Beautiful Dreams

Chapter Eighteen

The next couple of days are whirlwinds of meetings, appointments for something to do with my Crowning ceremony, dance rehearsals and dress fittings.

"Princess, time to wake up," I hear Isabella's voice near my head, "You have to get up and get ready for your Crowning today. We have heaps to do and a small amount of time to do it."

"Okay, I'm up," I say sitting up, yawning and stretching.

"We have to hurry, Princess, the King is hosting a special birthday breakfast for you with your family and then we have to hurry and get you ready," Isabelle lets me know.

I get out of bed and quickly get dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a plain blue T-shirt. Once I dressed and presentable, we head down to breakfast with my family.

When I enter the dining room, I see my family sitting at the table with a smaller table near it covered in presents. When they see me, my family stands up and gives me hugs and then I sit down to find that someone has already served me my favourite breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and fresh mixed berries.

"How are you feeling today, sweetie? Are you nervous?" Mum asks me.

"I'm slightly nervous, but I'll be okay," I say.

We start eating breakfast and I finish quickly.

"Princess, I know that you would like to spend at bit more time with your family, but we really must get going," Isabella informs me once I'm finished.

I give everyone a quick hug and am whisked away to my room by Isabella. When I arrive I have a facial, full body polish, manicure, pedicure hair and makeup done by Marah, She does my hair in an elegant bun and my makeup in all pale pinks and nude colors. When Marah is just about finished with my makeup Kate enters carrying a gigantic garment bag.

"Hello, Princess, you look fabulous today," Kate says hanging up the garment bag, unzipping it and pulling the dress out to show me, "So what do you think?"

"It's gorgeous," I say running my hand over the bodice. It has a sweetheart neckline, a full ball gown skirt, a natural waistline. She has added orange citrines on the front of the bust line since I last saw it.

"I know we didn't mention any gems on the dress, but I added them after the last fitting I thought they would look nice," she says nervously.

"It is fine they look great," I tell her admiringly.

She hurriedly helps me into the dress. Once I'm dressed, Marah is sent to retrieve the King so that he can approve of my dress, hair and makeup. When he arrives, he looks at me critically making sure I look right.

"Princess, you look radiant," he says finally, after making me feel nervous that something was wrong.

"Thank you," I say still feeling extremely nervous.

He holds out his arm and I grab it needing the support because my knees are shaking. Just then there is a shy knock on the door.

"Come in," I say looking at Ian, who has a huge grin on his face.

I look at the door as it opens, and I am shocked to see Josh walk through the door.

"Hello, Princess," Josh says with a small bow in my direction.

"Hey, Josh," I say grabbing his hand.

We head out of the room and walk down the stairs. When we are nearly at the bottom of the stairs, the King walks ahead and checks that everyone else is inside. He gives us a quick nod and then goes inside and takes his seat. After a minute, my favourite song "Time after time," by Cyndi Lauper sounds. I put my hand on top of Josh's and we enter the Crowning hall. When I enter, everyone stands and watches me walk up to my family's throne that has been relocated from the Council room to the Crowning hall for the ceremony. I look straight ahead until I reach the throne. Then I turn and kneel on the cushion sitting in front of it. Everyone takes their seat while Josh stands next to the throne. When I kneel, my skirt billows out around me. I quickly look around while everyone is sitting. and I see that orange banners hang from the roof and a mix of orange calla lilies and orange tulips are in vases all around the hall. Once everyone is seated again, King Ian moves from his seat and comes to stand next to me with the ceremony book. It contains the vows I must agree to, to become the Lascher Princess.