Chapter 1 – Prologue – The Child Bride

Elizabeth Katerina Hohenzollern looked at herself in the mirror.

Today she was to be married.

No one spoke of love. She swallowed. She was only thirteen. She looked up at her mother.

Katherine smiled a little at her daughter. "You will do well." She said in Spanish.

The girl nodded.

She looked back at the mirror. She was the only daughter of the Duke of Cleves. Knowing women could still die by blades even if they could not use them, he trained his daughter as he would a son to use blades, especially knives that could be used up close.

The girl was very good with them and carried one almost all the time. Now she did not, not having a place for it and she felt naked without her dagger. The blade-master had made it special for her, thin, light, but deadly just as its owner was.

Elizabeth was small for her age, but what she did not have in physical mass she had in mental ability and she could measure against many men of her time. While learning female arts such as embroidery and how to run a home and male arts such as weapons handling, she learned Latin, French, English, science of the day, and geography. She had a skill for learning, remember, and maintaining information. A skill set that would make her a valuable partner to any many who realized her value.

She touched her cheek. Her mother had given her much advice on her wedding night. It would be painful, but only once and then her husband would likely only come when he needed her or to father a child. With luck he would find a mistress to distract him while she was with child or when she was tired of his attentions.

The girl had been startled about this and her mother had explained it was the way of men. To hold their attentions one had to look the other way on some things. She would be a wife and was the heiress of Cleves. She could accept that her husband would be with others or not, but he likely would. The best action was to accept it and enjoy the time to be her own woman.

Elizabeth was born a cripple, her leg had never set from her birth making her gait a little awkward, but she seemed to not let it bother her even though she got very uncomfortable at times. She remained her cheerful self, her father's Sun-ray, even when she was hurting.

Now she was going to be with others. She was not sure she was ready or that, and yet she relished the trust put into her.

The girl allowed her mother to lead her to the family chapel where her husband waited. He was a tall young man and he gazed at his bride as she came to him. Count Eiche von Strauffenberg was a young man of nearly twenty, but his uncle had drawn up the marriage contract with his best friend, the Duke of Cleve, Elizabeth's father.

The pair would unite the families. Elizabeth was the only child of the Duke and in line to the throne of Prussia. The young lad was a count and from Bavaria. He smiled at his bride, though he looked frail.

Elizabeth said her words and then he said his, binding them together until death took them. Eiche kissed his bride softly on her mouth before they walked together to the great hall.

The wedding feast went well, though the count was very drunk when he came to bed that night with his terrified young wife. He was unable to take her virginity and fell asleep leaving her awake as she looked out the window, half under his body.

For the next two months, the girl remained a virgin. She was not sure what to do about it. She waited. When he joined her in the bed, he would fall asleep nearly instantly due to the riggers put upon him. When she tried to urge him to join with her, he could not. This was not to say she did not love her husband. They spent much time talking, sharing kisses, and him talking about his hunts.

In her third month of marriage, her husband was attacked by a boar they were hunting. The wound to his leg had been bleeding badly, but was stopped. However, the wound to his abdomen, was fatal.

Thankfully, Eiche bleed out before the horrible pain of a belly wound could take him. The physicians did all they could to ease him and so he died, childless, his wife yet a virgin.

Elizabeth had become very good at running the house hold in the estate along the Rhein that had the town of Bacharach below.

She looked from her manor home to Wernerkapelle that stood out above the wall of the home. She had spent several days going to the Gothic ruin. The locals warned her it was a place angry spirits. The ruined chapel which bears the named Werner has however rather tragic origins. The young Werner was a boy whose unexplained death was blamed on Jews. Elizabeth did not believe that rumor and knew it had led to the deaths of man innocents of the crime.

She let the wind rustle her hair as she heard someone approach.

"My lady. Your father approaches."

The girl nodded. "Make ready for him."

The girl went and pulled on her widow finery and walked out to greet the Duke as he arrived. He looked at his plainly dressed, but comely daughter. He took a breath and pulled her into a hug.

"I grieve with you, sweetheart." He said gently.

She looked up at him. "Why?" she asked.

He looked at her. "You are a widow."

She nodded and sighed as he let her go. They walked into the manor home and she made the servants leave. Always she had been the apple of her father's eye.

"What is wrong?" He asked.

She turned to her father, her red auburn hair in a simple ponytail down her back. It flicked over a shoulder before she tossed it back behind her.

"I am not sure how I should feel." She said. "Eiche was a good man. He cared for me and treated me well..."

"But..."

"But..." She swallowed and went to him. "I was never fully his wife."

Her father arched his eyebrow. "What?"

"He never..."

Her father nodded. "I see." He swallowed. "Perhaps that is well. We can annul your marriage since it was not consummated and we can start fresh when your mourning period is over."

She swallowed. "But Papa." she touched his arm. "I am only thirteen." She said.

He looked at her. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it was too early for you to be a bride."

The girl nodded and then began to sob. He stepped to her and held her. He held her and kissed her hair. "Hush, my treasure."

"What is to become of me?"

"This marriage never happened according to records and so you will return with me to Cleves."

"I love you father."

"As I you."