The Lost Mirror

Chapter 6

Jade woke up the next morning surrounded by the silk sheets she had woken up in the morning before. She had half expected to wake up in her dusty attic, as if this whole thing was still nothing more than a wild dream. Everything seemed fuzzy in her mind. Her brain was telling her that none of this could be real and yet her senses told her that everything was. Everything she touched was real, everything she smelt, tasted and saw. She rubbed her eyes. She needed to clear her head, she didn't feel scared as she had done the previous morning but she was no less confused. Her mind and body seemed to be a war with one another over whether or not this was real. She felt so lost. Like a deer caught in a headlights, she didn't understand what to do. There was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." She called trying to suppress a yawn. The door opened and in came Katie. She was dressed in the same attire as the day before.

"Good morning your highness. I'm sorry to wake you at such early hours but I was instructed to by his majesty the King."

"Yeah I know." Jade said with a sigh as she pulled herself out of the bed. Katie walked towards the wardrobe and pulled out an elegant green and black dress. It was very tightly fitted around the top half, with two thin straps on either shoulder holding the dress up. It had a small green bow where the two straps meet the dress on either shoulder and another much larger bow placed at the small of Jade's back. The base of the dress was mostly green, the material was scrunched up in places to add frills and depth. Just after Jade's knee the green material stopped and a silk black carried on from underneath the green. The black material finished the dress off, which reached all the way the the floor with two layers of frills. Jade frowned. She wasn't really expected to wear that was she? Zachariah had said that they would be doing a lot of traveling. That was not a travelling dress, it was more like a dress you would do to a ballroom dance in. It was then that Katie pulled out the worst part of the outfit. The corset. Jade had felt such a great relief when it was removed the night before. For the first time that day she felt like she could breath like a normal person. Jade stood in silence and watched as Katie smoothed the dress and played with the corsets straps. She seemed to be completely unaware of what was going on. Jade suspected that she had not been told, just as the King had instructed.

"Are you ready to get dressed now my lady?" Katie questioned. Jade snapped out of her trance and nodded.

"Er yes I am." She walked over to Katie and much like the day before they began the painful process of getting her dressed...

There was a demanding knock on the door once Jade had finished putting the dress on. Katie was knelt down by her feet making sure the bottom of the dress sat the way it was intended to.

"Come in." Jade answered. The door flung open and a rather angry Queen came marching in. Katie stopped what she was doing the second she saw it was the Queen who entered. She stood up and curtsied to her.

"Leave us." The Queen instructed coldly. Katie said not a word, she bowed again and left the room as quietly as she could. Jade shot daggers at the woman in front of her. Ever since the morning before she had had a great distaste for her. She was cruel and self entitled and nothing like the caring and loving attitude her true Mother had shown her since she was a child.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Jade demanded when the Queen said nothing. Jade received a very hateful glare but she didn't care. She felt unable to speak in the King's presence but she had such a hatred towards the Queen already that she found it impossible to hold her tongue.

"How dare you speak to me like that? You might be in the body of a Princess but I have no trouble in deducting that you yourself are nothing but a commoner." The Queen spat her venomous words at her. She was slowly pacing back and forth in front of Jade. Her long dark red dress slid behind her. The colour, the black embroidered designs and the scowling face gave her a menacing look.