Madame Rem passed away on the same night Solana died. She was found cold in her bed with a scatter of red dotted her sheets. She had clenched the good quilt tightly, so tight that it took the local guard to unwrench it from her cragged hands to prepare for the funeral auction. It was not appropriate for the dead to be buried or burned with any personal belongings; it simply was not proper.

Anise did not attend the woman’s funeral. She lied unconscious in a coma. No one attended the hag’s wake. Thus, the Church arranged for the corpse to be buried at the entrance of the forest. A gravemaker carved her name onto the tree under which she was buried. Yet, inexplicably on the day that Anise woke up from her deep slumber, the carvings were gone and the freshly filled grave already had a layer of snow and blended in flawlessly with the surroundings, as if the life of Madam Rem never had occurred in the small capital of Ardin.

When Anise woke, she saw her mother closed-eyes kneeled next to her bed. The girl brushed aside her mother’s messy bangs; she judged her mother to currently be Mari.

Catching the light streaming in from her window, Anise winced. A heft of bright glares and bursts of colors assaulted her temple. Closing her eyes only intensified the throbbing in her eyes and pounding in her head, as if a splatter of light drove itself into her brain. The young noble clutched at her throat as she retched up a stream of spit and gray water from her throat to the other side of her bed. Her entire face contorted — scrunched up — in pain.

The noise woke up her mother. Seeing her daughter awake (even if in a less than desirable situation), her eyes reddened. But she did not cry.

“Claude! Come clean up this mess! Francesca! Call for the Antistita and the Archbishop,” Meredith cried. She clambered aboard onto the bed and placed her hands on her daughter’s back, and she slowly rubbed Anise’s back in small circles.

After Aunt Elspeth and Jaque arrived, Meredith left the room with the support of her two servants. She still had business to take care of.

“Well, well, look who is finally up,” Jaque said, the bright clangs of his khakkhara ringing throughout the room. The sound lifted the headache from Anise’s mind. He pulled out his mirror and told Anise to gaze at her reflection. The throbbing of her eyes also stopped. The young noble’s complexion had become much better.

“Ane! You’re finally awake!” Lola shouted as she laughed and cried before suffocating Anise’s nose with her hug.

Aunt Elspeth pulled the diminutive fairy from Anise’s nose (and Jaque promptly stuffed the mirror back into his sleeves). She then checked the young noble’s pulse. The priestess looked into Anise’s emerald eyes with a peculiar expression. Her own pitch black eyes swirled like riptides, the blackness gushing forth from her two abysses more than usual. Jaque took notice.

“You,” she paused with rare reserve. “You’re healthy. Regretfully, nothing is wrong with you, and my hopes of inheriting Mari’s fortunes will have to wait. I’ll call your mother in. Talk things over with her.

You’re an adult now.”

Anise widened her eyes. “What of the marriage?”

“No need to worry,” the Archbishop chimed in. “The marriage is practically the event of the century; there is no way the baron can call it off.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aunt Elspeth rolled her eyes. She pulled on the Archbishop’s arm. “Baldy, we’re leaving. Mari, your brat is fine! Go talk with her.”

“Ah, yes, young Lady Tan’ae,” Jaque said as he stayed rooted to the ground, to the anger to of the priestess, “one of my healers saw you at Madam Rem’s house. And how should I say this?”

Anise pulled her bedsheets close to her and absolutely buried her face into the fabric. Seeing that, the Archbishop simply smiled and allowed himself to be dragged out of the room.

Meredith entered the room with tentative steps. She glanced around the room awkwardly.

“This Alleure of Rationale makes intimate conversations difficult,” she said at last.

The girl laughed through her tears. “Didn’t you get really angry when I talked about father?”

“That’s different. I was angry from a logical perspective. I simply could not understand your desire for adventurer. And look at where you ended up?” The mistress of the house closed her eyes and squeezed her hands into fists. “I said too much.”

“Yeah, you said too much. I know I’m spoiled. And dumb. And a child. But you said too much. It’s so painful.”

The pair waited in awkward silence. By the time someone spoke, Anise’s tears had slowed to a crawl.

“Is it alright if I climb onto your bed?”

“Weren’t you on my bed when I started to throw up?”

“Yes, but you’re crying right now. Even if I am stripped of emotional chains, I understand from a logical aspect that it may not be best to converse so casually at this moment.”

“I’m not crying,” the new adult retorted, muffled from her tears and her face smothered in the fabric of her quilt. Still, Anise told her mother to climb onto her bed. The child-figure mistress of the house once again clambered onto the bed with hilarious difficulty.

