@Lykoi
"Hey."
A soft hand settled on her shoulder and Yvaine tensed. She knew who it was without looking, so she didn't bother to.
Emile sighed and retracted his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother drag his hand tiredly down his face. She sat ramrod straight, staring out the carriage window at the approaching walls of the city. Ketra.
"It might not be so bad," Emile tried softly, almost coaxingly. "You know Mother and Father would never marry you to someone unfit--"
On the other side of the carriage, their brother Lucius snorted. "They might," he noted dryly, chin resting in his hand as he stared out his own window. "After all the fuss they made about...well. They might."
Yvaine sighed and dropped her eyes as Emile hissed at Lucius to mind his tongue.
Nearly a year had passed since her...
dalliance with a particular conman, and her parents were still doing their best to hide the "scandal". The four Devereaux children personally didn't think that anyone much
cared that Yvaine had had a brief, if passionate, romance-- though Leo and Lucius were certainly overprotective about it, as expected-- but Amelia and Jean disagreed. They were so mortified that they'd redoubled their efforts to find Yvaine a
proper husband.
But not in Connlaoth, no no. They'd been so worried about the "news" spreading that they'd reached all the way across the border into Adela. And low and behold, their searching had netted a few responses. Choosing who they thought to be the best among the lot, the entire Devereaux family had been packed into carriages some eight days ago and set off to Ketra for...negotiations.
I'm not some prized mare, Yvaine thought despondently as she watched the city grow ever nearer. But here she was, about to be sold off to the best bidder, in the hopes of producing more
valuable offspring.
She hated them, in that moment. Her parents for doing this, her brothers for letting it happen, her possible fiance for accepting it-- and herself, for not running as she'd told herself so many time she would.
It seemed she wasn't as fierce as she'd once thought.
The journey into and through the city passed in a blur, and before she knew it the Devereaux carriages were stopping beside what appeared to be a manor of some sort. Whether it was to be her new home, or was simply the designated meeting place, she didn't know, nor did she particularly care.
Her brothers piled out of the coach, and she could hear her parents exiting theirs. She didn't move. Greetings were called and hands were shook, and still she sat in silence, staring down at her hands folded in her lap. No matter how tight she clasped them, they refused to stop shaking.
"...and of course, our daughter."
The carriage door opened at the sound of her father's voice, his hand reaching back to clasp her arm-- none too gently, though of course he'd make it seem like a simple gesture of aide to any watching. Yvaine was pulled from the carriage and out onto the street, eyes downcast and hands clasped tight in front of her body.
"May I introduce the Lady Yvaine of House Devereaux."
I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I wish they'd all DIE!Yvaine took a breath and lifted her head, a winning smile in place and her lashes lowered demurely. "A pleasure," she murmured, dipping into a curtsy.
