Page 4 (1/2)

Chapter 1

“Celiese!” Olgrethe’s thick, honey-colored curls fleildly about her shoulders as she turned to suold bracelets? I wore theh-strung beauty stary frustration

Celiese lifted her cool green gaze frolance sweeping the bedcha wo in the corner where you tossed therethe Do you see them on the far side of the bed?” Celiese bent her head to hide her i stitches so intricate they were nearly invisible upon the sheer blue garment

“You are supposed to gather , Celiese, not leave rethe stepped over the heaps of clothing she had thrown about the room to retrieve the bracelets herself She slid them up her slender ar to an inspection of her clothes, she picked up first one shiarment then another, only to cast each aside in rapid succession

“I need a neardrobe, Celiese, not one thing I have is worth wearing”

“All your gowns are new, none worn enerous with you, but you should not expect a nen to arrive each day with the certainty of the rising sun”

Celiese tied a knot in her thread, snipped it off, and folded the blue dress neatly as she rose She was the taller of the two, and even more fair Her pale blonde hair sparkled like the finest silver in the bright sunlight filling the large characefully about the roo the discarded apparel with a fluid rhythht difference in their statures and the shades of their hair, the two young women were real bearing of their class, the delicacy of un their sweet features Yet one was mistress and the other slave, a distinction that seldoave the other no peace

“Take whatever you want for yourself, Celiese, it owns are all prettier on you anyway” Olgrethe flopped across her bed and broke into racking sobs, her desperation too great to bear in silence

Celiese ignored the weeping young woman until she had returned the rooently entle touch “It is not the quality of your wardrobe that has upset you so, for your gowns could not be more lovely Has your father proposed another suitor to whom you object as violently as you have to all the others?”

Olgrethe nodded and dried her eyes on the back of her hand as she sat up “He has no end of men to whom he’d like to see me wed, and the sooner the better, it seems Whatever shall I do?”

Celiese responded with a sy? Has not onee when she may divorce her husband whenever she chooses Won’t your father expect your consent to any e he proposes?”

Olgrethe chewed her lower lip petulantly before she responded “I’ll not consent to ht be What difference would it make, are not all men the same?”

Celiese considered the question thoughtfully “No, allhusbands and caring fathers, while others are unspeakably cruel in all they do, a disgrace to all that is human”

Olgrethe frowned, not readily coether these last five years, how can it be that you know so much of the world while I understand so little?”

“Our childhoods were very different, and I have had far more opportunity to consider life and all its many variations than you have If you would but hold your temper and think before you speak, you would also see the obvious, Olgrethe”

“What should I see that I do not?” the pretty young woman asked skeptically

Choosing her words with care, Celiese struggled to e enhances his own position, but you would be wise to see that the choice is yours rather than his Now let us consider for athe ht wish you to marry would you accept for a husband?”

Olgrethe shuddered with revulsion, “None! They are all the saant buffoons I would have none as my mate”

“Perhaps they wish only to ireat pride in being a valiant warrior, does he not?”

“Of course” Olgrethe thought the characteristic too obvious toan endless recitation of their raids, of how ather their fortunes and bring home slaves to staff their farms”

Seeing her servant stiffen with sudden anguish, Olgrethe reached out to eive me, Celiese, I never think of you as a slave, you are as dear to me as a sister would be, and no o to his home”

Celiese returned her war woman

had inflicted so thoughtlessly “I do not ever forget I alect our original purpose You are of an age to marry, and we must choose your husband before your father does If no one you havemen to be invited here for you to meet”