The Wings of the Beautifully Fallen

Chapter 16: Illiana

Chapter 16: Illiana

"Look at you, my dear. You look utterly exhausted!" The woman exclaimed as her arms fell around me, holding me tightly in a hug for a moment before finally pulling away. "Have you eaten yet, my dear?"

"No, ma'am." I told her and her hand waved wildly in front of her, her eyes beaming with glee.

"Call me mother, child. After all, by the end of the week, you will be my daughter." She patted my cheek slightly before turning to the little girl beside her. "Now, how about we go get something to eat and speak to Illiana then. Otherwise, I am worried that the poor girl will pass out on us."

"That might be best, mama." The young child giggled before turning bright green eyes to me. "Come on, just follow us." The two of them stepped beside me, their hands sliding in mine and they pulled me forward.

"After we eat, we can let you get some rest if you would like." The queen told me as she guided my up to the stairs. My gaze lifted upwards, staring at the marble white walls that towered over me. Small balconies stood out from a few of the open widows and I watched as curtains of different colors swayed in the wind. At the top of the palace were gargoyle-like things but they were in the shape of little angels rather than some monstrosity. "If not, we can give you a tour around the palace so you can find your way around."

"Mama told me that you like to read. Is that true?" The little girl questioned, her eyes staring up at me expectingly. That was when it hit me, was this Reginald's sister? The girl that he told me about, the one who wanted a sister? I was sure it had to be. That would explain why she had accompanied the queen out here.

"Now, I know how impatient you must be to see Reginald, but I am afraid he is not here." The woman sighed sadly, the three of us climbing up the stairs and through the giant double doors of the palace. "In fact, my dear son actually has no clue about what has happened." She laughed joyfully, her hand motioning over to a room on the right where a wooden double brown door stood open. "The food should be set by now and so it should be safe for us to head on in."

I nodded and followed the two of them, trying to understand what the queen had said. What did she mean by Reginald not knowing that had happened? Did his parents do soemthing without his knowledge and will soon learn about whatever they did? What if that something was me? What if he had no idea that I was coming? That his parents had not told him that he was being forced to marry me?

"My brother will not be back until the night before the wedding. At least, that is what mama says." The girl giggled as she led me into the room. My jaw opened in surprise as I stared at the room in front of me. A gentle green and white carpeted the room, the swirls of green on the curtains by the window matched the patterns on the seats and table cloth. On the table itself was an interesting spread as well, there were three plates with larger dishes in the middle, one of them was a silver plater with sandwiches on them and they other was a silver bowl.

"I figured sandwich and soup would be the best for you after such a long journey, my dear. It will allow the food to settle better after the wretched food that one gets when traveling." The queen explained, her arm slipping from mine and stepped forward, up to the table. Her hand fell on one of the chairs. "Now come, my dear, it is time to eat. I could not forgive myself should you fall ill because of starving."

I nodded once before walking forward, Reginald's sister by my side. She did not let go of me until after we had reached the table and I had slid into the seat that the queen had motioned for me to sit in.

"Now, tomorrow I am afraid we had to go into town and see the seamstress and the jewelers. We need to make sure they create the right size ring and that the dress will fit you. The last thing that any of us want is anything going wrong in the wedding." The queen explained and I nodded, unsure about what to think or say about anything that she was saying.