Royal Blood, The Harvest Ball

Picking Dandilions

"BLOODY HELL, you half scared me to death, how heavily can one sleep?" Bethany stood at his bedside arms crossed over her purple silk corset.

Taking in the scenery around him and reacquainting himself with reality, his dream quickly began to fade.
This is the third night she visit my dreams
he thought to himself , before glaring angrily at the young lady by his bedside.

"For God sakes Bethany, did mother not teach you better than to brutally assault a man until he wakes? And what of knocking?"
Richard groaned sitting upright in his bed, rubbing his head where Bethany had hit him, quite hard for such a tiny woman.

"No brother, but she indeed taught me better than to sleep till high noon... and to drool on my pillow" Bethany smirked cheekily handing him a towel, a smarmy undertone to her voice.

Rolling his eyes, he snatched the towel from his sister's hands and wiped his face clear, before reluctantly swinging his feet over to the bedside where they dangled just above his velvet slippers. Sliding his feet into either shoe he came to a stand and stumbled over to his mirror, still shook by the events of his dream.

"Why do you wake me anyway sister? Don't you have better ways to entertain yourself than causing me more suffering than you must"
He glanced at her in the mirror cocking a brow, waiting for a half decent response,

"Entertain? I beg you a pardon? I find no joy or entertainment in interacting with you" she tutted "mother requested that I wake you, the messenger bought news from The kingdoms Lethia and Withinglow this morning, so devastating that she has cancelled all of our engagements today and has insisted that we all meet in the dining hall at once to discuss it, all of us includes you... Unfortunately" she mumbled mockingly.

"Lethia!?" He gasped the color rushing from his face, leaving his cheeks a pale white

"You'd think that with ears so big you'd have noticed that I didn't stutter" she mumbled sarcastically,

Suddenly, He launched the towel at her, laughing as it struck her in the face, "indeed, I see, well smarty...tell mother I shall be down in a moment" he said gesturing at her to leave with his hand.

Removing the towel from her face she chuckled to herself and began to walk towards the door.

"Oh Bethany! Before you go"
She stopped
"Do tell your seamstress that your unflattering personality needn't be reflected in such an unflattering dress" he smiled before gesturing her to leave once more.

she looked down scanning her dress to see if it really were unflattering. Clearly troubled by his remarks and glowing red with rage she threw the towel back at Him, striking the back of his head. Before turning to leave. He laughed as she stormed out of his room slamming the door behind her. knowing that Bethany hated nothing more than to be insulted about her looks, She was as vain as she was petty and Richard loved to capitalize on such weakness.       
Behind the door Bethany fiddled with her dress, mumbling to herself angrily about how horrid her older brothers were.  Coming to the mouth of the stairs she stopped and removed the purple ribbon from around her waist

'Well perhaps this ribbon is alittle unflattering on the waist' she thought

Before floating down the stairwell like a swan does on water. There was always a royal elegance about the way she moved, of course she barely ever had enough weight on her to walk with any real heaviness, her daintiness didn't allow for clumsiness, and with those long thin dresses she wore it always looked as though she could blow away into the air with every step she took. She was pleasing on the eye none the less, a brunette, with hair like silk and and ivory skin, she had the Forcendale family green eyes, however hers sparkled but a little brighter than her brother's.

Of all of her qualities, her beauty meant the most to her,  she was one vain woman to say the least, her vanity so deeply engrained in her mind that she was renowned for the extreme measures she would go to in order to maintain herself.  She had once starved for an entire month, simply to be thinner than the Duchess of Seroma, who was known for her impossible physique, another time she wore tightened leather straps around her waist for an entire year, so that she might posses the curves of an hour glass.

As she reached the bottom of the steep spiral staircase, she took a moment to pause alongside the grand oval mirror that was mounted on the wall at the mouth of the stairwell. She stood gazing into her reflection. At first she was fidgeting with her dress and readjusting her corset, pulling in what was left of her stomach in order to look thinner, but eventually she just stood there, staring, hopelessly into the glassy portal.
Her gaze was so vacant that one could believe  her soul had wandered far beyond her body, it did this often when she looked at herself. She'd stare sometimes for hours, right through the glass, with a look of detatched disgust or disapproval on her face.

"Dear Sister, You are not any less pretty than the last time you checked" a soft male voice echoed from the top of the stairs,    "And where is Richard? Is the party boy still sleeping?" He said with a laugh,

his tall frame slowly making its way down the stairs, long leather shoes leaving footprints in the emerald carpet as his heavy set marched towards the mirror.            

"This is precisely why mother forbid the two of you from going out to the town bars, you allow our wrekless brother to drink, till he finds himself asleep all day or lost in some forest" she laughed still surveying her reflection

"Funny he didn't drink much last night, well at least not while I was there, I think he was more captivated by the charming damsel he met at the bar" he chuckled.

Standing behind Bethany he placed his hands on Her shoulders and stared with her at his reflection, his perfectly tailored suit, pressed smooth against his long muscular chest, his dark hair messily cascading his chiseled features, but most captivating of all were his stark green eyes.

"Damsel?" Questioned Bethany,

"Oh, Don't get too carried away, she was a blonde haired peasant with a spectacularly large bosom" he giggled as Bethany playfully slapped his arm "she was an easy catch, not much his type anyway, you could see that there wasn't an ounce of intelligence behind those blue eyes of her's, but lust... she had plenty" he burst out laughing as Bethany shook her head.

"What? a man must have his fun before he commits to being the head of a family" Bart said fixing his jacket,

"A man, pfft, you surrender so easily to a womans body and yet we are expected to call you the heads of anything... anything other than weakness that is" she scoffed,

"Oh sister, with all that mouth, i pray every day for the brave gentleman that must court you" bart chuckled extending his arm to escort her to the dining hall

Smirking she shoved his hand away and began to make her own way down the corridor, proudly marching her dainty body away,

"I pray for him too, Bart, i pray for him too" she shouted back as she approached the dining hall doors.