Princess of Perchhold Ch. 01

Caryn Alessia was the fourth-born of Darin Alessia, King of Perchhold and its people, the Pariches. She had three elder brothers: Aric, the tempestuous eldest, Etan, the second and his brother's bootlicker, and Nathan, the third and only brother Caryn had ever been close to.

It was these three brothers that made Caryn so nervous on the eve of her eighteenth name day. The day marked the time for her passage into adulthood. From that day forward, she was available to be courted, and her father could arrange her marriage to whichever of her suitors he preferred. These were not the things that kept Caryn awake, however, tossing restlessly beneath her sheets.

By Parichan custom, although Caryn was capable of becoming an adult once dawn broke on her name day, she would not be truly considered a woman until she was made so — by her brothers. From her eighteenth birthday to her wedding night, a young Parichan woman belonged to her male siblings, who were responsible for teaching her the ways of pleasing a man, making her a good and dutiful wife.

For most Parichan girls, that meant sharing a talk over dinner with her brother, and a gentle, fumbling evening in his bed to break her hymen. The ties of brotherly love generally demanded no more, and the woman went on to her husband while the brother returned to his daily life, and his own lover or wife.

But Caryn had three brothers, all known for their experience, their appetite, and their occasional brutality with women. As Caryn had edged closer to this fateful day, her fear had grown, just as her legs grew long and slender and her breasts ripened and grew round and heavy on her chest.

She had pictured it on occasion: what it would be like for a man to lie atop her, his manhood pressed against her abdomen, her lower lips, her inner walls. She had closed her eyes and touched herself as she imagined a lover might, but in the end it was only her own fingers, and the fear of the unknown pain or pleasure that awaited her at eighteen did not subside.

It seemed like she had only just lain down that night, the eve of the fateful day, when the first grey glow of approaching morning began to appear. Her last night of childhood innocence had fled.

She kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling when a servant entered her chambers to bring the coals back to life in her grate. Wrapped completely in her own dread, Caryn had not even felt the chill descend on her through the night. She expected the woman to leave when the task was complete, but instead she laid a gentle hand on Caryn's shoulder.

"Prince Aric told me to have you bathed and dressed as soon as you woke, my lady."

Caryn sighed, letting her tired eyes close for a moment. "Yes, alright."

"I'll have a bath drawn for you right away, my lady."

The bath was restoratively warm and aromatic, more restful than her night in bed had been. She would have liked to linger, but her pair of maids were wary of Aric's wrath, and scrubbed her hastily.

They were just handing her out of the bath and preparing to dry her when the door to her bedroom swung open. All three of them tensed, but Caryn relaxed again once she saw that it was not Aric, but Nathan, her favorite brother. He was only two years older than her, and she loved him dearly.
 "Nate!" she said, reaching out for the towel her maid held. The woman pulled it just out of her reach.

"My lady, forgive me," the girl murmured. "But — since — you oughtn't cover yourself without His Highness' permission, not today of all days."

All the dread she had felt the night before came flooding back to Caryn, and she felt her cheeks and neck grow red and hot. She crossed her limbs, trying to hide herself.

"What?" Nathan asked as he walked in. He noticed the awkwardness of Caryn's stance and understood what had been said. "Oh, gods, woman, give her the towel!" His voice was rough with irritation, but a blush grew up in his cheeks as well. "Leave us," he told the maids when they had complied.

Caryn wrapped herself in the towel hastily without meeting her brother's eyes. She had never feared him before, but she imagined something predatory in him now, and the cold unease was like ice in her belly.

"It's early, brother. Are you racing Aric to be the first at me?"

Nate bent until his face was beneath hers, looking up into her eyes. He smiled. "It's your birthday, Cari. I brought you a surprise."

She looked up at him, squinting. "A present?"

Nate rolled his eyes. "No, a rabid baboon. Yes, a present."

He took her hand in his large, warm one and led her back to her bed, sitting her down and pulling something out of the bag he had slung across his body. He held it behind his back in both hands. "Guess."

Caryn laughed. "Give it to me!"

"You have to guess!"

"A book?"

"No."

"Chocolate?"

"No."

"I don't know, Nate. A puppy?"

