First Night
The Bishop claims his right to take my virginity.
"Tonight marks a new beginning," I tell myself, staring in the mirror. My wedding gown, a deep blue adorned with silver threads, glimmers in the candlelight, each flicker reviving memories of a happier time before my father went to war and never returned. It was my mother's dress, from an era before grief engulfed us, when the plague cast its shadow over our lives, taking my mother and three of my siblings. With all of my...