#I just read a poem where they referred to the sun as an orb and it triggered me so much I came onto tumblr.com to complain

[theangriestpea]

Crowned : two

Summary: Two blonde princesses, two dark-haired princes, and one plotting marquess. Lily is in love with a secret admirer. Shanna doesn’t want to ascend to the throne. Jughead wants to spend the day writing poetry. Sweet Pea would rather be out on his horse. And Reggie just wants to be king. <ao3> <masterlist>

Pairing: Sweet Pea x OC, Jughead Jones x OC

Word Count: 5.9k+

Warnings: smut (now with actual plot!), unprotected sex (wrap it up xoxo)

A/N: Lavender is Shanna’s nickname. I didn’t establish that very well.

Part Two: Second Chances

In the royal flower garden a young princess sat with her battered sketchbook, pencil moving across the page furiously. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration, flicking up to look at the white daisies in front of her before going back down to the page. She quickly realized in frustration that she wasn’t outlining flowers but rather a handsome face. After a brief pause, she let out a small sigh and went back to her work. Tracing the lines from the memory of the ball two nights ago.

“Mind if I see?” A voice called out to her from the other side of the flower bed she was sitting in front of. She quickly recognized it as the subject of her drawing. In an instant the book was pressed against her chest to keep him from seeing it.

Jughead gave her a curious look as he moved through the path so he could stand in front of her. “You’re in my light.” She said passively and he took a step to the side so that he was no longer blocking the sun. Even without the obstruction, she still didn’t put her book down in fear that he’d see his own face on the white paper.

“Your sister said I had to make things up to you.” The prince said in a faraway voice. Lily’s green orbs dared to look at him. There was a dreamy look on his face as if he were imagining something sweet…or maybe not too sweet. Maybe it was sultry. Her pale cheeks flushed pink.

“For what?” Lily asked, playing dumb. She turned so she could continue to sketch away from his prying eyes. It was hard to resist looking up at him for reference. Instead she kept with her visual memory of their dance. Pencil working feverishly to fill in his dark hair.

Jughead watched her. His eyes softened at the sight of her doing something that put her at ease. “Confessing to you, I suppose.” He said. When he told Shanna he’d make it up to her, he meant that he’d find a way to apologize for pining after her sister. He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by saying he had to make it up to Lily instead.

“How do you plan on doing that exactly?” Lily asked with an edge of frustration on her voice. Her eyes flicked up to his face for a brief moment before looking back down and adjusting the drawn image.

Jug ran a tongue across his lower lip in thought. He attempted to keep his thoughts pure, but he was a teenage boy after all. It was difficult and she was just too beautiful. “Writing you another poem.” He finally replied, pulling the neatly folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her.

Lily looked at him again, her eyes lingering this time in disbelief. He was seriously giving her another love note? Then again, her sister did tell her she could do what she wished in regards to her fiancé. The whole situation was so messed up.

She closed her sketch book and gingerly grabbed the paper, opening it up to read the neatly written lines inside. It was his usual brand of off-white parchment embossed with intricate swirls. She didn’t know it but he had it specially made for letters he only wrote to her. It was unique.

Her fingers swept over the delicate embellishments before beginning to read the first few lines. As always she quickly became engrossed into the fine lettering and detailed wording.

He likened her image to a virgin goddess: young, beautiful, and naïve. Her hair was the sun, her face the moon, and her eyes the stars. The biggest, brightest stars in the galaxy that he had hoped would only twinkle for him.

This poem wasn’t like his usual. It wasn’t as short and sweet and romantic. It was exhilarating the way he described the curve of her waist, the shape of her breasts, and the length of her legs. Now not only were the brush of her cheeks pink, but her entire face heated as he wrote about her body and soul with a clear and fiery passion.

It ended with how he wanted to protect this holy being he thought was her. How he wanted no harm to ever come to her. No darkness to ever touch her heart. No pain to creep into her veins. And especially no tears to wet her eyes as she mourned the loss of her freedom. Because in the end, she wasn’t the only one losing someone. He was losing her too.  

Lily looked up at him with eyes glazed with a fresh set of painful emotions. The sight sent a pang of anguish through his chest. He had a feeling it would be too much. Maybe he shouldn’t have written it at all. Maybe he should have avoided her and married Shanna and lived his life.

However, in the prince’s heart he knew that not to be true. He had to confess his feelings or they would fester inside of him, growing into blackened weeds of resentment. It may have been selfish and unkind to put her through this turmoil, but in the end he just wanted her to know that she was loved.

