#cassandra and Coroebus

[firinnie]

Oracle twins of Troy!

In general, I have a lot of golden thoughts so it's nice if you read them! As I love Cassandra, I am also fascinated by her brother Helenus.

In my Au Priam and Hecuba sent Helenus (then called Scamanderus) to Phrygia. This is a special place for two reasons, because one of the suitors of Cassandra, Coroebus (who gave his life in the Trojan war when he tried to protect her!) came from there! What is even more interesting? His father, King Mygdon of Phrygia … fought in his young adulthood on the same side as Priam of Troy in war! Wow, they like friends, this is a very cool information right??? I think Troy would like to keep relationships with city of Phygia by sending their sons to school would be very interesting.

And again, for two reasons. First of all, Coroebus would fall in love with kind & intelligent Cassandra from the stories which her brother told and not only in her appearance as other suitcases did. And besides, I want relationship of ths poor twins to be very complicated. Like, they love each other but Helenus suddenly returns, his beloved sister behaves as if she lost her mind and there is a war in front of their house because a stranger who turned out to be their lost brother (Paris) kidnapped someone's wife (Helen).

Additionally, I have an idea that Apollo has cursed Cassandra with "no one who NOW is behind the walls of city will believe you in terrible visions that I will send." What does it mean? This means that the curse that was imposed on her is still here … but Helenus (and even Coroebus) are not under its effect, because they were no longer in Troy at a time when Cassandra refused love to God. This means that Helenus may not believe his twin of his own will :)

At my arts - twins with colors (ugh, why is he so like my Odysseus? I need to do something with old king tho), a scene from the Iliad in which after the death of Paris, Helen is forced to marry his brother … and Helenus for some reason also fought for her hand? Boy, you were supposed to be the intelligent one. And next is the scene in which Cass is after vision, all scratched and in her own blood/ Helenus wants to disintegrate the wounds so he pours some vinegar onto a cloth. He has no idea what happened to his sister, he has no idea what to believe but he really wants to help her. And the last art, i.e. young twins who interested wrong God. BTW … I used yellow and blue for them because they are complementary colors. Cass has yellow, which unfortunately shows her attracting to Apollo but she wears some blue. Helenus has blue besides because it is a color that will show coldness and distance. He publicly does not take Cassandra seriously but privately apologizes for it and says that he is too weak for standing on her side. He doesn't lie, she believes him and understands it too, but this hurts a lot. In general, it is difficult to love someone when divine forces on the road and Helenus did not pass the test. Coroebus do! But we'll talk about him later. For now I will say that he and Hel do not have a good relationship.

[likethexan]

BkII:402-437 Cassandra is Taken, Virgil's Aeneid

"Every man in her life failed Cassandra of Troy" Never ever speak ill of Coroebus of Phrygia

[dilfaeneas]

It's that time of year again boys!

Cassandra and Her husband Coroebus to start the month right

[sarafangirlart]

Coroebus and Othryoneus didn’t die trying to protect Cassandra and her city for y’all to ship her with the man who destroyed her city and enslaved her and her family.

“Ajax the lesser did rape Cassandra but Agamemnon didn’t bc he spoke positively of her and loved her!” I’m going to hold your hand as I say this, slaves can’t consent.

[athamad]

Cassandra of Troy and Coroebus

ITS @classicstober BABY!!!!

So, l drew Casandra (ft. Coroebus)

[gracchisuggestions]

Cassandra: If I had a coin for every man who joined the war because they fell madly in love and wanted to win my hand in marriage, I would have two coins.

Cassandra: Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

[imaginingmarvelandeverything]

Chapter 6: Marriage Proposals

Pairing: Morpheus x OC (Cassandra of Troy)

Warnings: mentions of death, mentions of violence, none explicit smut

Word count: 2019

A/N: Here is chapter 6 of Fated and Forgotten! This has a smut warning because Cass and Morpheus walk into a rather explicit dream, but it’s not really explicit. Anyway, I hope you like it!!

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Ko-Fi

Cass glanced towards her door as one of the soldiers opened it to allow Hector to enter. He looked around the room as the soldier shut the door behind him before his eyes landed on where she was perched on her window ledge. He sighed and walked over, propping his sword against the wall as he leaned back on the ledge next to her.