"No. Gods, you're awful at this." He swung his hands around and presented his gift with a flourish. It was a beautiful silver flute, engraved with twirling curlicues and a message in tiny letters: For my sister, on her eighteenth name day. Love, Nathan

"Oh, Nate! It's beautiful!"

"You like it?"

"It's amazing. Where did you get it?"

"I sent for it from Goantha. Now you can get rid of that reed thing you've been playing for so long."

"But I like the reed flute! You made it for me."

Nathan made a face. "I was twelve. It's hardly a master craftsman's work. This, on the other hand..."

Grinning, Caryn threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Thank you. I love it."

They sat on her bed and talked easily of everything. That was the way with Nathan: easy, companionable. They forgot themselves in the simple pleasure of each other's company, and an hour or so passed companionably that way. Caryn had forgotten Aric's order for her to be brought to him when she was clean, but Aric had not.

Caryn's eldest brother entered her room with none of the smiles that Nathan had worn. Caryn and Nate did not notice him for a moment, sitting side by side on her bed, talking and laughing like the oldest of friends; it gave Aric time to appreciate the way his sister's body looked wrapped in naught but a towel.

Caryn saw Aric first and the smile slipped from her lips. She raised a hand to cover the half-moon swells of breast that the towel did not entirely contain.

"Sister," Aric said stiffly, "I requested your presence this morning. Dress, please." He turned to Nathan with an eyebrow raised. "Up so early, brother? Why don't you join us. Etan and I were just going to discuss with Caryn how the next few months would be handled."

"I would prefer not," Nathan said, his tone just as formal as his brother's.

"I insist," Aric said, and the matter was closed.

Caryn dug through her wardrobe with one hand, clutching at her towel with the other. In the back, she found a pale blue dress, high-necked and long-sleeved, accented with ribbons. It was a child's dress, and perhaps would remind Aric that she was his baby sister first, and a woman second.

She glanced over her shoulder; both brothers were watching her. As quickly as she could, she dropped her towel and tugged the dress over her head. For a moment, she struggled with the arms, and the dress halted, halfway covering her bottom. When she managed to cover herself completely with it and situate it comfortably on her body, her breath was coming harder, and her face was red with effort and embarrassment.

Aric jerked his head toward the door, indicating that she should precede him out of her bedroom, and Nathan followed. When they arrived in Aric's chambers, just down the hall, Etan was there as well.

"Family meeting," Nathan muttered, and he winked at Caryn, hoping to coax a smile out of her. Her trepidation was too great to permit the answering grin.

The four of them seated themselves around Aric's table.

Aric spoke with quiet authority. "Brothers, I'm sure we're all aware of the responsibility that has fallen to us today, on our sister's coming of age day. We are to shape her into a proper woman, capable of fulfilling the needs of her husband. No lord worthy of marrying a princess should have to stoop to training her in his pleasure himself. As her brothers, it is our duty to break her, to coach her, to teach her everything we know of what a wife must be."

Caryn was taking deep, calming breaths. It did not sound so bad, when he spoke of it that way. They were her brothers, after all. They would be gentle with her, take care of her. She should almost be looking forward to it, she told herself. She would be glad to be a wife her husband could be proud of.

"I intend to make Caryn my first priority," Aric continued. "Father has already begun negotiating with suitors. We will have only a few months before the wedding."

Etan, seated beside his older brother, was nodding along stupidly. He would do whatever his brother asked him to do. Nathan was scowling at his hands, splayed on the table, as Aric prattled on.

"I'm sure we each have plenty to share with her, so we will have a daily rotation. I will take this first night, then Etan, then Nathan."

Nate looked up at that. "I want nothing to do with this."

Aric's eyebrows shot up. "You have nothing to teach our sister?"

"Not with my cock, no." Caryn flinched at the word.

Eyes narrowed, Aric stared his brother down, and Nathan matched him stare for stare. At length, the elder brother shrugged. "Fine. She will have to do with the knowledge of two brothers." His gaze snapped to Caryn. "Anything to say?"

"I...don't..."

"What? You don't what?" Aric glowered.

Caryn took a deep breath and met his eyes. "I don't want you to have my first night." Aric had always been her least favorite; harsh, commanding, distant, cruel. He was eight years her senior and had hardly noticed her but to complain about her behavior for most of her life. It seemed entirely unfair that he would claim her maidenhead.

"That's not for you to decide. I'm the oldest."

"It's my body!" Caryn said hotly.

