by Nina Monroe
His father gave Will a disapproving look, but he made no comment on the women he chose to spend his time with. Gregory took a long sip of his beer before he answered.
“Some women like certain things. It’s important to butter her up, for all intensive purposes. You must touch her, make sure she’s ready. When the time comes, I am sure you will remember what to do. Those brothel girls had to have taught you something,” Gregory explained haphazardly; he stumbled over his words the same way his son did. “Women’s bodies are meant to be enjoyed, but only at her discretion. I cannot stress any more to you that you do not touch her if she says no.”
“I know, Father,” Will responded with an exasperated and a quick roll of his eyes.
“This is important, Will. You shouldn’t rape any woman, but Tamzin Roth is not just some girl. You mistreat her, she leaves, and we don’t know where that leaves us,” Gregory explained in an angry whisper, as not to bring any more attention to himself.
“Can I choose to have a mistress?” Will asked. He didn’t plan to have a mistress, but if he had a desire for a brothel visit, he should be entitled to it. Will watched as his father’s face fell as he looked back at his goblet, which was made of bronze.
“You’re the Prince, so of course you can. I highly advise you to try and work things out with Tamzin. You’re going into this marriage with the expectations that it will fail or be miserable. Did you ever consider that you may have a good marriage with her?”
It was something that Will had considered but didn’t want to admit it. Tamzin truly seemed like a kind woman but not all kind women found a kind fate. Sometimes, during their dinners together as a massive family, he caught her eyes. She stared at him with these wide brown eyes and her lips upturned in a small smile. It wasn’t about anything funny, but just a soft gesture of comfort. His chest heated up and it felt like lava spilt over. She got this reaction out of him just from a smile. Will replayed their words together alone in his head nearly nightly and Will knew he was becoming infatuated with her.
“She couldn’t take a lover?” Will asked as his thoughts jumbled in his head. He felt mild jealousy at the thought of Tamzin wanting someone else. Will tugged on his hair lightly, with the pain erasing his last thought.
“She could, but it is considered unlawful. If she were to become with child and she had a lover, it may be nearly impossible to know if it was your rightful heir or not,” Gregory explained as he stared ahead at the women in the bar. “Most Kings are arrogant for no reason. You are lucky enough to be born into a rich and royal family, but you don’t require any natural skills or ability to rule a country. The true worth of a man’s life is the people he spends it with. You can choose to try and build a substantial relationship with Tamzin, who can bring you happiness, joy, and memories that will last you forever. Or you can choose to never try and build a bond with her and spend your nights in bed with women who love you for the right price.”
It was the most blunt Gregory had ever been with his son. Will took the words and felt them slice him like the sword he had sheathed around his waist. Gregory finished his beer and waved off the bartender’s offer for more beer.
“Do you like her?” Will asked quietly before he looked his father in the eye. “If she wasn’t the daughter of the man you sought peace with, would you still want me to marry her?”
“You marry a girl that will bring something to us, whether it be more land, more soldiers, or peace. You just happen to be lucky enough to marry a girl who is as pretty as she is,” Gregory said with a final smile. “Where is your man in waiting?”
“You heard that line?” Will chuckled as he finished his beer. “Garrett is trying to get another girl.”
“Lady Kendall doesn’t seem like his type, and that’s considering every girl is Garrett’s type.”
Will smiled as he leaned back into his chair, his eyes becoming heavy with sleep. His father continued to talk, but the band playing and the women laughing drowned his words out.
~~~
Tamzin watched as her two best friends laughed across from her as they sat on her large bear rug. The fire warmed them as it snowed outside their window. Lucy and Kendall picked at the various sweets in front of them as Lucy recounted her first encounter with a boy.
“I lost my virginity in a patch of poison ivy. I scratched for a week and every man I saw assumed I had something special in my royal garden,” Lucy laughed as she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Are you nervous, Tam?”
“It’s normal to be nervous,” Kendall piped in as she took a bite of her pastry. “I wonder how Will will be in bed?”
“The virginal Kendall wanting to know how a man will be in bed?” Lucy smiled as she took a sip of her wine from her goblet.
“Do you think he’s handsome? Will?” Tamzin asked as she stared into the fire. She was nervous about tomorrow, but what woman wasn’t when it came to her wedding day.
“Yes!” Lucy blurted out before she slapped her hand across her mouth and giggled. “Well, he is.”
“He is,” Kendall said with a meek smile. “He is always looking at you.”
“No he isn’t,” Tamzin blushed as she stole some wine from Lucy. “He doesn’t like me very much.”
“He’ll like you once he’s in between your thighs,” Lucy said saucily as she shook her breasts in front of Tamzin. “Every boy likes a sweet tasting cunt.” Lucy’s word made Kendall gasp and cover her mouth with her hand.
“Lucy!” Kendall scolded as she tossed a pastry at her.
