Royale (Book #1 Royale Series) {Under Revision}

Chapter 22: Juliana vs. The Rebels-Round One

Juliana's POV

Different emotions ran throughout my head at the same time. I wasn't sure what to feel. Anger? Joy? Relief? Panic? It was just too much. I started to become dizzy as I paced down different hallways of the palace. I wasn't looking for any place in particular, I just needed to get out of my stuffy chamber. As my dizziness began to overwhelm me, I sat down on the marble floor and leaned my head against the wall. I tried breathing in and out, but this damned corset was making it impossible.

"Oh my goodness, Julie? Are you alright?" I heard a female's voice say. I knew I recognized it, but my head began to spin and I couldn't make out the face. "Do you need to go see a nurse?"

I held up my hand. "No, that's quite alright."

"Here, I'll help you up." The familiar girl said.

She took my hand and helped me as I stumbled to wherever we were going.

"Oh Julie, what in the world happened to you?" She asked as we entered a chamber. I think I sort of recognized it as a Duchess' chamber which meant the blonde girl could have only been either Taylor or Skylar.

Skylar.

Taylor hadn't called me Julie since childhood, unless she was mocking me.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just got a little light headed, that's all." I tried to assure her.

"A little? How often does that happen to you?"

I shrugged. "A few times I suppose. I think it mostly has to do with this stupid corset."

She sat me down in a comfortable arm chair and my vision began to settle so I could firmly take in my surroundings. I had been in Taylor's chambers plenty of times so even through my blurred vision, it wasn't hard to tell that this was a Duchess' room. But Skylar's room was decorated very differently then the rest of the rooms in the palace that I had been in.

Besides the size of the room and the quality of the furniture, there was nothing really elaborate about the room. It was almost...normal. Like a normal teenage girl's room would be.

The curtains were a neon green while her bed sheets were a neon pink. The walls were painted a variety of neon colors.

"Did you decorate this room yourself?" I asked though the answer was obvious.

She smiled. "Yeah, you like it? I know it's not really your style but-"

"Are you kidding? It looks great." I gushed.

"Well thanks. So, how are things? With you and Aspen, I mean? I know my cousin and I know how reserved he is because of-"

She stopped herself. "Never mind,"

I looked at her strangely. "Because of Haven?"

"He told you about her? When?"

I thought about it for a moment. "The day we met actually."

Skylar's mouth fell open. "He didn't tell me until they were already eight months into their relationship!"

I smiled inwardly. I was glad he trusted me with information like that when he barely knew me.

Skylar's voice softened a bit. "After she died, he didn't speak to anyone for weeks on end. He loved her."

I looked down. "I know. And I'm not going to try and compete with her. But I trust that maybe, just maybe, he could love me too."

"I believe he could too. The way he looked at you at that tea party the first time he saw you..." she trailed off. "It was exactly how he looked at Haven, the last time he saw her."