Dark eyes. Dark almond shaped eyes. They stare back at me from the looking glass, the distorted image of what I am and what I could be. I am accursed and damned, as surely as any other lover's fool. At the age of seventeen, my mother and father betrothed me to Philip the Handsome of Austria. It was a fatal error that has jeopardized my now immortal soul. Adios Mio.
When I at last turned eighteen, they put together a fleet of ships to sail me to my new home. After months at sea, tired and weathered the creaking sea vessels washed ashore in the Low Countries. I had been apprehensive about my first encounter with my new beloved. I had not long to wait, and when at last we met I found myself face to face with someone whose smile melted the melancholy that surrounded my heart since the day I was put upon this earth. So entranced was he that he immediately called for a cleric to marry us so that he might take me into his bedchambers. And oh how I trembled under his touch. His hands trailed over my virgin flesh as though he were perusing the skin of an angel. His mouth covered mine, my heart dashing against my breasts, as though it would burst forth from my chest.
He led me into the room, the only sound between us being the breath escaping my parted lips. My lips felt a tingle with desire, trembling as I waited for love's one true kiss. Philip. Though neither of us possessed tongues capable of producing one another's language, we found ourselves entranced by the simple fire our palms pressed together could ignite in our bodies. He began by taking the pins from my hair. He kissed my long raven locks, pressing my hair into his hand, bringing the scented strands up to his delicate nose. His slender fingers trailing over the contours of my ivory face, the flush creeping into my cheeks, as the warmth overcame my being.
The fire crackled casting its yellow hue upon the floor, alighting on the deep red velvet coverlet on the bed. I knew we would end up there. I knew my flesh would be beneath his hungry gaze. I wanted to reveal myself to him. My eyes looked into his, questioning, asking him to guide me in this new endeavor, this coupling of man and woman, husband and wife. He brought my trembling hands to his lips, turning them over to kiss my palms.