Nothing But Bad

Twenty Five

Arden
•••

   I spent the first ten minutes washing my hair, after that I put it a low bun. Spending the next fifty minutes soaking in the bath. I forgot how much I loved them.

   I was so at peace, I had fallen asleep. A knock at the door wakes me up. "Lady Arden?" A quiet voice calls.

   "Yes?"

   "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm here to drop off the dresses and help you with your hair."

   "Oh," I say rushing up. "I'll be out in just a moment. Luckily, there's towels and a robe in here. Definitely Will's, but still a robe.

   I open the door, and am greeted by a strawberry blonde haired girl just few years older than me. I give her a smile.

   She gives a nod back, and points to a direction of the room. "I had set up an area to do your hair and makeup if that's ok with you."

    She was very polite. "Of course." I follow her lead, and sit in the chair she pulled out for me. "My hairs wet." I mumble as she takes it out of its bun. "I hope that's not an issue."

   "Of course not." She says breathlessly. "I can fix it." I don't see what she's doing to my hair, but I can feel it. A slight tug, and my hair felt lighter. I hear the sound of water dropping into a bucket. I instantly touch my hair, I'm shocked to feel it dry.

   "How did...?"

   "My powers, water related." I can hear the smile in her voice.

   There's only one person I know with those types of powers, one family. "You don't happen to be..." I can't finish the sentence.

   "I'm Gwen's cousin." She says more quietly.

   "I'm sorry." I whisper, she knows what for.

   She brushes off my apology, with a slight tug on my hair. "I'm thinking a bed of curls for your hair." She says playing with it. "With a few pieces pulled back and a few still at the front. Is that ok?"

   "Yes." I smile, not that she could see it. There was no mirror on Will's desk. She hums in delight and starts to work on my hair. After that, she works on putting light makeup on my face.

   "You're naturally beautiful." She smiled, "You honestly don't need any."

   I laugh, "You're too nice." It's true, she was too kind for her own good. But I couldn't get over how refreshing it was. I knew why she was treating me with so much kindness. She thought of me as her future queen, an honor. It was nice not being thought of as my father's daughter or the one who betrayed everyone. Or even the one responsible for so many deaths. It was nice.

   "Prince William, had asked of me to brief you on some things. Would you like me to start now, or in a few minutes?"

   "A few minutes." I answered. "I have some questions if that's ok?"

   "Of course!" She exclaims, "You never need to ask me for permission."

   "What's your name?" I scold myself for not asking sooner, she must think I'm terrible.

   "Allison." She says, still working on my makeup.

   "Why weren't you at the school?" I've been racking my brain, trying to remember if I saw her there or not, and I couldn't remember.

   She moves back to my hair, "I'm just going to touch it up some more." She says before continuing, "I'm one of the queen's ladies." She exclaims, "My powers aren't very strong, nor difficult to figure out. I am more fit helping here than at the school."