Konstanos didn’t keep a house in Vasiliadon much preferring the tranquil environment in Acharist to the fast pace of politics, but Evangelina suspected it had something more to do with her father’s feelings like there were enough Leventi lords residing in Vasiliadon. It wasn’t any great secret among the family that there was a strained tension with Konstanos’ wife, Ava, and Fotios. Ava might not have had a lot of say in her daughter being taken away to Acharist by Fotios but she could limit the time her family spent in the city. As much as it sometimes pained Evangelina, she understood their absences.

Fotios had plucked her from her home in Acharist and deposited her in Georgios’ household, as if there weren’t enough girls living under that household when he’d done that. If that hadn’t sent a message to the only daughter of Konstanos, then she didn’t know what would.

Glancing around the room that had been hers since after the tragedy at the circus, it had stopped being just a room she was staying in and had become her own over the last few months. The windows and shutters were open and there was a crisp breeze causing the rich royal blue curtains to sway despite being tied back with a brass ring. Her dark eyes had picked out the tiny detail in her room, the brass ring curtain holders looked like wedding rings. It seemed like everything reminded her of weddings lately, surely it was because her life had tilted and her focus had been on getting everything organized for her own wedding.

Her wedding. It was a breathy silent sigh.

Looking away, she needed to stop procrastinating. She needed to stop drifting in thought and start getting her things packed.

Evangelina was a tiny bit controversial. There were some things that she was insanely organized about. She could plan things, execute them, but that middle ground between planning and executing was a rather gray area. There was a tiny bit of madness to her method. Or maybe, the method was her madness? Oh, for Hade’s hairy balls… She was procrastinating again.

There was a knock at her door. Was it Melina, glancing around the room again feeling a moment of panic at her room being caught in the current state of mess that it was. Three golden oak trunks were flung open and took up all of the excess floor space. Clothing was draped haphazardly over one of the trunks while books were neatly stacked within another one, and the last trunk had odd and in baubles and things she’d she didn’t know where to put.

The door opened and her cousin, Melina stood there in her doorway with a basket in her hand. Melina would find Evangelina holding court over the trunks, trapped by their lids to walk over towards the doorway without half hopping from bare space to bare space.

“Mellie!” She cried out as she hopped that last step and bobbed tilting one way before the other, her arms darting out to flap a bit like a bird who was still trying to learn to fly. The arm flapping always worked, even if it was entirely ungraceful and completely titter worthy at court. Leaning over she glanced into the basket that Melina had said was a present, she was half expecting some sort of cakes and tea when she moved the silk tied cloth but what she found instead had her eyes widening until they resembled an owl’s.

“Oh, Mellie!” She breathed out as she moved the candles and the bright, sinister, crimson dyed leather book having a feeling what it was but not being certain. Her perusal stopped as she found the… Oh my! Was that a… Her mouth fell open as her fingers wrapped around the shaft and she pulled it up from the basket. Her head darted up to look boggle eyed at her cousin. Blinking for a long moment before she broke out in a deep throaty, wicked belly laugh. “You’ve…” She gasped between laughs, “Out…. out… outdone…” More gasping laughs. “Y-- yourself!” Reaching out she pulled Melina the rest of the way into her room and slammed the door shut.

Leaning against the door, her body shuck which in turn made the dildo in her hand jerk and bounce which only made her laugh more. “Oh, Gods! Mellie!” She held it up for her cousin to inspect it, “Where on earth did you find this?”

It was difficult to imagine a servant who worked for her aunt and uncle to be quite so innocent as to not know what a dildo would look like. It was simply that her aunt was blessed with the sort of sultry beauty that could stop a man in his tracks and cause him to falter, but there was a wicked sense of lasciviousness to her Aunt Eirini as well. It was difficult to imagine but not entirely impossible because Melina was so innocent too.