“Jug…” She mumbled, but before she could say anything else, the prince dipped down to place his lips upon hers. She imagined her first kiss would be Sweet Pea and no his brother. Panic flooded her mind as she tried to think of how people kissed in the movies she had seen.

It was soft, gentle, and slow. Jughead didn’t press her any further for the first few moments. He pulled away before kissing her again, unable to stop himself as the feeling of her lips against his gave him a rush that he’d never felt before.

Lily opened her mouth first, innocently trying to force air into her lungs but Jughead took it as an invitation. He prodded her lips with his tongue, not daring to venture inside of her mouth just yet. He could feel her hesitation before the tip of her tongue met his.

Their muscles entwined together, Jughead put a hand to the back of her head to steady her as one of her hands reached up to caress the side of his face. Lily couldn’t stop the small moan that came from her mouth at the feeling of light exploding inside of her mind. It was just as every cheesy romance novel she had secretly read described it.

After a few minutes the two finally separated for air, looking at one another with eyes hooded with lust. No words were said as they breathed deeply. Lily’s hand slid down his neck to rest on his shoulder. “We can’t do this.” She finally said, trying to make sense of her emotions. “It’s not right.”

“What is ever right about love?” Jughead asked eloquently, his eyes shining down on hers. Before he could say anything else she was kissing him again.

|\/\/|

Shanna finished out shoveling the last of the droppings from Hades’ stall. The Joneses were to be staying at the castle until the wedding preparations had been finalized. Though she had managed to ignore Sweet Pea since their midday race the day before, she had a feeling she’d run into him here where she was serving her sentence.

Of course she could have just batted her eyelashes at Dilton and had him do it, since it was his job, but she decided to prove to the dark prince that she could do a bit of manual labor. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead before glancing at the few blisters starting to form on her soft fingers.

“Oh? You’re actually doing it?” Prince Sweet Pea asked, leaning against the frame of the door to the stall. “Here I thought you’d make your slave do it.”

“He’s not my slave.” Shanna hissed, turning to meet his gaze. She had dirt smeared across her face now from wiping it with the back of her hand. “And by the way, I touched your horse.”

“I told you not to touch him!” Sweet Pea snapped at her angrily, quickly finding Hades in the stall next to Persephone. The two horses were grooming one another, making soft noises of affection. A disgusted look crossed his face at the two horses. “You put them beside each other?!”

“Yes. They were calling to one another. Who am I to deny Persephone her first love?” Shanna said, joking towards the end as she grabbed a bale of straw to replace what she took out. She cut it with a knife before starting to spread it over the bare spots.

Sweet Pea snorted, trying not to watch her ass as she bent over. Why did she always have to wear such tight pants when she was in the stable? This was a crime against humanity, he thought. “They’re not in love. She’s probably just in season and wants his dick.”

Shanna glanced at him over her shoulder, noticing where his eyes were looking. She narrowed her gaze at him, “please. Persephone isn’t some hopeless mare in need of a good lay. She’s a classy lady.”

He wasn’t sure if they were still actually talking about their horses or if their conversation had transcended to metaphors about them instead. “Right. Well your classy lady still lost to my stallion.”

“Because she was distracted by how good he looked.” Shanna replied, finishing up laying the hay. “I propose a new race. I will ride one of my other horses. One of that won’t get distracted. A champion runner that is one of the most important horses in all of the kingdom.” There was a proud smile on her face and a determined look in her eyes. The prince was having trouble finding a reason to say no.

“What are the stakes?” Pea asked, giving her a serious look as she turned fully to face him, hand on her hip. The tank top she was wearing didn’t leave anything to the imagination either. He licked his bottom lip slowly.

Shanna watched him, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of his tongue. “Winner owes the loser a favor. They can ask for anything.” She replied as her eyes connected with his, “what do you say?”

“What could you possibly do for me if I won?” Sweet Pea asked with a snort.

“Oh, Pea. I could do so many things.” Shanna said suggestively as she walked by him, her arm brushing against his. “If you’re too chicken shit, then I understand. No one has ever beat Hermes in a race.”

Of course he couldn’t just let her go after that declaration. “Fine. Same trip as before. We’ll race to the river. Whoever wins owes the other a favor of any kind.”

She smirked at him before going over to the stall and the end of the row. “Hermes, you ready for a run today?” He poked his head over the door and nuzzled the side of her head, making her laugh. “That’s a yes.”

“Are you going to saddle up your own horse this time?” Sweet Pea asked as he started grabbing the tack he used for Hades.

