Lords and Bandits (#Wattys2017)

Chapter 3

                 

I would like to say that the week with my brother had gone by slowly, that I spent every moment savouring the fact that my brother was home. Instead it went by in a blur. I woke up, ate breakfast and then went to lessons the entire day. My brother and I spent time together whenever possible but for the most part I only saw him during meals.

I woke up this morning with my coming of age party weighing heavily on me, I was no longer able to pretend that it was not going to happen. All the servants were rushing around making last minute preparations, my mother constantly critiquing and making sure everyone was doing their jobs correctly. Me... I was in the ballroom where Ms. Abrams was giving me last minute dancing lessons.

"Ok... one two three... one two three... no no no!" Ms. Abrams yelled, "Mary let Mordecai lead."

"Sorry," I mumbled to my brother.

He just laughed as we started dancing again and whispered in my ear, "It is okay, grasshopper. You are doing well."

We practiced for a couple more hours until Mordecai excused himself saying that he wanted to go check up on Corinne. With no partner and Ms. Abrams concluding that my dancing was the most perfect I was ever going to get we moved on to how I was to speak to the guests. I worked with her till it was time for dinner. Ingrid did not bother with changing my dress for dinner because I still had to change into my gown before the guests arrived after dinner. It was a relatively quiet meal, Father had caught a couple pheasants while he was out hunting yesterday so the cook made it tonight for dinner with some type of plum sauce. I remember when I was younger and I had realized what exactly I was eating, I had refused to eat any form of meat. My mother yelled at me for being ungrateful and my father took me down to the kitchen when he made me watch them defeather and prepare the meat until I was no longer squeamish. I ended up eating the meat again only so that I wouldn't have to watch it anymore.

When I grabbed my piece of pheasant my mother glared at me, "You do not want to look bloated during the ball do you?"

"Mother!" My brother yelled, sounding appalled.

"It is fine Mordecai, she is right this is my big night... I want to look my best."

I put the piece of pheasant back onto the serving plate sticking to my little bit of vegetables. In reality I did not care about my appearance tonight more than any other day but I did not need my brother and mother fighting on top of everything else that I am worrying about. My mother seemed happy with my response and we continued to eat in silence.

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I sat at my vanity watching my complexion even as Ingrid put pearl powder on my face. My face does not have any blemishes but adding the powder evened out my skin tone and hid the slight red tint to my cheeks. She moved on to my eyes putting a drop of belladonna in each one to dilate my pupils. Mother had made me use it a couple of times and just like before it made my vision slightly blurry. And finally she lined along my lash line with a black powder. She gathered two sections on my hair at the front and brought them together at the back.  She secured it with a jewelled hair pin, the rest of my curled hair she left down, the ringlets ending just past my shoulders. 

"Thank you Ingrid," I said once she was done. The dress she had chosen was one I had never seen before; Mother probably had bought it for this particular occasion. The top of the dress was an emerald green that contrasted nicely to my pale skin, the skirt getting gradually lighter and gold embroidery at the bottom. It was off the shoulder with tight sleeves that went to my elbows with gold embroidery on the neckline and the edge of the sleeves. The dress was corseted and till my waist where my crinoline made the skirt fuller.