Blood Diamond

Lilies

A shiver went down my spine-

 followed by a cold breeze that trickled into my room from my open window. I dreadfully open my eyes and stared at the celling above me, though the celling itself was hidden by a delicate white lace canopy that draped over my bed. I mentally traced the lace flowers that I had been waking up to for the past 15 years. Once again, a light breeze flowed into my room, wrapping the walls in a light scent of fragrant lilies.

Lilies, lilies... That's when the realization hit me.

"LILIES!" I scream out loud.

My whole body went numb. How could I have forgotten? Here in the kingdom of Kalimore, lilies aren't just flowers.. They are a national symbol that meant only thing; spring. 

The first day of Spring is one of the most important days of the whole year, and for the special occasion, the royal family throws arguably one of the biggest balls in the whole kingdom- that is, after the king and queen's birthdays of course- those simply cannot be topped. 

Being the oldest princess of the kingdom, my presence there is a simple bare minimum. On a yearly rotation, a different member of the royal family's descendants have to prepare a speech to present at the ball. Last year it was my sister Lucille's turn. The year before that, my brother Rhys's turn. But this year, it was mine. 

Just as my mind filled with the thought, my mother came slamming the white and golden doors of my room wide open. Her brownish/ blondish hair was half done up into a bun, and her pastel blue coloured robe fell down past her feet. On the right side pocket of the robe was Kalimore's emblem, gently embroidered with a thin golden thread. Behind her walked our puppy blue, tailing my mother wherever she went as always. As she floated around my room, she began her own speech about how important today was, though I wasn't really paying attention. I've been listening to the same speech on repeat practically since birth and at this point I have it memorized to the breath mark. 

While twirling around my room, my mother gathered all the many parts of my outfits for the day. Since I was no longer in the correct age group, I wasn't allowed to stay in the same outfit the entire day. Instead, I was required to have a minimum of 3 changes throughout the ceremonies. I hated this rule. The corsets were always done up so tightly and each dress simply took away your ability to breath from how firmly the laces were done up. Having to put these kinds of dresses on and off three times makes me want to faint just thinking of it. The process was absolute persecution, but I guess the end results were always worth it. My maids, Carla and Malette always managed to make me look breathtaking even if the sentence "beauty is pain" plays on repeat like a broken record while they work. They've been my maids since I could  remember. Malette got her job as a maid here in the castle long before I was even born, and Carla came a few years after. I love them both, they are more like sisters than maids to me. 

While I tuned out my mother's "very important speech" about today's ball, I rolled to the side of my bed and grabbed a robe like the one my mother had on. It had the same fabric and the same kingdom emblem on the right pocket just a little shorter and more of a summery yellow colour. It was gently hung up on a golden hook beside my bed, made specifically for me. It took me about three months to convince my mother that I didn't need to summon my maids just to bring my robe each morning, instead I should just get a hook beside my bed to hang it up. After lots of convincing and hesitation, my mother finally caved in but not because I was persuasive enough, simply because I was annoying enough. Suits me I guess. 

"You must shine like the stars and walk like an angel-" I cut her off, "that is the only acceptable way" I say with her in unison. Laughingly, my mother pats my head and a smile paints on her face. "Yes indeed dear, at least you know" How could I not? My mother doesn't even bother to change her little speech up even a little bit, each sentence is more than predictable.. It is rather burned into my brain. She tells me to meet my maids down at the spa, where id be spending my day getting ready for the upcoming ball. "Everything is going to be perfect this year" says my mother, but I didn't have the stomach to tell her... That though I had her's memorized, I had completely forgotten to write my own speech.