Shanna rolled her eyes as she moved to grab equipment as well. “Yes. I don’t ride Hermes as often because he’s not exclusively mine. I just take care of him during peace time.”

Sweet Pea started getting Hades ready, noticing his stallion was more interested in the mare next to him. He shot his steed an annoyed look. “He’s a warhorse?”

“Are you a war horse?” She asked Hermes in a joking tone. Hermes just snorted a reply. “Hermes happens to be the best war horse in all of Riverdale. When information is too sensitive to be sent over radio or phone, it’s sent by horse. Hermes specifically. He has the fastest record in all of the kingdom. He doesn’t get distracted by anything. He listens to no one but his rider.”

“He’s a gelding.” Sweet Pea surmised. “Isn’t distracted by mares that are in season.”

Shanna smiled, petting the horse lovingly, “yes. It’s a shame, he’d father some great foals. But ultimately it made it easier for whoever was delivering the message to handle him. He didn’t lose an ounce of speed though, did you, boy?” She asked. Hermes shook his head in response.

“He won’t beat a stallion bred for war.” Sweet Pea said in a smug tone. “You’re on. And when I win, you better be ready.”

She turned her back to him with a smirk on her face. “We’ll see.”

They quietly readied their horses, getting to work to prepare them for the race. Each one was sure they were going to win. And they knew exactly what they wanted from the other. Whoever won would get a very nice prize.

Lav mounted her horse and took him to the invisible starting line. Sweet Pea was right behind her on Hades. Both dark horses lined up. Hades was clearly antsy compared to the collected Hermes. She wondered if it was because he didn’t want to be away from his new beau.

They counted down together and like last time, at one they two horses burst forward. In the first few moments, Hades had the lead. He was a full body length ahead of Hermes. Shanna did this on purpose, letting the stallion wear himself out sooner rather than later.

After they reached the midpoint, she dug her heels into Hermes’ sides. The thoroughbred sprung into a full gallop. He quickly caught up to Hades and took the lead. Sweet Pea looked at the princess as she rode by. He glared at the proud look on her face.

Shanna and Hermes were the first to make it to the edge of the river. He let out an excited whinny, trotting around in a circle in a kind of victory dance as the others joined him.

Sweet Pea was giving her a dirty look as Hades snorted in anger at his own defeat. “Looks like I win.” The princess said while smirking at him. She started to walk Hermes back to the stable in the same way that they had come. She petted his neck affectionately and murmured to him how good he was.

The prince walked his horse next to hers. “What do you want?” He asked, obviously frustrated that he had lost and now had to do something for her. He had always been a sore loser. It was so bad that his brother usually just let him win to avoid his temper. Shanna wasn’t about to baby him though. She could face his temper just fine.

“I’ll tell you when we get back.” She said cryptically. “You can’t do it from on top of your horse anyway.” The blonde looked thoroughly pleased with herself, her face not showing how hard her heart was thumping inside of her chest. She wanted to chalk it up to the exhilaration of the race but deep down she knew the truth. Despite their deal he could still tell her no. She handled rejection just as well as he handled losing.

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “You’re stalling.” He said snappishly, wanting to get whatever benign task it was she wanted him to do over with. He figured it’d be something humiliating or demeaning, perhaps something worse than just cleaning out a horse stall.

Shanna shrugged in response, staying quiet as she focused on controlling her breathing to calm herself down. “When you’re done brushing him down, meet me at the last stall on the end.” She finally instructed. “Then I’ll tell you what I want you to do.”

He quirked a brow at her, curious by how reserved she seemed to be acting all of a sudden. It seemed out of character for the usually lively princess.

No more words were exchanged the rest of the way. Lavender took Hermes to his usual stall while Sweet Pea opted to put Hades back next to Persephone just to pacify him. They made sure the horses had plenty of water to drink as they removed the tack and brushed them down. It was quiet in the stable besides the occasional animal snorting or nickering.

The princess finished first. She didn’t bother to look at Sweet Pea as she walked to the other end of the stable and into the stall at the end. He watched her, still curious as to why she was being so quiet but simultaneously being frustrated with his loss.

A few moments later he joined her. She moved to stand in front of him, looking up with a sheen in her eyes that he could have sworn was lust. “What do you want?” He asked again, trying to sound annoyed instead of worried.

“Fuck me.” Lav said, doing her best to sound confident. She was hoping he would say yes. She wanted this so bad, wanted to feel something besides the torment of knowing she’d been married off soon enough to someone her sister was in love with. Lily was getting cozy with Jughead, why couldn’t she get cozy with his brother?

