Princess of Hearts

Chapter 6: Partyin' like a Villain

The annoying tune of a phone ringing non stop took me out of my dreams. I rolled on the bed, still under the covers, and my body collided with someone. Looking around the room, I see Jamie and Ruby sleeping on my bed, Jane hidden under a mountain of blankets on the floor. Uma was still fast asleep by my side, not seeming any disturbed by my movements. She had smudged make up all over her face, glitter sticking on her hands and braids spread around her pillows. The neckline of her nightgown was off, showing a tiny birthmark on her left collarbone.

A loud noise startled me, as if something had just hit the floor. Quickly, I sat up on the bed only to see Mal gathering her things.

"Sorry." Mal apologized, putting a hairbrush into her bag. "I have a meeting with Fairy Godmother. Evie had to go run some errands. Something about..." she pouted, her eyebrows furrowing. "...a new line of tiaras and headpieces for her brand?"

"Okay." I rub my eyes, getting my fingers stained with what's left of the mascara I wore yesterday. Over my shoulder, I look at the watch on Uma's nightstand. It's past 10 a.m, way past my usual wake up hour.

"Oh, your mom asked me to remind you that you promised to have lunch with them."

"How could I forget it when she called me about this three times a day this week?" Mal just laughed, throwing her backpack over her shoulders. She said a quick goodbye and left, leaving me with the mission of getting the courage to get out of bed and get ready for the day. It would be nice to see my parents after a whole week of barely having time to text them, and I had a bunch of things related to the wedding and coronation to discuss with my mother; but looking at Uma and everyone sleeping so peacefully made me very tempted to stay in bed all day.

With a sigh, I jump out of the bed. I might have had to walk like I was on a minefield, trying not to step on one of the girls or anyone's belongings, but made my way safely to my closet to get some clothes and then to the bathroom.

In front of the full body size mirror after showering, my eyes focused on the infamous bite mark from last night. It wasn't that bad but it was definitely there, in hues of purple-ish and yellow. No high coverage concealer in the world could cover that, so I try to do something with my hair but everything I try ends up just distinguishing it even more. Annoyed, I left my hair down as it is, and just hoped no one would notice.

👑

My feet had barely touched the inside of the castle when I was almost ran over by my mother; the guard that was ready to announce my arrival was still with his mouth open when she embraced me in a tight hug.

"Oh, dear! I missed you! You don't call, don't text!"

"Mom, it's been only a week." I say, being crushed by her.

"You can't be too busy for your mom, sweetheart." She finally lets go of me, but keeping her eyes locked on mine nervously like I was going to run away at any moment. I smile, and she raises her hand to fix my hair. "Come, we were just waiting for you."

We walked through the hallways I knew by heart. On the way to the dining room, I see the armour with a broken foot that I accidentally broke three years ago after a bet with Aziz that went wrong; I don't think everyone has ever noticed.

"...and Audrey sends her regards. She is a bit self centered, but a lovely girl, don't you think sweetheart?" my mother is going on and on about every detail and news I could have missed this week.

"Sure, it was specially sweet when she turned me and everyone else into stone." I joked, and my mom looked at me a little shocked. She had a very strict policy of not talking about that incident.

She opens the door to the dining room and my father and Ben are already at the table, laughing about something we didn't hear.

"Benny." I do a little curtsy to him, more as a joke than out of formality. "Father!" I happily hugged him, the little wrinkles around his eyes showing as he smiled. We sat around the table like we always used to, and my father starts asking Ben about affairs of the kingdom, as always, until my mother gets up, shakes her head and starts pouring sauce over her food while she says "Now, boys, no more discussing work over food."