Kana's POV:
The Queen of Rask had insisted that I was moved to the official royal quarters. One of the Queen's maids escorted me through the halls of the East wing. Which was completely dedicated to the Royal family.
This was the family space, anyone outside the family seen in here could be executed for treason at worst. Only if they were uninvited though. The maids kept shooting me strange glances. My stone mask held true.
The best way of ignoring my sisters was not thinking of them.
I was thinking of them again.
You deserve this. You caused this. Monster. Have your payback. You can leave now. Shoving their furious voices away I focused my eyes on the Queen as she stood at a table and quickly approached us.
The maid left quickly, bowing at the waist I claimed. "Majesty," The Queen laughed and waved her hand. "None of that now, you're a Princess too Kana."
Her dark hair matched Xer's, however seemed to be just a little bit brighter. Bright brown eyes stared at me, shining with the epitome of happiness. Her darker skin almost looked like an Illyrian's, and her velvet red dress brought out her attributes beautifully.
As I swallowed the Queen pulled me over to the sofa and pulled us both down to the velvet wine colored cushions. I spoke, "Why am I here, Queen?"
She smiled softly, her face image only appearing as an early twenty year old. She said, "Kana, please noen of the formalities, you can call me Dione or anything else you prefer."
Folding my hands on my lap, Dione settled into the cushions and spoke, "To answer your question, I'm here to explain to you a bit of the history of Rask and traditions we hold, before the ball in two days."
Nodding slightly she flicked her fingers, and a gust of wind forced me to relax into the pillows behind me. Her lips tilted up again, and I blinked. "Aren't you supposed to hate me? I'm proof that your husband had an affair."
She snorted, "That's what's so strange about Rask, honey, did you ever feel that motherly connection with your mother?"
"No," I answered quickly. Mother had always claimed Nesta was for the conquering of all the money our family could ever need. Elain would marry for love, Feyre would just be. But I was in charge of keeping them all alive, in charge of being the bastard nobody.
Dione nodded softly and fiddled with her fingers, "Females imprint on children, it's basically a statement of whose child they are. Your mother couldn't imprint on you because you were never hers."
"She birthed me," I blurted, hands curling into fists. "She birthed me along my twin, Nesta."
"Yes," She nodded and sat up, running her hands over her shoulders. "Those girls in Prythian are still your sisters, but she never imprinted on you, so you were never rightfully hers. A mother that imprints on a child cannot directly or indirectly bear to see their child in pain, let alone hurt the child themselves."
Nodded slightly she brushed the loose strands of my hair behind my ear with cool fingers. She spoke softly, "I've bore many children for a fae. That night at dinner, when I snapped at Darwyn, I knew he was hurting your feelings. I'd wanted to see you when Xer brought you into the castle, so I did."
"You imprinted on me." I swallowed. She pursed her lips together and nodded, "I couldn't stop myself from snapping because to me, you were just a newborn babe, because the imprint had just clicked."
Heta flooded my face, she wrapped her arms around me tightly, setting my head on her shoulder. I sniffed and she continued, "Kana, I know I am not your real mother, but I would be honored if one day you could let me in as one."
I sniffed again, shoulders shaking from the forced back tears. I murmured, "Thank your Dione." She smiled softly and wiped the romance of my tears away.
"Now," She pulled out a small book and handed it to me. Likely a history of the royal family, and the advisors. "This book contains the folklore and mysteries of Rask, I heard from a little birdie that you like stuff like that so i thought you would like this."
Heat creeped into my cheeks and I smiled softly. "Thank you."
She continued flopping back into the cushions. "Those traditions I was talking about? One of them is very interesting."
"Really?" I murmured, placing the book on the coffee table. "In Rask, many of the women only pick their first child's name. We wait until our first born is grown to have another so we can carry out the tradition of each child picking the other child's name that comes after them."
I nodded, settling back into the pillows slightly. "Because no one except a few people knew you existed, I would like you to name this one."
Choking, I coughed into my hands. The Queen waited until I could breath until settling her hands over ever so slightly bigger stomach. "I asked Athena about it the other day, and both her and Aurthur agreed they wanted you to name a baby since you are fourth in line, and didn't get to name them."
I sat there, mouth agape like a fool. I declared, "But aren't they supposed to?"
