A/N: I am back! I got kind of busy but things are finally easing up so here's the long awaited update! It's short on purpose. Don't throw a fit yet!

Marinette plopped down on the bed, turned to lay on her belly, kicked her bare feet up, and rested her head in the palms of her hands as she watched the Queen apply her evening makeup.

"Thank you for showing me that place earlier today." she said.

Elise put down the brush she was using to put blush on her cheeks and turned from her vanity mirror to look at Marinette on the other side of her bedroom. "I wanted to share that with you. We could make our own memories up there or find other places to make ones that don't mimic the ones I had with Antoinette."

Marinette had heard a lot of things about Antoinette since becoming Elise's new lady-in-waiting. Just how special was the woman that would lead onto conversations about her?

"Tell me a little more about Antoinette." she requested from Elise. "I know I'm filling big shoes. Just how big are they though?"

Elise took a seat next to Marinette on the bed, she laid a hand on Marinette's back and started rubbing it up and down as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say and how she was going to word it.

"Antoinette was just a few years older than me." Elise began with. "I had known her family for years and watched as she raised her kids. She was so tender~" her breathy voice faded away with the last sentence. "The day that I had married King Gabriel I approached her and formerly asked her to be my lady-in-waiting.

"She looked at her family, clearly realizing what that had meant for them but as an obligation to her Queen she said yes." Elise stood back up and walked over to look herself in her full-length mirror and smooth down her evening gown. "I guess in her world Antoinette thought she was taking a risk basically leaving her family behind to serve as a companion to the Queen."

"Antoinette cared a lot?" though it was stated as a question, Marinette wanted confirmation of what this woman was like.

"For her family, friends, and kingdom." Elise confirmed. "I had never seen a woman quite like her. She was the kindest person I ever did meet." her gaze focussed on Marinette in the mirror. "But I knew that something about you compared exactly to Antoinette.

"So, in whatever way that it may be: Don't be afraid to take a risk every once in awhile. It might lead you to be the happiest person you could possibly be. Antoinette had told me near the end that she would never regret deciding to be my lady-in-waiting."

Marinette could see the glisten in Elise's eyes through her mirror. She had to turn away, not wanting to look at the Queen in a vulnerable state. "Would you like me to leave?"

Elise nodded. "But could you please send in Nathalie?" she addressed the secretary only by her first name which was unusual to hear in the castle walls by a member of the royal family.

As the door closed behind Marinette Elise went over to her vanity. She had kept a jewelry box on top of the vanity table. She picked it up and brought it back to her bed. Sitting down, she opened the little wooden box and peeked inside. The door opened and without ever removing her eyes from the contents inside the box said: "She's like Antoinette."

"Is that a good thing?" Nathalie had asked the Queen, inching closer to where Elise was.

Elise shook her head. "She's like me too." she reached in and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I believe something is going to happen to her that can't be controlled."

Nathalie, now at Elise's side, peeked over her shoulder as the Queen unfolded the piece of paper in her hand. It was a beautiful handwritten letter. Nathalie had known what it was and when it was written.

"My Dearest Antoinette,

I have been trying to find a way of expressing….

….

Ever yours,

Queen Elise"

The two women skimmed the letter together. Nathalie wrapped her arms around Elise to comfort the Queen, knowing the emotions spewed out on the tiny piece of paper.

"Do you think that's going to happen to her?" Nathalie asked.

"I am afraid if it." Elise pulled back from the secretary. "But I will be unable to stop it."