The Second Chapter | Balls and Gowns

"Lady Averill?" the maid asked as she knocked softly on the door.

"Yes, Mabel?"

Averill had not allowed her to enter due to her lack of clothes at the moment. It was out of the question for anyone to see her in only her undergarments. As she had just returned from her evening bath a few moments prior, she was in no state to entertain anyone. Besides, Mabel knew better than to enter the room when not explicitly invited in.

"Your mother sent me to fetch you. She requires your presence in the grand hall immediately."

"If it's not too much of a bother to ask, do you by any chance know why she requires my presence specifically?"

"I believe it has something to do with your dress fitting for the debutante ball, but I may be mistaken," she spoke through the door.

Averill dismissed her, but not before thanking her, and asking her to tell the Duchess she would be right down. It was rather strange. She already had her dress fitted just a few days ago. Surely the Duchess didn't think she had gained such a significant amount of weight over a period of a few days that required another dress fitting, did she? Whatever the reason, she had no choice but to comply. Even though the Duchess was not her biological mother, she was still the Duchess nonetheless.

Averill rushed to get dressed, slipping on one of her more 'casual' dresses, as she was only going to be in the presence of a few maids at the least and her stepmother at the most. She pulled her hair into what she hoped was a presentable style and slipped down the stairs, making her way around the castle, before she finally found her way to the grand hall.

The Duchess was seated on a carved wooden chair, one that had clearly been brought in from a different room, seeing as it stuck out like a sore thumb among the other chairs. Around her, gowns, fabrics, and ribbons of all different colors littered the floor. Clothing racks were brought from another room, and some of the dresses hung there as well.

The hall was already being prepared for the upcoming ball. Decorations were also strewn across the floor, and were hanging askew on the walls. Quite frankly, the entire hall was a mess, but Averill paid little attention to it. She was more concerned with why her stepmother seemed to be in such a foul mood that evening.

Was it something she had done? No, she couldn't think of anything she had done recently that would spark any form of rage in the Duchess.

Upon closer inspection, Averill could see that most of her anger was being directed at one maid in particular. Had she accidentally torn one of the dresses? or lost one? Whatever the reason, it seemed to have really upset the Duchess. Averill tried to listen in, but despite the pieces of the conversation she could pick up, it didn't help her understand the situation one bit. She gave up on trying to eavesdrop, and instead cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"You sent for me?"

"Ah yes, Averill, there you are, darling. You need to get fitted for your debutante gown."

"But mother, I got fitted for it a few days ago."

"You got fitted for one gown, not the other."

"Why in God's name would I need two gowns for one ball?"

"Averill, this is your official debut as an aristocrat. Your eighteenth birthday just passed, didn't it? Do you not understand how important this event is for you? Besides, it's the perfect opportunity for you to start looking for a suitable husband."

For the past few months, all she had been talking about was her finding a suitable man to marry Averill. She had even tried to convince Averill's father, the duke, to allow her to find Averill a suitor and get her acquainted with whichever young man was unfortunate enough to fall into the Duchess's hands. Since it was tradition that all girls from the direct royal bloodline were not allowed to be romantically involved with anybody before the age of eighteen, she was, thankfully, denied that request.

As much as Averill adored gowns and balls, she was anything but excited for this one. Not only because her mother was using it as a plain attempt to get her married off to some other influential aristocrats son. No doubt at the very most, her marriage was going to be used to join two kingdoms, or at the least, merge her family with another influential one. Sometimes, she felt like she was only born to be married off. Besides that, she was a lot more worried about what had been going on with her recently.

Several unexplainable things had been happening over the past week. Objects moved when she so much as spared them a glanced, leading to more than a few items being broken and a rather dashing stranger with a peculiar shade of violet eyes had been appearing in her dreams ever since the night of her eighteenth birthday.

These were obviously not normal occurrences, and since it had started happening, she had broken five different vases and decided to start wearing gloves consistently so nobody would notice anything. Thankfully, nobody had questioned her about it. She was the daughter of a duke after all so nobody, technically, had the right to ask, even if they wanted to.

Averill held back an eye-roll, and didn't even bother to answer her stepmother. It's not like she hated her. That was not the case, but as much as her stepmother meant well, she could be somewhat overbearing at times. She knew that the Duchess loved her as if she were her own, but she wasn't always the best at showing it.

With a tired sigh, Averill signaled to the maids that were there to assist, and they rushed to her side, before proceeding to help her fit the second gown. The dress was measured, marked on, and eventually, the seamstress finished up and packed all her things before leaving.

After that whole ordeal had been sorted out, Averill gave a proper goodnight to the Duchess, thanked the maids, and then trudged up the staircase, making her way back to her large room. She slipped into bed without even bothering to change out of her gown. The good thing was that the mental and physical stress of the day was, fortunately, enough to put her to sleep without too much trouble.

However, even though she had finished with the day, the day was anything but done with her. For she was about to meet another stranger, and this time, she was hopefully going to get some answers to what she had been dealing with for the past few weeks.

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