Chapter 5
Aurelia awoke with a start. “My God, what a horrible dream.” She murmured under her breath while slowly getting out of bed.
She dreamt that she was going to be married off to an old, hideous prince from a kingdom far away. He seemed to be in his mid sixties and was bald. He was round and sweated excessively.
He tried grabbing her by the arm but she ran into the woods. She kept running until she reached the other side, and when she did she saw Mathew with a beautiful princess. She was a thin, perfectly figured girl around the same age as Aurelia. She had golden blond hair and sparkly blue eyes. Her skin was pale and seemed smooth to the touch.
Aurelia was shocked that he was with the princess. She couldn’t believe that he forgot about her so easily. She ran up towards Mathew, and when she finally caught up to him, Mathew just stared at her as if she were a lost dog. He then turned and kissed the beautiful princess right in front of her. That hurt Aurelia badly and she couldn’t believe he kissed the princess without even caring that she was there.
“You said I was the beautiful, courageous princess you had feelings for!” she screamed at him in her dream with tears rolling down her face.
Mathew looked in her direction and then said, “You shouldn’t be so independent. That is an ugly trait in a princess. You should be obedient and follow the orders given to you. Go back and marry the king that was chosen for you.”
“You said you admired that I was independent!” she yelled. She looked at him in utter disbelief. She couldn’t believe he was talking to her in such a way. “I will never go back and marry that ugly, old man!”
“Me, admire someone like that? You are obviously wrong. Who would admire such an aggressive and outspoken princess? Now leave. The best thing for you to do is go and marry the King. Stop bothering me. I would never have feelings for someone like you.”
He looked at her in disgust and starting laughing while walking away hand in hand with the beautiful princess.
And that is what led her to waking up with such a start.
“Thank God it was just a dream,” she whispered to herself.
She went into her bathroom and washed her face in some cold water. She looked into the oval shaped mirror that was placed right next to her bathtub. She did see herself as an independent and courageous princess. But that didn’t bother her at all. She loved the way she was and she didn’t know why it bothered her so much that Mathew said those things in her dream.
“It’s not like he actually said those things to me. It was just a dream. And I do not even like him. I just think he is an attractive person,” she tried, unsuccessfully, to convince herself.
She knew she had strong feelings for Mathew. She even dreamt about him, even though it wasn’t the kind of dream one would normally have about the person they like. Her mind, once again, started to focus on Mathew’s emerald green eyes. Aurelia sighed. She knew there was no way that she could get over her feelings. She rubbed her eyes while starring at herself in the mirror. She had a funny look on her face, as one does when thinking about the person they love. She laughed at her reflection.
Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door. She took one last look into the mirror before leaving the bathroom and opening her door.
Outside of the door stood Sienna wearing her nightgown and rubbing her right eye. Aurelia could tell her sister just woke up.
”You still look sleepy Sienna,” Aurelia said in a laughing tone. “Why did you suddenly wake up? It’s only-,” Aurelia took a quick glance into her room at the clock and saw, to her shock, that it was still 4 in the morning. She only slept for three hours. “It’s only4 o’clock.”
“Didn’t expect it to be that early did you?” Sienna said with a small smile. “Well I am awake because I heard you mumbling in your sleep. The wall between our rooms is not that thick.” She said that last statement with a laugh, which quickly turned into a yawn.
Aurelia laughed in response. “You should go back to sleep Sienna, I’m sorry my mumbling kept you awake. You need your rest.”
“But I want to know why you were mumbling Aurelia. You usually don’t mumble. Did you have a bad dream?”
Aurelia sighed. She wanted to tell her sister about Mathew, but not about the dream. She decided she would tell her about him tomorrow; after Mathew and Balavan left back to their kingdoms. “Sienna, it was just a bad dream. Just like any bad dream a person might have.”
“Fine. I can tell you do not want to talk about it. But I don’t believe you.”
Sienna walked into her sister’s room and sat on the bed. “Now, come and sit here with me. I have a lot to talk to you about.”
“A lot huh? About what?” Aurelia asked as she sat on the bed next to her sister.
