Cass had always been brought up a lady. Her behavour was groomed and polished like a prized horse. Such expectations were not surprising for someone of her stature. Royalty by both birth and marriage, she was dubbed the luckiest of her and her sisters. The envy of all women.
Not only had she and her sisters been born princesses, her father took special favor in Cass for she was the one who most resembled him. A man of few words and a wide grin, he often took her aside for lessons in the things that "mattered", according to him, of course.
By the age of eight Cass was able to sail her own boat. A one-person skip that the two of them had spent a summer rigging up. When she was ten she learned how to ride horses, both English and Western saddles. Naturally, she rode like her father. Side saddle made her feel clumsy and foolish, so it was a banished thought. Age eleven she was a skilled marksman with a bow; twelve saw her learning how to chart courses for sea and learn the patterns of the stars and planets.
All of this "boorish man" influenced knowledge made Cass's mother cringe. She had only been blessed with three daughters; not one of them was going to be seen as anything less than a lady. When she could she tore her daughter kicking and screaming to etiquette classes. It was here that Cass learned how to walk, sit, stand, and talk properly. She was to learn how to set a table, how to cater to guests, how to host dinner parties, and how to care for children.
Under the insistence of both her parents, Cass was becoming quite the well-rounded individual. She outshone her sisters without hesitance and it was agreed that she alone would come to rule the kingdom. Obviously her parent's had yet to hear of their daughter's desire to marry a young man she had only met once at the annual Autumn Masquerade. And that by marrying this stranger she would not only inherit one kingdom, but become Queen of a second.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
ReplyDeleteWonder who that was?
Moskeeto Jack
Probably not someone you would guess. ;) I likes to keep it suspenseful! ooo!
ReplyDelete