Thea

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And again this damned east wing, again the third floor and again this door, which is so afraid to knock. I hugged the box tightly to my chest, despite the rather heavy weight, I tried not to drop it while I was gathering courage with the last of my strength.

A triple knock on the door.

The triple erratic rhythm of my heart.

- Come in.

That voice. Her voice. It makes the smallest hairs on my body stand on end just from the sound of her voice.

Giselle.

I gently pushed open the creaking door and entered the guest quarters of the Adamanian princess, bowing my voice low, afraid to look into her eyes, afraid to meet her anger. More precisely, I was afraid of getting slapped again, my pain threshold is too low, as it turned out.

I stood and waited. I waited and waited, but nothing happened, and this prompted me to raise my head. And at that moment I met her eyes, so directly, so hypnotizing.

Giselle was standing a couple of steps away from me, but she made no attempt to approach me and hit me. Even her face was stoically calm and composed, collected and expectant. It was completely different from her past behavior towards me, as if she had thrown a couple of years of wisdom on top of herself.

- What have you got there? What is it? - she asked calmly, slightly arching an elegant thin eyebrow.

- Milady, this box is from the king. For you. - I held out the box, barely holding it up, waiting for her to take it.

- Put it on the table. – she waved her hand towards the table, and I hurried to free my hands from this heavy burden.

Although the box was small, which was a priori strange for a wedding dress, but at the same time heavy. As if along with the dress, they also put at least a couple of bricks there.

- Step back. – another order of the princess followed.

I had already prepared for more serious attacks from her side, so such minor blows to my self-esteem no longer bothered me and I took her orders calmly. Moving to the far corner, next to the front door, I tried to blend in with the wall.

Giselle clapped her hands and began to untie the bow, holding back a smile behind her closed lips in anticipation.

A moment later, the door to the room swung open. Serena and her lady - in - waiting entered with a rustle of a massive skirt. My heart immediately skipped a couple of beats, intending to stop completely. How did I get into this mess again?

I cringed, trying to hide my head in my shoulders until she noticed me, but fortunately for me, the death sentence was postponed for a while, as mother and daughter were absorbed in the moment of unpacking, extracting a cream wedding dress from the box.

Standing in my place, I moved my head slightly to the side, trying to see the dress that Giselle was now holding in her hands. There were no admiring exclamations, no joy, no surprise, but just a dull silence, which was broken only a moment later by Serena.

- Is this some kind of joke? What is this rag? How can you even walk down the aisle in THIS? - Queen Adaman’s indignation erupted in a noisy wave inside the room.

She had moved away from the table and was now pacing back and forth irritably, pacing the small space between the table and the sofa, her arms crossed at her waist.

I tried to look at the dress again and now it was better, because there was no other person’s back in front of the review. Giselle clung to the dress with a death grip, clutching the glossy cream fabric in her fists. The dress was not lush, perhaps due to the lack of a crinoline, but it showed refinement and restraint in details. The top was completely closed, up to the high neck, where the decoration of fine lace went, which descended to the long sleeves. The top of the dress was embroidered with a lot of stones and pearls, which made the restrained and strict dress festive. And everything in it was very concise, harmonious and beautiful, but apparently it was not at all what the bride and her mother expected to see.

- This dress is flawless. – as if denying my thoughts, Giselle said and turned to Serena, breaking into a satisfied smile, clutching her dress to her chest. – I can’t wait to try it on.

For a second it seemed to me that I was in some cheap theater with ridiculous productions. The way Giselle tried to squeeze out a smile and the way her stunned mother fought for the remnants of prudence and aristocratic restraint.

- My daughter, dear, are you serious now? - Serena frowned even harder, trying to figure out if her daughter was joking or being serious. - This dress is unworthy of a queen. The maximum that it is good for is to go out once to a social event and no more. How can he shame you like that and insist that you wear this dress?

- Mom! - Raising her voice, she drew Giselle’s attention to herself. – That’s enough! Raphael loves me and it’s a blessing for me to get married in his late mother’s dress. Who else could have been so honored?

I felt my eyebrows creep up, my eyes widen and round, and the only thing that kept me from laughing were my tightly compressed lips and the fear of attracting Serena’s attention. Although I didn’t expect to go unnoticed, but it’s better to let it happen later than before.

What did she just say? The dress of Raphael’s late mother? A small tremor pierced my body. Why, why can’t I laugh heartily at this ridiculous situation and this idiotic acting? Whose idea was it to tell Giselle this story anyway? Raphael?

After a long time of tension, I finally felt a fleeting relief and maybe it’s not worth giving this marriage so much importance. I wonder if Raphael had asked me to marry him, what would my dress be like? I shook my head, dismissing the thought that in my case, the duke would have bought the dress, filled with a great obligation to his ruler.

- Hey, you, come and help me change. – Giselle’s haughty voice brought me out of the depths of dreams and prepared me for the fact that a new wave of lamentations, insults and humiliations was about to descend on me, but now from her mother, who was ready to explode from just looking at me.

Her gaze made me very uncomfortable, and I could not move from my place, watching her cross the room, heading in my direction with a special hostility and bloodlust in her gaze.

- Why are you standing there rooted to the spot? Didn’t you hear what I said to you? – Giselle’s order was like a saving magic wand, which I grabbed as soon as she handed it to me.

And everything would have gone smoothly, but halfway through her mother intercepted me and roughly, painfully grabbed my forearm, squeezing, squeezing and digging into it with long nails.

- Don’t be in such a hurry, dear. – a creepy smile was drawn on her face. – You know, you look so much like one of my recent acquaintances...

I was silent, overcome by a fit of pain, and Serena reveled in the pain reflected on my face. This woman was even scarier than her daughter.

- Are you trying to fool us? Or maybe not us, but the king’s sister? - She cocked her head to one side and studied my face with a smug grin. – Right, you’re leading her by the nose, pretending to be her friend, and you’re sweeping the floors yourself?

- Mom, what’s going on? - Giselle interjected. – Let her go now.

- Oh, no, honey, you don’t even know what kind of rat is in the palace. - she hissed through clenched teeth, looking at me with disgust. – This brat is deceiving Amanda, pretending to be her friend and trying to trick everyone around her. For what purpose? What are you trying to achieve with this?

A conflict was brewing in my head. On the one hand, I should be silent and not get into trouble, and on the other hand, I wanted to answer her, discarding all the rules of etiquette. But then I will set up Raphael, because he asked me not to face this bad family, and I myself am obedient, I came to the lair of the beast and brought myself on a platter.