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Chapter 6
"Where have you been" asks Vaun as he stands up from his seat to give me a kiss. He entwines my fingers in his and pulls me down to the seat beside him.
"Well hello Miss Heathet," Says the women Vaun had been talking to.
"Please, call me Anniel" she smiles warmly at this as she takes my free hand in hers.
"I was just asking Vaun here how he managed to find such a lovely young lady."
My eyes flicker to his. He pats my knee and turns to the woman, "Well it was a very romantic story actually. See..."
I zone out after that, tired of hearing the little concoction one of his advisors had thrown together. In truth our tale was far from romantic. He had been engaged to another women since birth, I had never met her but they say she was a wonderful women. A month before the ceremony news gets out that she wasn't pure, and of course like most things in life it came down to sex. So even though it had been with Vaun that she had lost her "pureness" to she was cast aside; a tainted toy no longer worth playing with.
That was two years ago and at the time I was not even sixteen, far too young to get married, but my father being the man he was sold me to be a bride to the prince. It was because of my "legacy" that I was chosen. I had no choice in the matter, I watch from the stairwell of my childhood home as my father signed away my future. Five year engagement was what they planned, but when my father got sick they moved up the date. I am to be a bride of seventeen.
"Anniel" it was my father, his voice had lost all the ferocity and power it once possessed and now all the passion of withered dandelion lost in the wind. My father pulled up beside me on his wheelchair. He wore the same suit that I had seen him wear dozens of times in my youth but now it no longer fit the weary skeleton my father's body had become.
"Hello Father," I say to him with a warm smile as I move in close to kiss him on the cheek. The anger that once grew like a hot furnace between us had subsided over the years, leaving him a much gentler man and me a much more patient women.
"Hello Anna" that voice, the one thats flows in and out of every memory I've every had. I turn to face him and his eyes are sparkling once more with delight as if outside had never happened. Anna. Does he expect to get a rise out of me still after all these years?
"Hello, I don't believe we've met" says Vaun as he stands up from his seat to shake Mitch's hand. Mitch smiles acting the part of a well behaved guest. At least some manners have yet to leave him.
Standing so close together it was easy to see the huge difference between the two men. Vaun was a tall lanky man who had spent most of his life in study and his body showed it. Fair skin hidden behind shaggy brown waves contrasting perfectly with his deep set mahogany eyes. Mitchel was the opposite in almost every way. He was shorter, though not by much, but enough to show. Where he lost in height though he made up with strength. Used to working on a farm his whole life his body was no stranger to hard labor and he was the better for it.
"No, I can't say I have but I do know who you are. But I suppose everyone knows you don't they." Our worlds were separated into six regions, each with their own rulers, Vaun was his family were ours. Of course after so many centuries much of there power has been lost, but regardless they are among the most well respected and richest families in the world. "I'm Mitchel Cabsburro"
"Please, sit," he said jestering to the empty seat in front of us, "So how do you know my little Anna?"
Something flickers in his eyes and he turns to me, "Well we used to be lovers" and even though this was a private conversation I notice the whole room begins to fall into a deadening silence. He smiles maliciously at me as my fiancé's completion turns a frightening white. Mitch burst out in a loud roar of laughter, "You must forgive me Mr. Eingail, but I had to have a little fun with my oldest friend's husband to be"
At the risk of making a fool of him self, Vaun too begins to laugh and with him the rest of the room. Mitch's eyes meet mine for a moment and I see the jealousy that has taken hold of him.
"Excuse me for a moment I need to speak to Mr. Cabsburro for a second in priv-"
"Nonsense Anniel, sit down." and like a dog who hears its master's call I listen. This time I hadn't the courage to meet his eyes. Yes Mitch, I wanted to tell him, see the cross I must bare, what my life has become for your sake.
As the two men begin to become enthralled in their mindless chatter I feel the lightest of taps on my shoulder.
"Anniel! We have brought you a marvelous gift!" I know not whether to be sad or happy at the fate which had befallen my father. As his mine began to slowly titter towards the edge of delusion his mood began to become lighter, more carefree. Sanity for happiness; was it a fair trade?
"Sir, hadn't we agreed not to tell her till later?" Mitch says as he walks up, placing a cool hand on my shoulder. I can't help but flinch away.
I look at Mitch nervously. "Now Mr. Cabsburro, that wasn't necessary" laughs Vaun as he slaps Mitch's back acting as if they too were the oldest of friends.
"You can say that after I shown you what it is." he goes to leave but I manage to grab his sleeve.
"Mitch," I whisper, my eyes pleading for him to just leave me alone; to let me suffer my fate in peace. He pulls away though, like I am some vermin that dares to touch him. I bow my head down, suddenly consumed in a pain only Mitch is capable of inflicting.
He is back quickly. We all rise as he presents the gift, my gift. Behind him tugged along by silk woven rope is the tiniest of lambs anyone in the room has ever seen. My stomach plummets as Mitch looks and me and smiles.
I can't breath and can't speak. Thankfully I don't need to do or say anything because Vaun steps in and does what he's best at.
He claps joyously. "What a marvelous gift! Don't you agree Anna?" he says but he doesn't wait for an answer. "He looks absolutely appetizing!"
"Yes, I was sampling a few of his siblings and if he's anything like them you'll have quite the little delectable treat on your hands." Everyone is laughing and clapping, each of them making their own witty remark on the present. Its then that I disappear from the party, from the laughter and fun of a world I do not belong to.
