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Droplets on pale skin. Like tears, hanging suspended from tendrils of long, fine, blonde hair.
It rolled down her face like raindrops when she lifted her head out of the water, sliding over her cheeks and lingering on her eyelashes, so much that as she opened her eyes it looked like she was seeing stars. She studied her skin in the water; how it made her look two shades paler, and how her fingertips had begun to grow wrinkled. She admired the way the drops would stay on her skin as she raised up her arm, marvelling at the traces they made as they slowly dripped downwards.
Her hair billowed around her shoulders, floating on the surface of the water. As she moved her head it moved with her, like the end of a snake as it moves through long grass. I am a snake, she thought to herself. I am a fierce and wild creature.
Her mother had always told her they were descended from Melusina, the water spirit. Jacquetta had showed her daughter drawings of her, and told her that the blood of Melusina flowed in their veins. It was said that as soon as Melusina submersed herself in water, her legs transformed into a tail. Some pictures gave her wings, too. Elizabeth looked at her own legs in the bronze bathtub. She didn't have a tail. Nor wings, neither. And yet. Her mother swore she had the blood of Melusina within her, and Elizabeth always felt like her mother had told the truth when she herself was in the water. Surrounded by the glow of a dozen candles, the water seemed to glow as the light refracted against the bronzed metal tub.
It sang to her. Like a gentle, low humming. Men had accused her mother of witchcraft, but Elizabeth knew it wasn't witchery than ran through their blood. It was the power of Melusina. Elizabeth raised her arm once more, ignoring the splash of water as it spilled onto the oak floorboards of her chamber. She titled her head to the side, watching as it ran in small streams back into the bathtub beneath. With her index finger she traced a pattern on her upper arm, watching as it disappeared into her skin. She was made of this, made of the water. She was the descendent of the great water spirit Melusina, and though she may lack the tail or the wings, it remained that Melusina's blood was hers, and hers was Melusina's.
The creak of the door and the thuds of footsteps broke Elizabeth from her thoughts. Aware of her surroundings, she noticed the puddle that has formed on the floorboards next to her, and noted that the water had grown cold.
"My lady, you will catch a chill!" One of her ladies announced as she entered, bearing towels.
"I am made of stronger stuff, Anne." Elizabeth declared, waving a hand.
"Your highness, allow me to light a fire in your chamber and dispose of this cold bath." Anne asked, worrying about the queen becoming ill.
"Thank you, Anne." Elizabeth answered. She began to rise from the bath as Anne held out a fresh towel, but before she did, she dipped her fingers into the water and flicked the water at her lady's face. "It is but water." She whispered with a smile. "It cannot harm me."
Anne laughed nervously, and after dressing the queen and helping her to bed, she scurried away downstairs, and as Elizabeth lay in the darkness, she was sure that Anne and her other ladies in waiting would all be a-gossip about how Elizabeth Woodville, the queen of England, was a water goddess. With a smirk on her features, she was sure Melusina would have approved.
A/N: Elizabeth Woodville was the wife of Edward IV. Her mother Jacquetta was arrested for witchcraft in 1469, though she was cleared when Edward IV was restored to his throne in 1470. It was claimed by many that Jacquetta and Elizabeth had used witchcraft to make Elizabeth queen, as she was the widow of a mere knight and not at all the sort of woman the king was expected to wed. They claimed their supposed descent from Melusina through the Luxembourg line Jacquetta was born into. Melusina (sometimes spelt Melusine) herself was a medieval European mythical figure, who is depicted with a tail from the waist down like a mermaid, and sometimes pictured with wings, sometimes with two tails.758Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8dFt4WlHP