“I spoke to father.” He started. “He is willing to let you out if you agree to go along with the marriage proposals without a fuss.”

“I am high priestess of the temple of Apollo, I am not meant to marry.” She reminded him, brushing away more tears that escaped out of the corners of her eyes.

“There are worse men you could have been promised to. Coroebus and Orthronus are both noble men.” He pushed himself up into the ledge and she moved her legs to make room for him.

“That is not the point, Hector.” She turned back to look out of the window, watching the city bathed in the last golden rays of the day. “First he locks me in here and then he expects me to marry to help win a war I tried to prevent from happening.”

“We are in the war now, none of us can change that. All we can do is play our part and hope to survive.” He said, pushing his curls back from his face.

“When do you return to the front?”

“As soon as night falls. I will talk to father again when I next return.” He said, turning to look at her.

She looked back at him, meeting his eyes for the first time since he entered the room and immediately regretting it as the world seemed to lurch around her and she felt the now familiar tug of the fates.

“The eldest sons death approaches,

slain in a bid for peace.

He will be avenged by the lost prince,

a well placed arrow will fell the Greek’s Hero.

But the city will still burn.”

***

Cass regained consciousness to find herself propped up against the wall beneath the window. Hector was knelt in front of her with a worried expression on his face and his hands on her arms to keep her upright. She reached up and gripped his forearms as tears started streaming down her face again. “Do not return to the front.”

“Cassandra.” He sighed and dropped his head forward, his dark curls bouncing into his face. “I have to go. I am head of the army, they need me.”

“Please. Stay here, stay safe. Please.” She choked out, trying to stop the sobs escaping her chest.

“I have to go.” He pulled her into him and she clutched at him as if that would make him change his mind. “I will see you when I next have chance to return. Be safe, sister.” He kissed her forehead before standing and walking out.

She couldn’t stop the sobs that racked her chest as the image of Hector clutching at his throat as blood poured through his fingers kept replaying in her mind. She blindly pushed herself off the floor and fell into her bed. She hoped all the crying would tire her out, she wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but here.

***

“What are you doing?”

Cass turned from the dream in front of her and looked at Morpheus as he stepped up to her side. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before turning back to the scene in front of them.

Orthronus was sat at a table piled high with everything a person could ever want; gold, jewels, weapons, and enough food to feed an army. He was staring greedily at it all, bouncing back and forth between the piles.

“After a seven months at war with no end in sight, my father has decided to offer my hand in marriage to two possible allies in an effort to get them to join the war effort. This is the first of the two, Orthronus, he is twice my age and apparently coverts wealth above all else.” She explained.

“How old are you?”

She turned to look at him. “We have known each other for over a year and you do not know how old I am?”

“Do you know how old I am?” He raised an eyebrow.

“I am twenty-three. And I assumed you had been here since the beginning of time.” She said, realising she actually had no idea.

“I have not been here since the beginning of time.” He said softly. “Destiny came first, and then creatures could die before they could Dream, which required Death. But they could Dream before they could Desire or Despair. And then before she was Delirium, my youngest sister was Delight.”

She pinched her eyebrows together. “Why did she change?”

“None of us know, not even Destiny.” He turned his attention back to the man. “Are you planning on staying here all night?”

“No, I still wish to see what the other dreams about. I believe it was you who told me dreams can show us what people are really like.” She smiled before asking a question she was sure overstepped whatever relationship they had. “Will you come with me?”

“I have nothing else to do.” He held out his hand, his fingers curling around hers when she took it.

“One thing before we go.” She turned back to Orthronus and with a wave of her hand all the food in front of him turned into worms. He shrieked and fell back from the table as Morpheus shot her a look.

“Was that necessary?”

She pulled him out of the dream. “I have been locked in a room for half a year, I take my amusement when I can get it.” She was pleased to see the ghost of a smile on his face.

“Who is the other suitor?” His voice seemed harder than normal.

“His name is Coroebus. He is a prince and is, in my opinion, the better of the two options.” She was still getting used to navigating the waters of the Dreaming, so she let Morpheus take the lead. “We met several years ago at a tournament my father held in honour of my nephews birth.”

They landed in the entryway to a large, airy villa. Cass took the lead, pulling Morpheus along as they tried to find where Coroebus was in the dream. It was only when they heard noises coming in the direction of the bedroom that dread at what she might find settled in her stomach. Morpheus seemed to come to the same conclusion because his hand tightened around hers as they made their way down the corridor.

