*Mature Content*
Ana and I had limped our way to the back of the house where we found a half dozen bundles of hay to sleep on. It took some time for us to get comfortable, especially with Ana's foot and my neck both still throbbing in pain from our cuts. Ana complained for a good hour or so when we sat down "Oh shush. At least we aren't sleeping in the mud," I tilted my head a little to point out the fresh mud puddle a short ways from us.
I finally came up with an idea for us to fall asleep, "Count the stars."
"What?!" Ana brought herself up on her forearm to look at me before continuing her argument. "There's like a million!"
"Exactly," I chuckled, "It's like counting sheep, but if you did that, you would only count to two
* * *EllaIt has been three weeks since the royal ball and my dance with Prince Charles and not a moment went by when I wasn't daydreaming of the time that we spent together.I was making lunch for everyone when there was a knock on the door. I wiped my hands on my apron and headed to the front to answer it when I saw that Ana had already opened the door. Ever since Ana was put on house arrest she has been more attentive around the house."Good morning madam," I heard a familiar voice greet her and hurried my way to see if my inkling was correct."Mr. Thomas?" I peeked around Ana who was holding the door open."Ah, Ella! How splendid you are here,
*The morning after the ball*Maids and servants started cleaning up the castle from the ball last night as soon as all the guests had left. They found cups and napkins among spilled drinks and lost handkerchiefs. One maid had found a patch of fabric in a light pink color with some golden accents and looked at it thoughtfully. It was too small to be a kerchief so she wondered what it was."Gretchen?" She heard a fellow maid behind her."Good morning, Matilda," she greeted her with a friendly smile."What are you doing out here? I thought you were stationed in the kitchen?""I was just heading that way when this scrap of fabric caught my attention," Gretchen pulled out
* * *EllaDrizella and I were seated inside the carriage across from each other on our way to the castle, each holding a single flower from our bouquets that arrived just two days prior with our invitations for dates; Driz's date was with the handsome palace guard that she hit it off with at the ball, and my date was with the Crown Prince, Charles.We sat in silence for the most part, both daydreaming about what our day held in store. I had never even been on a date before and I wasn't sure about Driz in that, but most of my male friends were elder men who were simply vendors in the village where I would do some needed shopping for food, there was certainly no young man who ever courted me before. I wasn't sure even what to do or say on a date. The way that Anastasia had gotten us all dressed up said that it was a huge de
* * *DrizellaThe greenhouse was at the furthest end of the garden, cleverly hidden by vines that grew up the sides and glass walls that almost made it hard to see."You have your own separate garden?" I asked Peter as we walked closer."Yes, you remember when I mentioned my experiments to create a blue rose?" I nodded my head when he glanced at me and he continued, "this is where I perform those experiments."The term "experiments" slightly frightened me, for some reason the word triggered images in my mind of explosions and mysterious chemicals that made me nervous. We approached the glass door to the greenhouse and stepped inside to see the most colorful array of flowers I had ever seen.
Music suggestion to set the mood:Liszt - Consolation no. 3* * *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.&
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