Where Charmaine was ever constancy and august splendor, Princess Aureliane mal Harmon was caprice and whim. Ever a whirlwind. I remember the first time I met her. She had sent word she wished to see designs, just whatever I had on hand. And I had rifled through my sketchbooks, pulling out six designs I thought worthy to show her. We hit it off immediately, and she declared that she wanted them all, with different gold jewels for each. It was obvious with that, if it had not been before, that this was a woman who lived in the moment. And it ever was her way, both as an endearing quality and her greatest weakness.
It was the way of her marriage as well. Hearing of it was both a surprise and none at all. I have written of Kaemgen ab Bretagne before, a dear and early friend in Lithmore. I had come to visit him at his hunting lodge, the fashionable gathering spot in those days. I knew already that Liany fancied him and he was enamoured with her, but she was recognized as a princess of the realm, for all the illegitimacy. Even for a young Baron of Seahome, such a match is hardly a given. Upon arrival, I was whisked off to a private corner and sworn to secrecy, until the official announcements were made and banns are posted. The Queen had consented; Kaemgen and Liany would marry. Further, they would establish together a new house, granted a march by the Queen to increase Kaemgen’s status to one more suitable for royal connection by marriage. It seemed as well that Charmaine feared her half-sister’s impulsiveness; the nuptials would be promptly handled, within the bounds of propriety.
As to be expected, the wedding was the event of the season, though I must admit, I still shake my head to myself when I recall that the reception was made a masquerade. One simply does not make an event in which there are guests of honor a masked affair. It entirely defeats the purpose, but one also does not refuse the Princess Aureliane. It was a beautiful wedding with reception held aboard the Kirulean Jewel, Her Majesty’s flagship. The happy pair began their new lives together as Kaemgen and Aureliane ab Beauparlant, Marquis and Marchioness of Avonna. They were drunk in love and expecting a child before their return from honeymoon in Vavard.
I believe in passion and taking moments as they come. There is much joy to be had in this world and I see no reason to let it escape us. However, I would draw the line at tying my happiness now to my forever. What comes in a moment may be gone as quickly. That was the way of it for my two friends. In their youth and impulsiveness, it began to dawn on them that there was much they didn’t know about the other and more they weren’t prepared to accept. Liany confided in Kaemgen things that he couldn’t handle, that soured his views on her friends. And he reacted to this through trying to control her, refusing her their friendship, berating her her resistance against complying with it. The happy facade grew slowly to just that as the love crumbled away from within. They cared for one another still, but tolerating one another became quite another story, and the occasional tender moments, such as the beautiful baby shower he planned for her, weren’t enough light to illuminate the darkness that had grown.
It did not come to a head at court, but that was where it broke open for all to see. Charmaine was somber as she addressed us, having only just emerged from private discussion to sort out the details. ‘What would you do with a nobleman who has made designs against the life of another?’ she asked us. The response was immediate and vehement, but I think she knew already what she would do. I think all were shocked at what she proceeded to tell us. I knew things had grown bad, but even I was surprised at just how much. Kaemgen’s contacts in the Brotherhood liked him better, it seemed, than gold, and quite a bit of it. They had passed on word to him that Olither ab Chettle, the Count of Brune in those days, had attempted to secure a contract for the assassination of Kaemgen ab Beauparlant. He had done so as a part of a conspiracy between himself and Princess Aureliane to remove her no longer welcome husband. The tone of the room was palpable. Olither would be stripped of his county, and, while her marriage would be maintained, Aureliane would no longer have the right to call herself princess.
And so Kaemgen was left with a very pregnant wife who had tried to arrange for his assassination. I cannot imagine living in such a state, and I think now I would mark this as the beginning of his downfall. But as everything involving them, it did not remain the same for long. Chettle, it seems, did not take well to being stripped of title. He gathered what men his money would hire, with as few compunctions as possible. I was not there for it and so will better leave it for others who were to describe, but their rampage ended within the hospital. Chettle was dead, but not before he had slit Liany’s throat, perhaps there to stop him in a last, futile effort to redeem herself.
And the child that she carried? It was instead children, twins plucked from their fallen mother’s womb. It was not certain if they would live, so early and born in such a way, but they did then, surviving as an ominous last testament to the ill-fated match.
