Cecilia:

"Ill-favoured definitely." The words spoken by Rory wafted through the forest towards me followed by laughter, I pushed my heels more forcefully into Shadow, urging him to reach the opening in the forest faster. I knew the comment was directed at me from the way it rolled off his tongue so languidly.

I had decided to put our differences behind us and at least be civil with him seeing as I was going to be stuck with him for the rest of my life, but he obviously had no intentions of making me feel welcome. I pulled back heavily on my reins as we broke through into the pretty clearing.

A cloud of dust floated up around Shadow and I as his large hooves pushed into the dry soil. The flecks of dirt turned a copper colour as the light hit them, remaining levitated in front of me a moment longer before dispersing.

As the cloud disappeared from before me the faces of my friends and soon-to-be-husband appeared in front of me. I felt like I was about to empty my stomach as the thought entered my mind for the first time, announcing its ugly and unwanted presence clearly in my head. Husband, the word left a fowl aftertaste in my mouth yet I found my eyes settling unconsciously on the lounging figure of Rory.

I noticed that his gaze was trained on me and I squirmed slightly under the heavy scrutinisation. I felt like a piece of meat on a butchers stall at the market being examined by someone about to make a purchase. I had been sold. Sold by my own father. I knew if my mother were watching she would tell me to be strong, to keep going and to be the best wife and duchess that I could be, I had to at least try to honour what she would have wanted.

Our eyes then locked, blue on brown, and I felt mine widen at the darkness of his irises. His usual bronze coloured eyes had dimmed to a deep mahogany. They reminded me momentarily of my father as an image of his eyes flashed before my face, I quickly erased the picture clinging to the broken ribs of my mind as I reminded myself that he was not my father.

Rory was not my father. A voice nagged in the back of my brain telling me I didn't know him, didn't know what he was capable of, he could be just like my father, I belonged to him according to society. I let out an involuntary shiver but vowed to not let those thoughts plague me any longer, I would have to view Rory as a means to detach myself from my father, selfish as it may be.

I would be the strong woman I knew I was and, with those worries pushed to the back of my mind for now, I decided to put my best foot forward. With that final thought, I gave him a gentle nod of my head. I watched as his face turned into an unpleasant scowl, his brow creasing and his bottom lip curling down slightly. I felt a small stab at his immediate dismissal of me, was he not willing to try and make this work as best we could? I wasn't naive enough to think a friendship betweeen us would instantly bloom, but was it so impossible a thought that we might be able to co-exist civilly?

Maybe I had been optimistic to think he would change his ways towards me, after his previous comment I should hardly be surprised with his reaction. He looked much more attractive when he didn't frown though. The thought passed through my head so fast I barely processed it. I almost choked at the idea of him being anything close to attractive, I mean this was Rory of all People! He was a repugnant moron who had bullied me for as long as I could remember, he was most definitely not attractive, he was irrefutably the most unbecoming of men both in looks and personality.

Even so, I found myself sneaking another a glance at his tall figure stretched lazily against the ground, his back resting on the trunk of an old horse chestnut tree as his horse stood to the side of him chomping happily on the lush grass.

His sandy brown hair hung lopsidedly across his forehead, his russet eyes peering out from beneath dark lashes. I traced the outline of his rugged face with my eyes, down along his strong jaw and his muscular shoulders that were defined beneath his loose white shirt. The top buttons of his shirt were undone and only added to his handsomeness.

I blushed and stopped myself short, I did not find Rory handsome. Hadn't I just agreed that he was a cockroach of a man? As I tried to convince myself of this I couldn't help but hear the voice in my head telling me the contrary, that I did find Rory handsome. I mentally slapped myself, what was I getting myself into. I needed to get a better hold on my wandering, and incorrect I might add, thoughts.

After tying Shadow to a nearby willow tree I made my way towards Lacey and Sybil who had returned to talking animatedly about some new style from Paris. As I approached them they both looked up ate with sly smiles on their faces, "Where were you Ce?" The two girls asked sharing a michevious look between themselves.

"Were you with someone?" Lacey prompted, waggling her eyebrows and winking at me and Sybil as she did so. With someone? The true meaning of her words dawned on me and I felt my face heat up until I was sure I was burning red. I slapped Lacey's leg jestingly for suggesting such a ridiculous notion.

"Of course not," I protested embarrassedly, "I fell asleep in the garden thats all." My voice trailed off at the end as I noticed the raised eyebrows of my two companions, realising their unspoken question I shouted, "Alone!" Honestly, those two, someday I'd get my own back on them and a moments peace if I was lucky.

I was reminded of my imminent marriage with Rory, neither of them knew, that was evident. I was sure that as soon as they did though I would be bombarded with millions of questions from my two excitable friends. As if to reinforce my increasing despair about the situation I heard a familiar voice pipe up, "Just as well you're getting used to sleeping alone."

