Chapter 1: No Time like the Present
Damon Salvatore, crown prince of the Salvatore Empire. Aged 23, with jet black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Famed for his good looks, but on the inside and personality-wise? Not quite so much. Damon is your typical arrogant, entitled male who believes he's the best thing on earth. He's also a reputed Casanova and boozer with a penchant for skipping out on his royal duties.
The best part about him? His marital status. The man is married to me, Bonnie Bennett.
Lucky me, (insert heavy sarcasm).
This nightmare came about when my family's government went broke. You see, the Bennett kingdom has the unfortunate luck of having their land situated in an arid dessert. Every year, farmers struggle to produce enough crops to sustain their families and poverty affects nearly half of the population.
The neighboring kingdom, ruled by the Salvatores, extended an offer to help us by providing resources and financial aid, under one condition. That is, that the Bennett family would marry one of their daughters to their crown prince. It was obvious that the Salvatores were attempting to absorb our little kingdom into their great empire. But, my parents were left with no choice. No other kingdom would offer aid and so my parents had to choose which of their 3 daughters to send off.
There's Lucy, the eldest. She possesses a gargantuan ego, but rightly so. Lucy's got unmatched diplomatic skills and she carries herself in a stately manner, perfect for a queen. But my parents decided that she was too valuable for their own kingdom to send off. Then there's Emily, the youngest. Emily's a sweet-hearted girl, soft-spoken and gentle in manner. My parents saw her as a fragile little bird that the Salvatores would just rip to pieces if they got the chance. That left me, the middle child, the rebellious kid that skipped out on tutoring to talk to her half-crazed grandma. I wasn't doing any good by staying in the kingdom, so they decided I could do more good by being sent off.
And so it was decreed that I, Bonnie Bennett would be married off to Damon Salvatore.
My wedding day was a joyless, superficial occasion. Everything had been too white and frilly for my taste and nothing at all like how I'd pictured it when I was a little girl. Of course, when I was a little girl, I hadn't known a thing about politics and marriages of conveniences. My family hadn't been able to attend, 'due to reasons', and I had knew not a soul at my own wedding.
Going down the aisle had been a surreal moment for me. Just moments before I walked through the chapel doors, I had been fitted into a white, lace dress and had a pink-tinted rose bouquet thrown in my hands. Looking down the aisle, I saw my minutes-to-be husband with the same flat blue eyes and self-assured smirk that he had first greeted me with.
He was gorgeous no doubt, but his cocky personality made me want to strangle the closest living person. But queens apparently aren't supposed to do such things. So, I sucked it up and stepped forward to join him at the altar. My resolve to be perfectly pleasant broke when I heard him let out low chuckle.
"You look half-decent, Bennett." He had the annoying of habit of simply addressing me by my surname.
I shot him a dazzling smile that was sure to look like some semblance of affection from afar. "My Lord sure knows how to make a girl swoon." I stepped closer, right on his shiny black shoes, the action subtly hidden by the hem of my dress.
His lips flattened into a short pain of expression and he let out a small grunt. "Damn witch." He muttered under his breath. The officiant of the wedding gave both of us a hard look, forcing Damon to hold back any further insults.
My lips curved into a smug smile, oh this was going to be a long, and painful marriage.
The rest of the ceremony passed in a blur, much to my dismay. My stomach was churning, I didn't want to admit it but I was nervous. I couldn't help but steal glances at him the entire time the officiant droned on. His eyes were back to that flat emotion, was he as nervous as I was? My thoughts were disorganized but one thing remained sharp and clear in my mind. I was marrying this person for the sake of the people in my country. Just by saying two words, I was going to be saving lives.
With that in mind, my mouth loosened up and I looked straight into his unnerving blue eyes.
"I do."
"And so…I hope you are just as happy as the two of us and be merry with us, tonight!" Damon grinned widely, carelessly waving his wine glass in the air.
It was only a few minutes into the reception and I was sure that half my face was going to fall off due to the strenuous activity of faking extreme happiness that I was now married to an obnoxious cad.
The wedding guests cheered back in agreement, and the music started up again, this time more upbeat than the classical music that had been the background to our wedding.
Damon slung a lazy arm around my waist and I resisted the urge to smack it away. He was so doing this on purpose, knowing I couldn't swat his hand away in public. Instead, I forced myself to focus my thoughts on the lively reception hall. The reception was being held in the courtyard of the Salvatore castle. It was a luxurious castle, even for royalty. Chandeliers dripped bright light onto the polished marble floors and velvet curtains hung from the rose-stained windows that overlooked the lush greenery that was so hard to find in my own country.
