Liliana Lorel had not said a single word in two hours.
Instead, she had spent that time utilizing the discomforting tactic of staring at her carriage companion with a face which could make a field of wild flowers wilt. The pure, seething rage which flowed through her veins acting as fuel in her obstinate silence.
Why was she behaving like this? Why had she so viciously silenced her confrère when he tried to speak just a few minutes into their journey? Why had she scalded him with a barb from her tongue that would have left most grown men as upset as a little girl who'd dropped her ice cream on the playground?
Because he was her Fiance;
Leander Urahil.
The announcement had been made months ago now, nearly old news in the cycle of Anirian Gossip, but the Wedding was still looming. A union of a Great Houses with the prospective Heir of another was very near something of a Royal Wedding. Such things took time to plan, and through all that time the the couple to be had spent hardly any time together.
In fact, this was the longest they had ever been in the same 'room'
Not that Liliana really cared. She had intended on staying as far away from Leander as possible for as long as possible. Then,
this farce had come. A shock which had arguably sent rumors running through
Vel Anir than
their own announcement. Elise had not minded, something Liliana found curious, but in her wallowing misery she had not thought to ask her cousin why. Not that it mattered all that much in the moment.
Liliana herself, found this whole thing a
great crime.
Not just her own marriage, but that some sandy strumpet would apparently be getting the attention
she well deserved and should continue to get. A fact which was almost worse than marrying Leander in the first place.
Her anger spiked again, and for the first time in nearly an hour Liliana actually looked at her Fiance. Not simply stared past him in anger. She seethed, not at Leander surprisingly, but at the situation she was being put in. She despised this. She deserved better. She des-
A thought suddenly struck the young dilettante.
Leander finally looked at her, apparently having noticed her intense gaze once again and opened his mouth to say something. But before he could get a single word in edgewise Liliana cut him off.
"When we leave this carriage, we are going to be a happy couple."
The words stood as a bastion whose walls appeared more than a little difficult to assault.
"When you step out you are going to call me 'my love', you are going to offer me your arm, and everyone watching will believe us to be deeply in love. You will be the perfect gentleman all night. You will tell people you love my eyes, and I will say your skill with a sword is unmatched. We will dance, we will laugh, and we will cement ourselves as Aniria's darling couple." Liliana continued her words, not bothering to hide her underlying rage which fueled them.
We will show that gargoyle and his sand harpy what it actually means to be a part of the Anirian Elite."
"I abjectly refuse to play second fiddle to anyone, or anything." Liliana said, in words that may have spoken for more than the moment.
"Understand?"
She demanded from her husband to be, golden eyes piercing as ever.