Striking like a snake, Aric's hand shot across the table and seized her arm, pulling her roughly to her feet. His face was eerily calm as his grip crushed her wrist. "No, dear sister. It is my body, and Etan's, and Nathan's, until it is your husband's. It will never belong to you again. Do you understand?"

Caryn blinked rapidly, and had the small triumph of not crying in front of him. "Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"That's enough, Aric," Nathan said, standing now as well.

"It will be enough when I say it is. Now, sister, what do you call me?"

"...brother?" Caryn posited. Aric shook her.

"You will call me 'my lord,' just as you will your lord husband, once you're wed. Do you understand?"

"Yes...my lord."

"You enjoy this too much," Nathan hissed.

"It is always a joy to do my duty," Aric retorted. "If only you were as dutiful, little brother."

Nathan shoved his chair backward and left without a word, jaw clenched. Caryn suppressed the urge to call him back.

"A pity, but not everyone is fit to teach," Aric said, turning back to his sister. "There's to be a ball in honor of your coming of age. I've had a dress ordered for you. I will be your escort. What do you say?"

"Yes, thank you, my lord."

"Good girl. Now go. Etan and I have things to discuss."

"Yes, my lord."

***

Nathan was in Caryn's room when she got back. He still looked stormy, although he was absorbed now in examining the flute he had given her.

"Not thinking of taking it back, are you?" She grinned as she sat down next to him. Her leg brushed his, and he shifted away abruptly. Belatedly, he returned her smile, but his discomfort had already leeched the joy from the moment. "What are you thinking about?"

"Am I a bad brother?" Nate's eyes were troubled. "Am I remiss because I don't want to teach you how to yield to a man? I know it's custom, but—" He cupped her face with his hand for a moment, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "You're my little girl, my baby sister. I don't want to think about a man between your legs, much less be that man."

Caryn took his hand from her face and held it between hers. His hand was so large that even both of hers could not come close to covering it. "You're not a bad brother. Of course you're not." She kissed him on the cheek. "Only..."

"What?"

"I do wish, a little, that you were more...dutiful."

For an uncomfortably long stretch of seconds, there was silence. Nathan was staring at her hands on his, his jaw clenched. "Why would you wish that?" he asked at last.

"If there's to be any man...I would prefer someone I trusted. I've always been comfortable with you..." She put one of her hands on his leg, but he jerked away, standing up off the bed.

"Don't ask that. I don't like the custom, Cari."

"I understand that you don't want me, but that's the point, isn't it? I mean, of having brothers..." Caryn paused, collecting her thoughts. "You would be kind to me, Nate. Aric's not kind, and Etan won't be either, if Aric tells him how to be."

"Enough! No, Caryn. I will not be part of this. You have no lack of brothers willing to teach you. Leave me out of it."

She leaned forward and seized his arm in both hands. "You wouldn't have to go on for months, just this first—"

"Stop, Caryn. Absolutely not." He shook her off and fixed his eyes anywhere but on her. "You don't understand what you're asking."

"I'm asking you to uphold the practice of our land!" she said hotly. "And I'm asking you to protect me from an unpleasant night with our eldest brother."

"And I'm asking you to leave me out of this!"

He stormed almost to the door before realizing he still held her flute. Relaxing his clenched fists, he laid it on her desk, near her door, and left.

Caryn was troubled. She did not understand what upset Nathan so about the arrangement. Men had been easing their sisters into womanhood for generations; it could be uncomfortable, yes, to substitute a sense of duty where there should be passion and lust, but it was nothing new. She wished he would tell her what was distressing him.

She crossed the room and picked up the flute. She liked the weight of it in her hands. Sucking in a breath, she pressed her lips to it and played a trilling set of notes. It was not so different from the reed flute, although it's sound was clearer and sweeter. She whiled away the afternoon, playing songs she and Nate had made up, missing his sweet tenor voice singing along.

When her maids came to dress her for the ball, her lips were rosy and swollen, and the simple joy of her music had brought the color back into her youthful face. They commented on how lovely she was, and how she would impress the suitors at her ball, and how proud her father would be to have such a beautiful daughter.

