Vow of Blood and Starlight (a Pride and Prejudice retelling)

Chapter Two

If anyone had given Elizabeth the time to describe her family, she would have done so with a light hearted air and compliments. She would not have done it quite like that time she was asked at the summer masquerade. With a slight shrug of her shoulders and a scoff.

"Half ridiculous, half desirable." Said she, as she dismissed herself to look for the dessert table and a quiet place to continue her book.

It's not as if Elizabeth Bennet did not like parties, in fact she is just as excited as Kitty or Lydia on most occasions as long as Jane was involved. But, on that particular occasion, a certain gentleman had decided dancing was beyond his comprehension as he stepped on her foot more than once in the evening, leaving her feet soar as well as her temper.

Today, she is home. Longbourn. A grand manor in Elizabeth's opinion, although not half as grand as some manors and not nearly anything compared to proper estates of nobles. Although, it did stand nearly four stories and possessed a stable, gardens, lakes and a comparable staff.

She had escaped nearly an hour ago, as her mother was making her rounds around the house to bicker with each one of her daughters about their hair and things of little importance. It was easy enough to find the latch to the back door and quickly rush out and around towards the great willow tree near the pond. The pond was perhaps halfway across their property, and the farthest mother would allow the girls to go without an escort. That escort is usually either Jane, Elizabeth or Mary. Although, Elizabeth could not very well escort herself. She found much comfort in Jane, being both her closest sister in age and her best friend and most comparable warrior.

But, to ease her mothers constant nerves, Elizabeth stayed at the base of the willow. She leaned back into the grass and earth that welcomes her with fluttering kisses of sunlight across her cheeks. She would have leaned into its embrace if not for the book that she kept tucked close.

A book of poems, poems in prose. Elongated and flowing with comforting melodies that music lacks without lyrics. Elizabeth read out loud to herself with a voice as crisp and clear as any songstress.

"For, if a moment could be pulled to last a lifetime. I would pull this into a million, and would cry, still not enough."

Elizabeth sighed against the pages in bliss as she closes the book and holds it to her chest, continuing to recite the verse into the sky and sunshine.

"For if the breeze could just rest in the field beside me. The sun beams down on my face, what better place could there be, than this?"

Mother nature seemed to breathe in her song as the wind picked up and lifted strands of her hair to dance in the breeze. Elizabeth giggled along with the playful sky as she sat up and much to her dismay, made eye contact with her mother on the steps of the house.

Oh dear. Thought Elizabeth as she made ready for the shouting.

That indeed, came soon after.

"Lizzie! Elizabeth Bennet get out of that light this instant! You are already two times browner than the rest of us!"

Elizabeth could not help but chuckle at this remark as she waved her hand and nodded to her mother. She is not half as brown as mother whose father was much browner than her, being that his people hailed from darker regions. Elizabeth as well as most of her sisters are considered golden, or sunkissed if anything. No amount of shade can taint it lighter. But the sun definitely makes her glow a darker shade.

Elizabeth rolls to the side, dipping her hand into the water for a moment to ponder this thought and her reflection. She has never thought of herself as an attractive woman, at least not nearly as much as Jane. With soft features and an angled almond shaped face, blushed lips, chestnut eyes and hair and of course, the golden brown complexion.