Music suggestion to set the mood:
Liszt - Consolation no. 3
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Ella
"I thought that you would appreciate an appropriate dance with the Prince," Charles had said just before we turned into the grand room where the ball was held. It seemed so much bigger now because it was empty, the last time that I was here there were hundreds of guests in attendance dancing or standing around mingling with one another.
I looked at the Prince and he smiled before bowing and asking "May I have this dance?" I smiled and placed my hand in his.
There was one person standing by a piano who bowed to us before sitting and beginning to play for us. The melody was soft and romantic, and Charles an
As the Prince and Ella danced in the ballroom and were just about to share a tender moment, a maid in the castle had collapsed just outside the doors. Ella and the Prince were the first to run to her aid."Alma, what happened?" It was the Prince who asked this question to the maid who tended to Driz and Ella earlier."I have no idea, your highness. She had said she was feeling warm and so I told her to take the glassware back and then to take a break and moments later she just collapsed," Alma was speaking so fast that it was almost difficult to follow what she was saying, she was hysterical seeing her friend this way.Ella knew she couldn't just stand around staring, she wasted no time rushing to the unconscious maid and feeling her temperature with the back of her hand. "She's burnin
* * *DrizellaThe four of us were walking in silence, none of us knowing exactly where we were walking to, but simply wandering, letting our minds settle.
* * *DrizellaThe Prince had shown us each to our personal rooms in the guest quarters where Maddie was. Since we were already with her, there was no more harm in being around her longer. Still, we kept the door to her room closed just in case.Ella and I were given separate rooms, but the doctor had spooked us so badly that we didn't want to be alone and spent the evening together in her room, talking.Dr. Laënnec had ordered us to burn our clothes and wash up. We took off our dresses so that we were only left in our shifts and threw our dresses into the fireplace. We took a step back and watched the gowns burn, feeling guilt since they were both Ana's dresses. We stood in silence until we couldn't distinguish their colors anymore and then sighed.&
*Mature Content*I was unsure if anyone was indeed at the door but I cracked it open to peek.Peter was standing there shirtless with his hands in his pockets and his hair dripping wet. 'Am I having another dream about him?' I couldn't help but think to myself. He stood there with his mouth cracked as if he was going to say something but remained silent. "Um.. come on in," I opened the door and moved out of his way. He stepped in just past me and I saw him look around the room as I closed the doors behind him."What are you doing here, Peter?" I crossed my arms to cover the bits of myself that were slightly exposed due to the silk shift."I just um..*ahem* I uh.. wanted to make sure that you were okay."
Across the hall from where Peter and Drizella were sharing an intimate night was the room that the sick maid Maddie was in. Maddie was the head servant Malcolm's sister, and he had come to watch over here along with a fellow maid named Alma, who was there when she first collapsed in the hallway.The Prince and Ella were quick to arrive after hearing the glasses shatter on the ground that Maddie had been carrying and Alma was thankful for that. There may have been many maids in the castle, but everyone knew Malcolm, and so, everyone knew Maddie. She certainly did not consider them to be close friends, more acquaintances than anything, but Alma could see the pain on Malcolm's face as he watched his sister and felt a piece of her heart break for him.The doctor that came to examine Maddie earlier that day had concluded that she had the plague and it
"No, she's not okay and it's all my fault!" Ella exclaimed as she paced the room while holding her head between her hands as if it were about to explode."What on earth are you talking about?" Driz inquired.Ella sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath before speaking, her voice still shaky. "I was wandering in the hallway last night because I couldn't sleep and I overheard Alma and Malcolm talking in Maddie's room," Driz was confused at why this had Ella so worked up so she stayed silent to let her finish, "I heard Alma mention a scrap of a dress that was pink and gold that was found while the maids were cleaning up the ballroom.""So? She found a piece of a dress that she liked, why are you so worked up?"Ella stood u
"Good morning, miss Drizella, I was just about to check on miss Maddie. Care to join me?" The Prince offered to Drizella and she walked a step behind him until they reached the door to the room that Maddie had been recovering in.*KNOCK KNOCK*It was Alma who opened the door for us and greeted us with a bow of her head before letting us enter. Driz gasped when she saw that Maddie was awake and sipping tea that Malcolm was holding for her. She hadn't seen Maddie since before the amputation and was shocked to see her covered in blood-stained cloths, the sight alone made her joints ache."Maddie," the Prince said with a sigh of relief. Malcolm put down the tea that he was holding for Maddie to sip and bowed to the Prince. "I am so glad to see you okay." The Prince smiled brightly at
Alma walked Dr. Laënnec in silence to the greenhouse where Peter was. He was a man of few words, but when he spoke you would wish he hadn't.Alma entered the greenhouse first and addressed Peter "Mr. Callahan, Dr. Laënnec wanted to speak to you." Peter's eyebrows went up in surprise when he saw the Frenchman standing there staring at his hands which had been dehydrating more flowers."What can I do for you Mr. Laënnec?" he asked while wiping his hands dry."Monsieur, you created the brew for Madam Madeline that she drank this morning, oui?"Peter nodded his head "Yes, sir, it was my mixture."The doctor looked at Peter curiously and let his eyes w
Five years passed after Lady Tremaine’s death and Driz and Peter had now assumed the throne. A new mailman was appointed to share the news, and the royal colors had been changed from purple and gold to navy blue and white, same as Driz's dress at the ball.King Archibald remained on the throne for an extra year to prepare Peter and Driz for their ascension, stepping down when he felt they were ready. He now lived in the West Village with Malcolm and Alma, helping to repair the village after Lucinda's attack there.Peter had worked things out with his parents and used his new power as King to bring new plants overseas to learn their medicinal properties - the plants were left in his parent's garden to grow and the experiments were handed to Driz to conduct and discover their benefits.They built a hospital in the center of the kingdom, equal distance from each village, and put former coachman Davis in charge as the