“Solana’s dead.” The girl spoke first. She threw away her quilt which shielded her. Instead, she blurted out her thoughts and fears in a continuous stream into the depths of her palms which hid her face. “Madame Rem’s dead. Everything’s gone.And everyone will die, because that’s life. I’ll die; I’ll die and be buried in the earth like everyone else. And I’ll be forgotten. Doesn’t that scare you? Doesn’t that make you laugh?”

She laughs.

It was painful for Meredith to listen to the girl. Under the influence of the magic, she was unable to empathize easily, much less sympathize, with her own daughter’s words. With a bitter face, she mimicked what she used to do and rubbed Anise’s back as she talked and talked.

It was an odd and lovely dichotomy. Silence and an orchestra of noises, cries, and whines; passion and a stoicism carved from marble cold; stillness and a circus-show of self-loathing, anger, and limpness like fish. It was a dichotomy, bold and odd.

While this was going on, the Archbishop and Antistita were having their own little conversation in the priestess’s personal room.

“You haven’t left yet,” Aunt Elspeth asked as she sat in her desk chair and pulled a flask of mead from her drawers. Seeing there was no other chair, Jaque simply flopped onto her bed.

The Archbishop sat up and smiled which caused the priestess to shudder. “Well, Elsie, you pulled me into your room. Perhaps, there is something you want to do to little innocent old me?”

“Yeah,” she smiled back. “I want to shove this up your arse after I finish drinking it.”

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “ Oh, how kinky of you, mademoiselle.”

“But seriously, why are you still here? Shouldn’t you already be halfway to the Great Capital by now?” She asked as she downed the entire content of her drink in one gulp. She burped.

“It would be much too suspicious to leave so soon before the actual, let’s say, incident. The most I will let you know is that I will be gone from this hellhole after the wedding ceremony.” The red-headed priest smirked devilishly as he rolled around in the priestess’s bed-quilt.

“Stop doing that. I don’t want to smell your stink when I sleep.”

“Oh, have you ever slept since coming back to this place?” The Archbishop chuckled at the priestess’s glare. “Rather, the better question would be: Why haven’t I seen any runes laid over the city yet?”

“I think you know, you smug conceited little shitstain. The fact that you were arrogant enough to tell me means I have no power to stop whatever may happen; the least I can do is probably protect the people closest to me.”

“Ah correct, indeed! However, aren’t you being a bit rude to a man who you dragged into your bedroom? Or is this the famous push and pull dance?”

The priestess’s face twitched as she smashed her empty flask against the wall against which her bed was situated.

“Elsie, I know you hit me if you truly concentrate. I believe in you.” The Archbishop began to clap his hands and chant the priestess’s name.

“Oh stop clapping and ask your next question. You wouldn’t let yourself be dragged like a doll if there wasn’t something for you in the end.”

His eyes glistened. “You paused when you checked the girl’s — no, the young lady’s — pulse. There is something isn’t there? Something strange about her since that night. I do recall one of the guards remarking she was smiling while in a pool of blood and flesh.”

The priestess cracked her back shoulders. She pulled another flask from her drawer, gulped it down, and threw it against the wall.

“You know, I’m not the one who has to pick the glass shards from the bed, right?”

The priestess glared at him. “Well, it’s not like I was going to sleep anyways.”

“So what changed about the girl?”

The priestess closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead furiously. “Fuck if I know. Something definitely changed. Her pulse is more vibrant, yet melancholic. It’s as if she’s become an entirely different person spiritually.”

“I see.”

The priestess frowned. “You know something, don’t you baldy?”

“First of all, it is never good to insult a person whom you wish to extract information from. Second of all, I simply must take my leave, Cow-tits.” The priest lept off the bed and proceeded to take his leave, leaving behind a red-faced priestess with closed fists.

Back in Anise’s room, Meredith had listened to her daughter until she exhausted herself with talking and fell asleep. The mistress covered her daughter neatly with the quilt so that she would not catch cold. With a difficult expression on her marble face, she left the room.

“Perhaps, I should have allowed Mari to take over — even if she would cry and become agitated easily. At least, the child didn’t mention adventuring... where would she go if she did, and how?” She said to herself. Meredith lifted up her dress and inspected the markings on her stomach. “It is fading quick. I best pay a visit to Elspeth, else I would lose the Bruneid deal. I cannot wait until I am done with all this and live simply.”

As she neared the priestess’s room, she heard a ruckus emanate from the room. Opening the door, she found Elspeth and Jaque tangled with the priestess lying on top of him.