They both froze in the doorway, because the person they were looking at on the bed was Cass. Her hair was array where her head was thrown back on the bed, her skin flushed, and her dress was hanging off indecently. Coroebus was on his knees in front of her between her legs, his head luckily hidden underneath her dress.

Before Cass fully had time to comprehend the scene in front of her, the entire dream darkened. She thought it was her doing until she glanced at Morpheus to find him simmering with rage beside her.

“Morpheus.” She whispered, resisting the urge to step away from him as she was once again reminded that he was not human.

Coroebus screamed and she turned her attention back to the bed to find she had been replaced by a gorgon, snakes hissing and writhing where her hair should be, and her claws cutting into the bedding as she started moving towards him. Coroebus scrambled backwards away from the bed, trying to get away until his back hit the wall.

“Morpheus.” She tugged on his arm, finally drawing his attention back to her. His eyes seemed to glow like gems in the darkness and she once again resisted the urge to run. “I do not wish to traumatise him, he has an army to lead!”

“He will recover.” He said, but a moment later they were standing in his throne room instead.

Cass took a shaky breath and sat down on the steps that led up to the throne as she tried to get her head around what had just happened. Morpheus stayed standing, his hands clenching and unclenching as he glared at the wall. She wondered why he was reacting so strongly. If anyone should be having some form of a breakdown it was her; she had finally began to realise what would happen if one of the suitors helped them win the war.

Before she realised it, the emotions she had been repressing since Hector left forced their way to the surface and tears started streaming down her face again. She pulled her knees up into her chest and buried her face in them, barely hearing Morpheus’s footsteps over her sobs as he walked over and sat down next to her on the steps.

“I became a priestess so my father could not force me into a marriage. And I was prepared to give up everything that entailed, even after what happened with Apollo, just so I would not have to spend my life trapped by a man I did not love. But now, none of it mattered anyway.” She wiped at her eyes, keeping her focus forward and not on the man next to her.

“Surely you have had lovers?” He asked softly.

She resisted the urge to laugh. “I kissed a stable boy once and my father chopped off his hand for daring to put a hand on me. As a priestess, relationships are forbidden and if I broke those vows and my father found out, he would have pushed a marriage on me.” She glanced at him and, before she could stop herself, asked him the same question. “Have you?”

He turned to look at her, his blue eyes calculating as he took her in. “Yes. I have had many mortal lovers over the ages, some more important than others. And I was married once, to Calliope-”

“The muse?” Cass cut in before she could stop herself.

“Yes. We had a son, Orpheus, he was torn apart and she blamed me so she left.” For the first time since she had met him, he seemed wracked with grief.  But he hid it well and turned the conversation back to her. “Did something else happen today?”

“My brother, Hector, will die in the next few months and that will be the beginning of the end for Troy. The city will not last longer than half a year.” She felt her eyes start to burn and changed the subject once again. “I never thanked you for allowing me use your library.”

“You do not need to. No one here ever reads the actual texts, we are always focused on the dream records. I know Lucienne is glad of the company outside of me and Merv.” He gave her a small smile. “I am too, I keep the residents of the Dreaming at arms length so I am glad for the company.”

“I am glad for the company too.” She smiled softly. “Have you figured out why I have an affect on the Dreaming yet?”

Something flashed through his eyes, but it was gone before she could truly read it. “No, I am still looking for the answer.”

“My lady?”

Cass jumped, looking around for the source of the voice.

“Someone is trying to wake you.” Morpheus explained.

She sighed. “Thank you, for listening.”

He bowed his head. “I will see you soon.” He waved his hand and she vanished from the Dreaming.

