To Love a Corpse

Prologue

Once upon a time...

The ringing of church bells was heard from a distance. A beautiful young woman, with hair dark, silky and long, and eyes as green as emeralds, had wedded a charming young man. And from a spark of love and joy, a little one was conceived to Lord and Lady Thorne. Leighvie was destined to be her name and her destiny was to be legendary.

The mother grew ill and weak with every passing month of nurturing the growing life inside her womb. She grew a grey pale and turned to skin and bone, but despite her diminishing appearance, she was still beautiful, hauntingly beautiful.

On the night of her birth, Leighvie's mother had been brave, as she gave birth to the child, sacrificing her own life.

"She cannot be born! Don't you understand? You could lose your life!" Lord Thorne cried as he held the trembling hand of his bride.

"No, she must. I've lived long enough. It is time for an heir and from my womb it must be born even if it means sacrificing my life. It is fate," Lady Thorne spoke between heavy breaths.

"Don't do this! Give up the child! We can always have more! But there will only be one of you! Give up the child, I beg you!" the father pleaded.

The mother let out a faint smile and gave a small squeeze to her husband's hand. She was convinced, everything would be fine. She gave life to the child. The miracle they had been waiting for. The legacy of their time.

"Be brave my little Leighvie," the young mother whispered to her offspring, the words vanishing as a bitter-sweet taste lingers in the mouth.

Tears were spilled over the new-born, tears that glowed and glitter and vanished once making contact with the baby's sleeping face. And as those tears vanished so did the mother perish.

The young father cried over the body of his lovely bride. He kissed her cold hand and took the small child, the blessed one, and rocked her in his arms before kissing her small fragile forehead.

"You will always be my precious gem stone," He whispered to the small child before him. And the child's simple response was a delicate smile.

As the daughter of Lord Thorne, Leighvie grew up in a wealthy class and as an only child, she had a fairly merry childhood. But despite having everything she could possibly want, Leighvie lacked one essential thing, LOVE.

As all young children do, she found friendship, but this was found in the oddest of places. She had many servants, one of which was a former toy maker, whom often made her dolls. She adored the man like her own father, and grew fascinated by each and every doll he had made and given her.

She also befriended the son of a blacksmith that worked for her father. The child was to become an apprentice in blacksmithing, but for the mean time, he taught Leighvie many things. They'd get up and running early in the mornings, climbing trees and hunting rabbits.

"Be very quiet, or you'll startle it," the young boy would whisper.

And quickly the rabbit was caught. The boy handed her a dagger.

"I don't want to hurt it," a naïve Leighvie would respond.

As Leighvie grew older, he taught her how to ride a horse and how to fight with a sword, he taught her to defend herself in times of peril. He taught her blacksmithing and many things a lady of her time would not dare learn. But Leighvie was brave, and Leighvie was in love, in love with a blacksmith named Fabian.

And so in the end, the children set the rabbit free as they ran off into the setting sun of the greenest meadow.

When Leighvie grew up to the age of 16, her father promised her to an even wealthier man, Eldaire, whom was 20. Leighvie thought he was quite handsome and elegant, but she did not wish to marry as she did not truly love Eldaire nor would she ever as she secretly held a romance with Fabian, who was now 19.