“Should I come back later, Antistita?” Meredith asked as she slowly inched the door to shut.

“Lady Tan’ae, there is no need. We are done here,” Jaque said cheerfully and pushed the priestess off of him. He walked quickly out the door. He left a final remark, “Ah, and of what you saw, think nothing of it. Dear Elsie, is simply a terrible drunk.”

The priestess snarled at her employer. “Don’t tell me you want a reapplication? This would be your, what, maybe 20th reapplication in a row?”

The woman nodded.

“Mari, the fuck am I going to do with you. That brat of yours definitely got her stubbornness from you. Don’t blame me for the side-effects.”

“I won’t.” With that reply, the priestess grabbed another bottle from her drawers and drowned herself in it before complying with her employer’s wishes.

That night, Anise dreamt of dead horses and fallen crows.

After Anise recovered, the marriage was underway once more. A mere week after her recovery, the entire capital was decorated in beautiful colors and lights for the wedding. It was a glorious event with a lengthy parade with a succession of many bands and circus troupes. Flowers were in the hands of every girl and boy living in the city. The streets were flooded with laughter.

“It’s not even their wedding,” Anise said from her carriage. Her hair was pinned up with numerous gold ornaments. She wore the dress Madame Rem made her. And underneath her veil, her lips were as red as roses.

“My lady, their happiness is proof of their love for you.” Francesca laughed. “And after today, you will become all of their lady. It is a joyous event.”

“I suppose,” the young bride said sadly as the carriage rocked its way toward the Aalok church.

It did not take long for the carriage to arrive outside the church. The horses all neighed noisily, in want of leaving the sacred ground. Francesca led the young bride into the church. Meredith looped her arms around her daughter’s and walked her down the aisles. At the end of the aisles, the baron himself took over and presented the bride to the groom. Meredith took a seat next to Aunt Elspeth.

The baron took a seat in the aisle directly next to the bride’s family, and situated himself in his harem of concubines and lovers.

From underneath her veil she saw that Bolverk was also amongst the crowd. He seemed lonely sitting at the very end.

She faced her groom. He was a peculiar beast. It was as if a swarth of black fur covered the entirety of his face. Better that than see the various warts underneath.

The wedding ceremony was conducted by the Archbishop himself. It went smoothly, exceptionally smoothly as the antistita was extremely cautious throughout the wedding, causing everyone to feel at ease. Furthermore, with Jaque as the master of ceremony, great laughs were had by the majority of the people gathered. The minority consisted of Anise, Bolverk, and Aunt Elspeth.

Once all the necessary and needless speeches and poems were said and done, the big moment arrived. The kiss.

Anise closed her eyes and tentatively leaned forward. The beast lunged forward and grabbed Anise with his meaty hands. His tongue wormed itself deep into Anise’s throat. Despite her disgust, she was unable to break away due to her being in front of the baron. The pair kissed for quite a long time until Anise was weak at her knees.

“Now, now, you two can have your fun after,” the Archbishop chuckled as he broke the two apart.

After that, the new wife was carried to the new husband’s room to wait for his arrival later in the night. Meanwhile, a party was held in the husband’s house filled with food, alcohol, and festivity. That was the main reason the entire capital was so ecstatic.

Anise waited quietly by herself. She found the heir’s room to be too gaudy for her liking. There was a large mirror positioned in the corner of the room. She walked over it and placed a hand on the surface.

“Maybe I can still run away from it all,” she whispered to herself. The young noble traced a meaningless design on the mirror’s surface. “Just break it all.”

“If you attempt to kill yourself, I will make death an eternal prison for you,” a voice echoed in her head.

The young noble walked back to the bed with a sigh and collapsed onto it. “Can you not bother me on my wedding night, Usha?”

“Girl, I saved your life. Yet, you waste my sincerity by lying with a pig? I chose you because you possess the same drive as me.”

The young noble closed her eyes with exasperation. “I’m not a girl anymore.”

“You are one in the presence of me who is as old as the collision of light and dark. Now answer me, do you intend to waste your life away trapped in this castle?”

“You’ve been pestering me since I woke up from my coma. Just shut up will you?”

“Answer my question, girl.”

The young noble sat up with a sigh. “I have no horse. I have no talent or genius. I died that day! I died. And worse, I dragged someone else into the mess. Can you just shut up for now, oh, fallen goddess? In just a few moments, I am going to lose something else dear to me. So I would like it if you stopped talking, before I kill myself.”