Chapter 7

Taglist: @yanna-banana @thefinalgirlpng @itshamleth @lokigirlszendaya​ @yunloyal 

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[wellbelesbian]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

my notifications must be well and truly busted, because tumblr didn’t bother to tell me that @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @erzbethluna and @confused-bi-queer all tagged me for WIP Wednesday yesterday until now, which is evidently no longer Wednesday. thanks anyway, guys!

but i’ve been staying up until 5 the past few nights engaged in a new WIP, so the petty constraints of linear time won’t stop me!

it’s not Carry On related, but i was tagged on this account so i’ll post it here anyway.

it’s sort of a retelling of the trojan war, except it’s set 18 years later and is all about the aftermath and the survivors. i try to stay mostly true to the sources, but also patch up any holes. like Briseis. she’s a major part of the Iliad, but then we just never find out what happens to her after Achilles dies! what??

it’s told from the perspective of Astyanax, who you may know was the infant son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and was thrown from the walls of the city when the war ended. except a lot of sources outside of Homer posit that he didn’t 👀

my Astyanax, who is non binary, was raised by his aunts Oenone, the first wife of Paris, and Cassandra, who also narrowly escaped death. but when Cassandra prophecies that they must make amends with the house of Achilles and Hector’s ghost urges them to find their mother Andromache, they set out an adventure and piece together the aftermath of the war as they go.

so yeah. i’ve spent the past few nights writing a rather long and detailed outline, making character picrews, and creating a big messy family tree. so here’s an excerpt, and i’ll put the family tree below too just for fun.

cw for mentions of rape

“Did Oenone ever tell you I was married?” Cassandra pulls up a handful of grass and twists her fingers in it, looking out to the sea.

“No.” Oenone told me so much about my family. I can recite all 99 of my aunts and uncles, as well as their spouses. But not Cassandra’s. I never knew. I wonder what else she never told me, and why.

“His name was Coroebus. I put off marriage for years. Becoming a priestess helped, and my supposed madness drove plenty of potential suitors away, but there are always men willing to look past an unpleasant wife if the alliance brings them power.” She throws the grass down and mumbles “no, that’s not fair to him. He was a good man.” She takes a deep breath. I wait in silence, not wanting to spook her.

“My parents forced me to marry him eventually. He was a king who came to Troy’s aid, I was their thanks, and they thought he might calm me down. He was gentle, and considerate, so I tried to be good. He listened to me, even if he didn’t believe me. And I never had any visions of what was to become of him, which was a mercy. Not that it mattered. That damned horse showed up just three days after we married. He died protecting me in the temple, and then that brute Ajax…” Her breath catches, she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. “His body was only a few feet away.”

I don’t even know what to say. Everyone suffered that night, death and loss and rape all across the city. I know it, but I can’t wrap my head around the enormity of it. I understand suddenly why it’s so hard for her to look upon the city’s ruins.

At a loss for words, I lean over and wrap my arms around her, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. She laughs brokenly. “I think this is supposed to be the other way around. You’re the baby of the family.” I don’t fight her about it this time. After a few minutes, she pulls away and wipes at her eyes.

“How do you live with it?”

“How do any of us?” She asks incredulously. “Oenone lives in the past, and when she runs out of ways to run from reality she turns into a rock.” She clasps my hands and meets my eyes, darkest brown with a pinprick of red fire dancing deep within. “I’ll tell you my secret. Every morning, when I wake up, I lie there and I list them. Everyone who died, for Troy, for me. My parents, my siblings, Coroebus, the Amazons. And then I get up, and I live that day for them.” I squeeze her hands, and she squeezes them back. “Do you understand? We live for them.”

and here’s the mess of a family tree, with Priam and Hecuba’s other 96 kids not pictured.

[firinnie]

Cassandra deserved better

So I'm currently obsessed with reading about Troy, and oh my gods. Cassanda, my beloved. Let's talk about her.

She had a twin named Helenus whonis one of the few children of Priam and Hecuba who survived Troy and after.

We have a version in which she and her brother were licked on their ears by a snake in the temple of Apollo (em.. yeah) and that's why they got a gift of prophecy from him.

BUT I prefer the more common version, Apollo fell in love with beautiful Cassandra and she promised to give herself to him but when he gave only her this gift, Cassandra refused love for the god. Because of this Apollo cursed her, from that day on no one believed her words.

In this version she was teaching her twin how to see and others generally believed his predictions… and they could have used it much better than they did lol. Like "Hey brother, tell them to set fire to that big wooden horse" or something.

Because of Apollo's curse she was considered mad to the point that insults were thrown at her and in some versions Priam ordered her to be locked up.

Cassandra was the first one to see the body of her brother Hector being brought back to Troy. She obviously predicted his death.

Likewise, she knew that "Paris" who "was the son of a shepherd" was actually her missing brother Alexander.

