Rosalyn Osborne was a criminal, so they called her. Six years in prison changed her. No matter what others thought of her, she always knew her true self. She wasn't a criminal in her mind, but there was a public uproar when she was chosen for the Se...
They release Emily the next morning and we quickly get together in my room with my maids and get us ready for breakfast. They put us both in simple, floor length gowns that matched, but hers was black and mine was red.
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"Thank you for getting us ready so quickly." I say with a smile and head toward the door. "Come on Emily, we are late already."
She looked a lot better, but we still hadn't talked a lot about everything that had happened. I didn't ask her a lot about it either because I didn't want her to get upset again.
"You have to try the lemon tarts when we get down there. They are absolutely amazing." I tell her as we go down the steps.
"I will." Emily laughs. I hear a small thud and look back to see Emily lean toward her ankle slight and hobble down the last couple steps. "Shit. I'm still not used to these shoes."
"It won't take you much longer I promise. You'll appreciate normal shoes a lot more after this." I laugh as we approach the door to the Breakfast hall. The guards pull the doors open for us and it looked like they were about to bring out the food.
We both curtesy slightly before making our way to our seats to avoid the eyes watching us.
"Lady Emily, are you feeling better?" The queen stands up and watches us with a kind look. Emily stands up to acknowledge her and nods.
"Much better, thank you." She responds smoothly and sits back down. "Somehow I've managed to say almost everything right so far without sticking my foot in my mouth." Emily murmurs after she sits back down.
In front of us, Bailey sits with her younger brother and her father sits on the other side of her.
"It's nice to see you back up and moving." Bailee says with a smile.
"Thank you." Emily says with a short smile. The food comes out quickly and I put two lemon tarts on each of our plates. "Those do look Good."
Everyone stays a reasonable amount of quiet and I easily go along with it. Eventually Emily gets bored and nudges me with her elbow.
"How much longer do we have to stay in here?" She asks quietly. Everyone was finishing up their food but nobody made a move to leave yet. I almost begin speaking but hear the clink of metal on glass. I look up and see North standing from his spot at the Royals table.
"I'd like to announce a celebration of my baby sister's birthday. Ali is turning seven in three days and there will be a party in celebration. Formal gowns and suits are being prepared by maids as we speak. The party will take place in one of our newly decorated ballrooms and my distant family will be arriving the night before the party. They will be staying for two days for the farewell ball for the families. Two girls will be going home with their families."
Everyone in the room seems to breathe in and forget to exhale. Nobody wanted to go home, not this far into it.
"Five girls will be left afterward." He finished definitely. Everyone was quiet as he nods. "Thank you, now you may be excused if you would like. There will be tea in the Women's Room for the women and the study is open for the men."
He sits back down at his seat and I look at Emily. She almost looks pitifully at me so I stand up, ready to leave.
When we get on our way up the stairs to my room she sighs.
"You really wanna be here don't you?" She says quietly. I stay quiet. "I was kind of hoping you didn't like him that much and I know how this world works for us. I didn't want you get hurt."
"I thought you said that it didn't matter. That people like us just had to try harder." I say, knowing it was wrong.
"I don't know, Rose. I want it to be that easy." She shrugs and stops for a minute. "They talked about it a lot at the orphanage before I left. They all were betting they wouldn't even let you in the palace or that the prince would send you home before meeting you."
"We all thought that." I say quietly. "At this point I'd almost prefer that."
"Why do you say that?" She asks, extremely confused.
"I'm the happiest I think I've ever been in my entire life. Which means when I lose it all, I don't know if I'll be able to go back to what we used to have, Em." I tell her and continue to go up the steps.
"Maybe you won't have to, Rose." She says quietly. Neither of us actually believed I'd get to stay, so I just stayed quiet and walked up the stairs and so does she.
•••
Later that night she sits up in the bed. My maids had just left and taken my wig with them. I curled up on my side of the bed.
"Maybe I'll just ask to leave with you." I say quietly.
"Why in hell would you do that?" She asks without even giving herself time to process it.
"I don't want him making any mistakes." I say quietly. "What if he doesn't realize how bad of an idea all of it is?"
"He's a Prince, Rose. He's not an idiot, but you're beginning to sound like one." She grunts. "If he's willing to keep you, shouldn't you just stay? Maybe he doesn't care about the press, maybe he doesn't care about his reputation. Maybe this is what he wants at the end of the day."
"But What if it isn't? What if he decides when I'm one of the last girls here that I'm just not made for this?" I say quietly with my back turned to her.
"Rose, turn around." She buffs as I turn around and look at her. "We aren't supposed to get chances like this. If it wasn't for this, I'd probably be knocked up and dead somewhere right now, so you need to take everything this world gives you. For you and me."
Her eyes seemed glazed over and I could see tears forming at the edge of her eyes.
"We are all supposed to end up like me and if you can beat that it means we all can." She says quietly. I roll over and lean my head on her shoulder.
"Maybe we can both do it, Em." I smile and watch her face.
"I hope so." She says quietly.
"I think we can." I smile and look up at her. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted it more than anything to be true.
