Seeing Grace
Sixteen Years Later
My hair was tugged and pulled in awkward and painful directions. In the mirror's reflection I saw my personal maid Maria twisting locks of my wild, gold hair into an intricate design. I warned her that there was no way my hair could be tamed, but she just smiled and forced me down into the nearest chair.
"I bet you're just exploding with excitement, eh, your highness?" Maria murmured with pins in her mouth.
I gasped and winced. "It's...a bit difficult to say."
"I was talking about your inauguration, of course." She swam smoothly through the water to the other side of her room where she kept her weapons of torture in a netted bag. She pulled out bottles of perfumes, oils, and some other kept concoctions I did not recognize.
I looked back into the mirror and sighed. True, it was my inauguration today, but I was as excited as a fish out of water. My whole life I'd been waiting for when I'd turn sixteen and take my place at the throne next to the queen. Of course, I didn't actually take over the kingdom until my eighteenth birthday, so right now I was only being anointed second-in-command.
"It's your big day," she continued as she pulled a lock of hair, causing my head to jerk back suddenly. I could see her tying in a seastar. "You want to look your best."
Two hours later I was left alone at last to "admire the masterpiece," as Maria had put it. But instead I turned the mirror to face the wall and rested my head against the wooden desk. I had no interest in seeing what I looked like. Sixteen years I looked in that mirror wishing I was different, but different in a way that made me blend in with everyone else.
I was just beginning to doze off when there was a rapid pounding on the door. No sooner had I looked up did a mermaid bolt into the room looking around frantically. When she spotted me she barked, "Milady! Why are you not dressed yet? The ceremony is about to begin without you!"
She yanked me up from where I sat and pulled me to the closet, ripping my robe off and throwing dresses at me.
* * *
I was anything but graceful as I swam awkwardly down the isle to where my family sat. My two older sisters Hazlett and Hadlee were on the left beside my mother, their faces blank and void of any thought or emotion, just like the queen's. I always felt out of place, and not just because of my human legs. I looked nothing like my family. Where they had dark, razor straight hair I had bushy gold locks. Where their eyes flashed cerulean blue mine shined a deep jade.
They stared at me from afar and I averted my eyes, feeling my cheeks burn. As I approached them I stopped and curtsied to my mother. "Your highness, Queen Vasilisa."
"Sit, my daughter," she approved. I nodded and sat on her right side, where at one point my father had taken his place.
I stared out at the crowd of people—my people.
They hated me. All of them. They'd spit at my feet whenever I passed if I wasn't the heir to the throne. Instead they kissed the ground I stood on, trying to get in good with the royals.
I despised them all.
"I bet you're just exploding with excitement, eh, your highness?" Maria murmured with pins in her mouth.
I gasped and winced. "It's...a bit difficult to say."
"I was talking about your inauguration, of course." She swam smoothly through the water to the other side of her room where she kept her weapons of torture in a netted bag. She pulled out bottles of perfumes, oils, and some other kept concoctions I did not recognize.
I looked back into the mirror and sighed. True, it was my inauguration today, but I was as excited as a fish out of water. My whole life I'd been waiting for when I'd turn sixteen and take my place at the throne next to the queen. Of course, I didn't actually take over the kingdom until my eighteenth birthday, so right now I was only being anointed second-in-command.
"It's your big day," she continued as she pulled a lock of hair, causing my head to jerk back suddenly. I could see her tying in a seastar. "You want to look your best."
Two hours later I was left alone at last to "admire the masterpiece," as Maria had put it. But instead I turned the mirror to face the wall and rested my head against the wooden desk. I had no interest in seeing what I looked like. Sixteen years I looked in that mirror wishing I was different, but different in a way that made me blend in with everyone else.
I was just beginning to doze off when there was a rapid pounding on the door. No sooner had I looked up did a mermaid bolt into the room looking around frantically. When she spotted me she barked, "Milady! Why are you not dressed yet? The ceremony is about to begin without you!"
She yanked me up from where I sat and pulled me to the closet, ripping my robe off and throwing dresses at me.
* * *
I was anything but graceful as I swam awkwardly down the isle to where my family sat. My two older sisters Hazlett and Hadlee were on the left beside my mother, their faces blank and void of any thought or emotion, just like the queen's. I always felt out of place, and not just because of my human legs. I looked nothing like my family. Where they had dark, razor straight hair I had bushy gold locks. Where their eyes flashed cerulean blue mine shined a deep jade.
They stared at me from afar and I averted my eyes, feeling my cheeks burn. As I approached them I stopped and curtsied to my mother. "Your highness, Queen Vasilisa."
"Sit, my daughter," she approved. I nodded and sat on her right side, where at one point my father had taken his place.
I stared out at the crowd of people—my people.
They hated me. All of them. They'd spit at my feet whenever I passed if I wasn't the heir to the throne. Instead they kissed the ground I stood on, trying to get in good with the royals.
I despised them all.