Generally, he has his own story BUT their mother had a dream that he would bring destruction to them all so they decided to get rid of him right after birth… and then Priam and Hecuba accepted him with open arms. Of course they did.

Apart from the fact that Cassandra defied Apollo and ripped the veil from Helen's head (because she knew that this girl would bring destruction), she threw herself at the Trojan Horse with a torch and an axe 'cause no one believed that there were soldiers inside. Unfortunately, she was stopped. Boo!

The horrible thing is that she knew exactly what fate awaited her too.

She was raped by Ajax the Lesser, in the temple of Athena, which, to put it mildly, did not please the goddess.

But more heartbreaking thing about this scene is that she had a suitor with whom she was probably supposed to be married. His name was Coroebus and during the attack on Troy he put on the armor of his enemies to blend in with the crowd and attack them. But when he saw that Cassandra was being hurt, he abandoned it and wanted to save her from Ajax but was killed, probably by Peneleos, Diomedes or Neoptolemus.

So after brutally losing her virginity and seeing the life of person she may have loved, she was taken away by Agamemnon. Cassandra them became his pallake (concubine) against her will of course. From the forced pregnancy she gave birth to twins, Teledamus and Pelops.

She predicted that if they returned to Mycenae they would be murdered but of course Agamemnon didn't listen.

His wife Clytemnestra (absolutely rightly) was furious with him and murdered guy on the spot. In a fit of rage she also murdered Cassandra, and Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, killed both of baby boys. Technically we don't know if Cassandra saw her children die with her own eyes (or what feelings she had for them) but she certainly saw it in a vision. Can you imagine that?

In my opinion she is one of the most tragic figures of Troy, another victim of the gods too.

I also found information that she left a special chest with a mask of Dionysus face in it, Eurypylus got it as his share of the treasures from Troy and when he opened it he went crazy. Good job Cassandra.

[likethexan]

AU where everything in the Epic Cycle is the same except Coroebus is the only soul on Earth who believes in Cassandra’s prophecies. Does it change anything? No. But it gives Cassandra reprieve in having one person believe in her.

[sing-o-clio]

Ok my current project is making me So Feral despite being only 15 pages, having half a first draft that’s getting scrapped, and consisting mostly of vibes. But I can’t post snippets because it’s for my MA and I’m stupidly paranoid about it somehow popping up as plagiarism, and then I’d either have to explain or be kicked out, either of which would involve being Known, so, uh no. BUT I can post a short recap of the cool shit I’m doing.

Short plot overview: Cassandra. Fall of Troy. You know the drill.

And it already has:

Cassandra is her Own Chorus: self explanatory. She’s both chorus and protagonist. She breaks the fourth wall, but only as chorus. She knows the narrative but also is experiencing it. She and the audience know the same things, so it’s like the opposite of dramatic irony. Similarly-

Mini Greek Tragedy: It has a prologue, I’m doing episodes and stasimon, it’s just crazy. But also-

Five Stages of Grief Structure: She’s literally grieving as it takes place, because she’s at a different point of the narrative despite being In It. The end is inescapable, fated, and she Knows That but she can’t DO anything about it and just omg-

Related, The Cancer Metaphor: The five stages were originally about coming to terms with terminal illness. Cue screaming. The grief is the terminal illness except it’s also fate and also her curse and also, in her deepest fears, Cassandra Herself. She and Troy are caught in the process of dying, knowing it is coming, but living within it.

The Fear of Inadequacy: The curse gets So Much Worse when you suggest she feels inadequate. Feeling like her curse is her fault. Already Trying and Failing to fix problems and then having that be made into a curse. The way she’s treated by her family and people, from gentle pity to patronising to fear.

The Cancer Metaphor Again: What if SHE’S the cancer? What if she’s both life and death? Daughter and doom? She lives within the story but she also kills it by experiencing it but then she also Knows the story. Constant duality of living and dying, of growing inside something and also killing it. The story is her mother but also the body she kills. But also she’s dooming her mother. I have A Line for this and it’s just Ridiculous Vibes.

What Is A Story Without A Writer?: It’s not just Apollo who cursed her, it’s Homer and Virgil and all the Writers and also the Narrative itself and Us as an Audience for Observing her. We’re all complicit.

