Skin Deep: Part Two
A/AN: Thank you for the reviews/favorites/follows from last chapter! I'm trying my best not to turn this into a full blown fic but it may end up being longer than I intended…
Four years had passed since that fateful night. Isabelle French was sixteen years old today, and she would spend this birthday like the previous three, alone in her chambers. She wouldn't be serenaded in a birthday song or have a ball held in her honor. She would write most of the day away. Her nursemaid Johanna would come in three hours to serve her lunch, and the kind maid would probably put a delectable dessert on her food tray because it was her birthday but that would be the closest thing she'd get to a present.
She tried to hope this birthday would be different but every year they were the same. Last year she'd turned sixteen which was a turning point in most young women's lives. They were considered a lady by social standards and could take part in court life.
Her older stepsister Zelena had chosen that day to wed her fiancé Walsh from a distant realm called Oz. She knew that it was Cora's doing, but the older princess had waltzed into her chambers wearing a beautiful white wedding gown. She'd taunted Isabelle with her white gown, parading about in front of her like a queen. She'd hurled insults and slurs at her, calling her a handful of things Isabelle thought were shameful to come out of a lady's mouth. Cora's intentions in the beginning were to put Regina on the throne. She didn't care enough for Zelena to do this so marrying her off and sending her away was in her best interests. She realized that loosing that one thing that made her stand apart from the rest of the kingdom rallied in her favor. No one would serve an ugly queen so that left Regina to procure the throne.
She knew Cora had put her up to it. She thought it would break her, but Isabelle refused to let it. Her heart had become calloused throughout the years. She cared little for her stepmother and stepsisters and even less of her father. He never came to see her because Cora forbade it. He was a coward.
Sometimes she thought of leaving and running away but where would she go? The ugly scars on her face meant she'd be an outcast. Her face was a line of symmetry. The left side was beautiful and intact, reminding her of who she once was. The right side reminded her of the lonely life that lay ahead of her. She never dreamed in all her days that being a hero would succumb her to this life.
Sometimes she thought that being born just an ordinary looking girl wouldn't have placed such high expectations on her life. It seemed that all she was ever truly valued and bred for was her beauty. Society didn't place as much fortune on things like intelligence. You could be brainless but as long as you had a pretty face to look at then it wasn't a problem. She only wished that someone would look past her fallacy and love the woman underneath the marred flesh. Who was she kidding? The majority of the kingdom had either forgotten about her or presumed her dead.
She brushed out her thick chestnut tresses, trying her best not to stare at her reflection to long. When she was satisfied with it, she put on a plain blue dress with white puffed sleeves. She pulled out her journal and quill. She dipped the quill into a flask of ink, continuing her tale about a prince from a faraway kingdom rescuing a princess from her evil stepmother's clutches. She smiled when she thought of him, the only boy that had made her insides somersault.
She was thankful that he would never see her like this. She was shameful to look at. She wondered if he'd did the brave thing by returning home to face his responsibilities. She knew that she would think of him today because it marked the day she'd saved him. She was startled when she heard a knock at the door. She put her journal away, making her way to the door.
"Hello Johanna did you bring me some lunch?" Isabelle inquired, putting on her best smile. Her gaze faltered when she noticed panic flash in the maid's eyes.
"What's wrong Johanna?" she asked full of concern, wondering what had startled her.
"Lady Isabelle, the king and queen request your presence immediately. There's a man here to see you." she supplied anxiously, wringing her hands in her skirt.
"A man? Why would a man be here to see me?" Isabelle scoffed at the very prospect of such a thing ever happening. She'd never had a single suitor call on her a day in her life, so she knew that it must be one of Cora's sick jokes. She'd planned this to try and make her birthday worse that it was already meant to be.
"I don't know milady, but they asked that I summon you at once." the maid clucked, leading her to the throne room. Isabelle went compliantly, curious to see what her deranged stepmother had come up with this time.
