Our Savior

•5•

  "What about this?" Jasper held up a long, pink satin dress.

  Amber groaned from her place upside down on her bed. "It's hopeless. There's nothing in there I'm going to wear willingly."

  Jasper tossed the dress onto Amber's face. "Well, it's not like you exactly have a choice. What's wrong with this one?"

  Amber sighed. "It's pink. It's satin. It's a dress."

  "I like it," Morgan chimed in. "You should give it to me."

  "Go ahead." Amber flapped her hand at her carelessly.

  Jasper shook his head as his little sister reached for the dress, pulling it away from her. "No, Morgan. You have your own clothes. Besides, it wouldn't fit you anyways."

  Morgan crossed her arms and sat next to Amber on her bed. "We could've called in the tailor," She grumbled.

  Ignoring his sister's complaints, Jasper continued on with his lecture to Amber. "You're gonna end up wearing a dress one way or another. It's like, the law of royalty."

  "That doesn't even make sense." Zircon broke his silence by speaking for the first time since entering the room. Amber got the feeling that this was how he regularly acted.

  "It's not supposed to make sense. It's one of those... what do you call it... a smile! Yes, it's called a smile."

  "I don't know a lot about grammar," Morganite began, "but I know that's not right."

  "See, Jasper? Even the nine year old knows you're wrong." Zircon snickered from his place by the door.

  Amber sat up with a smile. "So, the silent prince has emotions after all."

  Zircon's smile instantly fell. He crossed his arms again, facing the wall.

  "I was only teasing." Amber attempted to assure him. He didn't turn back to them, only tapping his fingers on his arms as if waiting to be let out from a tiring lecture.

  "Like I said," Jasper snapped his fingers, pointing them at Amber. "Law of royalty."

  "I don't think so. Plus, I'm not royalty. You are."

  "You might as well be. You've even got a prophecy all to yourself." He put the rejected dress back on its hanger and returned it to Amber's closet. "You don't see any of us royals getting that treatment."

  "What treatment?" Amber asked.

  "Are you kidding me? I swear, if Zircon or I had spoken to Mother like that, she'd have thrown us in the dungeons. Even Morgan would've probably be punished. Mother doesn't simply let things like this go." He sifted through the closet for what seemed to be the thousandth time, when he came back out with a long, casual black dress. "This?"

  Grumbling, Amber snatched the dress from his hands and marched towards her bathroom. "I suppose if I have to wear something from in there, this is the best I'll get."

  "Great." Jasper called back to her, smiling. "We'll be waiting out here."

  The bathroom was by no means small. It was probably just as big as her old room back in Pine Grove, if not even larger. The color scheme was simple; black and white; but by no means was it any less extravagant than the rest of the palace. The walls were painted a pure white color, the floors composed of cold black tile. A clawfoot tub stood in one corner of the room, next to a walk-in shower. The toilet and sink were on the opposite wall from the shower, and a jacuzzi was placed in the middle of the room. It seemed like too much for Amber, but apparently they'd expected the Savior to have higher bathroom standards.