The Double Casting: Greek tragedy had only three actors no matter who those actors played. But the Possibilities. I’m particularly Feral over Helen/Andromache, destroyer and mother, perfect and imperfect, the two ends of a spectrum that should never have met being the same and breaking all the dualities that are supposed to exist within their characters to just make them Women. Other favourites include Dead Guard/Coroebus, so the men Keep Dying and there’s nothing she can do. Also possibly Hector/Apollo if I fit Hector in.

Can you tell Cassandra is giving me Brain Rot? There’s just So Much.

[askthedustbowl]

noble

after her boyfriend of three years leaves her, cassandra turns to the one person she knows wants her more than anything else in the world, but it doesn’t work out the way she wants it to.

—————

cassandra knew it was cruel, but she had no one else to turn to. coroebus had been the love of her life. they had promised to stay together forever.

she would be lying if she said that she hadn’t had a bad feeling about coro from the beginning. the minute he stepped into the room for that first time, she saw heartbreak in her future. but she ignored it.

everyone else ignored her premonitions. sometimes she thought she’d do well to follow their example, even if they sometimes turned out to be true.

“cassandra.” asterion blinked. “uh, cass.” he looked at her in surprise. “what are you doing here?”

cassandra knew she must have looked a mess—mascara running down her face, still in her dance clothes, red-rimmed eyes. “can i come in?” she asked softly.

asterion nodded. “are you okay? have you been crying?”

it was like cassandra wasn’t in control of her body anymore. she was watching from a distance now. she saw herself lean in and take asterion’s face in her hands. she saw herself kiss him, hard and desperate.

asterion stumbled back, his hand coming up to touch his lips. “cass...”

“please,” cassandra heard herself say. “please, just tonight. i’ll let you do anything you want.” she knew how asterion felt about her. she knew she was being evil. but she just couldn’t help herself—not now.

she took asterion’s face and kissed him again. this time, he eased into it. his hands found cassandra’s waist and touched it cautiously. she moved her hips so that he was holding her tight.

as soon as he had her closer to him, asterion pulled away again. just like that, cassandra was back in her body.

she felt waves of frustration crash against her insides. “asterion, isn’t this what you want?!” she cried. “you’ve always wanted this! you’ve always wanted me, why not now?!”

asterion sighed heavily and took a step back. “not like this, cass.” he whispered.

cassandra swallowed hard. “why not?” she asked, but she knew the answer.

asterion was noble, no matter how desperately cassandra wanted him not to be.

“it wouldn’t be right.” he put his hands in his pockets. “you know that. i couldn’t do that to you.”

cassandra wrapped her arms around herself. she suddenly felt very, very small.

“here,” asterion stepped away to shut the door. “i’ll get you some water, okay? you don’t have to talk, but just let me...” he paused, looking anywhere as an excuse to not meet her eyes.

cassandra exhaled shakily.

once asterion disappeared into the kitchen, she let go of the tension in her shoulders and put her face in her hands. he was right. she knew that.

the one time she wanted to be used, the perfect man for the job wouldn’t do it.

[effulgentpoet]

mythology aesthetics

COROEBUS

In Greek mythology, Coroebus was the son of King Mygdon of Phrygia. He came to the aid of Troy during the Trojan War. During the Sack of Troy, Coroebus convinced some of his fellow soldiers, including Aeneas, to dress in enemy armor to disguise themselves. He was killed trying to defend Cassandra from Ajax.

[soulgathered-a]

anonymous asked : Did Cassandra love any of her suitors?

“I assume you speak of othryoneus and coroebus.” how strange to say the names of these men. she tries to recall their faces, their voices. she had seen them so many times, especially in her visions.

...she had seen them die so many times that she had closed off her heart to them. they had come to troy for her. they had died for her.  ‘I come for the loveliest of priam’s daughters’ ‘allow me to fight for your city. and when we win, allow me to marry cassandra’

admirably they had tried talking to her. those two who had never seemed to mind the gossip of others. when others talked about how beauty had been wasted on her due to her ‘madness’... those two seemed to think differently. of course they never believed her, but they could also see that she was no mad woman.

“I didn’t. but I think, if I had been wed to any of them, I could have grown to love that man. or at least appreciate that life.” certainly they were men who would have deserved a long life with someone by their side to love them.