The Queen explained, "When a mother decides not to let a child name the next, it basically states that the child is a traitor, and a disgrace to the family. Aurthur and Athena both know this and want you to name the child if there was a next one."
My hands moved to grip my elbows, and I murmured, "If they want me to, I will." The queen smiled and nodded before one of her maids walked in with molten chocolate and a fruit tray.
"Now about that damned ball." her grin was almost feral. I smiled back at her kindly, "What were the past ones like?"
"Screw the past," She waved her hand dipping a strawberry into the chocolate. "Besides, it's not like anyone from the past has been in this situation before."
We both burst out laughing, talking about chocolate and that damned ball. We joked and talked for hours before Aldrich walked in and found us lounging. He smiled at us, "I'm happy you get along."
Dione snorted, "She may act like a bitch sometimes, but she is definitely also the most gossipy person I know now."
I glanced at the clock and frowned. My eyes lit with an idea, "Do you have a dress yet?" Dione arched her brow and shook her head sighing, "Not yet, I was going to call the royal seamstress later though, I've been procrastinating because I know my feet will be killing me in a few months." Aldrich snorted and sat down beside his wife, kissing her on the forehead.
She hummed and asked, "Why?"
I said flatly, "Wanna go shopping?" she clapped her hands together, "That is a much better idea." She jumped up from her spot, Aldrich frowning slightly from how he just sat down.
"Do you mind if we take Athena with us?" She asked, pulling me off the couch and dragged me with her out of the sitting room. "No, she's welcome anytime."
Dione entered the Queen's suit and I waited outside for her. She came back in a lovely lilac gown that went half way past her knees. She came out and frowned at my sparring pants and white training shirt.
I yelped as she gripped my wrist and dragged me into her room. She asked one of her maids to go get Athena ready. She pulled me into the dressing room and stood me up on the stool.
Dione started by pulling me from the training clothes. She also stripped me from my boots, leaving me almost bare in my underclothes. She brought forth a balck dress, and heels. I murmured, "We are just going shopping."
"Aldrich won't let us leave without an escort since Athena is going with us." Fair enough. She pulled me into the dress quickly buttoning it up with her cool and swift fingers. "Can I have flats? I won't be able to walk in these."
Dione smiled at me, "They are practice for the ball." I huffed and stepped down from the stool into the heels. They fit my feet perfectly, like they were molded just for me. She quickly threw my hair up into a ponytail, sat on the top of my head.
Dione let me practice with the heels for a few minutes in our room before dragging us to the hallways. Athena stepped out of her room in a pretty blush pink gown.
She giggled, and said, "Your hair glows." She reached her arms out toward me. I glanced at Dione before picking her up and propping her on my hip. "Your dress looks beautiful." I complimented her.
Her eyes were a light green and deepened the closer it got to the iris. While her brown hair matched her mother, every inch of Dione seemed to be present in Athena too.
"Where are we going?" She asked and set her head on my shoulder. I explained as a small possy of guards formed around us, "We are taking a girls trip and going shopping for the ball in a few days. Aldrich plans to introduce me to the kingdom then, so we have to look cute."
She nodded and as one the guards moved with us into the city. Distracting myself from the glares and fingers pointing at us, I talked to Athena as we walked toward the woman's shop Marigold had spoken so kindly about.
"My friend, she's one of Theo's maids, she said this seamstress shop was incredible but it barely gets any business for no one notices it's here." I explained to Dione as we walked toward the direction of the shop.
"She sounds very interesting, the shop owner and this Marigold." Dione nodded her head softly. Rich girls glared at me down and snarled in my direction when I looked their way.
"They think I'm marrying into the family don't they?" I whisper so only the guards, Dione, and Athena can hear. Dione nodded, "Yes, I can hear horrible rumors from here, what a shame such beautiful females have disgusting insides."
Dione had said it loud enough where everyone had heard her. All the females went back to minding the business of themselves. Part of me wanted to snort and flip them off, yet I pulled Athena a bit closer to my chest.
Athena questioned, "Mama, why are those girls so mean to people they've never met before?" I watched some of the older mothers bump into their friends or come to a complete stop at her words.
"People aren't always nice, Thena." Dione stroked her child's hair. I pointed to the burgundy building with a polished oak door. Changing the topic quickly, "That's the seamstress' shop according to Mari."
