Chapter 1- Today's Celebration

Dear Dairy,

Today marks the one year anniversary of my mothers death. My heart is still stricken with grief as if it were yesterday that I received the news. It has been painful eating dinner with the family and not seeing her elegant smile from her chair. I miss the scent of roses and mint that rolled from her when she hugged me tightly. No other maiden in the land was able to compare to her beauty, her long curly black hair always perfect and complemented her deep emerald eyes with such intensity. My father chose her for this reason, luckily both my elder brother Lyvin and myself inherited her looks.

Some days have been worse than other when it comes to this great loss. I have the feeling today will be especially hard, so I have yet to get out of bed. My father has planned a ball in celebration of his lost love. He had sent for me a new dress for the celebration just a week prior, and it should be arriving this morning. I begged my father not to force me to attend, but he refused me and stated it would be disrespectful to her memory if I didn't attend. He had sent for me a new dress for the celebration last week, and it should be arriving this morning. The dress is deep red with blue roses embroidered at the bottom. It is possibly the only part of the day I'm ready for.

Lyvin seems quite excited, but I do believe it has more to do with his recent birthday and our fathers permission for him to find his own bride. There will be royals attending, so it is possible for Lyvin to find a young princess worthy of his affections. With mothers looks, his charming demeanor and of course him being the crowned prince and future ruler of Lavenger, he is likely to have someone by the end of the night. Unfortunately since I am a princess I may not have the freedom of choosing my own partner. I will probably be thrown to some nobleman's son to strengthen my fathers favor in the kingdom or to a neighboring kingdom to strengthen alliances for the future.

There is still the possibility of me finding real love, mother and fathers story inspires me to believe so. My mother had spoken of their first meeting with great excitement every time. She said father was not the most handsome she had ever seen, but his smile melted her heart. Unaware that she would fall in love with him until months after their meeting. My father did not speak about their meeting with me until she passed. He said the first time he set eyes on her he was frozen and at a loss of words because of her beauty. By the time my father had the courage to ask her to dance he knew he was in love, and knew he would do anything within his power for her. They chose each other and even after their years of marriage their affection for one another was incalculable.

My father hasn't been the same since she left his side, he has been growing more paranoid and secluded by the day. I hope that today's celebration brings him comfort in some way. I miss my mother dearly and the ball is a wonderful idea, I feel uncomfortable about attending myself. It is a possibility that I will stay only feet away from father or Lyvin and attempt to avoid dancing for the night. I'm ready for this day to end before it has even begun. If only my father would have accepted my request to avoid the ball today wouldn't be so bad. I simply want to give mothers memorial blue roses and cry alone in peace, but this isn't going to happen I'm sure.

Sincerely,

Annalicia Von Groat