My chest tightened a little bit as I thought of home. I wondered what they were all doing. Were they even thinking about me?
"Bennett." Damon's sharp voice broke into my thoughts, abruptly. His arm had withdrawn from my waist.
I looked up at him with an icy glare. "I have a name." I gritted out. "It wouldn't hurt for you to use it."
His teeth formed a sharp white crescent. "I could care less. Listen, I hate to abandon my lovely wife on such a momentous occasion, but I promised my brother I'd down some drinks with his saintly self."
I frowned. He was going to leave me? Granted, he was unbearable, but I figured that at least his presence was better than none at all. "Fine," I snapped a little more harshly than I meant. "I really couldn't care less. I'm your wife, not your mother."
Damon's blue eyes brightened. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Bennett." His grin twisted into a lascivious smirk. "Besides, we'll have all the time together we need, tonight."
My cheeks reddened at his words. I opened my mouth to shoot off a response but he had already turned and disappeared through the crowd. "Honestly…" I muttered. If he thought that anything besides literal sleeping was going to happen tonight, he was mistaken.
"So you're the one that managed ensnare the elusive Prince Damon Salvatore." A bright giggle sounded behind me, startling me.
I whirled around to face a perky blonde with mischievous hazel-blue eyes. Her bouncy golden curls and fitted silk gown sent a little churn of jealousy through my stomach. "Oh, you're m-mistaken." I stammered, thrown off by her words. Was that what was going around the country? That I had had ensnared him like some predator?
The corner of her eyes crinkled in obvious amusement. She let out another girlish giggle. "I'm teasing, Lady Bonnie. I figured if Damon were to ever get married it'd be through an arranged marriage, dictated by his father."
"Oh!" she thrust out her hand, "I'm Lady Caroline. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you. I wish I could have helped you with get ready earlier, but I was busy with preparations for the reception."
I smiled back. If I was lucky, I might actually make a friend at my new home. Her sunny attitude, I had to admit, was infectious. "Bonnie, please don't bother with the title. Bonnie's perfectly fine with me."
Her eyebrows drew up in mild surprise. "Seriously?" she demanded. "You're a royal and yet you don't want to be called as one?" The corner of her pink lips drew up in a wide smile. "It is quite fortunate that of all the other woman of court, Damon married you."
Huh. I grimaced. So he was a womanizer.
Lady Caroline continued chatting, fingering a stray curl and flicking it back into place. "It would have been awful having one of those other girls as a sister-in-law. I'd go positively insane-''
"Sister-in-law?" I echoed, surprised. "Are you perhaps Damon's sister?" I cringed at how clueless I sounded. But then again, it wasn't my fault that my family had rushed the wedding so fast, that I barely even knew my own husband's name, much less his siblings.
A choked sound came out of Caroline's throat. "Oh goodness, no." She stifled a laugh. "We are related through marriage! My husband is Stefan Salvatore." The woman almost looked offended when a blank look surfaced on my face. "You know… the one with the handsome, brooding countenance?"
I vaguely recalled the name. Not based on Caroline's comical, and obviously biased, description but because I remembered that there had been a man standing next to Damon at the altar. I hadn't really paid him much mind as I had been so nervous.
"Stefan Salvatore…" Actually, I did remember hearing about him. He was supposedly the 'good' brother, the one that all the commoners adored due to his compassionate nature. It seemed like I had gotten the short-end of the stick.
The blonde woman nodded emphatically, her cheeks rosy with obvious affection. "My husband is a good man." Her face fell, and her nose wrinkled cutely. "It's a shame that the two brothers have decided to drink at the moment. I could show you around Salvatore Manor, if you like?"
"That'd be great." I breathed, relieved. Leaving the reception seemed like a brilliant idea. The teeming courtyard felt stifling and I wasn't keen to spend the rest of the night in a dark corner while others danced, more jubilant about my wedding than I could ever be.
"Excellent!" she beamed. "But first…" She stopped a servant who was passing through, carrying a silver platter of tall champagne glasses. Her hand shot out to grab two drinks and offered me one with an impish smirk.
I paused, hesitantly. "It's alright; I'm not particularly fond of-"
She scoffed, a knowing look in her bright eyes. "Lady Bonnie, trust me when I say this. If you plan on making it through a marriage with Damon Salvatore, you're going to need more than a few drinks here and there. You might as well start now."
And I found myself in entire agreement.
A/N: I am beyond excited to write this story! For the longest time ever, I had major writer's block, but with the recent developments on TVD, Bamon has become my new muse. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please subscribe to the story and leave your thoughts in a review! I hope to have the next chapter out soon.
Much appreciated,
WRITER4EVERR