Status: In progress but looking for feedback. The Prologue has been trimmed! More chapters coming soon :)
Always Anyways...
A New Start
My father's words echoed in my ear and gave me no peace. As I hid in my cottage, I know that it was just a temporary solution. A hiding place from a nobleman who had been corrupted by evils beyond my understanding. I had been dishonoured and defamed. My name was spoken only with whispers as the disgraced daughter who had allowed such corruption into her life. All in the name of love. How I have learned that love could corrupt!
But my father would not allow me to hide in that small cottage forever. It twas time that I came into the light once again and recapture the honour my name once held. It twas time I found my place again and it twas time I was able to hold my head up high. He called me to his castle and found a place that I could work toward rediscovering the Lady that I once was...through the service to another.
A former Queen and a former chosen Lady has only one place left in this world. I was offered as a Lady-in-waiting to a Lady with far higher title then I now held. She was a young wife to one of my father's most noble and long standing Lords. A house known for their strong armies, vast lands and unrelenting courage and loyalty. Above even my former king and far above the lowly station of the nobleman that took me into his halls. I would be both protected here but also be given a chance to show my piety and honour in service to my Lady.
But upon my arrival, I found my young Lady both gentle, sweet and kind. If she had any knowledge of my past dishonours, she made no mention of them. The only question she did have was why I was dressed as a widow, in all black with a black veil as such. When my words faltered for a worthy answer, my Lady Ruth laid her hand on my arm and stated, "Your reasons are your own and must fill you will great pain. I will have dresses made for you as I do for all my ladies-in-waiting made in the family colours. The day your pain subsides, I hope that you will wear them. For now, I ask only that you wear my family colours about you as a sash so others may know you as one of my ladies." It was a genuine kindness I had not experienced in a long time and graciously accepted her simple compromise which was below her station to even offer. I was instantly glad to be there and promised to serve her proudly as ladies-in-waiting had once done for me.
The work was hard and the days were long. I was on my feet endlessly in her service. I was glad for the days when my Lady Ruth would sow, read her bible or go riding because it gave me moments of freedom of body and mind.
However when my Lady's Lord returned from hunting, I quickly realized the wisdom of why my father had sent me here. That night, when Lady Ruth's lord entered her bed chamber, I heard only cries of pain and agony. The next day, her body was covered in painful dark bruises. An outward symbol of a pain I knew all too well, except my bruises were on the inside. I knew why I was here, and I held her gently in the bath, while she cried in my arms. My dearest Lady Ruth, I will serve her well and I pray my strength will give her hope to continue on in the face of such cruelty.
But my father would not allow me to hide in that small cottage forever. It twas time that I came into the light once again and recapture the honour my name once held. It twas time I found my place again and it twas time I was able to hold my head up high. He called me to his castle and found a place that I could work toward rediscovering the Lady that I once was...through the service to another.
A former Queen and a former chosen Lady has only one place left in this world. I was offered as a Lady-in-waiting to a Lady with far higher title then I now held. She was a young wife to one of my father's most noble and long standing Lords. A house known for their strong armies, vast lands and unrelenting courage and loyalty. Above even my former king and far above the lowly station of the nobleman that took me into his halls. I would be both protected here but also be given a chance to show my piety and honour in service to my Lady.
But upon my arrival, I found my young Lady both gentle, sweet and kind. If she had any knowledge of my past dishonours, she made no mention of them. The only question she did have was why I was dressed as a widow, in all black with a black veil as such. When my words faltered for a worthy answer, my Lady Ruth laid her hand on my arm and stated, "Your reasons are your own and must fill you will great pain. I will have dresses made for you as I do for all my ladies-in-waiting made in the family colours. The day your pain subsides, I hope that you will wear them. For now, I ask only that you wear my family colours about you as a sash so others may know you as one of my ladies." It was a genuine kindness I had not experienced in a long time and graciously accepted her simple compromise which was below her station to even offer. I was instantly glad to be there and promised to serve her proudly as ladies-in-waiting had once done for me.
The work was hard and the days were long. I was on my feet endlessly in her service. I was glad for the days when my Lady Ruth would sow, read her bible or go riding because it gave me moments of freedom of body and mind.
However when my Lady's Lord returned from hunting, I quickly realized the wisdom of why my father had sent me here. That night, when Lady Ruth's lord entered her bed chamber, I heard only cries of pain and agony. The next day, her body was covered in painful dark bruises. An outward symbol of a pain I knew all too well, except my bruises were on the inside. I knew why I was here, and I held her gently in the bath, while she cried in my arms. My dearest Lady Ruth, I will serve her well and I pray my strength will give her hope to continue on in the face of such cruelty.