Isabelle kept her face down once they entered the throne room, refusing to look either royal in the eye. She knew that doing so would earn her an unjust punishment. Besides she wasn't a princess anymore, and she would never be a queen according to her.
"Isabelle this man came all the way from a kingdom called Albannach. He said his king is interested in procuring himself a bride. I thought this imbecile was referring to Regina but apparently it's you he wants. I tried to tell him that we only had one unwed daughter, but he seemed adamant, so I finally broke down and told him the truth, but I doubt he'll want you since he's seen how hideous you are. You may go back to your chamber." Cora affronted with a wave of her hand, bidding her in the other direction until the stranger spoke up.
"Your majesty that won't be necessary. This is the princess that he wants. He sent me here to bring her back no matter what your cost." the man with messy black hair, wearing a green doublet supplied.
"Is your king blind because I don't see how he could bear to take a wife looking like that." Cora reprimanded trying to steer him away from her.
"Name your price." the man retorted firmly. He didn't stutter or seem to feel inferior by Cora's presence. He was calm and collected in the most maddening of ways. His green eyes spoke of the intensity he was radiating.
"Take her as she is…Our only price is that you never speak of her affiliation with us. She's been dead to us since the accident, and I still don't understand how your king knew anything of her existence, but I prefer not to ask questions. Be on your way, and I won't ask anything else." Maurice chimed in, filling her heart with the most ferocious of pains. Cora's insults had bogged her down, but she'd never cared about what the vile woman thought.
The sound of her papa's searing words cut through her like a knife. She looked up at him, pain evident in her blue depths, but he didn't look at her. She truly was dead to him. All these years, she'd believed Cora was keeping him from coming to her, but she was wrong. He didn't want her either. She turned her head, following the stranger out of the throne room. She could hear Cora trying to dissuade him in the background, but she didn't dare turn around. She would follow this man to his peculiarly named kingdom.
"Is there anything you'd like to take with you before we leave milady?" the stranger inquired gazing at her tenderly. She felt tears spring to her eyes. No one had ever looked at her like that before, like a human being instead of some kind of maimed beast.
"Just a few journals and some personal items." she replied, following Johanna down the long hallway. The man waited patiently outside as she placed her valuables in a small trunk. Johanna hugged her tightly, placing a kiss on her scarred cheek, "Lady Isabelle you're still the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom despite what anyone thinks. I don't know who this king is who wishes to wed you, but he's doing you a just kindness by ridding you of this place."
"Thank you Johanna for everything you've did for me these last few years. You've made the pain so much more bearable. I will miss you." she returned hugging the woman tightly.
"I will miss you as well…I wish you all the happiness in the world and for you to be treated with the utmost kindness. You deserve nothing but the very best my dear." Johanna assured her before meeting the green eyed man in the hallway.
"Or carriage awaits your highness." he said bowing reverently catching her off guard. No one had ever addressed her by her royal title before.
"There's no need to bow-" she stopped trying to formulate a name for this new face.
"Jefferson…Please call me Jefferson." he smiled leading her to the carriage.
"Thank you Jefferson." she smiled genuinely for the first time in years before he closed the doors behind her. She took a seat on the maroon plush velvet couch, crossing her legs comfortably. Her heart beat with fear and excitement simultaneously as she thought of what this new life held for her and who this mysterious king could be. How did he know about her, and what would he think once he seen her scars? Would he send her back to Avonlea? There must be some mistake. He must have thought her to still be the beautiful maiden that she once was. Her beauty had withered years ago. She dared not think of how disappointed he would be when he noticed what an eyesore she truly was. Isabelle felt herself drifting off into restless sleep as she pondered upon these things, daring not to ever think she could be happy again.
A/AN: Well there's part two! Our princess will meet our mysterious prince in the next chapter. How will he react once he sees her after all these years? Will he still want her despite her imperfection. Please review and tell me what you think!