received his reply, the first thing he did was order for his daughter to be sent to his chambers, at once.
Dianne was in the middle of an afternoon nap when a blanket of bear furs was yanked off her body. “ Rise,” said one of her father's household knights.
“ How dare you awake me from my rest and talk to me with such authority?”
“ I speak with the authority of your Lord Father,” the knight spoke sternly. “ Now, rise. Your father has summoned you.”
Dianne had no choice but to rise up from her bed, she muttered to herself curses at her father's name and pulled her boots back onto her feet. On her way to his chambers, Dianne fixed her disheveled hair and wiped the crust from her silver eyes. She contemplated what her father could've wanted from her, and the more she thought, the less her answers became clearer.