I felt my stomach drop at the insult he so freely hurled at me, of course it held much more meaning than the others realised, as it was him I would be sharing a bed with as his wife. He had blatantly made it clear though that that was not to be the case. I didn't particularly care to share my bed with him either, but it still hurt me to hear him declare it so freely knowing the significance of his words.

The day carried on and although there was still a tangible tension between Rory and I, it seemed to go largely unnoticed by the rest of our friends and we still managed to enjoy the day splashing around foolishly in the river that ran through the large forest and finding new parts we had not before ventured to.

I knew the forest very well, I had grown up riding and walking through the forest daily and knew almost every path and clearing in the forest, so I was surprised to discover one new trail that opened up into a small clearing with a view of the river and the fields of workers beyond, watering fields and gathering grapes from vines. I committed the route to the glade to memory, eager to return alone. It seemed a peaceful place with its picturesque landscape beyond painting a layer of calm over the shaded opening.

We meandered our way back through the densely wooded forest, our skirts trailing slightly along the parched ground, gathering a thin film of dust along the hem as we ambled between the gnarled trunks of ancient trees.

I squinted as I tilted my head upwards to observe the light falling through the dense canopy, an occasional smear of cyanic blue stained the fractures between the glaucous leaves. I smiled to myself as a ring of pirouetting swallows twirled excitedly above our heads, darting behind the thick foliage and disappearing from view.

I listened to the immaterial chatter of Lacey and Sybil as they gushed skittishly about the arrival of the militia in town. I rolled my eyes at the two girls, though we were all less than eighteen years of age, they were considerably more silly in their girlish antics than I was. Maybe because I had never had a mother I had had to grow up much faster, maybe it was because I had witnessed a fraction of the true horrors life had to offer, unlike them. They had grown up in a bubble that had not yet been popped, I hoped that it deflated slowly around them with age rather than with an unexpected bang.

I turned my head to notice from the corner of my eye the appreciative gaze of Denny falling upon Sybil. I smiled again to myself with the knowledge that at least Sybil would be well looked after and cared for. My smile slipped a bit as I thought of the love-filled marriage I had always envisaged myself having, a loving husband and miniature copies of ourselves running around our feet shouting for their mama and papa gleefully.

I let out a soft sigh, I forced the smile back onto my face and turned my attention again to Lacey who was still ranting on about one particular soldier who had caught her eye. I watched though as Sybil, clearly excited by the presence of handsome soldiers in uniform being positioned in the town, still let her eyes wander sneakily over to Denny whilst she talked.

We were sitting in a comfortable silence, the sound of the breeze flitting gracefully between the trees was the only sound present. The girls in front of me both looked deep in thought about something or other and the lined expressions of concentration on their faces was almost comical on such usually carefree people.

I observed the girls a moment longer before feeling a pair of eyes boring into the back of my head. I fought the urge to turn around and determine who had taken it upon themselves to burn two holes into my scalp but after a minute more of the invasion I could no longer resist.

I swung myself around, lifting my chin with an air of superiority, until I came face to face with the culprit, Rory. I gave him an ireful look, watching as a... was it? No it couldn't be... But it was! A streak of red made its way up his face, he was blushing! Rory, the cold hearted brute of my nightmares was actually blushing!

I bit my tongue to hold in my laughter at the sight. I lifted my eyebrows slightly giving him a curious look but his features turned into a grimace and he swung his head away from me turning to Denny, a tempestuous look marring his face.

I watched him a moment longer, observing the dark red hue crawl back down his neck as his anger and humiliation at being caught staring subsided. I called over to William and began to talk to him about mundane things, all the while though my thoughts were on the boy sitting across from me who had been so intently gazing at me.

I shifted uncomfortably at the recollection, why had he been watching me so studiously? I let the thought go, he must have zoned out, although somehow my alternate theory wasn't fully convincing me.

Still in thought, I didn't notice that William had asked me a question. I turned my gaze back to him, shaking my head of the thoughts of Rory. "Pardon?" I asked politely, "Drifted off for a second," I offered as way of explanation to my lapse. He shook his head at me and let out a tinkling laugh, his eyes shining with mirth.

"You're a special one," he remarked between laughs. I was about to return his comment with a witty reply, but my attention was suddenly caught by the sound of hooves. Turning around, I was just in time to see the figure of Rory charging off into the undergrowth. I stood up quickly from my position on the ground.

"Keep that thought in mind," I called back to William who was looking at me, a puzzled expression on his youthful face. I hoisted myself into Shadow's saddle and gave him a nudge before galloping away from my friends in the direction Rory had disappeared. We needed to speak.

Hello again!

I've just realised I am going down to the countryside this weekend (where we have no internet) so won't be able to post hence this second post... I will post two more on Monday as well. Have a great weekend guys and please continue to vote and comment!

Much love

xxx

(Picture of Jessica Brown-Findlay as Sybil)