“Well…” Sienna was practically jumping on the bed with anticipation.
Aurelia laughed at her sister’s movements. “Well what?”
“Well I couldn’t sleep yesterday so I went down stairs and I heard father’s voice coming from his meeting room. I stayed outside the door and was listening to what they were having a meeting about. And it seems that he and the other kings that are staying in our guest rooms were conversing about politics, so I was going to leave since that matter is very boring. But then I heard father start talking about wedding you away to a good prince who is wealthy and can maintain good control of his kingdom. He said he wanted you to live the luxurious life that a princess should be able to live. So, as you know, both kings have sons. They both think that their sons are perfect suitors for you.
“How dare they think that they can choose who I marry?!” Aurelia screamed. She was boiling with anger. She made her own choices; especially about who to marry.
“Shhh”, Sienna whispered. “You will wake everyone up. I knew this would upset you, but I heard that the suitors were very handsome indeed. Their names are Mathew and Balavan.”
Aurelia’s anger quickly faded away. “What? Mathew?” She was shocked that one of the kings who were included in the meeting was actually Mathew’s father. And then realization struck her at the other name. “Balavan?!”
“Shh! Yes! Those are the two suitors.” Sienna whispered. “I heard them conversing and they were saying that Mathew and Balavan were both good choices. They preferred Mathew for wealth and for coming from a well known kingdom, but they thought Balavan was a better choice dealing with politics and being able to have good control of his kingdom.”
“Oh no, not Balavan.” Aurelia whispered.
Sienna gave her sister a puzzling look. “What is wrong with Balavan? You’ve met him already?”
Aurelia hadn’t noticed that she said the statement aloud. She wanted to tell her sister tomorrow, but it looks like she had to tell her now.
“Yes, Sienna, I’ve actually met both princes.”
“Oh, really?!” Sienna shrieked with pleasure. “How are they? Handsome? Kind? Funny?”
“Well… one of them is,” Aurelia said with a smile as she thought about Mathew and how kind he was to her, and how much he made her laugh like she had never laughed before. She also thought about his beautiful emerald eyes and his extravagant features.
“Which one?” Sienna said, interrupting Aurelia’s train of thought.
“Mathew. He was very kind to me. He has these beautiful emerald eyes with other amazing features on his face; very handsome indeed. He also made me laugh, which you know I haven’t done in a long time since mother passed away.”
“Oh wow. He must have been amazing to make you laugh,” Sienna said.
“Yes, he was,” Aurelia said with a smile on her face.
“Well, what about Balavan?” Sienna asked.
“He was the complete opposite,” Aurelia said; remembering how rude and annoying Balavan was earlier that night. “He was rude, annoying, and very conceited. And you know I would never have feelings for someone like that.”
“So you have feelings for Mathew?” Sienna asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that…” Aurelia said, clearly lying.
Sienna caught the lie in her statement. “Hmm… seems like a false statement. He seems like the type of prince you would definitely have feelings for.”
“We will continue this conversation later,” Aurelia said. She needed to go back to sleep. She suddenly felt exhausted. “I’m sorry Sienna, but I’m very tired.”
“Oh, that’s alright,” Sienna said while getting up from her sister’s bed. “But we will continue this conversation another time.”
Aurelia smiled at her sister. “Yes, we will. I promise you.”
Sienna smiled back. “Good. Goodnight Aurelia.” Sienna started walking towards the door. “And don’t forget, just because you’re an independent princess doesn’t mean you cannot have feelings for someone.”
Aurelia laughed at her sister’s comment. “Yes, I know Sienna. Thank you for reminding me. Good night. Sweet dreams.”
“Sweet dreams to you too.” Sienna said before exiting her sister’s room. “It looks like you need to be told that more that I do.”
Aurelia laughed. “I guess I do. Goodnight.”
Sienna smiled at her sister and then left the room and closed the door behind her.
“Oh Sienna, you know me better than anyone,” Aurelia said with a smile on her face.
She got back into her bed and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. For some reason it felt much colder to her. She drifted off to sleep with no dream disrupting her slumber.