He looked at her, completely confounded. “I’m not deflowering my brother’s fiancée!” He quickly replied, his neck turning an almost indiscernible shade of pink. He voice was hard and made it clear that he was aggravated by her request.

Shanna bit her lip nervously, her chest aching. “You wouldn’t be.” She said in a low voice. The prince’s eyes widened in surprise. She wasn’t a virgin? The king had assured them that both his daughters hadn’t been touched. Not that Sweet Pea or Jughead cared. It was just part of the deal. He wasn’t sure if he really believed her or not.

Honestly the only thing stopping Pea was the reason he just gave her. He wasn’t sure how to tell her no, especially by how hurt she looked just then. Now his chest was aching too. “Why do you want me to fuck you?”

“Because the servants say you’re good in bed and I want to see for myself.” She replied, telling only half the truth. “You have to do it, you lost.” She added sternly in an attempt to make him change his mind. She grabbed the hem of her tank top and pulled it up over her head just to show how determined she was to get him to have sex with her.

His eyes traveled to her breasts and the snake shaped scar over the right one. He wondered what it would feel like to kiss it. Run his tongue along the S shape and listen to the sounds that came out of her mouth from him doing it.

Lav reached around her back and unclasped her white bra, taking it off as well to fully expose her chest to him in an unabashed manner. Sweet Pea stared at her a moment longer before leaning down and kissing her hungrily, giving in to his inner desires that he had been keeping under lock and key for longer than he’d like to admit.

She grabbed either side of his face, opening her mouth to allow his tongue to enter it. He picked her up by her thighs and slammed her back against the side of the barn. They eagerly kissed in a mash of lips, tongue, and teeth. Sweet Pea broke away to leave a hot trail of wet, sloppy kisses down her jaw and neck. The marks that he left elicited a sweet moan from her moistened lips.

Since she was pinned against the wall and his body and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, he was able to move a hand up to grope her breast. He brushed a thumb over her scar, feeling the ridges before pinching her nipple. Shanna let out a small gasp, clenching her thighs even tighter around him.

Pea’s lips were on her shoulder. He bit down aggressively to leave a mark there as well and she whined in response. Her hands threaded through his thick, dark hair.

Sweet Pea normally devoured any woman he was with fully. He went at them hard until they screamed his name repeatedly. Tortured them until they begged for relief. He didn’t think that would be the correct approach here. Not only did he have doubts about her having sex before but she was also the crown princess. He couldn’t treat her like a chambermaid or village commoner. Sure he’d show her a good time still but it had to be…different.

Of course, in that case he really shouldn’t be having sex with her inside of the royal stable but she didn’t give him much of a choice on location. While lost in thought, he felt her lift up his shirt. He pulled away from her momentarily to peel it off. Her hands were on him in an instant, running along his pectorals and down his toned stomach. He grabbed hold of her thighs against to change positions.

She frowned and let out a whine when he set her down. Sweet Pea grabbed a nearby horse blanket and laid it down. Shanna realized what he was doing and gave him a quizzical look. He was not acting like he did in the stories she had heard of him at all. Being a gentleman wasn’t really his thing.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” He asked, his tone a little more serious. He looked her over, the flush of her cheeks and puffiness of her kissed lips made her look like a porcelain doll that he could break if he wanted to. Of course, that would be a terrible idea.

Shanna rolled her eyes and unceremoniously took off her boots before sitting down on the blanket. She laid out for him, looking like a sinful angel. “Are you going to fuck me or what?” She asked, her annoyance with him evident in her tone.

The prince shot her a look before getting down on his knees between her legs. He leaned over her, planting his hands on either side of her torso. His lips roved over her breast where his fingers had been not long before. They found her scar again and he kissed it just as he imagined himself doing when she first took off her shirt.

She mewled in response. A delicate sound that made his pants feel tight from his growing erection. He dragged his tongue over the serpentine line before descending to her nipple that was already hard from his previous stimulation.

He enveloped the bud with his mouth, sucking lightly as his freed hands moved to her pants. He unbuttoned them before slowly dragging down the zipper. A whimper of anticipation vibrated in Shanna’s throat as she felt her core getting wetter from his actions.

“Pea,” She mumbled softly in an attempt to hurry him along. Sweet Pea’s response was to tug her pants down. Lav repositioned her legs so he could take them off. Once free of the tight fabric, she spread her legs for him once more.

