Chapter One: Cinder
Cindy stared at her face in the mirror, and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Today was the day she had been simultaneously longing for, and dreading.
The day she would become Prince Kai's wife.
She was standing in a grease stained tank top and cargo pants. Her wedding dress was lying on the bed behind her, along with her shoes, tights, and other various apparel. She didn't have a vanity, only a wooden desk with a mirror, but it was covered in make up and hair supplies that Iko had bought for her last week, when they had gone shopping.
Well, Iko had dragged her along, Cinder grumbled the whole time.
She pulled up the clock on her Retina display: 8:34. The wedding was at two, she was supposed to be there at ten. Iko was supposed to come at 8:30 to get her ready.
And the door flew open, and Iko sailed through, her arms filled with more supplies. Cinder sighed. "Really, Iko? You already spent the entire budget on my makeup."
Iko dumped her handful into the bed, being careful not to mess up the wedding dress. "I know, but on the way down here, Reva's was having a sale, and I couldn't resist!"
"How did you pay for it?"
"I used my salary," Iko confessed. "I want this to be the best day ever for you two!"
Cinder had officially hired Iko as the Head Fashion Advisor of the court, which meant Iko was paid a hefty salary to make people look beautiful. Iko was in heaven with her new role.
Cinders eyes welled unexpectedly. "Oh, Iko. You shouldn't have done that."
Iko swooped down and pecked Cinders cheek. "Oh sweetie, I want this to be the best day ever for you! You only marry the love of your life once, you know!"
Cinder wasn't capable of blushing, but she felt an unfamiliar heat. "I am not in love-" she trailed off. After all, they were getting married in-oh-five hours and sixteen minutes.
A knock sounded on the door, and Cinders head jerked, startled. She wasn't expecting anyone else to come that day.
Iko squealed, and rushed to the door, flinging it open. A crowd of girls piled through the door, laughing and talking. Cinder stared and then broke into a grin. Scarlet, Cress and Winter spilled into her room, all in various shades of disheveled.
"What-what are you doing here?" Cinder said.
Scarlet placed her hands on her hips and crowed in triumph. "I told you she wouldn't be happy to see us!"
Cress frowned, her blonde hair a mess, not wearing any makeup, as usual. "Yes, she's happy to see us, she's just surprised."
Winter had her hair bundled up into a huge bun, and had minimal makeup applied. She was wearing a long blue gown, with a large green necklace. "Hello my friend," she said warmly. Cinder grinned, somewhat against her will, and gave Winter a hug.
"You still haven't answered my question!"
Cress reached up to fiddle with her hair. "Well, since you invited us as bridesmaids, we couldn't let you get ready all by yourself!"
Iko placed a hand on her heart, and faked a look of shock. "Excuse me? I would be with her! Remember, I was friends with you before any of you were!"
Scarlet wear wearing jeans and her customary hoodie, and carrying a huge satchel which she dumped onto the bed. "Back at our hotel, us girls wanted us to get ready together, so went went to Cress and Thorne's room."
Cress blushed. Even though it was common knowledge that they were dating, it was still almost to good to be true.
"So, Kai and Jacin were gone, and Wolf and Jacin kicked us out, because apparently they had 'important stuff' to do." Scarlet rolled her eyes.
Cinder had felt that heat at the name of her fiancé, but then shrugged. "Well, I suppose that since you're here, we might as well get ready together!"
Iko clapped her hands and shrieked with delight. "I cannot wait to do all your makeup!"
Cress held up her hand, shyly. "Actually, Iko, we all decided we're going to do our own makeup."
"Oh!" Iko was surprised. She walked over to the bed, reached into the satchel Scarlet had brought, and pulled out a small case, which she inspected closely. Then Iko let out an ear-splitting shriek, which made all the girls cover their ears.
"What in the stars?" Cinder said, adjusting the volume of her ears so they would stop ringing."
Iko was hyperventilating, or pretending to. Since she was an android, she couldn't actually lose her breath, but Iko was overdramatic. "You bought RYLES? Scarlet, how could you? They are such an inferior makeup brand!"
Scarlet rolled her eyes, and snatched the box from Iko, throwing it back into her satchel. Iko groaned dramatically. "Do you girls actually know how to do your own makeup?"
Scarlet nodded confidently. "Grandmere taught me some tricks."
Cress twisted her hair nervously, and bit her lip. "I-I don't know much about makeup, but I still want to do my own."
Winter nudged Cress, a playful smile on her face. "That's because Thorne likes you better without makeup, my friend."
Cress blushed a deep red, and Iko sighed romantically. "Winter, you don't even need makeup. I'm so jealous!"
Cinder scoffed. "Iko, you're an android. You can literally update your body to look flawless."
Iko shuddered. "I don't want to look flawless. Levana is flawless, and I don't want to look like Levana."
Cinders mind flashed back to the palace, when Kai had found out she was Lunar. You're painful to look at, he had said. Even though he had apologized for his words numerous times, they were still hard to remember.
Iko looked at the time, and let out another ear-splitting shriek "We have forty five minutes to get Cinder ready for her wedding!" she wailed. Scarlet pinned Iko with a death glare.
Cinder rolled her shoulders, and took a deep breath, as Winter smiled at her. "All right, my friend. Let's get married."
