Responsibility Ch. 16

The other hand was holding onto a cloak's cord. Her ribbon wrapped plaits were long, the tips held in what looked like small animal horns. She had a fillet on her head with a single, round jewel in the center. Her round face was placid and smooth.

A plaque was on the pedestal.

It read, "Princess Rahela, of Testoa. Betrothed to His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Irakly Hermol."

One of the Emperor's squires muttered to the other, "Ah, it's an exotic beauty."

That other squire said, "Even if the marriage fails, His Majesy will always have a beautiful face to admire."

Pinching some beads that had been sewn onto her veil, the Empress Dowager said, "It's certainly met my expectations."

Rahela was still quiet. She didn't hate the statue, far from it. She was simply overwhelmed by this new idea. She wouldn't be a little ruler that was barely thought of in history. Now there was literal stone in place, giving future generations an idea of who she was. Perhaps she should've thought of such a thing before, but eternal fame wasn't something she'd craved.

If nothing else, she'd at least be that little queen that was demoted to princess and went off to marry an Emperor. There were worse things to be remembered for.

The group went on in the garden, touching delicate plants, smelling the beautiful blooms, watching out for bees. At one point, they passed a certain statue, and for some reason one of the squires chose that moment to slap the back of Borys' head and snicker.

Borys narrowed his eyes and held the tiniest page's hand more tightly, but he didn't protest. Rahela thought she might've been the only one to notice it all.

The statue they passed was of a woman with a long veil and a tall headdress, which had a rounded point on top. Her surcoat was trimmed with fur. Her sleeves were slightly loose, but not baggy. Her face was heart shaped and delicate.

The plaque on the statue's pedestal read, "Her Highness, Princess Consort, Aksinya Chaika. Wife of His Highness, Crown Prince Irakly Hermol."

Rahela dared to say something there.

"That statue we moved by, it's elegant."

The Emperor was the one to respond to her. He did so quickly and with little thought, not even turning to look at Rahela. "That's my first wife."

"She must've been virtuous," Rahela said.

One of his shoulders jerked up and his eyes hardened. "She's an idiot."

Nobody paused at his statement. Nobody even reacted, aside from one of the squires snorting into his palm. Rahela looked over at Yana and Oksana, who didn't seem concerned at all. Then she tentatively said, "She ... she is?"

"She's one of the worst idiots I've ever met," the Emperor said with a firmer tone and a little grimace.

"Ah." Rahela put her hands together. "What Your Majesty means to say is that she's still alive?"

He didn't even raise an eyebrow. "Have I ever claimed she's dead? Certainly not. I assume she's at her father's estate, but I honestly don't care if that's true or not."

Rahela sighed. "If My Lord says this person is an idiot, then it must be true. It's so regrettable."

The Empress Dowager explained the issue with a little wave of her hand. "Don't bother your mind with any more puzzling. My son divorced that woman years ago. She had the audacity to become pregnant while he was off to war. It was so plainly obvious that he'd never fathered little Borys, but that fool didn't understand how it couldn't be so. She simply blathered on how it didn't matter. The husband was always the father in her weak mind."

Rahela almost fell over her own feet. Yana had to catch her and hold her hand. Once she was steady again, Rahela said, "I hadn't known of such a controversy. I have difficulty believing it happened." Then, her eyebrows rose and her cheeks softened as she looked back to the now red-faced Borys. If Rahela didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was about to bleed out from his pores. "I ... Little Borys?"

The Emperor said it himself. Plainly, coldly, all previous annoyance gone. "Borys Chaika is my first wife's bastard."

Borys' face wasn't red anymore. It was turning green. The little boy whose hand he held didn't seem to notice anything. He was too busy trying to keep up with everyone.

***

The first thing Rahela had to learn was how to deal with all the jewelry meant to dangle down roughly from the back of her head.

Princess Tuya saw to it. She personally watched Rahela march back and forth in all kinds of spaces with "practice jewels and veils" on her head. Every day or so, longer pieces would be used.

As much as Rahela hated it, every time someone put some mirrors in place so she could see the finery, a thrilling sort of ripple moved through her bosom and belly.

She wasn't immune to these sorts of charms, even if they did come with a neck-ache.

Then the final fitting and last touches to her wedding outfit had to be made. Rahela couldn't remember the last time she'd ever seemed so radiant.

The first and most obvious layer was the chemise. It was a plain undergarment, as most undergarments were, but someone had stitched in the date of the wedding for good luck, or that's what Rahela had been told. It was a simple, brown script sewn close to the hem. A pair of black silk stockings were put on her legs with little brown belts under her knees. Shoes of purple silk with a pattern of tiny black leaves were put on her feet.

