Deidra Firas Byrne was the youngest of the trio of princesses within the nation of Eithnefin. She was by far the most desirable of the three, with her flawless, dewy skin, long dark tresses of hair and piercing blue eyes. Her beauty was one of the main reasons she had the amount of pull she did within her family’s kingdom, as it gave her an almost obnoxious amount of suitors to choose from which made her a true gem in her father’s eyes. She would make them a long-lasting alliance somewhere, and so her father clung to her and kept her safe, happy, and comfortable whilst he searched for the perfect match for both her and the kingdom.<br/><br/>While she was certainly an asset to her family, in some ways she could have also been considered a liability. With a trail of passionate suitors also came a series of broken hearts and a man scorned could be a dangerous thing. A few men in particular had come back with rather violent reactions when faced with the rejection of the northern beauty, their displeasure accompanied by threats of physical harm to her and all the members of her family. Deidra, while she took heed of the threats, didn’t fear them nor did she truly fear for her life. Within the confines of the castle walls, she was safe, especially with the guards that were generally stationed about the home. At that particular time, the security was a bit more lax than usual, as her father and brothers had frolicked off with a majority of their men to fight in some useless war with one of their smaller neighboring nations. As always they’d crush the enemy without much opposition and return victorious, her father boasting of yet another vicious struggle that he didn’t actually fight in but stood up upon the top of a hill and joyfully looked down upon. It was all quite a bore to Dei, she preferred to remain in the comfort of her home, with servants at her beck and call and the power of manipulation within her grasp. It was entertaining to bend the will of men like her father and worm her way into a more powerful position without having the true weight of said power resting on her shoulders. She’d not give up her station for the world even if it meant a bit less freedom and a bit more danger. Had she known that one of her few standing guardsmen had been killed moments before upon the eastern wall perhaps she’d have a slightly differing thought of her status within the kingdom. For the time being, however, she was content with her position.<br/><br/>At that very moment, Deidra was settled upon her bed in her chambers, donning only her undergarments and a thin cotton nightgown. Her twin sister was settled with her in the bedroom, and they were having a bit of a chat as the moonlight illuminated their room through the balcony doors. She’d left them cracked open the slightest bit to allow a bit of the warm summer air to circulate through the room as they sat there together, Deidra gently brushing her sister's hair out with a comb as the sickly girl chattered on about the suitor she’d been seeing for the past couple of days.<br/><br/>“Oh, you’d not believe he was interested in me if you saw him, Dei. He’s so handsome and well built, I’d be marrying down a handful of classes but with you and Aideen as my competition I’d be content with nearly anything.”<br/><br/>“Oh, nonsense Marsail … You’re just as desirable as us, only with a little extra baggage,” she murmured chastisingly as she ran her fingers down over the wispy blonde hair that covered her sisters head.<br/><br/>“Don’t flatter me, Deidra. We all know that’s not true. I’m frail and sickly, and those aren’t traits in a woman that will make men batter down doors to get to them. Now you, you are a lady who men would start wars over,” Marsail argued indignantly.<br/><br/>Deidra sighed heavily at her sister’s self-deprecation, but then they all knew it was true. Marsail had been sickly since their birth, none of the royal physicians had expected her to make it through her first night, much less her 22nd year, and yet here she was comfortably settled in with her sister, chatting the night away.<br/><br/>“Well, it sounds like this Aidan gentleman would start a war for you if he had any men to call to arms aside from his family’s personal detail,” Dei murmured as she began braiding back her sister’s hair carefully.<br/><br/>“Yes, he seems quite taken with me … And I certainly fancy him as well,” she murmured pleasantly, a note of bashfulness in her voice as she smoothed out the thin skirt of her nightwear.<br/><br/>“Well, that’s wonderful Marsail. Besides, who needs thousands of dastardly men hammering down your door when you could have just one decent one who father approves of?” she murmured as she tied back the simple french braid with a small bit of black ribbon.<br/><br/>The young women shared a few more minutes of subdued chatter before Marsail departed for her own rooms for bed. Her guard awaited outside the room to accompany her back to the room and a second man sat in a plush chair beside Deidra’s door, where he’d be stationed for the knight. The sisters parted after Deidra graced her dearest sister’s brow with a gentle kiss and then the youngest of the princesses retreated back into her room, shutting and fastening the locks upon her door. She thought herself safe there, enclosed in her room with a man she knew well settled just outside her door. So, with her heart full from her sister’s visit and her mind at ease she began retreating towards her bed. She extinguished the few candles that her handmaiden had left burning as she moved towards the bed, though she wasn’t fond of the dark the moon was large enough to illuminate the room nicely on that particular evening.