Katia gently wakes me – a far cry from my iPhone blasting Katy Perry. It’s refreshing.
She tells me that my stylists will be ready for me by twelve noon so I have time to relax and take in the palace. They say I can wander around wherever I want except outside – which is reasonable.
So, I slip on a pink satin robe over my silky pajama pants and camisole. I find out that I have matching pink slippers (did I ever mention how I really don’t like pink all that much?). I pull my hair into a messy bun when I see that it’s a ratty, frizzy mess.
After a quick breakfast in my room I wander out into the hallway. I’m in the guests’ wing of the palace with my family. Ben’s room is on the other side of the building with Victor’s. It’s a pretty enormous place and right about now the high ceilings are making it look very daunting.
To my right it goes farther into the palace and makes some sort of crazy u-shape (as Ben put it). To my left is the path I take to get to the center of the palace, where the dining hall, kitchen and living spaces are.
Needless to say, I turn right.
It’s all the same on either side of the painted red hallway; paintings of ancestors and past members of the royal family. There’s the occasional piece by Monet or some random artist. Antique tables and chairs scatter the area, too, as if someone thought a person walking down her might want to take a breather.
When I get far enough down and turn to the oldest wing I hear footsteps. I make like I’m examining a painting – one of Ben’s great-great-great-something-or-other. As the steps grow closer I stare up at the face of someone that’s supposed to be related to my fiancé. I can’t believe that one day that will be me in one of those works of art, with Ben by my side.
“Admiring Great-Great-Great Uncle Gerald?” Ben’s voice shakes me from my thoughts. I look to my left to see him leaning against the antique table in front of the painting.
I smile, “I didn’t know that was you. How did you find me?”
“Just kept walking this way. Figured you hadn’t gotten that far.” He steps forward and takes my hand. “I just wanted to show you something.”
I give him a curious look as he gives me a mischievous smile in return. He pulls me down the hallway, filled with ornate vases on ancient-looking stands. As we turn down another hallway the palace seems to look even older, as if we’re being thrust back in time.
We end up standing in front of a door with detailed carvings and a fancy handle. Ben takes out a set of keys and unlocks it. He tells me, “Close your eyes.”
I obey and hear the door creak open. He says, “Open,” as he pulls me through the doorway.
I open them to find myself in a room lit up by studio lights. There are glass cases with jewels of every kind locked up inside and cabinets surely filled with more priceless items. My eyes can’t widen any more—and I swear my jaw might drop to the floor.
“You’ll inherit these once we’re married but… I was wondering if you wanted to wear one of my mother’s jewelry sets to the ball. There’s one necklace in particular that would match your mother’s tiara perfectly. When I saw that tiara for the first time in years, I instantly remembered my mother’s favorite necklace. She wore it to every state dinner."
I’m too awed to answer him. So, he goes over to a glass case and unlocks it. He takes out the beautiful necklace and bracelet set, bringing it over to me. It matches the tiara perfectly. He wasn’t lying at all. It’s magnificent.
“Will you wear it?”
“Of course,” I say with a small smile.
There's an uncomfortable pause of silence as he places the set back in it's case and locks it.
YOU ARE READING
Suddenly Princess
Teen FictionAnnaMaria Romanoff grows up with an adoptive family, thinking that her biological parents were working class citizens of the country of Chirnova, who died tragically in a car crash when she was just a year old. It's her senior year in high school no...
