The Lord and Lady::Wedding Night

Pharony frowned as she washed Cassandra’s back that night in the large wooden tub in front of the fireplace.  She had spoken to the king, who had agreed, he would remain behind and quell the uproar from the media and entertain their guests for the evening as Cassandra retired, under the guise of “preparing”.

Cassandra was draped lazily in the tub, watching the flames blazing before her as she sat in silence.  Both were silent for a long time, and the room was largely comfortable for it.  They didn’t need to exchange works as scarred hands soothed scarred flesh.  The soap washed the day’s worries away, her long locks already washed and now soaking with smoothing oil as she lazily twiddled her toes in the water.  Once in a while, her gaze lifted to the thin, pale shift, with its many-layered skirt, its sheer, lacey bodice, the long, open sleeves, but she doesn’t look at it long.  She doesn’t want to think about it, not yet. 

It’s still too early to think about that yet.

The water is starting to get the faintest tendrils of a chill as she lets out a sigh, staring into the flames again.  As Pharony rinses her back, applying the thin salve to the itching wounds, she can’t help but ask,

“What’s going to happen to me?”

Pharony’s hands still suddenly, and the fingers cease their movements before quickly rubbing the salve into the scratches.  She doesn’t answer at first, having Cassandra stand to rinse her hair and form before lifting her smaller frame out and into a safe, warm towel.  Moments later, she stood on a padded little stool as Pharony dried her off.  She was capable of doing it herself, she knew, but the Phantom wanted to keep her hands busy.

“All that writing, all those books you read, all the stories you’ve penned, and you don’t know what happens on a wedding night?” she asks, trying to keep he comment light, though it hung in the air awkwardly a moment before Cassandra looked over her shoulder.

“I am not that naïve...” she said softly, then looked away again.  “I just know that... this is different...”

Pharony frowned, beginning to wring out and dry her hair thoroughly before she said, “Not sure how it’s different...  He’s still a man, you’re still a lady, and the parts will still fit together the same...”

Cassandra shivered wholly a moment as a rush of cold air passed over her, then she shifted uneasily before Pharony wrapped the towel around her.  Mismatched eyes watched as she shifted a bit more and kept her gaze away, and the guilt blossomed in her chest.  Why did it have to be the king that fell for her first, and was able to offer her the sanctuary she needed?  And why did it have to fall to him to protect her from harm?  She had to grit her teeth for a moment as she glanced away, cheeks burning behind her mask.  Why did he have to be the one that she wanted most?

Cassandra didn’t look back as Pharony started to gently comb her hair back.  When at last she was able to speak again, she said, “He will be gentle...  That I can assure you...”

A soft chuckle made her look up as Cassandra looked straight ahead, trying to hold still.  “And how do you know that?”

Pharony smiled before she said, “Because... I told him...  I said ‘She is delicate, she will need spoiling and kissing and coddling if you hope to deserve her’...  And I also told him, if he lays a tiny bit of harm on your pretty little head, if you’re so much as sore the next morning, that he won’t ever have to worry about his precious man-parts, because I will have them on a platter for my breakfast tea.”

The laugh that echoed about the room lifted the Phantom’s spirits for a moment, even as she saw the tears streaming down her face before holding out her hand to help her down from the stool, and into her nightgown.

 

(Part two, with the actual, um, sex, is coming up.  I'm just proofreading it first.)