Serafina had fought with her parents before bed. They were down in the dining hall, the servants had just brought out their meals and she was halfheartedly picking at hers, not even bothering to pretend she was eating any of it. Neither parent cared, they were too busy chatting away at the advancement on their side, discussing their new "plan" to get rid of the Nysir. Her mind went back to that little girl she had met when she was four or five and had gotten lost in the gardens of the castle, somehow ending up outside the walls. The girl was a doe when she first approached her, then a nude child like her when she was human. Her hair had been like Raffy's, long and wavy, except it was very dark colored. Raffy had, well, been jealous of the girl. Why did she get to run around without clothes? Why did she get the pretty hair that Raffy had always wanted? Neither of her parents had her wretched orange hair, her fathers was black- white now, actually -and her mothers was a wheat color. Apparently her grandmother had her hair, and the cursed gene always skipped a generation and was passed on to the females of the family.
Besides that, she was jealous that this girl got to run around at all, without the constant supervision that she had, as a princess. It was a miracle she had managed to slip away this time, she had hidden in the bushes and waited for the guards to start looking for her before running off. Though usually nudity wouldn't bother a child, Raffy had felt uncomfortable, and removed her coat and thrust it out towards the girl. She had taken it, not saying anything to her. It wasn't long after that the guards found her and brought her home, but she remembers very well that one stayed behind, waiting until they thought she was out of sight to take the other little girl and drag her away. No matter how many times she slipped away and tried to find her again, she was not there. Raffy was alone in this world, that she had long before decided. Rarely did she even leave the castle, unless it was with four or more guards and she was ordered to go down to town to greet the townspeople. She had no friends, no siblings, only her songs and the occasional bird that landed on her windowsill to rely on.
It wasn't until long after this incident that she found out about the other species, and found a new reason to hate her father. The little girl had done nothing wrong, and they had probably executed her. Hearing her father talk like he did, it just made her angry, it fired her up and that red hair finally made sense. She had a fuse as long as her pinkie, and it only took a warm breath to alight it. "You have no idea what you're talking about." Raffy said, rolling her eyes as they abruptly stopped speaking and turned to stare at her, something they did when she was being "rude". "Don't look at me like that, you're the ones being rude." Her mother was the first to bounce back. "Fina dear-" her father cut in, "Go up to your room Serafina, now, and think about what you said. Do not come out until you are ready to apologize."
Thus how she ended up in her room since half-midnight, singing quietly to herself and once again rearranging her dresses. Sometimes she wished she didn't have to wear them, other times she was sort of glad because she didn't have to wear those silly outfits that men wore. To bed though, she did wear pants and a nightshirt, instead of a dress like she knew most women did. It was a compromise her and her parents had made, since no one would ever actually be seeing her in bed until she was married off, at least that's what her father hoped. She complied though, not wanting to see some fool beheaded because of her.
It was much later when she finally fell asleep, and not long after that she was awoken to the feeling of cold metal on her throat and a hand over her mouth, a quiet voice warning her not to make any noises. Her eyes were wide and her body felt frozen, her brain not yet processing the situation. It probably would have been better if he had just knocked her out, she thought, without actually realizing that she was thinking of better ways he could have kidnapped her. Very slightly, she nodded her head, careful to stay away from the sharp knife at her throat. From here on out, she would listen to whatever he told her to do, most likely at least.