The Royal Arrangement

Chapter 6

23/01/2019 (1900 words!!!!!!) 

Ariana's POV

Over the next couple weeks, I received a few private letters from the Queen. They were full of information to help me adjust to royal life, the tips ranged from etiquette to telling me how many meetings I would have to go to on average every month. These letters thoroughly annoyed the wicked witch, as she had decided that as she had been the person who trapped me in this upcoming arrangement, that everything should go through her. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed getting those letters embossed with the royal crest whilst she was standing behind me in the hallway.

It got to the fourteenth day after the meeting and the hag was becoming manic, as we had not seen the royals since we went to the palace, insisting that the royal family had decided to cancel the arrangement because they had realised that they had made a huge mistake. I rolled my eyes but crossed my fingers under the breakfast table, hoping, for the first time in my life, that her suspicions were true. Those hopes were soon dashed though when the doorbell rang, alerting us to an unplanned visitor. The maid rushed to the door and we heard her flustered voice ushering someone to the dining room. I forced my head to stay directed downwards towards my cereal bowl. Someone kicked me hard in the leg and my head whipped up, to see the queen stood at the other end of the table.

She stared down the table at me with a straight face, catching me in her gaze. The room was silent until Lucy, who was sat next to me, seemed to have collected the small fragments of her mind together and scrambled to her feet, causing a clatter of cutlery and scraping of a chair against the wooden floor.

''Your Majesty, it is an honour to meet you.'' She said in a sweeping but sickly voice. The queen just inclined her head gracefully towards Lucy with a polite smile then moved her focus straight back to me. I stood up from my seat slowly and greeted her.

''Good morning, Your Majesty.''

She smiled and returned my greeting, ''Good morning to you too, Ariana. I was hoping I would be able to discuss some things with you. A private discussion.'' Added the last part when she noticed my step-mother raising from her chair.

''Uh, y-yeah, I guess.'' I tripped over my words as I stepped away from the table and walked over to her. She bowed her head again and stood to the side, allowing me to pass by her to lead her out of the room.

We walked towards the living room in silence. Once we were sat down, the queen turned to me. ''Ariana, I am here on urgent business that cannot be delayed.'' She told me seriously, then continued, looking directly into my eyes, ''we need to go wedding dress shopping''.

''Excuse me?''

''Wedding dress shopping, you know, those gorgeous white dresses you only get to wear once or maybe twice in your life?'' She said with a grin on her face. ''Then we of course need to actually plan the wedding, and Lorenzo has asked me to tell you to make whatever decisions you would like concerning the decorations and reception.'' I was just sat there with my mouth slightly open, trying to come to terms with the fact that the prince had given control of the wedding to me. How was I, an eighteen-year-old, supposed to plan a wedding? And a royal one at that!

The queen seemed to register my silent panic and took one of my hands in hers. ''Don't worry about it, Ariana. I will help you with the planning and I'm sure my son will put his five pence in when necessary. But don't think about all that today, because you need to go and get ready to try on dresses!''

''I'm sorry? We're going today?!''

''Yes, I have an appointment booked at a lovely shop in an hour and a half, so you should probably go and get dressed.'' She said, looking my 'Don't let the muggles get you down' pajamas up and down. I responded with a small smile and hurried upstairs to get changed. Fifteen minutes later I was running back downstairs in a loose baby blue flowy top with jeans and the same ankle boots I had worn to the palace. I was looking over my outfit in my full-length mirror when I heard loud voices from downstairs, I ran down the staircase to see my friends demanding to see me.