Love Me, Dragon

10

Chapter ten

Amelia

I was sleeping peacefully when I was woken up by Constance the next morning, but it wasn't a nice experience. When she got to my space, she just pushed away the curtain that was meant to be for my privacy and stepped in.

She tapped me, but I refused to wake up. While I was still at home, I was never woken up early for any reason. I always slept in and woke up whenever I liked, so having to wake up so early was new for me.

"My lady, you have to get up." She whined, and I groaned as I turned in my bed. "Please don't make that sound again." She said, and my eyes, which had refused to open before, popped open as I glared at her.

"What? Are you going to tell me to stop breathing next?" I asked her as I glared at her from my position.

"You know I didn't mean it that way, my lady. I'm only trying to groom you into being the perfect lady, that's all." She said.

I sighed and sat up. "I know; I'm sorry."

She was only doing her job, but I was also just being myself. It wasn't my fault I was the way I was; my parents never forced me to act ladylike, and I actually liked the way I was.

I stood up, not wanting to stress her anymore. She led me to the bath that she had already drawn in the same room with some other ladies. I took off my dress and stepped into the bath, liking the hot water.

"I put a lavender essence into the water to make it smell more, so that your skin can give off a nice scent." She said.

"Thank you, Constance. For all of this." I said, looking at her as she stood beside the tub.

"You don't have to thank me, my lady. I'm just doing my job." She said that, and I nodded.

I stayed in the bath a little longer, washing and letting the scent get into my skin. After a while, we went back to my space, and the preparation process began.

Constance had me sit in front of the dresser, and she gave me a lotion to rub into my skin. After I was done, she started on my hair. It was a long process, but after a while of constant tugging and combing, I really knew why my parents had paid a lot of money for her. Even I had to admit that she did a very good job.

Just as I was about to compliment Constance, Bianca stuck her head through my curtains, and I smiled as I watched her step into my space fully. She was already all dressed up, and she looked really beautiful.

"Wow, Amelia. You look beautiful. Your hair is really nice." She complemented, coming closer to have a better look.

"It's all Constance's work. She deserves all the praise." I said, and she turned to Constance.

"Hello, my Lady, I am Lady Amelia's maid, Constance." She curtesied.

"It's nice to meet you, Constance. I am Amelia's friend, Bianca." Bianca said, and Constance's head turned to me. She had a frown on her face.

"You also look beautiful, Bianca." I complimented her, and she twirled, smiling.

"Thank you." She said, curtsying.

"I'll wait for you outside; when you're done, just peep into my space, and we can go out together. We're all supposed to be at the grand hall today." She said that, and I nodded.

"Okay, I'll be there when I'm done." I said that to her, and she left.

"You've already made a friend?" Constance asked with a surprised tone in her voice.

"Well, yes. I met her yesterday. She's nice, and I like her." I said, smiling as I stood up to open my closet.

"You should be careful, though." She said. "You shouldn't trust everyone you meet here. Sorm of them are just out to know your secret so they can beat you to your game." She said that, and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't think Bianca's like that. She's a lovely girl, and I don't think she's capable of that." I said, shaking my head.

"You never know; you just met her yesterday."

.

"I also just met you yesterday." I said, and Constance stopped. "I'm not saying this to spite you or anything, but even though I didn't know you before, my parents trusted you enough to bring you with me, so I think it's okay for me to trust Bianca; that's how friendships are formed." I finished, and she nodded.

"I understand what you're saying, and it's okay to be careful, but that doesn't mean I should be paranoid about everyone."

I really understood Constance's point, especially in a situation like this where we were competing against each other, but that didn't mean we had to jump to conclusions about anyone, because I knew that if I heard Bianca and her maid talking about me like this, I would feel sad.

"I understand, my lady." She said that, and I smiled.

"Now, let's pick a dress." I said, and she couldn't be by my side as we searched for a nice dress.

"You have to look extra nice today." She said that, and I frowned.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Didn't you know that the king is going to address all the ladies today?" She said that, and my eyes widened.

