Blue Moons and Lost Princesses

Chapter 3

Celeste grinned as she woke up and pinned up her hair into the usual messy bun, smoothing out her wrinkled skirt and looked at herself in the small mirror she had in her tiny part of the servants’ quarters. Her grin remained on her face as she tucked the stray strand of brown hair behind her ear, and her blue eyes sparkled at the thought of meeting Cameron at the gardens that day.

They had managed to bump into each other a few times, and had met up in the gardens at the swings, where they’d spend the day talking to each other about their day, their lives, and their hopes and dreams.

Well, mostly Celeste’s hopes and dreams.

“What do you want most in the world?” Cameron had posed this question to her, merely two days ago, seated beside her on that swing, his eyes poised on the flowers in front of him, raising an eyebrow. Celeste barely had to think before answering him, clearly excited by the idea.

“I’d love to see Castalia. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.” Celeste said, smiling happily as she rocked the swing, and Cameron turned his head to see the eagerness on the brunette’s face. Her blue eyes resembled sapphires when they sparkled, especially when she was excited, he’d learned. “I’ll probably never see it though, I think.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve never actually been out of the castle before. I grew up here, you know.” She added, matter of factly, as the smile on her face faded, and she sighed, clearly resigning herself to her fate, shrugging before looking at him.

“Well, since you’ve never seen Castalia, and I can’t bring you there, maybe…” Cameron trailed off, not exactly sure of what he wanted to do.

“Maybe… What?” Celeste prompted, curious as to what the Prince had to say.

“Maybe I could bring Castalia to you.” Cameron finished, now grinning. “Close your eyes.”

Celeste promptly followed instructions, and closed her eyes, giggling a little. As Cameron described, bit by bit of the memorable experience he’d had in Castalia, Celeste would smile, and gasp slightly. The sight of it, even if it was just her imagination, was every bit as beautiful as everyone else had described it.

Celeste smiled as she remembered this scene, and began to walk outside, doing her household chores.

As she dusted a glass ornament, she smiled, her eyes glazing over as she remembered laughing in the gardens with Cameron, his green eyes twinkling as he chuckled openly. He had looked so princely when he laughed. Charming, like a prince would be, handsome.

“Are you done dusting that or not?” A huffed, annoyed voice voiced out, and Celeste snapped out of her revelry to see her fellow lady in waiting, Anastasia’s look of annoyance on her face. She winced as she realised that she’d been dusting the same ornament over and over again, getting nowhere, and bit her lip, already resigning herself to the lecture ahead.

Anastasia was, by far, the least liked servant in the entire castle. She was snobby and easily irritated, and she was never afraid to voice out her opinions on anything and everything in the castle all too loudly. Celeste had been the only one who had tolerated her for the past month, and Meredith had thus assigned them to do the most menial of all jobs—dusting the many vases and ornaments in the castle.

Celeste detested every session, where Anastasia would hover over her and tell her how she was ‘dusting the wrong way’ and ‘how you’ve lived in the castle all your life and can’t do a simple thing properly I have no idea’ and ‘Oh, may the merciful Heavens bless you, how did I get stuck with an imbecile like you for a partner’. She did wish that Meredith hadn’t taught her all that well in manners, she would have gladly screamed at Anastasia with her lungs for all she cared.