(Amaia)

Rahria takes me to her room and sits me down in front of her vanity mirror. It’s huge, with makeup products, jewellery boxes, and other accessories decorating it.

"We are going to work on your hair first." Unlike Alnitak, she selects two combs from a brush holder. One with a pointed handle which she places behind her ear, the other she uses to collect my hair.

"Next time you come to me, instead of letting those barbarians dress you up."

I have to hold back my laughter. She almost appears offended that I let Alnitak help me get ready. She doesn’t know that I was planning on wearing my jeans and shirt if he hadn’t arranged for a dress.

She pulls my hair from the right side, tight and begins to braid it. Pining it with my other open hair, she picks up a fancy silver pin and adjusts it before shifting to the other side. She uses the pointed comb to collect hair from the left side and begins to braid it too.

"When did you dye a streak of your hair red?" She asks, curious.

A satisfactory smile settles on my lips. Heart somersaults in the chest at the reminder of what happened last night.

"Alnitak recognised me as his mate and one streak turned red."

Rahria’s hands paused in my hair, and her eyes reflected her shock through the mirror.

"What? That’s the freakiest and at the same time such a romantic shit."

I laughed at her reaction.

"Yeah! Strange, how it finally happened and took so long."

"Does that mean, this streak is from your ex-mate?" She questions, pointing to the silver streak in my hair.

That has been there since my mother masked my appearance with the necklace.

"No, it has got nothing to do with my mates."

"You have more than one, I am assuming, after what we saw yesterday. Is that why you were meeting Ezran in hiding since he and Alnitak can’t stand each other," she asks in a gentle tone this time, maybe understanding my predicament.

She now knows I had hooked up with Rigel during the Moonball game.

"Yeah! Something like that."

Rahria ties the other side of my hair behind with another pin and smooths it.

"You are in for some difficult times, girl. Guys don’t like to share. I don’t even know how it will work for you." Holding my shoulders, she turns me around and grabs one of her makeup kits.

"I am finding that out. They hate each other." I sigh and she bunches her lips and slowly nods.

"Having multiple mates is rare though. People can’t find one, they should be worshipping you. Alnitak will, I know. So take it one day at a time." She begins to dust my face with her makeup brush, letting me collect my thoughts.

Once she is done, she turns me around to watch myself in the mirror.

She has done a tremendous job, keeping the make-up light and highlighting my features. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Thank you!" I offer, turning my face slightly right to watch my profile.

She spreads open her jewellery boxes and points. "Choose something. Believe me, you can’t go to meet the king and queen without any accessories."

A vast variety of jewellery she owns, I would love to wear some earrings, but my ears are not even pierced, and I can’t take off my necklace, so it’s useless to wear another one.

"My ears are not pierced," I tell her, disappointed.

"Hmm." She rubs her chin, she has this flawless skin.

Reaching into her jewellery box, she takes out a deep red pair of earrings and touches my ear with them.

"I think these will go nicely with your dress and they are clip-ons, so you needn’t worry."

I do like them, they are not too flashy and yet have an appeal. She fixes them in my ears, they dangle down like blood tears of a phoenix. Such a rich shade of red, like the hair of twins.

"Perfect. Now let’s get you in some shoes." She moves away towards her closet. Opening it she begins to rummage through her collection of shoes. Taking out a few pairs she lines them up.

Heels and sandals.

"Our sizes are not the same, but these are a bit tight for me, and with extra padding underneath, they might fit you."

I can’t wear heels, never worn them so I won’t be able to walk. So my best choice is strappy sandals.

Moving closer I try a white one on. They are not the perfect size but I guess they will make do.

"I think this will go." I hike my dress up and tie the sandals around my legs. "I need to buy such shoes instead of only going for walking and training shoes."

Rahria lets out a ’haw’ before saying, "You think? You are now mated to a prince, and believe me, you will be judged. The king and queen might not say it directly but the royal family needs to keep up with appearances."

She wasn’t wrong and I nodded at her. "Thank you for helping me out. I might need more of your fashion sense."

"For that, I am always here." She points towards my wrist. "Therefore, I will advise you to lose that hideous flower on your wrist."

A stinging pain erupts in my heart at the thought of taking it off. My fingers brush past the tiny flower that holds Rigel’s essence. "No, sorry I can’t do that."

"At least brush it under your sleeve, Amaia."

I shake my head. "It’s meant to stay visible, I won’t be hiding it."

She defeatedly sighs. "Fine, let’s go meet the boys. Hopefully, they will be ready, and we can head out."

Rahria and I leave her room and find ourselves face-to-face with the boys.

Stunned, I watch my two mates in their midnight blue matching velvet jackets, with peak lapels and a single button to fasten. Matched with blue tailored trousers and plain white shirts. Their hair is tied back in neat manbuns on the top of their heads.

Pictures of pure elegance, they appear, and if it isn’t for their scents, it will be impossible to distinguish one from the other.

"Hey!" I wave at them, and in return, they watch me with stunned eyes and identical smiles.