* * *AnaThe surprise of our uncle showing up after neither of us remember meeting him and our mother telling us that he ran away a decade ago was perplexing, and neither Driz nor I knew just how to feel about it, or about him. He seemed an odd man, but then again, his entire family was killed, possibly because of his own sister, God, how I wanted to be in that dungeon to hear everything.It was barely midday when Joseph showed up, and it was now dinner time, everyone was gathered at the table for once, enjoying our time together.“Is Joseph still in the dungeon with mother?” I whispered to Driz from her side.“He must be, no one has mentioned seeing him since,” she responded. It was odd that Joseph had spent hours in the dungeon alone with our mother, then again, he seemed like an odd one from the beginning. “They haven’t seen each other in nearly a decade
The dungeon was now only occupied with Joseph and his sister Lucinda, waiting patiently for her sentencing to commence. The sibling's reunion was a difficult one, Joseph had kept his word about looking over his sister until she wed, but Lucinda thought that he took the easy route by marrying her off to the first man he could, and she blamed Joseph’s wife, Danielle, for the influence.The man that he married Lucinda to, was a kind one, tall, good-looking, well-spoken, and they began a family in no time, but he was the first man to show interest in Lucinda after Archibald left her for Malinda; She was heartbroken at the time, and longing for attention to bandage her wounded heart, so she didn’t fight it and married the man who would give her two beautiful daughters in the coming years.Her husband died of natural causes, leaving Lucinda and her young daughters alone until they showed up on Joseph’s doorstep one day, begging f
* * *DrizellaAna and I headed back to the receiving room where Derek was supposed to bring our uncle Joseph after tending to the horses, they should be there by now after our walk to find Charles and ask if it was alright for Joseph to speak with her.“What is he like?” I asked Ana before we reached the room, “our uncle, what is he like?”Ana took a moment to calculate her response and the silence made me slightly nervous, “He is very much like our mother, I’m afraid. Mannerisms, expressions, features, I don’t know about tendencies, though.”“Good to know,” I nodded my head at her as we continued to walk that way. We had to be careful who exactly to trust now that we learned our mother is a murderer and someone who scrapbooks her tortures.Ana and I took a deep breath before we turned the corner to enter the rec
* * *AnaDerek and I walked into the cottage with Joseph just behind us and looked around; the house was cozy and looked like it housed a large and happy family for years. The tapestries were colorful and there was a full china cabinet, trinkets along the fireplace shelf, and wind chimes you could hear from outside filled the house with a whimsical charm.“Can I offer you two some tea?” Joseph said but I denied, still wary of the gentleman. We all sat down on sofas that were opposite each other and stared at each other for a good moment before he spoke again with his palms facing upward as he asked, “What can I do for you two?”I had no idea what exactly we were doing here, so I looked at Derek and let him do the talking, “We heard of your in-laws passing and wanted to offer our condolences.”Joseph’s eyebrows shot up for a moment, “Oh, why that
* * *AnaI was swooning around the castle after seeing Peter propose to Driz, it was straight out of a fairy tale that I got to witness, and my heart was so happy for my sister, I know how much she loves him. I began twirling in the hallway as I walked back to my room and of course, I tripped.Derek caught me again, just as he had caught me the first time I ever saw him in the castle, only this time he held me there midair longer, just looking at me before pulling me back upright.I straightened my dress and cleared my throat, “Thank you, please excuse me,” I bowed my head quickly to him and continued on my way to my room. I could feel that he had stayed where he was, watching me as I walked away, but I paid him no mind. He left me after we kissed and then got all awkward about it, I didn’t want to be around him after he embarrassed me like that, even if there were no witnesses to my humiliation
* * *PeterI knew exactly what I wanted to do to ask Driz to be my queen, I would ask her the way that I had originally planned to ask her to marry me. I ended up asking her to marry me while we were lying in bed the night after I saved her from the bandits, I was watching her rest peacefully next to me, and she had a black eye, which had thankfully healed quickly.My original plan was to wait until I had my blue roses and present her with one, but thinking back on the idea now, it seemed too weak, I needed to go big.“Derek!” I caught him in the hallway and rushed to him, “I need your help with planning a proposal for Driz,”His eyebrows scrunched together, “But you are already married?”“Not to be my wife, to be my queen,” I told him and his face lit up, his eyebrows went back to normal and he smiled broadly at me.
* * *DrizellaPeter seemed lost in his thoughts as we tended to the new patients in the castle, I feared that it was my mother’s doing that made these ten people fall ill suddenly overnight, and guilt came over me as I looked at them.We were walking together towards Charles’s room where he and Ella had been staying when I asked him, “What are you thinking about?”He continued looking forward when he answered, “You know, if we end up really doing this, we will have a lot of support behind us,” he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye that made me smile, “I am shocked at what they said, but I got thinking of everything I could do, that we could do, and it’s really exciting, don’t you think?”I smiled back at him, “Yes, it is exciting, it will take some time to get used to being referred to as ‘your highness&rsquo
* * *PeterDriz and I talked some more and decided that no matter what happens, we will be strong enough together to get through it, but the decision was a massive one, and we wanted to speak with Charles and Ella together before deciding anything and announcing it. We were leaving our room when I saw Derek running towards us, a slight look of panic across his face.“Pete! I just talked to one of the servants and he said that ten more people have fallen sick just overnight,” he was panting from his run.I looked at Driz and she had the same startled look as I did initially, but then her face turned to determination and she said to me, “I’ll be in the greenhouse,” and I knew that she was going to make some of my signature brew for everyone.I grinned at her and kissed her forehead before she left and then looked back to Derek, “Take me to them,” and he