//grapevine fires //ALEXANDREINA

[Elena Dracul]

lena leaned against the velvet backrest, her eyes focused on the fireplace. She'd decided to spend some of the day in the royal family's lounge a mere two hallways from her and Mircea's rooms. The chamber had a beautiful high ceiling, decorated with numerous scenes from a wolf hunt. Elena tilted her head back, dark brown eyes taking in the familiar paintings. She found that she'd never gotten over what she'd felt at her first sight of the ceiling; pity for the wolf. Unlike some of the fragile, and faint of heart ladies of the court, Elena found the wolf to be a beautiful, fascinating creature. She is not ashamed of this opinion, and there was no one but Mircea and Vlad who could ask her not to speak so bluntly. So far neither of them have said a word. Elena assumed that Mircea shared the same opinion, or frankly did not care what the other ladies thought of his wife. However when her mind turned to Vlad, she was unsure of his beliefs. While she could at least guess at her husbands thoughts, Vlad was a closed book to her.

Thoughts of Vlad brought on thoughts of his fiance, the lovely Alexandreina. The princess' lips curved up into a smile. She was very eager for the girl to join their family. She had never had a sister, and she could not stay awake every night in order to spend time with Mihaela. It would be nice to have someone like Alexandreina around more often.

She had spoken with Vlad's fiance a number of times, and they got along marvelously. While she and Mihalea occasionally got into disagreements, she'd had no such trouble with Alexandreina.

Elena pushed herself to her feet, running her hands over the skirts of her deep red silk dress. The material felt smooth beneath her fingertips and she found herself smiling. Mircea often surprised her with gifts. His most recent being a beautiful ruby necklace. She'd had the dress made to match the style of the piece, the dress having been designed with a low neck, bringing the large ruby to contrast against her pale rise of her breasts. The princess wandered toward one of the mirrors, it's frame encrusted with gold and sapphires, and one delicate hand reached up, touching the heavy stone resting against her skin. She would be sure to have something made for Mircea, simply out of love for him. Her smile grew as she wandered back to the fireplace, hands reaching forward, warmed by the deep orange flames.

[Alexandreina Vintila]

Alexandreina was getting more and more chances lately to spend time with Vlad. It still was not nearly as much time as she would have liked, but it was a nice change of pace. Vlad’s company was something she adored and appreciated. He still had his duties to his country, their country, and she was glad that he had those chances to try and secure the future of the land. He had many meetings and quite the full schedule. Alexandreina was not one to sit idly by and do nothing while her soon-to-be husband did so much more. Instead, she made sure to have a busy life as well, but not anything close to a match with Vlad. It was just enough to keep her occupied and content so as not to become bored. She was looking forward to becoming an addition to the Dracul family.

The more she thought about that idea, the more she smiled. She had a sister already, but when she became a Dracul, she would gain more sisters and even some brothers. Alexandreina had met them already and she felt she got along with everyone well enough. She hadn’t seen Mihaela or Elena in a few days, so the idea of spending some time with them again soon was something she wished to do. While Mihaela was blood related, Elena had married in as she was going to do.

Alexandreina made sure to be polite to the Dracul family, all of them, for they were her future family. They had been rather accepting of her in return, for which she was grateful. She had a fond memory of the last time she had met up with Vlad and spent some time with him. Her heart belonged to only him and she felt her soul was tied to his. Now, she had some time to herself again and decided to head for the lounge. The first time she had seen it, it had disturbed her to the point of causing her nightmares. Alexandreina never feared the wolf. She thought of them as very noble and wise creatures. The idea that they would be hunted upset her, so she had never hunted them and never planned to.

Her long, pale gray dress was sewn with strands of a silvery thread, making it look much more elegant than a common gray gown. The bodice conformed to her torso with a neckline low enough to give a hint at what was beneath the fabric, but did not reveal too much. Once past her waist, the material flowed out and down beautifully. The sleeves were lengthy and sheer, widening at the elbow to drift down to her wrist. As her slippered feet entered the lounge, she saw that the fireplace was lit. The flames made it warm and comfortable in this room and she noticed Elena was here. Further entering the space, she smiled happily.

“Good day to you, Elena,” Her voice crossed the room with her.