She sat alone in her guest’s chamber within the Solar Kingdom’s castle, her back straight and her posture impeccable. It was a facade she had constructed well as the princess to the Lunar Kingdom up north.
She was the third daughter of the King and Queen- but she had been the only one to survive past her first bleeding- her elder sisters had been killed by a former ally to the throne when Cora was seven.
She had been saved because no one had known of her existence till she was thirteen and thrust upon high society after years of careful training at her mother and nanny’s sides.
Queen Lucinda was not a very good mother, no, she was more like a friend if anything. She was like a bird- bright, beautiful, but also incredibly unreliable. She had given Cora to a nanny- Agatha.
Agatha had been warm and caring, but also stern to a near terrifying degree.
Cora would be kept separate from other children lest she be discovered, including her own sisters who had never known of her.
Lucinda and her father had claimed she was a stillborn at birth- Agatha had revealed to her that it was at his boyhood friend’s suggestion.
That boyhood friend was now the King of the Solar Kingdom- a passionate charming man named Killorn who had grown up to produce two children- two sons.
She was engaged to marry his eldest.
It had been so since she was a child, since her sisters had been slain.
Her elder sister was supposed to marry the Solar heir upon her eighteenth summer, but since she had been killed, her father had convinced Killorn to transfer the marriage agreement to his youngest daughter.
It would put them a few years behind, but it would still strengthen their ties- and what was better than that?
Cora had only met the Solar monarchs a handful of times for the briefest of moments.
Killorn was kind to her and she saw him the most often, while his queen, Maria, was less so, but not by much.
Cora had always been self conscious around the Queen of the Solar Kingdom- she was a dark, stunning beauty and her very presence could command any she came across.
Cora thought her eldest sister would have gotten along famously with her- Ariel had that same power about her, or at least that was what her mother would muse to her when she asked about her sisters.
Her mother was with child again, a surprising feat given that Cora was near grown by now.
The healer had claimed it would be a boy so they were all sure the Kingdom would have an heir should she manage to carry the child successfully.
Cora hoped for the best for her mother- not everyone did so however.
No, the tales of the Princess Corinina were still told throughout the continent- Lucinda’s aunt, Cora’s great-aunt by relation.
Agatha had been the one to herald her the tales as she grew- lavishing Cora with rich stories of the Princess’ youth- how whoever looked upon her would fall at her feet in worship, how she was famous for her kindness and her charity, how she was beloved by all who came across her.
Most notable however, was the tale of her demise.
She had been engaged to marry the Raven heir from birth and it was only on the night of their marriage that he rejected her for another.
It had sent the Princess into a downward spiral, for she had been in love with the Raven heir since they were children, since she had first met him. She had taken no lovers outside of him and had felt no desire to even after. No, she had languished in her chambers for twelve moons until on the thirteenth, she slit her own throat while in her bath.
There were other variations of the story that were not allowed to be spoken in Cora’s presence. She had convinced a serving boy to tell her some but the cook had chided him before he could reveal the full of it all.
But that had not stopped the dreams from coming.
Dreams where Agatha’s tales had come to life with a flourish, dreams where Cora was Corinina and where she lived an astonishing life full of beauty and art, full of those that loved her for her.
Cora’s mother entered the chamber and flitted to her daughter’s side carrying the pale rose colored gown that she was to wear tonight- her wedding night.
Cora moved without thinking, absorbed entirely in her thoughts as Lucinda helped her to dress.
Lucinda teased her, but her words failed to make any impact on Cora. No, they did not even register within her.
Cora had such dreams since she was nine, her mind imagining the life of Corinina with such vivid images that she felt as if they were real- more real than her current life, surely.
It was only when she was eleven did she start dreaming of the lives of other women.
Katherine,
Bellamy,
Emilie,
Narcissa,
Darya,
Grace,
Mina,
And so on.
It did not matter how the details of their lives changed, no- each echoed the others.
They were born and grew until their eighteenth birthday, whereupon the day after they would meet him and fall desperately in love within the weeks that followed. Soon they would consummate their love and the women would fall pregnant within the month. Merely five moons later he would leave them for another- a woman they knew that they knew, but not how. They would give birth, content in knowing that at least they would have their child even as they grew more and more certain that he would not be coming back to them.
But the child would be stillborn in each of the women’s lives.
They would take care of their child as best they could, but by the next fortnight- they would take their own lives.
Cora was certain Corinina’s life had ended in the same fashion- she had dreamed it was so.
Cora took comfort that it might not happen to her now- no, she was going to be married before she turned eighteen. It was a marriage alliance between two kingdoms that would protect her from her great-aunt’s fate.
But part of her still worried as Lucinda poked and prodded her with hairpins, organizing Cora’s long golden waves into an elaborate braid with moon flowers laced in beside amethyst ribbons that matched her eyes.
Her mother was the one to place the plain gold tiara atop her head, the plainest Cora had ever worn.
She stood without noticing her and her mother’s height difference for the first time in a long time.
It had once made her subconscious, but her mother had assured her that she would not stand taller than her soon to be husband..
Lucinda pulled her over to the full length mirror to show off her handiwork.
The dress did her well- the corset making her subtle curves more overt, her skirts reaching the floor in tiered pink gossamer.
Her own amethyst eyes were the star of it all, but Cora cared little for it- her eyes were a direct window to her soul, Agatha had once told her.
You look sad, her maid had said when they met.
Cora was inclined to agree.
Her mother left first, leaving her alone in the guest chamber to find Cora’s father so that he may escort her down to the grand hall.
The worry in her stomach grew stronger- biting into her with crazed jaws and near bringing tears to her eyes.
She knew then that it didn’t matter how different her life was from the other women.
She felt as if she had been each of them, once upon a time.
Cora could finally acknowledge then that perhaps those dreams had been more than dreams, perhaps they had been real.
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