Betrothed

Chapter Three: Ladies in Waiting

As the sun set, and palace lamps were lit, festivities continued in full swing throughout the city. All through the night, talented artists played their musical instruments in the market square by the light of the street lamps. Singers and bards shared their choruses in honor of the prince and his newly betrothed. Songs were also sung in honor of Malcolm the Merciful and in honor of the memory of Queen Luella who died twenty-five years that very day.

Soon, young Audrianna was led by her Ladies In Waiting, to her new private chamber on the same floor as the royal family. They brought Audrianna to her dressing room, and began to dismantle her royal ballroom dress. It required two of them to remove her cape, fold it properly, and place it in a special trunk at the end of her bed.

"Wasn't that a lovely party, Your Highness?" they asked the crowned princess. They could see that Audrianna was quiet and unresponsive and they tried their best to cheer her up. While in the presence of the king and the prince, it was not their place to speak to the princess except when spoken to.

"Yes," was her quiet, melancholy answer.

The third lady in waiting began the meticulous task of unlacing the back of her dress. The first two, having put the cape away, began to unbutton the princess's tightly bound sleeves. The trail of buttons on each arm started at the cuff, and led all the way past her elbow. Eight tiny buttons on each arm were difficult to unfasten, and they seemed like eighty to the ladies undressing the princess.

"You were so pretty in your royal gown, Your Highness," the other lady in waiting remarked. Audrianna didn't answer. She stood expressionless in front of the large mirror over her dressing table, except for the occasional tear that welled up in her emerald-green eyes and trickled down her cheek. After the laces were loosed and the sleeves unbuttoned, the three Ladies In Waiting lifted the gown over Audrianna's head, then folded it properly and placed it on top of the cape. Next was the bustier, a tightly laced corset, under the main dress, and over the body-length undergarment.

"What village is Your Highness from?" the third lady in waiting asked the princess, attempting to change subjects since her betrothal seemed to be a source of sorrow. Audrianna remained silent. As the bustier around Audrianna's middle was loosed, she let out an irrepressible sigh. As cumbersome as her ballroom dress felt, her bustier was the most uncomfortable of her ensemble.

"Feel better, Your Highness?" the first lady in waiting remarked, hearing her sigh in relief.

"Yes, thank you," she answered, this time with a half-smile.

"Bustiers often make it hard to breathe. Right, Your Highness?"

"Yes, they do," Audrianna agreed, scratching her stomach with both hands. She looked up in the faces of her Ladies In Waiting, this time with a full smile.

"Oh, Your Highness! There's the smile we all knew she had!" the princess's smile beamed even wider. For the first time her green eyes twinkled.

"You can call me, Audrianna," she offered.

"Oh no, Your Highness!" the second lady in waiting exclaimed. "It ain't proper for us to speak to Your Highness so commonly. It ain't our place. Even His Majesty Prince Henry must refer to Your Highness as 'Your Highness'."

"Really?" Audrianna asked in amazement. "The law requires the prince to be nice to me?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to expect His Majesty to be nice to Your Highness," the second Lady in Waiting corrected. "His Majesty just has to follow proper protocol, as does Your Highness."

"As do we," The third Lady in Waiting remarked.

"So, I call the prince, 'Your Majesty'..." Audrianna clarified. "What do I call the king?"