(For the writing prompts for days) 76 for Corian and 40, 84 and 96 for Zeg, please?
I got impatient to get this out here, this is just Corri’s and I will make a separate post for Zeg’s (probably all in one? But maybe not? ??)I was thinking about dramatic AUs more in line with what this prompt sounds like it’s supposed to actually be about… but then I came up with this idea instead and it just happened. This snippet also features the debut of Everrie, who has existed inside my head for awhile but never actually been written.Hope you enjoy these gals! I love Corrianne’s story, and she’s one of the characters I think you miss out on the most from the first person perspective the main story is in. But you don’t miss out because here she is!
“You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you.”
The start of the sentence drifted into Corrianne’s half-asleep state, mixing with the last indistinct fragments of her dreams, and by the time it finished she had reluctantly opened her eyes to witness her middle sister practically throwing herself on the bed.
“Calm down, Everrie,” she mumbled, pushing herself up. “It isn’t that late, is it?” She glanced out the window to see the height of the sun and judged her statement accurate.
“No, but there’s so much to do before the Pelasians arrive. And I don’t want to do any of it, Corri.”
“So is this a cry for help or an attempt to foist your duties off on me?”
Everrie flopped back on the bed. Corrianne pushed her away. “Oh, it’s absolutely an attempt at foisting of duties, but I know you’ll make me do what I’m supposed to, anyway. I just also know you’ll get it in your head to do a significant portion yourself, so I’m trying to get you going early to head off as much as I can.”
Corrianne swung her legs off the bed and stood with a stretch. “You don’t need to be so dramatic about this. It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”
“We haven’t done it for the Emperor before. He’s got to have some high standards. I won’t have him looking down his nose at us.” Everrie sat up, which Corrianne suspected was just to facilitate another dramatic flop at the next appropriate moment. “And it just eats at me, having to get everything all nice so we can lure him into subjecting us by marriage rather than conquest.”
“We don’t know that he’s going to marry one of us,” Corrianne said, letting her hair out of the braid she’d kept in in for the night and running her fingers through the honey-gold waves. “They’re only talking about it. And we can’t be the only ones talking to the Emperor about marriage.”
“But he is going to marry one of us,” Everrie said with certainty. “ We know he wants a foothold here, to wheedle out land he claims belongs to Alefor and thus to him. Maybe he could take it by force, but why waste resources when you want a wife anyway? So he’s going to marry one of us. And it’s probably going to be me.”
“Ev-”
“Well, you’re a little more untouchable than the rest of us. You’re the eldest.”
“I’m not the heir,” Corrianne said softly, rebraiding and unbraiding again the ends of her hair as she spoke. “Alairon is.”
“You were the heir for over half your life, and you know there are some who still prefer-”
“And if the Emperor prefers me,” she cut in, “is he going to care about that?”
Everrie flopped back on the bed, a clear acknowledgement of the point. “But it is still going to be me. Everyone always loves the redheads.” Corrianne rolled her eyes, but Everrie, lying where she was, could not see it. She probably knew it had been done all the same. “He’s the Emperor. He’s got to have everything special. So he’ll be drawn to my exotic beauty. And I don’t want to marry him, Corri. I won’t.”
“You will if Father tells you to.”
“I won’t!” Everrie protested, though Corrianne didn’t believe her - or at least, she thought Everrie might believe it in the moment but would change her mind if it came down to it. “I can’t stand the thought of being tied to that man! That - that monster! Paraded about like some trophy of war, or kept shut in a tower while he rides out to subjugate people or feed prisoners to his dragon or consort with women of ill repute-”
“You haven’t even met him yet.” Granted, Corrianne didn’t hold too high an opinion of him herself, but she wasn’t going to come to such colorful judgements before seeing him in person.
“And I don’t want to!”
“Maybe you’ll like him.”
“Do you think you could like a man like that? Much less chain yourself to him forever?”
“You still don’t know if it’ll be you,” she said, keenly aware that her lack of answer was an answer all the same.”
“No, it could be Illyrisse. Maybe instead of exotic beauty, he’s into the shy submissive type. I do bet he’ll want someone he’s sure he can cow.”
“Illyrisse is too young for him.”
“If he prefers her” Everrie echoed her earlier words bitterly, “is he going to care about that?”
Corrianne was quiet. It was hard to deny her sister’s points, and the thought of seeing either her or Illyrisse shipped off to Pelasia, to the hands of Emperor… she shook her head.
“No use worrying about any of that now. We’ve got plenty to do, as you have pointed out. We had better get started.”