The next layer was a pale blue dress. The fabric was shiny and soft. It was tight on her torso and hips, and the sleeves were a bit tight too. Oh, she could move, but once again she saw her figure being well displayed. The neckline, which had a thin border of golden spangles, was open enough to almost expose the shoulders, and plenty of her collarbone was visible. Rahela thought it was daring, but she wasn't the one that had designed the outfit. The Emperor and his mother had been the main designers.

Rahela noticed fine gold buttons in two rows down each arm, from elbow to wrist. The buttons had apparently been oh so finely molded to resemble little wolf faces. They weren't even functional buttons. She wondered if a button didn't function as a button, then was it still a button? Maybe it was?

A heavily bejeweled belt was put just above her hips. It had silver brooches with large, faceted stones that alternated between black and deep yellow.

The layer after that was a type of surcoat. The weather was warm. There wasn't any fur lining, but it was trimmed with ermine fur on the edges. The neckline of this surcoat dipped lower than the dress underneath, making a half-circle shape of blue in that area, not that the blue color had been hidden. The surcoat's open sides showed plenty, and that plackard was only wide enough to make room for lines of ermine fur and a center row of silver brooches that matched the ones on her belt underneath.

The surcoat's skirt was a shade of pink Rahela could barely understand. She had no idea such a color could be made with dyes. The pink was fiery, intense, almost crimson but certainly still pink. Against that amazingly colored background, there was a delicate motif of golden roses. Down the front, three rows of silver spangles had been sewn in.

Each of Rahela's hands had three rings, most of them recent gifts from the Emperor. One ring on a middle finger had a thick band and a black stone that reached from close to her knuckle up to the joint. That one had been a gift from the Empress Dowager, right from her own collection.

Princess Tuya had given her a piece from her collection too. It was collar sort of necklace, a piece with different shapes of black pearl, silver, and golden beads arranged to look like a colorful net or lattice. There were hanging pendants too, some of them so large that Rahela didn't know how they didn't break away and fall.

There was also a second necklace. It was another gift from the Emperor. It was a very long rope chain of gold and silver links, long enough to touch her navel had she been nude. At the end was a single brooch that had been attached and made into a pendant. It was a huge circle of silver with a faceted black stone surrounded by little white pearls.

Rahela already felt burdened by it all, but there was more.

Her hair had been braided up in a smooth coiffure, then covered with a linen cap. Not a bit of hair was given a chance to delight anyone. No wimple was put onto her, but there was a veil, oh dear there certainly was. It was carefully pinned to her cap. The edges were ruffled. Otherwise, the shape was very straight and very long. The end almost touched the surcoat's hem. Because the veil was meant to cover the back of the outfit, there were much fewer decorations on the clothing there.

Quite possibly the largest and most elaborate headdress Rahela had ever seen was put on top of the veil. The overall shape reminded her of part of a circle, or a large fan, or even those upright peacock tails she'd seen in paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. She hadn't actually seen a living peacock before her.

It was such a huge thing that the wire support had to cover the back of her head, and Rahela was certain that some kind of stuffing was put inside. This wasn't a thin structure. It was basically a hat, but a very discreet flap up front was in place to make room for a certain crown to be slipped in.

And it was black. Black with complex designs. Borders of golden, curved lines intertwined with silver vines and leaves, various kinds of pearls representing flowers. A pair of silver wolves were stretching their bodies out in the center, their eyes gold. More pearls were placed about, filling up most of the empty space. The back of the headdress was similar.

The structure itself was designed to be placed some distance back from her covered hairline. Connected to the structure, up front, there was a piece of matching cloth edged with gold and silver beads. It didn't cover the veil's ruffles, though.

Three festoons, strings of similar beads with an addition of polished black ones, were attached on the two sides of the headdress in front. These strings hung under her chin without ever touching it. Matching strings were attached near the festoons' points on each side, hanging down a little bit past the lowest curve of the last festoon, but not touching her shoulders.

On the back of the veil, a complex net of chains and gemstones was pinned to the fabric and to points under and onto the headdress. Gold and silver metal. Pink and white pearls of varying shapes. Glittering, black stones.

It was so heavy. So terribly heavy.

Gabi stood near Rahela for a long time, cooing and pointing at everything on her. "You're an angel," she said. "You look like a temple's colored window. I'll never be as magnificent as this." Rahela let her express these thoughts. It was a rare thing for her to see, after all.

A painter hired by the Emperor visited her. He had a few apprentices to assist him. He stared at her in her wedding outfit for a long time, taking notes and even experimenting with some paints. He mixed those paints together to see if he could get the exact colors he needed. The pink in the surcoat was the most challenging for him. Then, Rahela had to stand for him so he could make a reasonable sketch. Once the sketch was done, he put scrapings of colors on a wooden slab for him to use as a reference later.

Rahela assumed he'd do the same for the Emperor in his wedding outfit. She hoped he'd be able to put her crown in without any difficulty. She didn't have access to that piece yet.

When the painter was gone, Rahela urged everyone to please help her get the heavy things off of her body.

***