We entered the shop and the guards spread out around the front while three came inside with us. The seamstress' face paled and eyes went wide as she saw us walk into her shop.
"Majesty, Princess, can I help you with anything?" She offered quickly. Dione nodded and motioned to me, "I'm sure you are aware that in a few days we are hosting a ball up at the palace. The ball is being hosted in order to introduce my imprinted daughter Princess Kana, Aldrich's child."
She nodded quickly, "I will keep quiet about it until you release it mam.'" Dione smiled and thanked her, "That would be much appreciated, Princess Kana's friend spoke very highly of your shop. We would like to have some dresses made please."
The seamstress nodded and bowed deeply, "It would be an honor Majesties, my name is Katherine by the way." Like the Queen Katherine had dark brown hair, yet her eyes were the color of the sparkling ocean off the coast of Summer Court. She was wearing a dress, likely of her own work.
Dione's eyes widened as she took in the dress Katherine was wearing. It was a cream white dress with hand stitched flowers mostly present at the skirt. The faded and became less in number as they went up the skirt toward The flowers were of all the cool colors, their shades and hues.
"Your dress is pretty," Athena commented when none of us spoek up to say it ourselves. She smiled, "Thank you Princess."
Athena added quickly, "Momma, can Katherine come to the ball? Since we'll be wearing her dresses it's only fair she gets to take credit for it."
There. There was the girl Queen Dione spoke of, the fair, balanced, wise, and knowledgeable child I could see being the greatest mind of her generation. Dione smiled at her daughter, and glanced at an agape Katherine. "That is a great idea, Athena, she is welcome at the party. But it will still be her decision."
"It would be an honor Queen." She bowed deeply again and motioned us to follow her. Two of the guards stayed behind, leaving us with the third one. I set Athena down so she could walk on her own. Katherine led us to a small desk littered with papers. A small book was placed in the center.
A ghost whispered in my ear, The book is heavily enchanted, it contains all of her designs and ideas. She opened the book and flipped to a certain page, and pointed at a smaller dress meant for Athena.
"I can do this in dusty blue, a blush pink with a hint of mauve, or a deep green. The details will stop me from using satin on it though, I can also modify it to fit her better." Katherine explained carefully. "It's perfect," Dione clapped her hands together. "Can we go with the blush pink? I feel like the other colors are a bit dark for her age."
Katherine nodded and made small notes quickly, before standing Athena upon a stool and taking her measurements. Dione went next and picked a lovely silver and gray dress to show the kingdom that she was also with child so she didn't have to hold a party for it.
She whispered to me before stepping up on the stool for her measurements. "You'd best start thinking of names." I blushed a bit before asking, "Does Aldrich know?"
"He will when I show up in gray and silver." She snorted, I chuckled with her and smiled as she murmured with Katherine. I pointed into a room with a large amount of racks filled with dresses. "Can I look at these?"
"Yes, of course, I sew in my free time, the dresses I make here are one of a kind so you can look at anything in there without worrying Princess." Katherine spoke quickly as she got Dione's measurements.
I stepped into the room and lanterns flared to life. My hands ran over the fabrics of all types. They were astounding, how no one ever paid attention to this shop before was a mystery.
In the far back corner of the room there was a dark navy dress. Dione came into the room to see what I'd found and I gently pulled the dress off the rack and showed it to her. She grinned and nodded, Katherine smiled at me as I said, "I'll take this one."
Following the seamstress into the other room she took my measurements quickly. We left the shop smiling, Dione had payed her upfront in gold pieces. Katherine had thanked us quickly, Dione declared gripping Athena's hand. "We can send someone else to get matching shoes. Let's go home an eat."
I smiled at her, I kissed her on the cheek softly. "Thank you for today." She waved her hand at me as people went back to stairs at us, "There is no need to thank me darling, you are the one who introduced me to that precious gem."
"That credit actually belongs to Marigold." I added quickly, refusing to take credit for my friend. She smiled, "I'll need to find her and thank her then."
Athena grinned, "I can't wait for my dress Momma!" The Queen ruffled her hair, "I can't either, I think our dresses will be incredible."
That night at dinner, when we were still gossiping about the beautiful females with ugly hearts, Athena's wisdom, and the stunning dressmaker. The boys had no idea what we were talking about.