The Whispering Flowers

Torn

As the door closes and his footsteps cease the tray Peter had given me slips from my hands crashing on the floor, causing coffee and eggs to splatter on the ground. My eyes swell up with tears and I fall to the floor sobbing loudly, my head in my hands, my hair in my face. I am torn. He didn't deserve to be treated like that. But he betrayed me. I'm being irrational. He looked me in the eyes and betrayed me. It was just a bloody dream. But he betrayed ME! My sobs grow louder as I keep thinking about what happened. He deserved it so why am I crying.

Outside my door, I hear a loud creak on the hinges of my door as if someone was leaning on it, and I stop my sobs. I rub my eyes and try to brush away my tears. I walk over to the door to see who was standing there but when I open the door, no one is there.

I pull on my robe and walk out of my room. The cold floor reminds me of that horrible dream. I keep walking through the halls, trying to avoid maids and other people. Eventually, I reach the private living room where Dahlia is reading in front of the fire. I walk in quietly and curl up in the large armchair next to her.

She looks at me and smiles but realizing that I had tears running down my face she puts her arm around me and closes her book, placing it on the coffee table. "What's wrong Daphne?" she says stroking my hair. "I- I had a bad dream," I say hiccuping on my words. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asks. "No," I reply.

She runs her fingers through my hair and sighs. I rub my eyes and wipe my tears. I take a deep breath and took up at her. "So, how do you like James?" I ask trying to smile. "Oh, well I quite enjoy him more than I thought I would. I mean he is very sweet and shy, and I would much rather him than anyone else," she says smiling at me. "You like him," I say actually smiling. "Well..." she says blushing deeply.

"Well that's good," I say nodding, "tell me about him."

"Well, when we talk I feel like I can tell him anything. He's just so sweet and soft. Of course, I can't have any alone time with him till we're married," she says turning a deeper shade of red, "since the maids have to follow us everywhere." "You haven't told him about our plan have you?" I whisper. "Oh of course not. I'll tell him once everything blows over," she replies smiling at me.

"Well, do you have anyone you are looking at?" my sister says giggling. "What do you mean?" I say scowling at her. "You know, do you fancy anyone?" she says laughing. "No..." I say thinking about my dream, "and it wouldn't matter since I have to be married to another kingdom,"

"Well, if father is gone... that you can marry whoever you like!" says Dahlia happily. I think about what she was saying and that means... I could marry Peter! No, he was horrible to you, even after the dream. He threw that tray at you, and it hurt. That's right, I don't need him, I can find any man I please. "I guess you're right," I say smiling. She hugs me tight and strokes my hair. Dahlia then gets up and looks down on me in the chair. "Well we better get ready for the ball, people will be arriving soon," she says smiling. I stand up and hug my sister tightly. Then I leave the room to go back to my chambers.

I walk in and already there are 5 maids holding up the dress making sure that there were no wrinkles or messy bits. "Hello, Daffodil! Are you excited for the ball?" asks the maid called Cindy. I don't answer and I start getting undressed out of my nightgown. The maids help me out of it and sit me down. They bring out a pair of thin white stockings, a white, sleeveless chemise, a steel wire cage, and a corset. The maids start by pulling up my stockings and slipping the chemise on over my head. Then, they stand me up and start to put on the corset. They are tightening it very roughly and knocking the wind out of my lungs. The maids grab the cage that they had placed on my bed and put it under my feet. I step into it and they immediately pull it up past my waist, resting it on my hips. They check to make sure that the steps so far had gone nicely, running around me in circles and pulling on my stockings and dress cage.

Once the maids make sure that the cage and corset are on tightly, they pull a camisole over the corset and a petticoat over the cage. Finally, they take a very expensive yellow dress and slip it over my head. It fits perfectly, the sleeves are sheer and poofy with little designs. The dress was decorated with lace strings and flowery designs and the dress was just long enough to cover my feet but to not drag on the floor. Then they slipped on light yellow gloves that covered the rest of my bare skin and slipped on while heels decorated with yellow flowers. The maids shove me down in front of my vanity mirror and begin to roughly brush my hair.

"Oww!" I say as they rip through the knots but they ignore me and continue to brush the same as they did before. One of the maids pulls all of my hair into a tight bun and starts to stab my head with pins to hold it still. Then they take a basket of yellow and white flowers and begin to add them to my hair. Then they put pearl earrings with white shell teardrops, into my ears and placed a simple pearl necklace with gold accents on my collar bones. The maids walk around me making sure that everything is perfect, my hair, my dress, my jewelry, for about 20 minutes until they were finally satisfied.

"Are you done?" I ask as one of the maids jerks on my dress. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had ripped it. They stand me up one last time and tie a light yellow bow around my waist. "No, your highness, we still need to do your makeup!" says one of the maids happily. The maids are 100% enjoying this more than me. They sit me down once more and start to pat powder on my face and apply blush to my cheeks. The maids add a pink tint to my lips and mascara to my eyelashes. They all gush at how beautiful I look and giggle too each other about how I better get married to someone as handsome as me. I roll my eyes and wait for them to be done. The maids tell me several times to be very careful with my dress and to not tread on it. Finally, they leave and I am able to think. I stand in front of the mirror and finally see myself. I actually look gorgeous, the maids had done a wonderful job. It wasn't even that uncomfortable once they were done pulling on it.

I step outside my door and I am greeted by Magnolia and Rosemary. They both look beautiful and we all laugh a bit about our matching dresses. "Ready to go?" asks Magnolia. "You know I am," I respond, "Those silly maids kept pulling at my hair and taking forever. At least I look good." We laugh lightly again and walk down the hall towards the ballroom. As we walk, the setting sun glows through the windows. Maids scuffled around, preparing the castle for guests. Finally, we reach the ballroom. There waiting is the rest of my siblings and my father. I start to frown but quickly snap into a smile. We all greet each other, complimenting the different colors of our gowns. The time comes and the giant doors open to the landing of the ballroom.

Note:

What's up you guys! The story is about to kick off with a big reveal. The next chapter is going to be a two-parter and both parts are going to be very long. We are so excited!

- S & S