Slave to Destiny

“Where have you been,” Blaire hissed grasping my wrist and jerking me down a hallway towards her room. I remained silent, something told me that if I were to say ‘I was sleeping in the rose bushes’ she’d smack me. “The ball is only hours away. I need to get you ready.”

Hours was a bit of an exaggeration. It was five hours away. Five. How could it possibly take me five hours to get ready?

After dragging me into her room, she forcefully shoved me down into a chair with a small grin playing on her lips. “Daniel is going to keep Cole distracted today, so he’ll never even notice you’re gone,” she explained as she dug through her bag of make-up and hair products. For the most part I’d never been one for putting chemicals in my hair. They are meant to tame the wild and I’m not one for being tamed.

Blaire wasn’t nearly as nice with a brush as Tabby had been the day prior. When my hair got caught, Blaire got forceful. “Is there seriously grass in you hair? What have you been doing?” she grumbled jerking the brush roughly through my head of hair. My scalp did not appreciate Blaire in the least, but as they say, beauty is pain.

Upon finishing my hair, she pulled out a stick of light brown eyeliner and penciled it around my eyes. Her hands worked swiftly with purpose in every motion. By the time she had finished, I was so shocked by my appearance I hardly recognized myself. Over the past few months I had become accustomed to my matted hair, lack of make-up, and deathly look that it took me by surprise to see everything working together like it used to.

“What about Edmund? I was supposed to be watching him all day?” I questioned her as I glanced around her room for the time.

Blaire laughed before responding, “Daniel is watching him and Kayli as well. Now let me get out your dress.”

I hardly glanced at the dress because I wanted to be surprised when the entire thing was over. Blaire laced up the tight corset top in the back as my eyes remained sealed shut. The fabric felt soft and silky against my sensitive flesh. It never occurred to me how much I’d miss walking around in ballroom dresses. Before I would complain about having to get ready, but not anymore.

“Open your eyes,” Blaire whispered in my ear with a grin on her face.

My eyes fluttered open revealing myself in a full-length mirror. I looked stunning. The dress was a bright, royal purple with silver stitching around the top. The bottom ruffled out in a full ball-room style. Blaire had twisted my hair up in a bun with loose curls spilling over to the side held up by a diamond covered clip. My eyes were lined with a light layer of brown eyeliner and shiny pink lip gloss had been applied to my lips. For the most part I looked natural, which pleased me.

“Blaire, you did amazing,” I whispered as I stared at the mirror in awe.

Blaire’s face lit up as she danced around in excitement. “There’s one last touch,” she explained pulling out a black box covered in a velvet material. Curiosity bubble up in my mind as I watched her snap open the box. It took me completely by surprise to see Blaire pull out a metallic silver mask embedded with crystals around the rims. It was one of the masks that only surrounded your eyes.

“This mask will fit you perfectly,” Blaire announced slipping it on over my face. For some odd reason I felt strange hiding my identity from the world. I know, how dumb is that. I’m a princess pretending to be a slave. How could I possibly feel weird wearing a mask, but I did.

Staring at myself in the mirror finally made me realize some key detail that had slipped my mind, I was going to confess myself to Cole tonight. How on earth was I going to phrase this. For some reason saying, ‘By the way I’ve been lying to you his entire time about who I am. I’m really a princess and your sworn enemy. Is this going to effect you? By the way I love you’ didn’t really seem like it was going to cut it.

“What the hell am I going to do?” I yelped at Blaire glancing around frantically much to her amusement, “He is never going to be okay with this.”

“Well that would be why I timed this so perfectly,” Blaire mumbled giggling.

Her words sunk in. What did timing have to do with anything? “What are you talking about?” I asked her confused by the entire situation.

“Dinner starts in twenty minutes,” she said with a sly smile. Wait, what? I wasn’t going to dinner, I was just going to the ball. Right? Am I missing something? “You didn’t honestly think I would just let you go to the ball? Heavens no. If I have to sit through snotty dinners with insensitive people you are too.”

Her plan seemed stellar last night, but now as I stared at myself in the mirror I realized my world was crumbling around me for the second time. It felt as if my very perception of life was fading in color and becoming darkness. Tonight could be the last night. For all I knew I could die tonight.

“Daniel will be here in ten minutes. He’s your escort. It will get Cole’s attention. Come on loosen up Gabby. Everyone will love you. You’re the Queen the Otherworld needs,” Blaire’s pep talk was comforting in a way, but I couldn’t quite kick the feeling in my stomach. It felt as though I had been punched in the gut a hundred times. Something bad was going to happen, and as I stood there in that room adorning a beautiful dress I realized I didn’t care. Tonight was my night.