One Shots

Masked Brides

Colette stands in front of the long crystal mirror not even recognizing herself. Draped in a sleek black and white feathered dress with gold trim. Her dark caramel hair dyed ebony as to match her outfit are curled up and off her shoulders. Her skin inked with ancient black script that will melt away with the rise of the sun. Gold paints her eyelids, cheeks, and lips. Her body shakes in tremors of anxiety. 

"How will they pick?" She hears a young girl behind her in an ocean themed assembly of cloth. Her silver ringlets were dyed teal, and skin covered in indigo ink. Her skin white and creamy like porcelain. 

"They pick by what appeals to them. What they see is what they get." Her Governess says tightening her glittery corset.

A bell then rings and all twelve girls line up, Colette third from the first. They march out with grace where the glint of crystal chandeliers blind them. Their Governesses stand silent by their sides. Helen, Colette's governess, stands like a stick is taped to her back; perfectly straight. Her hair in a tight uncomfortable bun that even pulls her face into a tight scowl. Then the first lady is announced.

"Rebecca, Dutchess of Ellington; the Fox of the Knotton Wood." She descends in a fiery orange and cream colored fur dress, her skin covered in a blood shaded ink. Her mask bringing out her sharp features and wild eyes. Her short strawberry blonde locks flipped out and wild.

"Lucinda, Countess of Baress; the Mare of the Blue Plains." Her dress is a long shimmering black that goes all the way down to her ankles, her shoulders and arms bare of cloth but covered in burning silver scrawl. Her dark hair was too stubborn to be dyed so it's curled away behind a black and silver arrangement of metallic flowers. Her mask is brooding, her silver eyed stare cold as stone.

It's Colette's turn and she can't see the crowd that awaits her, that won't embrace her, but except her. "Colette, Lady of Aeriss; the Eagle of the Black Cliffs." It would be unacceptable to tell everyone that she was a milk maid for the Lord and Lady that lived on the Black Cliffs. The Bride Association of Royals also known as the BAR needed a 12th and their daughter was only nine; it wouldn't be appropriate to marry her off. Then the collector saw Colette and said they would pay double for her. Colette never thought of herself as beautiful, but the collector couldn't tear his eyes off her, even when she was covered from head to toe in mud and sticks that day from the mutiny on the cows behalves. So they sold her off with two months to learn to be a proper lady.

She works on trying not to trip down the marble staircase while keeping her back straight, chin up, and eyes forward. Helen walks by her side until they reach the ground level on a swirling black floor where she looks like she's standing in the middle of a starry night sky. And then she walks into a crowd of women in a rainbow of dresses, and the men in Black, White, Red, or Silver suits. The available men are supposed to wear masks themselves, but as she wades through the crowd she sees no man with a mask as the names and titles of all the other ladies ring out through the ball room.

Then she sees a man in a red suit, devil shaped mask and dark hair and eyes with olive skin staring at her like she's his next meal. He holds a champagne flute with bubbling white liquid. He sips it just once before setting it on a waiters passing tray. Colette wants to look away but his stare is captivating and impossible to escape.

Only steps away from me does another masked man sweep her off her feet into a dance. He's in a silver suit with a black metal mask and beautiful hazelnut curls carelessly dripping down to his shoulder. Colette sighs a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Thank you." She hears herself whisper, knowing she shouldn't really be saying anything tonight.

"Simon would have swallowed a bird like you up. But the fox should provide him with a suitable challenge." His voice is swift and musical. His fingers soft and nimble, but strong as they hold her waist and palm as they twist through the dance floor. She wants to imagine him as a composer and musician. Imagining that he writes poetical lyrics.

"You dance well." The man compliments and she sees his eyes, deadly bright pale green with flecks of silver. Colette blushes and looks away. As her skin flushes her, inked chest and arms begin to burn.

"I try my best." She whispers and then he twirls her in a gracious swirl around himself.

"I think those feathers help. You look like a bird in her element." He says with a dazzling smile across his face.

"You shower me with compliments that I feel I do not deserve. I don't even know your name." She almost wants to giggle as she's pulled back into his hold.

"Vincent. I speak my mind."

"I see that." Colette grins.

"So tell me something Colette, Eagle of the Black Cliffs."

"Anything." 

"Are you a fan of birds?" He smiles before they both break into laughs.

"I'm not sure. But why not, they fly above in a sky of freedom. They soar wear the wind takes them." Colette recalls the sea eagles she saw each day, perching on the cliffs edge before diving into the unknown ahead of them.

"Fair point. What's your favorite color?" His simple questions catch her by surprise. He's taking the time to know the real her. The simple her, that no teacher or Governess could change. Because they are her thoughts, her opinions.

"The sky at sunset, when the clouds catch fire near the oceans horizon." She answers without even thinking about the answer.

"Your favorite food?" Before she had been thrown into a world of corsets, and pointy shoes, she ate what she was given by her employers. Oats mashed with milk, vegetables, sometimes their rich leftovers. But her favorite meal even now would be-

"Barn house stew."

"What's in that?" He asks with out making a face. His eyes staring at her with raw curiosity.

"It's a combination of everything you would find in a simple lawn garden and a barn of animals. Lamb, goat, cow, and pig meats; chicken eggs. Then basil, rosemary, blueberries, and a dash of minced onions. You mix it all in a lemon water broth. It's usually a fall and early spring dish."

"You're making my mouth water my lady." Vincent chuckles.

"Is it strange to enjoy such a dish?" Colette asks knowing it's not an aristocratic meal.

"I think neither one of us isn't not strange. For I would eat a dish like that, but your fox faced equal or Simon would push it away in a moment. I think we would make a perfect fit Lady Colette." He grins.

"But you barely know me."

"Isn't that the point. By what I've learned, I want to learn more." He looks at her as his eyes spark with even more excitement.

"You've asks me useless questions though, what could you have possibly learned?" 

"You are genuine, you aren't jaded by the crystals and fine clothes. You enjoy simple things and want freedom most of all. I can give you freedom. Provide you with dresses dyed like fiery twilight clouds. We can eat Barn house stew whenever you have a craving. And give you whatever else you desire." Colette looks at him and hears things that are too good to be true.

"I Prince Vincent will promise to be your friend before being your husband. We will learn to love or not love each other on our own time. And I promise to respect you for the decisions I make." Colette repeats his words in her head trying to get a grip on reality. That the Prince of her country, Prince Vincent the second born of King William, was asking for hr hand in marriage.

"I accept your proposal." She says not really knowing her own words. He picks her up though, caught in the whirlwind of his excitement she can't help but catch some of his happiness.

He pulls out the marriage license from inside his coat and pulls out a quill and has her sign her name, and prick her finger with an un-inked tip. As she presses her finger against the paper all the ink on her body drains all onto the paper turning it into dark swirls and ancient script covering the background of the paper and it flashes gold, making the marriage bound in absolute blood. And they then remove each other's mask, the whole ball room watching as their Prince has found his princess.