Princess Selene (AU of The Lunar Chronicles)

Chapter Six

   After I am done with my makeup I walk down the long hallway to the dining room praying I don't get lost. I am fortunate because I hear laughter and glasses clicking before I even see the room.

   I walk into the room and give a deep curtsy. I smile at the prince and he runs his hand through his hair nervously. I move as gracefully as possible over to my seat at the table. Everybody rises and bows to me, I once again blush. Even growing up being bowed to hasn't made me used to the attention. "Please sit," I say quietly and everybody complies. 

   Everybody sits in silence until Emperor Rikan clears his throat. "And you, your highnesses are?..." He asks his voice trailing off. 

   "I'm 16," I reply

"And I, 17," Winter says with a smile.

"How old are you Kai- er Prince Kaito?" I say embarrassed

"On a first name basis are we now?" Jacin says with a smirk. I kick him from under the table. His eyes become glossy and for a moment I feel a twinge of pity remembering  I have heels on. 

Kai smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I'm 18, just turned it in fact," he says while lifting up his glass of wine. 

   The meal goes on for hours. Hours of polite smiles and easy conversation, about the beauty of New Bejing and what life is like under the domes on the moon. After the fourth course Winter has another hallucination. One about her turning to ice. 

   "What was that all about?" Rikan asks genuinely concerned. "Is she alright? Will she be alright?"

   "No," I say earnestly, "She's been having hallucinations since the age of 14."

   "But why?" Kai asks 

   "When gifted Lunars don't use their gift for any period of time they begin to go mad. It drives their mind to the brink of insanity. When she was 13 she vowed to never use her gift again." The men looked confused as to why someone would do that to themselves, "Winter sees the 'gift' as more of an evil curse. She doesn't believe any good can come from it. Winter's mother died in childbirth, and after that the Princess Levana forced her father to marry her. Levana has formed her glamour to mirror that of Solstice Hayle, her dead mother. Her father, Evret, no longer even remembers what his wife looked like truly. He says Levana has stolen that from him. So Winter has sworn to never use her gift." I look down and fiddle with the edge of my creme colored gloves disappointed in myself for giving away Winter's secret to near strangers, as honorable as it is. 

"That poor girl," Is all Rikan says while Kai shakes his head.

Eventually, Emperor Rikan leaves and it is just me and Kai at the table. "How do you use your gift?" He asks after minutes of silence.

   "Excuse me?" I ask putting down my wine glass

   "You said Lunars go mad if they don't use their gift. You obviously aren't going mad so, how do you use your gift?"

   I look at him gravely hoping he'll believe me. "I don't control people. My mother and Levana have tried to get me to but I don't budge, not the guards, or my maid, I try to do little things. I wouldn't use it at all, but I don't know how well I'd be at running a country while having hallucinations so often. Sometimes I change my eye color or my height or give myself the illusion of wearing makeup when I don't feel like putting it on, I try to keep it simple. By even changing something little like that seems wrong. I'm invading other people's minds and I don't like the feeling of it." I breathe then continue, "I mean why wear such a fabricated glamour? People know it's simply an illusion. I've tried so hard not to be like my mother and aunt, but by using the 'gift' as they call it, I'm simply becoming a lesser version of them. I know I'm not naturally beautiful like Winter, but I've sworn never to be so vain as to walk around with a glamour all of the time as Levana does."

   "I think you're beautiful," Kai says softly, "You're just the perfect combination of regality and beauty."

   "Thank you," I say nervously, shocked by the compliment.

   Kai bows his head and then quickly leaves the table. And I find myself fantasizing about a marriage alliance, that doesn't seem too horrible.