“Lucy!” Lucy mimicked as she grabbed the pastry from the plate on the ground and popped it in her mouth. “Are you nervous? Honestly?” Lucy asked as she and Kendall became more attentive.
“Does it hurt?”
Lucy frowned and looked around the room to try and not answer her question. Kendall bit her nails, nervous about what the answer would be. She was a virgin as well.
“I guess it depends on how the man is. If the man loves you or at least likes you, he spends his time making you feel good. If you feel good before he puts it in you…”
“That’s so vulgar,” Kendall interrupted as she rolled her eyes to hide her fascination.
“Does ‘slip it in your delicate flower,’ sound better?” Lucy asked with mild irritation. “Can I continue please?” With a nod from Kendall and a smile from Tamzin, she did continue. “When he’s inside of you, it feels like stretching. Like stretching a muscle you haven’t used in awhile. It feels good and hurts at the same time, you know what I mean?”
“What if he doesn’t try to make me feel good before? What if he’s selfish?” Tamzin asked nervously. A part of her didn’t want to know the answer to this question, but at the same time, she needed to know what was she could face alone in the bedroom tomorrow.
“You won’t have to worry about that. Will isn’t a bad man. He’s honorable,” Lucy tried to soothe, but Tamzin’s worried eyes made her continue. “If the man doesn’t, it’s painful. I mean, it’s not the most comfortable situation no matter how the man is, but if he doesn’t care enough to try and meet your own needs, sex isn’t good. At all.”
“You’re a master with words,” Kendall narrowed her eyes at Lucy, before she looked back to Tamzin. “Tam, Will likes you. So what if he doesn’t talk a lot to you and just stares kind of creepily at you, he likes you.”
“I’m the master of words?” Lucy retorted as she ran a hand through her hair. Tamzin watched her best friends with nervous eyes and a dry mouth. Tamzin’s eyes began to water as she bit her lip. “Tamzin,” Lucy said as she leaned in and wrapped her arms around her best friend. “You’re going to be Queen. You’re going to help rule over a kingdom. You don’t need a man’s approval.”
“No, you don’t,” Kendall joined into the hug and kissed her hair. “Will was raised to be a decent man and a great King. Great Kings don’t make their ladies feel like anything less than a Queen.”
It was a gesture that made Tamzin smile through the tears. S
he wiped away the wetness on her cheeks and leaned back to rest her back against the edge of the chair. “I’m just afraid that he will only view me as a friend. I know that would be considered a good outcome for an arranged marriage, but he can still go out and find someone to love after we are married. I want my husband to love me.”
“Well, if you ask me,” Kendall began as she finished her pastry and wiped her hands clean of the sugar. “Friendship is the best foundation for love. You should see the way he looks at you.” Kendall’s comment made Tamzin flush and her neck become hot. “It’s obvious that he is physically attracted to you. After tomorrow, you’ll be allowed to be alone with him and then you can really get to know each other.”
“Tomorrow night, he won’t make you do anything if you don’t want to,” Lucy interrupted Kendall to remind Tamzin. “Are you going to consummate the marriage?”
“I don’t know,” Tamzin responded truthfully as she stared at the rug. She absentmindedly ran her hand across the soft fur and sighed. “I’m just so terrified about what will happen. Were you this afraid when you lost your virginity, Lucy?”
“Well, I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t. A degree of nervousness is to be expected, but no, I wasn’t afraid. Not like you are,” Lucy said as she looked to Kendall. “The way I see it, you should be begging for it. Like you want him so much that the pain would be a welcome. You just need to have him that close to you,” Lucy smiled at Tamzin and sighed. “It should be that way with babies too. You bear his child, not for an heir, but because you know that this child is truly wanted. It’s more than just an heir to a throne.”
“There are moments when I really don’t think you’re that dumb,” Kendall laughed as she nudged Lucy’s shoulder with her own. “What she said completely and twice over, Tam. That’s how it should be.”
Tamzin laughed and felt her eyes become heavy. Though she was nervous about tomorrow, she knew this conversation with her two best friends was the only thing that could make her feel better. As she shut her eyes, Tamzin saw Will behind her eyelids.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The sun had not yet risen and Tamzin felt her mother brush a few tendrils of hair from her face. She opened her eyes to see her mother, wrapped only in her Roth robe and a smile on her face.
“Good morning, sweetness,” Gemma whispered as she pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “I know it’s early, but it is time to get up. You’re to be married in six hours.” Gemma’s voice stirred Tamzin completely awake as she sat up in her bed. Lucy and Kendall continued to sleep next to her as Gemma helped Tamzin out of bed. Some of the women from the castle already stood in her room, with a large basin of steaming water waiting. Tamzin smiled softly at the women and said nothing as they stripped the young princess down to nothing.
