All I Need ✔️

Chapter 63

Safania's POV

The next morning, we woke to a tray of fruits and pastries. Cassius and I nibbled on fresh berries while enjoying the view of the sunny kingdom from our room's balcony. It didn't last long though, because Princess Salma, true to her word, arrived and whisked me away.

Salma spent the rest of the morning teaching Emalina and I traditional Abreean dances. The fast beats and hip shaking reminded me of some of the dances we used to do in Eir. But where Eir's dancing involved explosive sharp and sudden movements like stomping and clapping, Abreean dances were sensual and fluid, with our arms and hands moving gracefully like we were swimming in the sea. I picked up the movements fairly quickly, but Emalina struggled.

"You need to loosen up girl!" Salma teased.

"I just don't think my body is meant to move that way!" Emalina exclaimed, laughing.

We took a quick lunch break midday, which was basically an excuse for Salma to pepper me with questions about Cassius - how did we meet? Who said I love you first? What did his family think of me? When was the wedding? What kind of wedding were we going to have? I answered as honestly as I could, but I had been so focused on just being able to marry Cassius that I hadn't even thought about what our hypothetical wedding would be like.

After lunch, Salma took us to her room. It was massive and had mosaic accents similar to the ones in the room I had shared with Cassius. Salma swung open a set of doors revealing an enormous closet - bigger than my entire room back in Peria. "Come on, let's find you both outfits!" she said happily as she began tearing through the rows of outfits.

Salma ultimately presented us with several outfits, each featuring a different color and unique embellishments. But they were all essentially the same style - a bikini top and long skirt.

"I can't wear that," I said nervously.

"Why not?" Salma teased. "If you've got the body, be proud of it! Show it off."

Emalina picked up immediately on my hesitation, realizing my marks would be obvious in such a revealing top.

"I think Safania just wants to keep some things private for the prince," she said swiftly. "Now that she's an engaged woman, she might feel better in something more modest."

Salma sighed. "You Perians and your modesty." She stormed back into the closet and returned with a heap of fabric that she shoved in my direction. "Is this modest enough?"

Taking the fabric from Salma, I unfurled it to find a dark purple top and a matching pair of sheer purple pants with large slits on the sides. Even though my entire legs would be exposed, the top was long enough to fully cover my marks.

"It's perfect," I told her.

Emalina, who didn't have an excuse to be modest, chose a small, bright pink top and bright pink beaded skirt. "Alton won't be able to keep his eyes off you," I commented, which made her grin.

We spent the rest of the day doing our hair, make-up, and chatting about random things. Salma was the kind of person you immediately felt at ease with, like you had known her your entire life.

"Alright, finishing touches," she declared, carefully picking some jewelry from a large jewelry box. "This is for Emalina," she said, handing over some bangles and earrings. "And this is for Safania," she said, passing me an opal necklace and more bangles.

"Now look," she said, putting us in front of her mirror.

"Wow..." I said, shocked. "We look..."

"Hot" Emalina said at the same time I said "different." We all laughed.