Page 71 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
* * *
They didn’t allow me any moments to myself as the primas stuffed me into a ridiculous gold dress and painted my face. I had my eye poked with black kohl twice before the prima snapped at me to stay still, or the next one would gothroughmy eye.
Vicious woman.
They added gold jewelry and trinkets to my hair, my wrists, and my ankles. The dress was low cut with a deep v and clung to my hips before flaring out and trailing down the back. The front hem ended high enough to show off the heeled death traps forced on my feet, death traps that they claimed were shoes.
If this was another attempt by the queen to kill me, I had to give her points for creativity.
“Hold still. Almost done.”
The old prima reverently held out a small canister to the young one, who carefully dipped a fuzzy brush into it. Golden powder covered its bristles, and without warning, she dusted it on my dark hair, my cheeks, lips, shoulders and arms.
I blinked, feeling like a small sun with how much I shined and glittered. It would be neater if I hadn’t started coughing like I was about to hack up a lung. “It’s for Elio,” the young prima whispered into my ear conspiratorially. “He would have wanted it.”
“Why?” I shot back. “Won’t he be there?”
The young prima bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes downcast.
The old prima rolled her eyes, then they both bowed. “We will escort you now to the ballroom.”
Inwardly, I panicked. “Uh, may I have a moment first? To uh … send thanks to the gods!” I made up wildly, remembering these technically were religious women. The old prima’s eyebrow rose, but she nodded in grudging respect. She held up her thumb and middle finger.
“Two minutes.”
They slipped outside my door, and I hobbled toward the cushions where I’d stuffed the archive scrolls. The one I wanted Azalea to read was too big to take with me.
Oh man, she was gonna kill me. But there was nothing for it, so I took the old, sacred scroll and folded it up as tiny as I could, and stuffed it down my bosom again just as the primas knocked. In a gown like this, it was a handy hiding spot. I wondered if I should stick a knife down there as well.
“Ready! Coming!” I called back, hoping the paper didn’t stick through my cleavage. I took a few stuttering steps toward the door, then grabbed my knife in its leather sheath and stuffed it down my front as well.
I frowned at my shoes. Surely they weren’t serious about me walking in these?
Outside in the hall, the primas waited with hands on their hips. The older one’s eyes flew to my stutter steps, a look of utter disdain on her face.
I guess we were going to find out.
ChapterTwenty-One
Itried to sneak into the ball without fanfare, but the primas put an end to that, insisting they introduced me properly. The grand doors of the ballroom opened wide just for me, and every head whipped toward me as the ‘dragon tamer of the west’ rang in my ears. I turned my head, wondering if she was behind me.
Oh. They meant me.
I walked forward stiffly, ignoring the people and taking everything in. The ballroom was beautiful. They had hung the room with flowing, gauzy canopies, giving the normally cold, empty room an air of coziness and intimacy. Candles hung everywhere, perilously close to the curtains, but watched dutifully by fireguards every few feet. They piled mounds of food upon silver plates, with most of the nobles steadfastly ignoring it.
It made my blood boil to see so much of it go to waste. When I was queen, that would be the first thing I would fix.
Speaking of the queen, she stood at the end of the aisle, rising from her throne. Zion stood far more quickly, his eyes on fire.It was definitely Zion, all coiled tension and barely contained wildness.
“Now that our guest of honor has arrived, I welcome you all. Our kingdom will be in safe hands as the new princess ends the menace of the dragons and their curse once and for all!”
A litany of cheers went up around me as my palms grew moist. I hid them in the folds of my dress and tried to keep up an unbothered, stoic expression. The queen was bold in announcing this to the whole kingdom—she would make sure I failed, then blame me when I did.
Clever.
Freesia swept over to me a moment later, giving the shallowest of bows and the smallest inclination of her head to show respect.
“Princess. I hope we can set aside any difficulties from our past as we both move forward in life.” Her face was calm, but a hint of worry lurked behind her eyes.