He eyed her crisp white underwear as he pulled away from her. He wanted to ask if she was truly not a virgin then why was she wearing white, it didn’t seem to match up to him. Then again she did have to uphold the image that she was one or else her father would find out. That wouldn’t bode well for her or whoever supposedly took her innocence from her.

Sweet Pea suddenly wrestled with the consequences of what those might be if it was actually him doing it. Would his adoptive father disown him? His brother was pining after Lily so certainly he wouldn’t be upset. Then again she was promised to him. Thoughts of doubt ran through his head as his thumb brushed over the elastic band of her undergarments.

Shanna was giving him a frustrated look, noticing that he seemed lost in thought. She sat up slightly, reaching down to cup his growing hard-on through his pants. He let out a grunt in response, dark eyes shooting up to meet hers. “Stop stalling. You owe me.” Her voice was hard and demanding, something you’d expect from a princess who usually got her way.

She released him only to unbutton his pants and slide down his zipper. Sweet Pea gently pushed her back down so that she could no longer reach anything him. A pout formed on her pink lips. “You want to touch me that bad?” The prince asked her, his voice dipping low as he pulled off her underwear finally so that she was completely naked beneath him.

“Is it wrong that I do?” Lavender questioned as he ran a finger along her dampened lower lips. A whimper escaped her, anticipation rising at the thought of his fingers diving into her. He teased a slow circle around her clit, causing it to engorge even more than it already was. She clenched her teeth to keep from making another sound.

Sweet Pea contemplated her question. The obvious answer was yes. They were both betrothed to other people. However, he knew Jughead was still actively pursuing Lily. It wouldn't be fair if he got to deflower both girls while Sweet Pea was just stuck with one. It was an equal exchange, right? Maybe not to the king but between princes it was. So…was it really wrong?

“Yes.” He concluded, drawing another shape against her most sensitive bundle of nerves. It was wrong but that’s probably what made it so tantalizing. Despite his conclusion he couldn’t pull himself away. He was completely entranced be the idea that he was doing something he absolutely should not be doing.

The prince’s words didn’t match his actions as he was taking his pants off with his free hand, freeing his erect penis from the confines of his dark jeans. His boxers went with them, his face leaning down to be right in front of hers.

They kissed again, even more roughly this time. As their tongues danced and he showed his dominance, he slipped a finger into her core to test the waters. Shanna moaned into the kiss, her fingers entwining with his hair and pulling it in a show of desperation.

A growl rumbled in the base of Sweet Pea’s throat, his finger moving inside of her to find her inner cluster of nerves. He felt around, waiting until her moans went up an octave when he hit the spot he was looking for. Shanna couldn’t help but squirm against him as he continued to rub her g-spot while thrusting his finger in and out.

His fingers were slick from how wet she was. His kisses moved from her lips and to her jaw, nipping at it possessively. The princess was writhing beneath him, a knot of pressure building in the pit of her stomach.

Sweet Pea pulled his finger out, causing her to groan in disappointment. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. He used the natural lubricant now on his fingers to spread across his tip and shaft. He prepped himself, making sure he was ready before positioning himself at her entrance.

Shanna spread her legs more to accommodate him. Her eyes hazed with ardor and lust. He slowly pushed into her in case she was indeed a virgin. He didn’t want to hurt her on her first time. There was a moment of discomfort on her face as he went all the way in until his hips met hers. It passed briefly and Shanna was moaning again.

She had been telling the truth.

He put one hand next to her side to prop himself up. The other was on her thigh, guiding her leg to wrap around his waist. He gave as shallow thrust, listening intently to the hungry whine that came out of her.

His eyes met hers as he started at an easy pace. His strokes long and fluid, skin meeting skin with a definitive smack. Her hands were on his shoulders, grip tightening with every thrust. “More, Pea,” She moaned as her face flushed, “I need more.”

Sweet Pea’s hold on her thigh was probably going to leave a bruise as he used the touch to try and restrain himself. He kept reminding himself that this was a princess he was with and he couldn’t just pound her into the ground like he wanted to. Her begging him caused him to increase his pace, hitting her a little harder at the end of each movement.

He kept up his speedy thrusts, going a little harder time after time until he couldn’t hold back. He released her thigh to hold himself up with both hands to give him more leverage. She kept it wrapped around him loosely, her hips elevated enough to keep the same angle. Her moans were so heavenly to his ears. It was the most pleasing sound he’d ever heard. None of his previous partners could make a noise that egged him on as much as hers did. It was driving him wild.