A little bit after the end of that exchange, the door slammed open and the beast stumbled in with a jutted gait, as if the beast was traversing a path riddled with numerous gaps and holes.

“Oh, wifey, wifey! Here comes daddy,” the beast laughed. He leapt onto his new wife, his prey, with great excitement, and a fire in his loin. Anise turned her face away. Her veil was ripped away, tore into shreds of white strands.

She felt a hot breath sink into her neck. Then, a wetness as the beast began to savor her. She grasped firmly onto the loose sheets. Little by little, from her neck to her forehead, she was covered in the beast’s musk.

Her face was flushed. That only excited the beast further. He tore his attire apart to reveal a fat hairy belly from which a trail ran down to his privates.

Anise whimpered and squeezed the sheets even more.

The beast grabbed hold of Anise’s wrists and forced them in a position over her head. It was much more forceful than when Bolverk did it. Once again, his tongue forced itself tyrannically into her mouth. Her toes curled up and her cries were heard even through the muffled wet noises of kissing.

Her back arched as he slid one of his hand up her dress and squeezed her thigh, tracing his dirty finger up and down her garter. He ripped apart the stocking to better taste the supple meat with his paw.

A pained moan left her lips amongst the cries and kiss when the beast slipped one of his finger down there at last.

Feeling the wetness of the barely legal girl’s cheeks, the beast was unable to delay the main event any further. With practiced motion, he tore apart the rest of Madame Rem’s dress until the white dress was reduced to scraps akin to the unused parts of lettuce or cabbage.

With no hands restraining her, the girl instinctively moved to cover her private parts.

“Move your hands, bitch,” he growled. “You’re mine now. So serve me.”

With shaking hands, she took her hands and laid them onto the bed. Her heart pounded and she cried.

“If you don’t want to so much, than just do something about it,” Usha’s voice sounded in her heart. “I’m borrowing your body, little girl.”

With a scream, Anise’s eyes turned an iridescent shade. The goddess-possessed girl slammed her hand around the pig’s throat and threw him down onto the ground, and she began to systematically pummel the fat pig’s stomach. It did not take much hits for the pig to pass out with a groan. The goddess then climbed back into bed and gave control back to her host.

“Are you crazy, Usha,” she hissed.

“Don’t worry, little girl. He’s not dead. And judging by how intoxicated he was, just act pained tomorrow and you will be fine. Oh, cut into his thigh with a knife or a glass shard, and smear some blood onto the sheets.”

“Uh, young master,” a servant called, “is everything fine?”

“What should I do,” Anise screamed at the goddess in her mind.

“The common inclination and convention is to fake it until you make it. Now do not bother me further. Saving your petty purity took an extreme amount of stamina.”

Left with no choice, the girl clenched her fists and began to moan.

“Oh! Oh! It hurts, it hurts,” she cried as she jumped up and down the bed. “Stop! Stop! It hurts, please be more gentle! Oh, oh, oh!”

“Oh, excuse me. Excuse me,” the servant replied flustered. “Enjoy your night.”

The lady continued the act for quite a while. Under the guise of the savagery of sex, the girl was able to camouflage the beast’s cries as she cut into his thigh with one of her hair ornaments as the cries of climax. Once she was done with the fakery of the first night, she collapsed in bed exhausted.

And under the cloak of night, an army approached the capital Bolsur. Their torches lit up the surrounding land as if set ablaze by an ocean of fire. However, not one of the guards noticed. All they saw was the same old scene.

Not a single guard noticed, until the army was upon them at the break of dawn. The scouts made swift work of the guards stationed on the walls. Slitting their throats with no problem at all, so quiet were their kills that blood did not even flow from the corpses’ wounds. The scouts then opened the gates.

They of course knew the hidden illusionary passage, but for war — no oppression and a display of overwhelming strength — a grand entrance was imperative.

“Leave no men alive!” The command howled through the city like a hurricane.

Soon, the entire city was engulfed in madness and haze as blood poured onto the streets and splattered like pretty roses onto the decorated streets.

Author's Note: I've never seen Games of Thrones, and my collection of the books continues to gather dust. I was going to title this title "That Which Bridge the Gap", but Red Wedding seems more fitting. I don't particularly like how the ending to this chapter came out; I could do better with the invasion.

How did you guys enjoy the bedroom scene though? Was it too extra? Or did it serve a purpose? I feel that it served a purpose, but who knows if that's self-indulgence. I'm probably going to revise that to flesh it out...or maybe that would make it smut at that point. Thanks for reading as always.