How Shadows Turn to Ash

Chapter 16: Octavia

When Octavia was young, she had pictured her wedding day differently.

She supposed there were elements to what she expected. She was in a castle. She was wearing a pretty dress. Her future husband was someone she barely knew. Sighing, she let her hands run over the lace stitched over her stomach. The fabric was a soft white with beaded jewels of blue sewn throughout. It felt like a jab to dress her in revolution colors as she was sent down the aisle to a revolutionary.

Octavia tugged at the end of her sleeves. They were also lace - serving mainly as pretty designs over her otherwise bare arms.

"Your father would be proud."

Octavia's jaw clenched. Friedrich stood behind her, meeting her eyes in the reflection. He stepped further into the room, placing his hands behind his back.

"I'm being serious," he added. "I know this is not what he would have wanted for you, but he would be proud you did what it took to survive."

Octavia and her father had only spoken of her wedding day a handful of times. It was Antonia who had often brought it up, worrying their father would marry them off for whatever alliance or trading agreement was needed. Whenever he asked Octavia if she worried about her future match, she merely shrugged.

"You wouldn't let me marry someone cruel," she had said. At that time, it had been her only requirement. She had faith that her father would choose the right person. After all, her own parents' marriage had been a political arrangement. The story felt like a fairytale, though she noticed it occasionally changed.

After Octavia's grandfather won the war against Dualis, he fell ill from some battle wounds and later died. Romanov worried that the Dualians would use the moment of uncertainty to attack again... and they might have. Octavia's father had only been fifteen at the time and far from a battle-hardened warrior.

And then her mother wrote a letter.

This was when the story got mixed up. Octavia never understood some of the gaps in the tale. Sometimes, the letter was a romantic tale, and other times, a political plea for peace. Octavia's mother never revealed what she actually wrote in the fateful letter. All she knew was that her mother had gotten married to a king, and her mother's sister... had gotten married to Friedrich.
It wasn't a wild guess on who got the better end of that deal.

"Thank you, uncle," Octavia said now, turning to face Friedrich. "I wish he could have seen this moment."

Friedrich pursed his lip, tilting his head down. She kept staring at him, hoping the shame would eat him alive.

"I didn't want this, Octavia."

Was this it, then? The long-awaited confrontation? Would Octavia sit here and scream - calling him a traitor? Friedrich was her family. 

"You chopped my father's head off," Octavia said quietly. Bells rang out somewhere in a different part of the castle. She could hear people chattering away, excited whispers muffled by the stone walls.

Friedrich looked up again, expression tightening. "I didn't enjoy it. I let you choose where his resting place was." Octavia looked away. "I let you choose your husband. This hasn't been easy for me either."

Octavia's eyes flashed. He had let her choose her husband... what a joke. "I'm sorry life is hard for you right now," she said dryly and took a step to walk around him. Surely, the ceremony was almost ready to start. She stopped by the doorway, noting the guards and soldiers in place.

"Why did you choose Dainn?"

Octavia paused by the door. This question may be the real reason why Friedrich was here. He knew she was planning something. Octavia considered her answer. She could say it was because Dainn was the only Revolutionary she had spoken to at great length. She could say he was ranked highly and wanted to marry someone of power. She could say that she just liked his dragon.