Chapter 1
Jane's POV
"Oh for God's sake Jane, smile!" Lady Catherine snapped, tightening my already too tight corset, causing me to let out a yelp and my bosom to be pushed even further upwards. "You're married and you've been queen for a few days. What's not to be joyful about?" she exclaimed. Lady Catherine had a rather annoying habit to over pronounce certain words, overly enunciating them. Despite this annoying habit, I suppose she was my only loyal friend. But I still could not trust her, not with my deepest secrets; I didn't dare trust anybody with those.
And despite my Lady in Waiting's feeble attempts to make me see the brighter side of life, I simply did not want to. I was married to a complete pig of a man who I did not love, father insisted that I married him; it was the only way I could become queen and gave me the substantial power I needed to rule. Which was another reason why I didn't want to look on the brighter side of life, I didn't want to be queen. Mary's supporters had developed a deep disliking towards me despite the fact that I didn't even want to be Queen! I wanted to be free. I wanted to run around in fields, breathing in fresh country air. I didn't want to be trapped within the walls of the Tower of London, being regal and posing as ruler of England.
"There!" said Lady Catherine, clapping her hands in approval. "You look like an absolute picture! Just wait until Lord Dudley sees you!" I stared at my reflection in the mirror; the stranger who looked back looked nothing like me. But she was very beautiful. A beautiful red and gold embroidered dress hung from her body, hugging the top half of her body like a second skin. Gold and rubies hung from her throat, ears and hands and shone when the fire from the candlesticks glowed upon them. Her red hair was piled in a neat bun on the top of her head, secured carefully with pins, shining with the use of Pears soap.
"And don't forget your crown!" exclaimed Lady Catherine, carefully placing the jewel incrusted thing on top of my head, making sure it didn't ruffle my hair.
"Oh Jane, don't you look like a picture!" said Mother, walking into the room. Dudley close behind her, he looked like a fool, but I wasn't sure that was because of my developed dislike for him. He was cleanly shaven, and had for once in his life stopped grovelling food into his mouth like a pig. He was dressed in his robes, and was ready for the masked ball just as I am. Dudley simply grunted, he always failed to complement me when I wore a new gown.
"Now come on you two lovebirds!" said Mother gesturing us to move out of the room. I disliked how she called us lovebirds, we obviously weren't. I had developed no feelings for my husband over the three days in which we had been married, asides from hate and loathing. Nevertheless, Dudley and I trailed behind her as Mother rambled on about how wonderful the party would be. We only made contact with each other when we reached the top of the stairwell to rest my hand in his arm, as our names were being announced to our guests below us.
What do you think? Just an idea I had about how Jesse and Myrnin met, the strory will progress more in the next few chapters.
Thanks for reading, and please review! I'd love to know what people think of the idea and story so far :)