As her laughter calmed and her flushed cheeks lessened a little, Evangelina’s dark eyes settled an amused look upon her cousin as she explained about having to sneak into her mother’s things and that she should have just drawn one. That thought drew a wolfish smile, she’d have liked to see Melina try and draw a penis. With her penchant for perfectionism, she’d have to put an awful lot of thought into the dimensions.

‘But you should have seen her face, Evie! I swear, I thought she was about to quit right there and go join a temple of Artemis. I hadn’t realized the servant I asked was quite so innocent.’ Melina’s laughter was contagious and once again Evangelina found herself shaking, albeit softer now, with laughter. ‘I only wish I could have been a fly on the wall when it came to her purchasing this.' Evangelina snorted.

“The poor girl, you should be ashamed of yourself for not finding one of the more experienced servants after it was obvious she was horrified.” Evie laughed again with a shake of her head. “One thing is for sure, she won’t be so naive now after getting a look at this.” She waved the dildo a little bit at Melina and shook her head again laughing. “It does look surprisingly realistic though.” There was an impish glimmer in Evangelina’s gaze as she looked up at Mel again and arched a puckish eyebrow at her. This was one gift she was going to share with her future husband. She almost couldn’t wait to see his reaction to such presents.

Setting the rock-hard, penis pretender back into the basket she shook her head as they seemed to calm down and she found herself flooded with all the things she needed to do one more time. She was anxious to begin her life as a married woman. Truly. Gavriil was good for her. He made her happy. There was a quiet, simmering strength to him that rubbed off on her.

‘Evie, you’ve truly outdone yourself. You do know to move that requires putting things inside the trunks, right? I know I’ve only lived in one place my entire life, but I hear that’s how it’s done. I know, I know, hard to believe.’

The chestnut haired Leventi gave a huff of laughter and rolled her eyes.

‘Do you need quite so many clothes, Evie? It’s not like you’ll be going out so much when you move out there. The Dimitrou aren’t exactly socialites.’

“I…” That caused Evangelina to still. Her lips pressed together and she stared at her mess. Why was it so assumed that she was running off to the wilds of Meganea? Granted, Gavriil enjoyed his country estate over the society of Vasiliadon, but he was still quite a powerful man among the senate. Dragging her bottom lip into her both she chewed on it with her teeth. She would still be spending quite a lot of time in Vasiliadon besides. She’d not only be a simple daughter of one of the royal houses any more, but she’d be the wife of the Head of the Dimitrou house.

“Yes.” She turned to look at her cousin and frown slightly. “Yes, I do need all these clothes and probably a few more. The Dimitrou’s aren’t exactly social but I’m not prepared to entirely become some sort of wildling. Besides, Gavriil still has quite a lot of business in Vasiliadon so it isn’t as if I won’t have functions here and the image of the entire Dimitrou house on me as well.”

Stepping deeper into her room with a sigh, “So how bad are the rumors about he and I?” She knew she could trust Melina not to lie to her about something. Tilting her head, she focused a pointed look upon her cousin and raised an eyebrow slightly. “What are they saying about us?”

People might not really talk to Melina but she was often quiet enough people would talk around her, she put them at ease and they would pick up whatever little tidbits of they were spreading and continue with their talking. Evangelina had seen that happen more than once, the thing would be whether or not Melina was paying close enough attention to hear what the gossip was or if she had drifted off into some dream world in her mind.

Raising an eyebrow at her cousin, she pursed her lips and waited knowing that whatever was on Melina’s mind would eventually come out to her. And like that her cousin broke with a sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair.

‘There’s a variety of rumors. Some about pregnancy. Some act like you’re being outcasted and shipped away from the Leventis. Others paint the Lord in a more sinister light. It’s… I’ve been trying not to listen. It’s all nonesense and it’s no one’s business.’

Evangelina didn’t react. This wasn’t exactly news to her. People liked to gossip, and people loved to gossip about Leventis. If anything there was a pang of disappoint me to be felt that they were not more original with their speculations. With a wave of her hand, she brushed it away that any of this mattered at all, not that Melina noticed it… she was already letting it all out of her system and there wouldn’t be any peace in her mind until everything was said.

