1 Chapter 1

I woke in a cold sweat, my hands trembling as I reached them to my face, gently caressing my dry lips. I couldn't remember the dream I had. Yet they came more often, as the day my family was to ship me to a new kingdom to be wed to the second prince of Deluth.

As the oldest daughter of king Varion and princess of the Western Lord Lands it was expected of me to comply. Growing up royal meant we had wealth and lands commoners could only dream of, but we weren't able to decide our lives. The kingdom always came first.

I swung my legs off the bed the soft skin of my feet touching the cool stone floor. On instinct I pulled my feet away from the stone, sliding my shoes over I slid my feet in and picked up my book, waiting on my lady's.

The leather of the book was worn and falling apart, showing the amount of times I had read this book. A book of romance with a happy ending, the girl and the boy falling in love after a chance encounter on the road. Her carriage had tipped and he came to rescue her. If only someone would come to rescue me from this wedding to a man I didn't even know.

A soft knock sounded on the red oak door right before it swung open, a servant and three lady's in waiting entered my room. Olivia, Clare, and Aurora... my three closest friends, walked over to dress me and tend to my hair.

Clare had a long gold and white dress with her, the front was cut to end just above my knees, the back falling well passed my feet. I looked at the dress astonished as she fit me into it. It was so unlike anything that I had ever worn, no doubt a Deluth traditional dress. I was scared of how people would react to seeing so much skin. I saw my face blush pink in the mirror at the thought, pulling my eyes away from myself I cought Clare gazing at me through the mirror. Her eyes instantly darted to the ground. "Sorry my lady" she spoke softly

"Clare" I told her pulling her face up softly with my finger "you are one of my best friends don't be sorry for looking." She gazed back up at me and blushed aswell "you look so pretty Lydia" her eyes cast down at the white and gold dress in admiration and desire. I would never know that want, the want I saw in her eyes for trivial trinkets and clothing.

It wasn't as if her dress was ugly in any way, Clare was a Lady, her father was one of the respected Lords of our lands and some day Clare would marry someone of status too, as was expected of all my Lady's in waiting.

Aurora walked over with diffrent paints and face colorings, stuff that, even as a royal, I only wore on special occasions and parties. She painted my lips a soft pink and gave my eyes a gold shine to match the dress. Her hands softly brushed over my face as she pinched my cheeks creating a natural pink innocent look to my face.

Aurora looked into my eyes, much less shy than Clare had been, and smiled. A warm smile specific only to her, a smile that held the warmth of the sun and relaxed me almost instantly. "You're eyes are more tired than usual, did you have a bad dream again Lydia?" She asked concern in her voice as she ran her fingers through my hair. To this I could only nod and let the subject die.

Olivia walked over to stand next to Clare, she had left briefly to grab my tiara from my bathing room. Setting it on the desk in front of us she opened my jewelry case and began pulling out different jewels, she placed a heavy gold chained necklace with glossy big diamonds around my neck, and pulled my hair back into a wavy bun that looked almost like a flower, she used a few gold hair pins that had red inlaid jewels to hold my hair. A bracelet here and a few rings later I looked into the mirror as if looking at a different person.

I was stunned at how well my lady's had done getting me ready. I looked much older than I actually was, I had just turned 17 and my birthday present from the king, my father, was news of my engagement. The final touch to my look was the small tiara that fit perfect into my hair to hug my head and show my status to the world. And I was ready to walk the isle.