Tamzin dipped her pale foot into the warm water and sighed. It was the perfect temperature. As she engulfed her whole body in the water, she felt her mother come to stand behind her. Quickly, Tamzin dipped her whole head under water and came back to the surface. Gemma lathered Tamzin’s soft chestnut hair with oils that smelt like flowers. Tamzin relaxed as her mother threaded her fingers in her hair and massaged her scalp.
“King Gregory talked to Will last night,” Gemma began as she braided her daughter’s hair and let it sit out of the water. She would keep the oil in for a few minutes for silky and fresh smelling hair. “Will is as nervous as you.” Gemma said this to make her daughter feel better, and while it did to a degree, Will had many more options than Tamzin did if the wedding didn’t work.
“Would you be angry with me if I didn’t consummate the marriage tonight?” Tamzin asked softly. After her conversation the night before with her ladies, Tamzin knew she was not ready to consummate her marriage. “I know it is my duty…”
“You are my daughter, my only daughter. Your worth is not tied to a consummation of a marriage. Your father and I did not raise you to be cattle to be prodded and sold. The only reason you are in this arranged marriage is because both territories are desperate for peace. Truth is, my love, is that I am quite sure you would pick Will for your own if it wasn’t forced on you. Will is shy, but he is loyal and he is smart. He will respect your opinion.”
“Garrett is his only friend,” Tamzin said sadly as her mother unbraided her hair and combed water through her tendrils. “He seems very lonely.”
“His father is very hard on him. They do have a nice relationship sometimes, but Will thirsts to prove to his father that he will be a good king. He never knew his mother. That is something you two can bond over,” Gemma said as she kissed Tamzin’s hair.
“You are my mother,” Tamzin said seriously as she took Gemma’s hand. The women squeezed their hands together and Gemma smiled.
“That’s right, I am your mother. When you have your babies with Will, I expect you to be as good of a mother as possible. Will is proof that all children need their mother,” Gemma said as she reached for Tamzin’s Roth robe from home. “Come on, my darling. It’s time for breakfast.”
Tamzin stood and felt the other women help her out of the basin. They dried her quickly before they rubbed her skin with other sweet smelling oils. Gemma dried her daughter’s hair with a white towel and wrapped it tightly. Tamzin stood naked next to the basin as the oils dried, while Gemma left to retrieve a light breakfast. Tamzin looked down at her naked body, slick with oils and had no idea what to think. She had a very womanly figure, as Gemma described it. Her hips flared out softly and her breasts were full. She had been much thinner growing up, but her flowering had her put on some weight. She wasn’t fat by any means and no man had ever referred to her as so, but she didn’t have a buxom body like Lucy or a small and lithe body like Kendall.
Would Will like her body? Tamzin didn’t feel bad about her body; she wore tight dresses that showed her cleavage. She pondered it for a second longer before she felt someone drape her robe across her shoulders, and Tamzin pulled it close for the warmth. The cold was unforgiving in Thurston Territory. Tamzin turned around to see Kendall yawning as she plopped down in the chair by the basin.
“I don’t know how they expect you to be up for a bedding when they get you up so early,” Kendall said as Tamzin smiled at her. Tamzin turned around and saw that Lucy was still fast asleep as Kendall prepped the fire. “It’s so cold here.”
“Maybe you should find a man to warm you?” Tamzin teased lightly as she brought her arms to wrap around her middle. “I’m sure Garrett would be willing.”
“Garrett doesn’t pay me much attention,” Kendall blushed with her lie. “He is handsome, though.”
“If Garrett doesn’t pay you much attention, then Will has no idea I exist,” Tamzin continued as she went to sit across from her friend and lady. The other ladies in the room busied themselves with Tamzin’s dress and discussed what they should do with her hair. “I’m going to be a wife by the end of the day.”
“You’re going to be a future Queen. Keep your priorities straight,” Kendall laughed as she pushed the wood with the fire poker from her seat. “Queen of the Thurston Territory and Consort of the Roth Territory if anything happens to Thom. It’s an important job.” Kendall’s voice was drowned out by Tamzin’s own thoughts. She bit her lip nervously as she watched the women fawn over her beautiful wedding dress. It was much thicker than a Roth wedding dress, but it was ivory white with diamond and lace embroidery on the bodice. The dress was corseted with laces on the back and on the bodice for easier access. In the center of the bodice was a brooch featuring the intertwined colors of black and red, Roth and Thurston colors. Tamzin knew that this was most likely the last truly beautiful dress she would wear. The people in Thurston Territory wore clothes for functionalism, not beauty.
“I think you should wear your hair in a half plait with your curls. It will look beautiful when they put on your crown,” Kendall continued as she watched Tamzin inspect her dress from afar. “You’re going to be lovely. He will fall in love with you instantly.”
> Tamzin didn’t answer, but she hoped this was true. Will was forced to marry her (as she was forced to marry him) but all Tamzin had wanted was a marriage that was based in love, rather than duty. Gemma returned to the room and carried a tray of toast, some fruit, and a goblet.