Hardly a Lady

XVI

18 months later

Giselle watched as Elienna played in the long grass, laughing loudly as Giselle's ladies tried to catch her to no avail. Elienna's golden curls bounced on her shoulders as she darted this way and that on 3 year old legs, with all the energy expected from a toddler powering her. Giselle chuckled as Kendra made a grab for the princess but narrowly missed, much to Elienna's delight.

At Giselle's feet, her younger daughter, Thea, sat obediently, allowing her mother to stroke her soft down of dark curls and playing quietly with a doll.

Thea was the complete opposite of her older sister; whereas Elienna was wild and talkative, Thea was well-behaved and quiet, Elienna had no qualms about walking on her own in the royal procession, whereas Thea would always hide in her mother's skirts or insist on being carried, Elienna had a mop of golden curls whereas Thea had her mother's dark locks. The two sisters were utterly unlike each other, and yet they adored each other completely, and both of them were adored.

Will, however, was not as enthralled by his young daughters as everybody else was. When Thea had been born early, small and sickly, Will had flown into a rage, smashing the furnishings in his chambers and drinking until he fell asleep. Giselle had sobbed for hours as she held her baby in her arms, with Thea struggling to suck air into her frail lungs. Finally however, when the morning had come and Giselle had spent the night praying to Tyra to save her baby, Thea had taken one large deep breath, and she had been breathing fine ever since. Of course she was still smaller than Elienna had been when she was her age, and fragile too, but she was every bit as beautiful and loved by her mother as her older sister was. It was merely a shame that her father chose to have nothing to do with her.

Whenever they were presented to court or the public, Will would always hold Elienna, but never his second daughter, because not only was Thea the second child, female and sickly, but she looked more like the Debaults than the Decristos, in particular Giselle's own mother Lady Thea, for whom she was named.

To make matters worse, Giselle had not fallen pregnant again despite both of their best efforts, and it infuriated Will that she wasn't at least with child. Her husband had been spending more time with Elsa than he ever used to, and as Giselle's own power had dwindled with the birth of two daughters, Elsa's had grown. Now Elsa had her own ladies maids and servants, her own apartments and people trying to win her favour, since everybody knew that Elsa had Will's ear and Giselle did not.

Giselle sighed and looked down at the sketchpad on her lap. She had taken to drawing recently, and her chambers were constantly littered with sketches and paintings. At this moment, she was carefully drawing Thea, who was always easier to draw than her sister since she sat still when she was told to, even though she was just over one year old. Giselle planned to send this sketch and one she'd completed of Elienna to her father and brother, so that they might see her children, since they hadn't been allowed to come to Samarus in person (not that her father had made any effort to).

Giselle missed Than greatly - he would soon be celebrating his ninth winter - and yet she had not seen nor heard from him since the day she had left Forest Castle for Samarus. She'd received some news from her letters to Jakson, but those were becoming fewer and less frequent. Soon she worried that she'd have no communication with her brother, and he'd grow up to not know his big sister at all.

Next Giselle's eyes drifted to Ash, who was stood obediently behind the tree, although the close proximity still gave her chills. He was watching over her shoulder as she drew, making noises of approval every so often and occasionally giving pieces of advice. It turned out that he himself was a good artist - better than Giselle even - and when he did give advice (as with everything he said) Giselle listened.