Her Royal Highness

Chapter 8

-Lots of you may be angry at me for having this chapter so early in the plot with Mal still being quite young. Sorry, but it has to be this way so that we can start moving onto war chapters and massive magical happenstance.-

The leaves in Auradon frosted into a golden and scarlet pointillism masterpiece. Mal quit her morning climbs to the roof because the frost would stick to the bricks and make them slippery. Instead she and Ben went out for short drives and Mal locked herself in her room to pour over her plans for the Isle of the Lost.

September turned into October.

Mal's things slowly vanished from her room. Not everything, but outfits and toiletries and books gradually disappeared. Pictures from the walls, her favorite blanket from her bed, and finally her phone charger. Mal didn't panic much, because she knew where she'd find everything. The same thing was happening to Ben's room. All their things were being moved into a suite with an attached living room and a large bathroom fitted with a jet tub. King Adam and Queen Belle had vacated the Master Suite and downsized to something closer to the front of the castle. Adam's office had been emptied except for a couple of important copies of legislature and things Ben had put there himself. Doug had been at the castle for a solid eight hours on September thirtieth scanning everything in Adam's office into his computer and sorting it all into usable formats.

Still, it was awkward for Mal when she walked into their room to plug her phone in and found Ben muttering under his breath as he tried to hunt down a pair of socks. She wasn't ready to be sharing her living space.

The last night she spent in her own room passed in the blink of an eye. She laid down to close her eyes, and then woke up to Belle and Sophia shaking her gently. The room wasn't even light yet. It was the sort of hour that Mal usually woke up to climb the palace roof, except now the time was spent cramming as many energy drinks as possible into her and scrubbing all the dirt out from under her fingernails. Sophia and Belle teamed up to help Mal wash up, paint her nails a nude color, and braid her hair up. Sophia spent a half hour on her curls alone.

Her eyeliner was so thin it was almost invisible. They used white eyeshadow and brushed delicate sparkles across her nose and cheekbones. A pretty rose color was applied to her mouth, and more red was added to her cheek color so that no matter how pale she was underneath all that makeup, the audience wouldn't be able to tell.

Belle had offered Mal her own wedding gown. It was cinched at the hips and stopped above her ankles because Belle had been afraid of tripping back when she'd been a bride. Mal was only a few inches shorter, so Sophia hemmed up the base as Belle helped Mal into the white satin slippers they'd found. Mal was just grateful she wouldn't have to wear any sort of killer heels during this ordeal.

The sun climbed higher. An hour before the carriage was to pick them up and take them to the coronation hall, Sophia and Belle laid a thin line of white stones across Mal's neck and helped her glue on little diamonds for earrings since she didn't have holes in her ears. They moved the mirror and helped Mal sit down on the edge of her bed to examine her reflection before they left her alone to think.

Mal felt a little numb. Her fingers were chilly. She stared at her reflection and realized the sight didn't mean all that much to her. She could have been dressed in street clothes and not have cared.

She fumbled with her numb hands and then managed to locate her cell phone on the bed beside her. Sophia had brought it down from the Master Suite so that Mal could watch videos and listen to music while they worked on her.

'Are you ready?' She texted Ben.

A small notification popped up that the message delivered, and then that it had been read. 'Are you talking ready-to-leave or emotionally prepared for this?' He asked.