Tension released in Shanna’s core, pleasure exploding from her abdomen and reaching to the end of ever fingertip. The horses were whinnying in response to the sounds they were making, causing her senses to overload completely. She lost her voice as her body pulsed. Her nails were dug so deeply into his flesh that he knew she’d be leaving her own mark on him too.

Sweet Pea’s once fluid movements became more ragged and frantic. Soon he was moaning with her too, his heated seed spilling deep inside of her and warming her up from the inside. Her mind was too clouded with ecstasy to even comprehend the possible consequences. Her head lulled to the side as she attempted to catch her breath.

He gently pulled out of her, rolling to lay beside her on the blanket. His arms moved to wrap around her, bringing her close so that she could lay her head on his chest. His body was acting on its own, his own mind cloudy from his orgasm.

They basked in the afterglow, holding one another in an almost sweet embrace. One of Shanna’s legs was draped over his thigh, her arm around his waist as she nuzzled his chest. She didn’t know what she was doing either. It was just happening.

As contentedness spread through Sweet Pea’s veins, his closed eyes suddenly flew open. He was not a cuddly person. He didn’t cuddle after sex. He didn’t hold his prospect and drift into slumber. He always slid out of their bed and went back to his own. What in the hell was he doing with her? He did what she asked, so why was he staying? He realized he was enjoying this too much for his own good.

He managed to pull her away from him and stood up. Shanna looked up at him with a confused expression as he quickly got dressed, sloppily throwing on his boxers and pants. He grabbed his shirt and was pulling it over his head before she said something. “What are you doing?” She asked, a twinge of pain in her strained voice. They were having a moment, weren’t they?

“This wasn’t part of the favor.” He replied, his voice much sharper than he intended. He was so irritated by the tightness in his chest that he couldn’t explain. The way his heart was thudding so loudly in his ears was a complete mystery. He needed to leave before she got the wrong idea. “I fucked you, so now I’m leaving.”

Shanna sat up, still not quite understanding what has happening. He wrapped his arms around her first, not the other way around. To be suddenly ripped from his warmth made her feel like she was being abandoned. Like she was just used.

He turned his back to her so he didn’t have to see the look on her face. She was speechless, unable to say anything to him as he quickly left. For a moment she sat there in complete shock before her eyes began to water.

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she quickly gathered her clothes and clumsily put them on. She stood up, legs shaking still from the intensity of the orgasm he’d given her. Christ, why did he have to be so good to her and then so horrible? She didn’t understand. What had she done to deserve this kind of treatment?

Once dressed she walked out of the stall, not even bothering to pick up the blanket. Hades and Persephone were looking over their stall doors at her curiously. Another pang of pain rattled her chest as she saw the two together. She quickly turned away from them and rushed out of the stable to find her sister.

Unbeknownst to the royals, there had been a third person down at the other end of the stable tending to one of the horses. He couldn’t stop the cruel smile from spreading across his lips. What a perfect turn of events.

|\/\/|

Lavender quickly found Lily in her room, humming happily to herself. “Lils…” She mumbled sadly. Hearing the tone of the familiar voice, Lily turned around to see the broken expression on her sister’s face.

“Lavie? What happened?” She asked, quickly taking the few steps needed to meet her. Shanna dissolved into her arms, head on her shoulder as she softly cried. Lily put her arms around her, rubbing her back in and attempt to soothe her sadness.

Shanna knew if she told Lily what happened, then she risked her sister thinking differently of her. Would she care that she wasn’t a virgin? Probably not but there was always a chance. She felt so incredibly lost in her emotions.

In the end she decided to just let it out, “I slept with Sweet Pea.” She stuttered, hiccuping back more sobs. She felt Lily stiffen against her, trying to process the information that she just received.

“Wait, what? You slept with…what?” Lily asked, thinking that surely she had misheard her sibling. There was no way that she could have slept with her fiancé. Despite all the times she dreamily stated how good he was supposedly in bed. It clicked that maybe that should have been a sign that her sister wasn’t as innocent as she thought her to be.

“He just left.” Lav said, “At first he started to hold me but then he just shoved me away and left. I don’t- I don’t know what I did. What did I do, Lily?” Her words were cut off by more tears. She had to bite her tongue to keep from crying loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Lily was silent as she continued to rub her back. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Sweet Pea is a pig.” She said, deciding not to address the fact that her sister wasn’t a virgin like she was. That was a conversation for another time.

Shanna suddenly went quiet, “he’s right. Jughead is never going to care about me the way he cares about you. No one is ever going to care about me.” She whispered, baring her fears to her best friend.

