My Sister's Prince

Chapter Four:

     Eulalie had snuck back to her rooms as inconspicuously as she thought possible. She shook out some extra pieces of grass and hay that tumbled out of her hair and flattened out her slightly wrinkled dress. It was the most she could do to hide what had happened in the stables. Self-consciously, a hand flew to her lips, which still felt swollen and numb.

     Her mind flashed back to the man from the stables. When they reached the palace, he regretfully released her hand, his eyes full of apology. "Meet me back at the stables this evening," he begged, "I have to see you again." Eulalie blushed and instantly agreed. The way her heart was pounding, the way his touch made her feel, she knew they needed to meet again.

     Pleased by her answer, he gave her another kiss, both of them savoring it as if it could be the last. Eulalie's fingers traced her lips, the same ones that he had kissed just moments before.

     She never would've thought she'd enjoy a man's kiss, or worse, that she'd want to kiss him back. Her sister had always been the one destined for marriage, a thought that had never bothered Eulalie before, so why now?

     Her mother's constant jibes always affirmed what Eulalie realized had just become her worst fear; no one would, could, ever truly love her. To her, that had been made clear since she and Leanora were children. She had her father's same wild streak, she was messy, she wasn't delicate and skinny like the frail Leanora, her body was strong and muscular from days spent riding Albertine through the meadows of Fennelwick.

      These she knew to be truths, as they were the only words she ever heard about herself from her own mother. She chastised herself for thinking she could be any different. She had been this way her whole life and her mother was right, she wasn't marriage material.

     A sliver of doubt slipped through her mind, coming from the heart that pounded within her chest at every thought of the man from the stables.

     He didn't seem to think so...

     Perhaps her mother was wrong. Eulalie had seemed attractive to that man from downstairs. Her body tingled as she remembered his eyes as he said "enchanting." She knew she wasn't imagining it when she thought he was looking at her, rather than the stable's horses.

     She must tell her mother! This was good news, she thought. Someone had found her attractive, had even kissed her (several times, in fact), and wanted to kiss her again tomorrow! She swung open the wide wooden door to her room and began walking excitedly down the hallway towards her mother's suite, her body vibrating with excitement from the news.

     She didn't have to walk far when she found her mother storming down the hall. There was a look on her face that inspired terror to grip Eulalie's heart. The Duchess' face was dark and angry, and her eyes seemed to look through Eulalie.

     "Mother, I have exciting news!" Eulalie said hopefully, perhaps her news will calm her mother down from whatever it is that irritates her.

     Her mother didn't reply, she merely stood over Eulalie, her chest rising and falling with every ragged breath she took. Eulalie opened her mouth to speak again, but before any words could come out, her mother grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back to her room.

     Eulalie's screams filled the halls of the palace, alerting Leanora from one of the rooms within. Used to her mother and sister's "spats," however, Leanora paid them no mind. She went back to her needlework, thinking about which dress she would wear to the feast that evening.

     "Mother, I've just met an amazing man, down in the stables," Eulalie said through grunts and screams as her mother dragged her by her hair, only releasing her when they arrived in her room. "He was so charming, and handsome, and he knew so much about horses!" Eulalie's mother just blinked at her distantly, and Eulalie took this as her cue to continue. "I'm meeting him again this evening! I think he could be someone special, Mother!"