Rosamund's hands were everything but delicate when tying Coraline's corset in place, bending her over to fit her hand inside and pull her breasts up with no embarrassment, creating a deeper cleavage from her small bust with no ounce of embarrassment.
Her Lady Grandmother had patiently braised each of her ladies' hairs with status-symbolising red silk ribbons and main braids that pointed out their status as the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. She'd been teaching all of them the traditional Plaenian braids from when Queen Philippa was on the throne, the same way she had Coraline earlier. So far, Hannah was the best one among the girls, her fingers were fast and skilled, but Rosamund wasn't much behind.
"Bride braids," her Lady Grandmother spoke, fine fingers creating the beautiful pattern on her long locks. "You better learn, girl. You will be the ones braiding each other hairs when the day comes for you and your daughters."
Her grandfather had prohibited this type of culture when he came to power, and all of the girls had been born under the prohibition – including Cora herself. Leo had plans to bring everything back, though, and the two of them – her future husband and Coraline herself – were to be the visible examples of that.
Coraline's new role as Queen also dictated that she would be the one to find her ladies and she'd be lying if she said it was an easy task, but her eyes were already settled on someone for at least one of them. Ever since moving to the castle, she has seen Rosamund and Lord Edmund Bryton were clearly interested in one another. It wasn't only once that she caught the Dudley girls giggling as Rosamund spoke about the King's right-hand man, and he seemed very interested as well, always unable to keep his eyes off of her when they were in the same room, and blushing whenever she dared speaking with him.
They were already a perfect match.
"Give me her veil," Anne took her hands, making her stand up, and Rebecca crossed the room, bringing it to her hands and watching as she placed it over her hair and then covering her face.
Cora's heart fluttered as the realisation of what was happening was finally happening.
She was getting married.
Coraline was getting married to the king and would become Queen in mere minutes.
"Cora?" her grandmother quietly called her, holding her as she noticed something was different.
She frowned, swallowing down and completely confused about what was to happen now.
What if she was dooming herself now? What if Leo was just as bad as her grandfather?
She was used to a bad life when she was just an heir. Her grandfather never crossed her way and her routine made it easy to ignore her own pain, but now… she was happy. She was happy with the Dunchs, they were good to her, they gave her love and space and affection, and everything she always wanted.
When Leonard had kissed her and done all that, she thought that she'd found something – someone – new.
Her parents had loved one another, that was everything she really knew about them. What if her husband never ever came to love her?
"What if he's just as bad as Blackhall?" she whispered, feeling a knot in her throat. "What if everything he's been doing all this time was just to convince me that he is better than he actually is?"
She wanted to be Queen, she knew what would be good to Plaenia and she knew she could be the person to bring it to the people, but…
Should she sacrifice herself for them? Now that she was finally happy, should she give it all away?
Anne's hands didn't leave hers, as she turned to look over the girl.
"Leave us," she instructed the ladies. "I'll have a talk to my granddaughter."
No one protested, and as soon as they were alone in the room and the door was closed, Anne held Coraline's face in her hands and made her stare into her eyes.
"Listen to me," she spoke firmly. "He will never, ever hurt you."
But she continued to try to hold her tears back.
"How do you even know?" she insisted.
"I know much more than you'll ever do," her grandmother said simply. "If he ever dares to try to do anything against you, I'll make sure he pays for it."
She swallowed down, this time surprised.
What did she mean by that?
"Grandmother..."
"I'm old, Cora," her mother stared into your eyes. "I don't care about anything more in life than my family. I lost my daughter to one king already and had to watch you grow from far away to your safety. I won't let anyone take you from me again."
She kissed Coraline's cheek and swiped his thumbs over her cheeks, cleaning her tears away.
"Now," Anne smiled. "It's time for you to get married."