Anger surged through Lily. A fire lit in her heart at the thought of someone causing her sister this much pain. Sweet Pea was not going to get away with this. He was going to pay.

Tags: @the-gargoyle-queen, @southside-vixen, @redhairdontcare732, @lilhemmo, @iamaunicorn4704 (lmk if you want to be added!)

[makingscipub]

Milton and Galileo: Affinities between art and science

I don’t know much about John Milton and Galileo Galilei. However, I have stood beside Milton’s Mulberry tree at Christ’s College, Cambridge and beside Galileo’s chair and lectern at the University of Padua – and felt some affinity with the poet and the scientist. I didn’t know though that there was actually a connection between Milton and Galileo until I opened The Observer on Sunday and chanced upon an article that said: “In preparation for a Radio 4 documentary – In Search of Paradise Lost – to be broadcast next Sunday, Dr Joe Moshenska, an academic at Trinity College, Cambridge, retraced Milton’s journey to Florence in the late 1630s and claims that the legacy of a formative trip can be spotted throughout Paradise Lost. If he is correct, one of England’s most famous works of literature also bears the stamp of the city of Dante.”

In a quote Moshenka says: “It’s such an extraordinary thing to picture, the two of them crossing paths, people who you think of as belonging to two entirely different worlds, especially now, when we tend to separate science from literature so dramatically”.

This post is about affinities, between Milton and Galileo, between art and science, between poetry and technology (the telescope), between England and Italy, between the 16th and the 21st century, us and them, then and now. All these affinities have gradually been or are gradually being replaced by barriers and blockades. That is a great shame. To quote from the article again: “Moshenska believes that discussion of Milton’s Florentine sojourn is particularly timely as Brexit looms. It transpires that Milton, the most English of poets, was a polyglot Europhile whose most famous work is at least partially tinged by Tuscan ochre.”

Reading the article set me off on a little journey of discovery and time travel. I thought: there must be people before Dr Moshenska who have written about Milton and Galileo. And indeed there are – quite a few. I can of course not survey them all. So I just want to pick a few things out here and there. In the process I found one article from 1922 by Allan H. Gilbert for Studies in Philology, which made me smile, as it contains a lot of lengthy Latin quotes without providing any translation! How’s that for accessibility?

In the following I’ll first put Paradise Lost in the context of the lives of Milton and Galileo – very briefly. Then I go on to say a few things about science, technology, and freedom of speech.

Milton, Galileo and Paradise Lost

As people probably know, Paradise Lost is a long epic poem. The first version of this poem was published towards the end of Milton’s life in 1667.  Milton had been born in 1608. The final version consisting of 12 books was published the year he died, in 1664. “The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.” So what has this to do with astronomy and Galileo?

Since his youth, Milton had been interested in astronomy and many of his works contain allusions to this new and exciting field of science. Milton was also interested in maths and while he lived at Horton (his family home in Berkshire), “he was in the habit of repairing to London ‘for learning … the mathematics’” (Gilbert, 1922: 154). However, Milton never really committed to the new Copernican or Galilean view of the world, that is, the heliocentric one, even after his apparent meeting with Galileo; and even after giving Galileo the honour of appearing in Paradise Lost (the only contemporary of Milton to do so).

Milton went to Italy when he was still quite young, at the age of thirty. The Galileo he visited was, by contrast, very old and under house arrest. The Inquisition had found him suspect of heresy because of his views on heliocentrism.

Galileo was born in in 1564 and died in 1642, that is, a few years after his encounter with Milton. 1642 also signalled the start of the English Civil Wars, in which Milton was quite heavily involved on the side of the Commonwealth. After the Restoration in 1660, he spent some time in the Tower of London but was, fortunately, not killed. These were the times, including the 1664 plague and the 1665 fire of London, during which Milton started to write Paradise Lost.

Milton and Galileo met in 1638. That was also the year that Milton published one of his early poems, Lycidas, which was “dedicated to the memory of Edward King” a friend of Milton’s at Christ’s College, Cambridge, who drowned when his ship sank off the coast of Wales in August 1637. Furthermore, in 1638 Galileo published one of his later works, namely Discourses on Two New Sciences. “Although, this book completely overturned Aristotle’s physics, the Church didn’t punish him further” (Bembenek, 2012). 1638 was also the year that John Wilkins published his famous Discovery of a New World in the Moon, in which “he defended the Copernican and Galilean idea that the Earth is a planet by establishing analogies with the Moon”. Overall, this was a rather fruitful time for poetry and science and everything in between.

