~𝕭𝖊𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖞𝖆𝖑 𝖎𝖘 𝖔𝖓𝖑𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌~
Born the youngest daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, Constance of Bourbon grows up amidst comfort and splendour on her powerful family's estates in France. A shy child, she prefers her...
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~The Mirror and the Light~
12th of May 1489, Westminster Palace....
Seven months it had taken to obtain the papal dispensation from Rome. Two weeks was all it took to plan the ceremony then they had to wait two weeks more for the day to arrive. Finally, it had.
Butterflies fluttered in Constance's belly as she was bathed and dressed. She'd chosen a lilac samite gown with golden stitching on the bodice over a kirtle of cream silk. Her ladies giggled and fussed around her, all of them almost like girls again as they laced her dress and tied crimson garters around her stockings. Katherine was already making bawdy jokes, not dissimilar to the ones Will would make to Edward.
She didn't mind, nor did it irk her that she was reminded of her Ned. Of course he would be, should be, with her on such a day and she held the memories of their wedding in her heart's tender embrace as she prepared for her second.
She remembered every detail of her nuptials to Edward before she'd decided to drink herself near to oblivion. It was nice to have nerves shot with hope and excitement instead of coiling dread, to eagerly await the fall of night instead of fear it, she thought, glancing at the nearby window and out into the clear blue sky where Ned's sun shone brightly. She hoped for his approval of the small ceremony she and Richard had chosen in St Stephen's chapel.
She looked down at her left hand where her ring finger lay bare save the shining skin and round indent in her flesh owed to so many years donning the ring he gave her. She'd never be without it, it now sat on her right hand and perhaps would live beneath Richard's once the day was over but it still felt odd, to glance down and feel naked, to not have the family press of gold against her skin.
Lord, how Dickon was feeling at that moment as he was dressed by his men. Was he nervous too? Did he feel like a boy again about to partake in his first tourney? She couldn't wait to see him, she thought as she was sat at her dressing table and her hair brushed and arranged.
It wouldn't be worn down like a virgin bride's, instead her brown curls was wound into a long braid down her back, made intricate by twists and small plaits; shining with the golden thread and cloth of gold ribbons Beth wove throughout.
At first she'd thought of donning her regent's crown with it but no, this day she did not wed as the queen regent but as a simple woman, swearing her vows before god as all others did. She was lucky to do so.
Oh, how many times that word had offended and hurt her, incurred her wrath. but now she knew it to be true. She'd been lucky (for the most part) in Edward and now she'd been given a chance so few had - the chance to live and love again.
She was lucky in Richard whom she trusted above all others, in her eldest son, the King, who'd permitted her to wed, in her children who had accepted her choice of husband and congratulated her! She'd answered each of their questions with patience and love, grateful that they asked them and listened to her replies. While it took some longer than others to truly accept the idea, eventually they all had and would be in attendance that day!
