Princess in The North

Chapter 6: The Wedding

“We are getting married tomorrow.” Robb told her as they walked the grounds. The servants were already setting up the halls and decorations for them. White peonies and blue roses were everywhere. Stag and dire wolf sigils gracing whatever they could.

She nodded. “Yes. How could I forget?” 

“Are you as upset with marrying me as you were before?” Robb asked, turning his head to look at her.

She looked up at him. “Are you?” 

“No.” He told her. “You can be rather fun when you are not furious.”

“And I didn’t know that you are actually kind. Honestly, you hear stories of kind lords who know their manners, but you never expect to actually meet one.” She smiled, bumping her hip against his.

“Is there a compliment in there somewhere?” He teased.

“Yes, I believe there is. Either that or you cannot exist and I am marrying someone fictional.” Ella teased back. 

Robb smiled, his hand going to her cheek where a bruise had been a couple days ago. “You never told me how you got that.”

“I had a disagreement.” She stated. “You should see the other guy. A bloody mess he was.” She smiled, but this smile did not reach her eyes; she was hiding something.

“It showed up after your mother caught us kissing.” He stated. “I am not stupid, Ella.”

“It wasn’t because of you.” She told him. “It was because of me. Don’t worry about it. It is nothing.”

“Does she hit you often?” Robb asked.

Ella shook her head, looking down. “No. I don’t remember her actually doing it before now.” She looked up at him. “But I have taken worse blows than my aging mother. I am no fragile flower.”

“Yet you did not hit her back.”

“Because her greatest blow will be tomorrow; it will be the last day she has any control over me.” Ella told him. “Watch her during the ceremony. You will see the loss of control in her eyes. You will see her lose her eldest daughter.”

“But I will not be looking at her during the ceremony; I will be looking at you.”

Ella’s eyes soften, as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “You know what, Robb? I don’t think it will be too bad to be married to you if you’re always like this.” Her eyes raised, just to see a hint of his smile.

“And I don’t think it would be too terrible if you were always like this either, Ella.”

XXX

Ella was awoken early by her handmaidens, with bowls of peaches with sweet cream for her breakfast. She didn’t want to be awake yet. She wanted to be asleep still, though she did not fight the women working on her. They drew her a bath and washed her long hair as she soaked in the tub.

She enjoyed the warmth of the water, falling asleep until she was awoken again when she needed to get out of the tub. She was no more than a doll being manipulated. Her lips dyed red. Rouge put on her high cheekbones and charcoal on between her eyelashes. She probably had fallen asleep throughout the process a few times, until they needed her to stay perfectly still as they did her hair. They pulled it up on top of her head, but not like they did in the South, where they would pull her hair until it was about to come out of her head. She kept her eyes closed until they were finished, and when she opened them, she gasped.