They spoke of the guests who would be in attendance, of handsome Lord Haster, Duke of Cantanos; the widower Lord Ambren of the Silver Isles, who had been married four times and lost each wife more mysteriously than the last; Alistor Tandry, heir to his father's titles and Baynesse Castle, just eighteen himself and strong as an ox. The list was long, and Caryn knew all the names, though she had not met all of them face to face. The guest list was heavily weighted with men.

"You'll be dancing all night!" Lisel, one of her maids, exclaimed. Caryn tried to share their glee, but her stomach was doing flips. Yes, she'd be dancing all night — with the men at the ball, and then at Aric's whim.

At length, the maids spun her around to the mirror over her vanity, and she saw there in the glass the woman these men were lining up to marry.

Draped in shimmering emerald silk, Caryn's milky pale skin looked like porcelain. With her dress laced tight, Caryn's breasts pressed up into tantalizing décolletage. Matching green ribbons were braided into her dark russet hair, and Lisel had lined her grey eyes with kohl. She looked, undoubtedly, like a desirable woman.

A knock at the door — Aric. He swept into the room looking gallant and handsome. Caryn eyed him, summoning enthusiasm for their evening together. He was tall, about eight inches taller than her, and his shoulders were broad. His body was well-muscled, but where Etan had grown bulky with his strength, Aric seemed lithe and dangerous. His eyes were grey, like hers, but several shades darker, and they were framed by long lashes that softened the otherwise harsh planes of his face.

A brief flash of his even, white teeth served for a smile and he took her hand, bowing over it and brushing a kiss across her knuckles. "Good evening, sister. Are you ready? Your suitors await."

"Yes, my lord," she murmured. Her maids had gone silent; they found Aric very attractive, and quite frightening. His anger was legend in the castle.

As he led her to the Great Hall, Aric politely extended his arm for her to take. The noise grew as they approached the ballroom until it was almost beyond what Caryn could stand. Almost immediately once she and her brother entered, however, the room quieted.

"I present Her Highness, Princess Caryn Alessia," Aric announced, swinging her out in front of the gathered crowd. The room rang with applause, all eyes on Caryn.

Like a clockwork doll, she danced obediently as she was handed from one man to the next. Hours passed. When her partners desired conversation, she responded to their polite questions. Many requested a second dance, but Aric was always there to firmly remove her hand from one partner's and place it in another's. As her feet began to ache from the effort of moving her gracefully through the crowd, she leaned more and more heavily on her partners' supporting arms. None complained.

She was despairing of ever escaping the endless loop of dances when she found her hand being pried away from Lord Someone-or-Other's by Nathan rather than Aric. Caryn was in such a daze that she had danced several steps with him before she recognized her youngest brother. "Nate! I didn't think you would come."

"It is your birthday ball," he said quietly. He hugged her to himself more snugly. "I am here to celebrate with you."

"I played your flute. It was wonderful."

"I'm glad you like it." Caryn relaxed against Nathan. He was an excellent dancer, a strong lead. "The ball is almost over," Nate said.

"Is it?"

"Aric is looking for you." Nate implied that he should return her to her escort, but they continued dancing, spinning gracefully amidst the music. Nathan's next words were so quiet she almost missed them. "Don't let him hurt you."

"What?"

"He is your brother and your prince, but don't forget that you are a princess, and the most powerful woman in this realm. Don't let him hurt you." Nate was whispering fiercely, clutching at her arms in his eagerness. They had stopped dancing, standing still near the center of the dance floor. Couples swung past them in a drunken orbit.

"I'll...try," Caryn said. If she had not been afraid before, she certainly would be now. Nathan's worry for her was written on his face as he led her off the floor and returned her hand to Aric.

"Ah, good, I was just wondering whether you had spirited her away. Come, Caryn. All this has been to celebrate your becoming a woman. Let's make it so." His hand closed like a vice around hers, towing her steadily toward the exit. She glanced over her shoulder at Nathan, who was watching her leave with a puzzling expression, part anger, part anxiety, part something she could not recognize.

Caryn found herself dragging her feet, pulling against Aric's lead as he half-carried her out of the ballroom. She was afraid, so afraid of him. She watched his broad back as he tugged her along like a little girl behind him, and her joints seemed to turn to jelly.

Long before she was ready, they had arrived at Aric's chambers, and he sat her down on the bed. Seating himself across from her in an armchair, he began to pull off his boots. After much jerking, he managed to toss the first one onto the floor, but the second would not budge.