"I get to meet the king already!" I squealed.

I didn't expect that I'd get to meet the king so early, and he was a dragon shifter, so it excited me even more.

"Yes, so you have to look your best, so he'll at least notice you." She said that, and I nodded.

She turned back to find a dress for me as I sat on my bed, imagining what the king would look like. I didn't know if he was young or old, muscular or skinny, as I had never even seen a painting of him. It made me even more anxious to see him.

Constance picked out a very beautiful red dress. I hadn't even looked through the dresses that my mother had made for me. It was really beautiful, but the only thing that discouraged me about it was the corset. I almost groaned before I caught myself, not wanting Constance to hear it.

I stood up and stepped into the dress. Constance tied the knots at the back and tightened them so much that I could hardly breathe. It wasn't a nice feeling at all, but I had to endure it, at least for the time being.

"You look really beautiful, lady." Constance said after I had properly put on the dress that I flushed.

"Thank you."

When we were done with the preparations, I stepped out of my space and said good-bye to Constance before going to Bianca's space.

"Hey, I'm done." I said, peeking my head in, then bringing it back out.

I stood outside, waiting for her to come out. I looked around the hall; it was almost empty, meaning they had all gone to the great hall. It was my fault for wasting so much time getting up.

Bianca came out and stared at me in awe.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"You have to be the most beautiful lady that I've seen today. I'm very sure the king will notice you." She said that, and I laughed.

"Stop it, Bianaca, not you too. Enough with the flattery." I said, and she shook her head.

"I'm not flattering you, Amelia. I'm only speaking the truth." I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you; you also look beautiful. Now can we get going?" I said, and she smiled as we walked together.

When we got out of the hall, there were maids lined up in the hallway to give directions on where to find the great hall. Without much difficulty, we reached there.

The guards opened the giant doors to show a very grand hall behind them. It was really big; no wonder it was called the Great Hall. The interior was even more decorated than the rest of the palace that I had seen.

"Wow, it's so big." Bianaca said, and I nodded.

I looked forward, and most of the ladies were already gathered, waiting to be addressed. They were all dressed in different styles and colors, and it was nice to see so many beautiful-looking people all in one place.

As Bianca and I walked closer to the crowd, I wanted to be near the front, so I moved past some of them, and as we passed, some of them gasped and others gave way.

I finally got to the place when I wanted to stand, and by that time, all eyes were on Bianaca and me. They were whispering within themselves and pointing at us.

"Why are they looking at something like that?" I whispered to Bianca, and she laughed.

"They aren't looking at us, Amelia. They are looking at you." She said that, and I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't joking when I said that you looked really beautiful, Amelia." She said, and I smiled, trying to ignore the eyes on me.

I scanned the crowd, just looking around, when I caught Lady Lucia's eyes glaring straight at me. What I didn't expect to happen was the smirk that appeared on my lips as we stared right into each other's eyes.

I knew she was jealous of me; that much was obvious, but I was happy that I had at least surpassed her in one way. It brought so much joy to my heart.

"Stop that." Bianca laughed as she nudged my side, and I laughed with her.

She had noticed the stare-off that was going on. I didn't really care how Lady Lucia viewed me; all I knew was that she couldn't do anything to me, no matter who her father was.

Before I could say anything to Bianca, Lady Matilda walked into the room.

"Good day, ladies. It's really nice to see you all looking beautiful on this fine morning. So, to officially start your stay here, the king himself is going to address you." She said it with a big smile on her face.

"And so, I introduce to you King Alexander Alaric Hayes, the third." She said that, and everyone started clapping.

I did too, because I had been really anticipating seeing what he looked like. I smiled, stretching my neck to see him over the other ladies' heads.

The first place my eyes went to immediately after the king walked out was his royal regalia. He looked really nice in a red tunic with dazzling jewels on it and on his golden crown. He had a really fit build, meaning he was a young man, so I looked up at his face, and what I saw almost made me faint.

It was Alaric standing there, looking down atwith a huge smile on his face.