Oct 11th Antagonist's background

Marrying off the daughter

Raven peeked through the openings on the balustrade at the gathering in the great hall below. Her father, in his new doublet of green velvet, and her brother in his smaller version in gold stood at the head of the table waiting. The guards and retainer ranged on each side of the room, watching the door, waiting for the herald to announce the king’s arrival. Raven hugged her rag doll Elsie in the crook of her arm as she watched.

“The king doesn’t like girls,” she whispered. “He only likes boys, even stupid boys like Stephen. I heard mama say that Stephen will never be a scholar, and its just as well he likes fighting, for that’s all he’s good for. Mama says when I’m bigger I must marry whoever the king says. Daddy is the king’s uncle, but even he must do what the king says. I don’t like the king,” she confided to Elsie with a sob, hugging her hard.

“Stephen is stupid,” she continued staring at the golden-haired boy beneath. “He pulls my hair and tells me that he’ll get the king to marry me to an old man, who will take all my clothes off and give me babies. I hate Stephen.”

“Raven, what are you doing on the floor? You’ll get your clothes dirty.”

The eight-year old gave her mother a calculating stare before obediently standing up.

“The king doesn’t like girls,” she told her triumphantly.

“Oh, he likes them well enough, after five wives of his own, and six bastards on the wives of others. When you get older, and fill out a little, you could do worse than catch his eye. He’s known for rewarding his mistresses well and marrying them to pliant husbands. Relying on your father’s impoverished coffers won’t get you very far I’m afraid.”

Smoothing down the child’s dress and wiping a dirty smudge from her cheek with a wet thumb, she looked at her daughter and sighed.

“I fear you’ll never be a beauty my dear, but you’ve got intelligence and that could take you further in life. Come, we’ll wait in the solar and watch the hunting party arrive. With any luck, you might catch sight of your future husband. Several of the king’s nieces were betrothed on their eleventh birthdays, so that only gives us two years to find you a good match and apply for the king’s approval.”

“I don’t want to leave, I want to stay with you,” Raven declared as her eyes filled with moisture.

“That’s very sweet of you my dear,” her mother declared smoothing down the front of her tight fitting bodice, “but I have done my duty to your father the Earl. I have been his wife for ten years and borne him two children. As soon as I have found a suitable match for you I will be leaving Scarcliff Keep for ever and retiring to my mother’s house in Lenderfall. It is the only property, of all the houses and lands I brought with me as a dowry, that your father will let me keep. It is a small house, with little or no furniture, but better to be yourself in poverty than be another’s slave in silk.”