Fallen Star

Chapter 38

"Empyrean."

"Hush."

I tried squirming out of her reach but she cuffed me on my shoulder and went back to adjusting my cravat. She fluffed it up, stretched it across my collar, and continued to tighten it around my neck. Occasionally, she'd take a step back to observe her handiwork with pursed lips but after a few minutes, she would shake her head and go back to fidgeting with the fabric.

"Empyrean, if you tighten this damn thing any more I'm not going to be able to breathe."

"You don't want to look good for your first formal appearance to the Sanctus public?" she quipped back and continued to mess with my cravat.

I sighed. When it came to my announcement back from the dead and reinstatement as crown prince of the Sanctus World, I wasn't sure what to expect. This wasn't it. I was sort of hoping that Blazar would say a few words and then leave it at that but oh no, my family was going all-out.

Grandfather was going to make a formal speech, Uncle would announce that he and the other members of the Royal Council were formally denounced, Stella would step down as crown princess, and then I would make myself known to the public and say a few words. Or so I was told. With all the chaos, I doubt it would go that smoothly. Hell, I didn't even know if that was the actual schedule.

But all of this meant fancy clothes and fancy everything.

My hair and skin had been thoroughly washed to the point where I barely recognized myself in the mirror. Growing up in Omega, my skin had never been so shiny. And though I wasn't comfortable with having sharp, pointy scissors anywhere near my head, I was forced to get a neat trim. My hair was still messy, but it wasn't as long and hopefully wouldn't be annoying anymore. In fact, my stylist initially smoothed my hair back with gel like Kuiper of all people but the minute I saw it I ruined it and went back to my usual messy do.

And then there were the clothes.

Oh, God. The clothes.

I reeled the minute I saw what I was supposed to wear and frankly, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't intimidated when I first saw the garments. Nonetheless, Kuiper came in to help me stuff myself into the fanciest outfit I would ever have the fortune of wearing. Luckily, we succeeded without accidentally breaking something. Or ripping something. Or messing something up. Or looking ridiculous.

And then Empyrean came in to do some final adjustments like screw with my cravat to the point where it would slowly suffocate me. She also wiped some invisible dust off my coattail and re-laced my boots at least three different times. I couldn't help but feel that she was being a bit too fussy but at the same time, this was, without a doubt, the most important occasion of my life. I didn't know how to make myself look good so if Empyrean did, she could continue messing with me for all I cared.

According to Kuiper, Blazar had hand-picked and chosen this outfit himself but with advice from Stella of all people. I knew what fancy clothes looked like, the suits and stuff all the business people wore in the old billboards. This was not that.

It was an ultramarine blue suit coat with a high collar and lined all the way in gold. The waistcoat was a slightly lighter shade of blue but both it and the jacket had bright gold buttons. A decorative gold chain was draped across my chest under the cravat, which was this ruffled bit of white fabric that wrapped around my neck and layered itself over the center of my torso. A silvery handkerchief was placed in my left breast pocket, on the same side where Argenti was affixed to my waist. The pants were high-waisted and navy blue, secured to my hips with a stunning white belt. There was also a second white belt that wrapped under the first one that dipped over my crotch and fastened itself in two loops on my left leg. The boots were black and flexible but thigh-high with thick silver laces and lined in gold. The undershirt was in the same style as the cravat, thin but with ruffled sleeves that jutted out of the cuffs of my jacket.