‘I mean it is a bit… unexpected, Evie. I don’t necessarily blame people for gossiping even if they are wrong.’ Evangelina leaned down and picked up one of her scarves and plucked a piece of straw out of hit before lovingly folding it into her lap to keep her busy while Melina continued. ‘Dorothea is older than you. And the Dimitrou lifestyle has never quite… matched with the Leventi’s. I’ve fainted once there because it was so different.’ Her dark eyes contained some mirth as they searched her cousin’s face waiting for the question she already could feel coming. Why?

‘It’s just… I don’t know. The news caught me and other people off guard, you know. But they’ll come around. You know how gossip is.’ Her lips lifted in one corner and she nodded her head in agreement… people were only caught off guard because that was the way she’d wanted it. This was a game she was playing with Melina’s father and she wanted to win… if everyone knew or expected what Evangelina was going to do… Fotios would have long since figured out what Evie was up too.

The world saw only what Evangelina wanted them to see of her, it was a skill she’d perfected at her mother’s side. One that she would wield to the best of her capabilities. You could tell some people some things, and other people other things, but there was a fatal mistake in telling everyone everything. Sometimes the left hand didn’t need to know what the right hand was doing.... Or that’s what her mother’s advice to her before she’d left to live in Vasiliadon without her family nearby.

‘Why are you marrying him?’ The question was finally out there and Evangelina sighed more with relief than anything. As soon as the words were out though Melina quickly tried to retract them and Evangelina’s face contorted softly. Fotios and her aunt had tied their middle daughter up into so many knots she couldn’t even be curious without feeling guilty. It was just another reason Evangelina was doing this.

“No, don’t take back that question… not from me and not here where it’s just the two of us.” Evangelina firmly scolded her cousin as she laid the neatly folded scarf on the bed beside her. “It’s a fair question and I should hope we are close enough that bluntness isn’t something to be apologetic about.”

Licking her lips as her gaze shifted around her room… it was trashed to say the least. Her packing skills were not something she’d inherited from her mother that was pretty obvious. There were many things that Evangelina could balance and keep organized but her belongings were not one of them. Taking her time she finally looked back at her cousin softly.

“It started out just as something mutually beneficial,” She murmured and continued, “We are all going to have to get married… I mean… even you know and realize that, right?” Evangelina’s gaze darkened a little, the Leventi women were raised with one purpose and it was to be married well. The slight pause she gave was pushed aside as she continued, “I seized control. Gavriil is a good man with a good heart and a position here in Taengea fitting enough to be approved of by the family.” Her gaze softened, she knew at that moment she was explain the technical behind her engagement but it helped to understand the technical if you wanted to understand the rest of her reasons.

She stood up and walked over to pick up a few more garments off the floor to start organizing as she continued.

“And if I had to be married Gavriil is the sort of man I want to be married too. I don’t want to be shipped away from my family to a foreign land. I don’t want to marry some vassal lord where my family is disappointed by my marriage in comparison to the others….” Her words drew up as she stopped in front of Melina, garments in her hands that were now on her hips. “And most of all, I didn’t want to be married to a man that treated me as if I was just a broodmare in his stables. I wanted a partner… I wanted a marriage like my parents.” She sighed and sank back onto the bed.

“Oh, I know how the world sees the Dimitrous and I know that no one understands our marriage and that is all fine because I know the reasons and he knows the reasons and I think that is all that matters.” She worried on her bottom lip and looked sideways at Melina with a small snort of amusement added, “Somewhere along the way he saw me. Not as a Leventi and not as a child but as someone he could depend upon and I…. I... “ She smiled, “I melted. He’s not a prince but a man, who adores me and lets me get away with all my crazy schemes. Every time I’ve needed saving he’s been there like some sort of oak… How can I not love him for that?”