A few years after Galileo’s death, in 1644, Milton published Areopagitica, his defence of free speech. It was in this work that he mentions his journey to Italy and says: “There it was that I found and visited the famous Galileo grown old, a prisner to the Inquisition, for thinking in Astronomy otherwise then the Franciscan and Dominican licencers thought. And though I knew that England then was groaning loudest under the Prelaticall��yoak, neverthelesse I took it as a pledge of future happines, that other Nations were so perswaded of her liberty.”

It should be noted that while he very much admired Galileo and his work, Milton did not fully accept the new astronomy, it seems. As Gilbert pointed out: “Yet even in mentioning his visit, in the Areopagitica, he does not assert his belief that Galileo was right. However his purpose was not to uphold the correctness of any particular opinions, but to declare that all should be tolerated.” (p. 155). And as Jonathan Rosen said in The New Yorker (2008): “For Milton, the great trial of life was to discover truth through error, but without falling off the pat of good.” And yet, it has also been pointed out that the younger Milton’s cosmology as it appears in poems preceding the Italian journey is decidedly more medieval than the universe of Paradise Lost (see Hunter, A Milton Encyclopedia, vol. 3, p. 120).

Poetry and technology

Let’s now come to the most famous passage from Paradise Lost in which Milton talks about Galileo and his telescope (although he never used that new-fangled word, it seems):

He scarce had ceas’t when the superior Fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views At Ev’ning from the top of Fesole, Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands, Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.

Satan’s shield is here depicted as the moon seen through Galileo’s, or rather ‘the Tuscan artist’s, telescope. Milton probably used the word artist to refer to the art of designing optical instruments.

Many articles have been written about Milton and the telescope but I only want to quote from one by Marjorie Nicolson (1935): which claims that Milton never forgot the experience of looking through a telescope and seeing new worlds on the moon. This, she says, “is reflected again and again in his mature work; it stimulated him to reading and to thought; and it made Paradise Lost the first modern cosmic poem, in which a drama is played against a background of inter-stellar space”.

The encounter with Galileo and the telescope left in fact many traces in Paradise Lost: “each of Galileo’s most famous discoveries is reflected in one or more passages in the epic. Among them are the countless newly sighted stars (7. 382-84), the nature of the Milky Way (7. 577-81), the phases of the planet Venus (7.366), the four newly discovered moons around Jupiter (8.148-51), the new conception of the moon (7. 375-78), the nature of moon spots (1. 287-9; 5. 419-20; 8. 145-48), and the nature of sun spots (3. 588-90)”. (Hunter, A Milton Encyclopedia, vol. 3, p. 120-121).

Paradise Lost might be in part inspired by Galileo, science and technology but it basically represents Milton grappling with the new science and its impacts on the fortunes of the humanities and in particular on Christian theology and cosmology – as struggle that continues today.

Science, art and politics

Milton was not only a poet and polymath, but also a politician and Paradise Lost was published in a period of political turmoil – which in fact affected directly its publication and printing. As we have seen, in Areopagitica “Milton recalls his visit to Galileo” but more importantly perhaps also “warns that England will buckle under inquisitorial forces if it bows to censorship, ‘an undeserved thraldom upon learning.’” (Rosen, 2008). One passage of Areopagitica in particular has resonated to this day: “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties…Truth was never put to the worse in a free and open encounter…. It is not impossible that she [truth] may have more shapes than one…. If it come to prohibiting, there is not ought more likely to be prohibited than truth itself, whose first appearance to our eyes bleared and dimmed with prejudice and custom is more unsightly and implausible than many errors….Where there is much desire to learn there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.”

This passage was quoted twice in the British Medical Journal, once in the year 2000 and once in the year 2004. Both times the passage was quoted by Richard Smith the editor of the journal. In 2004 the ‘Correspondence’ was entitled “Milton and Galileo would back BMJ on free speech”. Subtitle: “Arguments, crazy ideas and open communication are the lifeblood of science”.

These are values that still need defending in 2017, on the 350th anniversary of Paradise Lost. It is a strange time, where the people talking most about freedom of speech are not defending new truths, but old hatreds.

PS I am neither an expert on Milton nor on Galileo, so I expect that I have got some things wrong – comments and corrections welcome! And if somebody knows what ‘areopagitica’ actually means, let me know! I also wonder what Galileo might have made of Milton and whether they discussed the moon as a metaphor……

Image: Milton visiting Galileo when a prisoner of the Inquisition. Oil painting by Solomon Alexander Hart, 1847 (Wellcome Collection)

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