Orders were sent to build a perfect set of underground rooms for the princess to live in. Aquarius, Virgo, Cancer, and many other celestial entities additionally assisted the project.
At the end a beautiful home sprang up, close to that of the king and queen, but different from every place in the world by having no windows, and only a door right under the earth. However, daylight was hardly missed, so brilliant were the multitudes of tapers that were burning on the walls.
Up to this time the princess's history, closely similar to the histories of many a princess that you may have read about; when the period of her imprisonment was nearly over, her fortunes turned for the worst. For almost seventeen years her celestial spirits had taken care of her, read, amused, and taught her, so that when she could enter into the world she would not be behind the daughters of other kings in what makes a princess charming and accomplished.
Everyone loved her dearly, but her lady-in-waiting Levy loved her most of all; and as the
princess's seventeenth birthday drew nearer, the script mage began to worry lest
something terrible should happen.
"Do not let her out of your sight," said Levy to the queen, "and meanwhile, let her portrait be painted and carried to the neighboring Courts in order for kings to see how far her beauty exceeds that of every other princess, and that they may demand her in marriage for their sons." And so it was done; and as the mage had prophesied, all the young princes fell in love with the picture; but the last one to whom it was shown could think of nothing else, and refused to let it be removed from his chamber, where he spent whole days gazing at it. His father, the king, was exceedingly surprised at the change which had come over his son, who generally passed all his time hunting for dragons or training with his fire magic. His anxiety was increased by a conversation he overheard between two of his courtiers. They feared the prince must be going mad, so desolate and solem his once rambunctious exuberance had become.
Without losing a moment the king went to visit his son, and no sooner had he entered the room than the young man flung himself at his father's feet.
"You have betrothed me to a bride I don't love!" cried he; "but if you will not agree to break off the match, and ask for princess Lucy, I shall die of misery!"
These words much displeased the king, who felt that, in breaking off the marriage would almost certainly be bringing on his subjects a long and bloody war; so, without answering, he turned away, hoping that a few days might bring his son to reason. But the prince's condition grew rapidly so much worse that the king, in despair, promised to send an embassy at once to Lucy's father. This news miraculously cured the young man in an instant; and he began to plan out every detail, which were necessary to make the train of the envoy, whose name was Gray, as splendid as possible. He longed to form part of the embassy himself, if only in the disguise of a page; but this the king would not allow, and so the prince had to content himself with searching the kingdom for everything that was rare and beautiful to send to the princess. Indeed, he arrived, just as the embassy was starting, with his portrait, which had been painted in secret by the court painter.
The king and queen wished for nothing better than to wed their daughter to such a great and powerful family, and received the ambassador with every sign of greeting. They even wished him to see princess Lucy, but this was prevented by Levy, who feared some ill might come of it.
"And be sure you tell him," added she, "that the marriage cannot be celebrated till she is seventeen years old, or else some terrible misfortune will happen to the child." So when Gray, surround by his succession, made a formal request that the princess Lucy might wed his master's son, the king was greatly honoured, and would gladly give his consent; but that no one could even see the princess till her seventeenth birthday, as the spell laid upon her in her cradle by a spiteful fairy, would not cease to work till that was past. The ambassador was greatly surprised and disappointed, but he knew too much about celestial spirits to venture to disobey them, therefore he had to content himself with presenting the prince's portrait to the queen, who lost no time in carrying it to the princess. As the girl took it in her hands she was suddenly drawn to the subjects eyes, they were dark obsidian onyx which burned with ferocity matched with a subtle hazel, creating a passionate yearning deep within her; making her body flush all the way down to her toes.
"How would you like to have a husband like that Lucy? He's kinda hot." asked the queen, laughing.
"Mother! As if I knew anything about husbands! And yes he's kinda attractive…. I don't know I didn't really notice" replied Lucy, who was madly blushing.
"Well, he'll be your husband in three months," answered the queen, ordering the prince's presents to be brought in. The princess was very pleased with them, and admired them greatly, but the queen noticed that all the while her eyes constantly strayed from the softest silks and most brilliant jewels to the striking portrait of the prince.
The ambassador, finding that there was no hope of his being allowed to see the princess, took his leave, and returned to his own court; but here a new difficulty arose. The prince, thoroughly repleted with joy as Lucy was indeed going to be his bride, was bitterly disappointed that she had not been allowed to return with Gray, as he had foolishly expected; and never having been taught to deny himself anything or to control his feelings, he fell as ill as he had done before. He would eat nothing nor take pleasure in anything, but lay all day on a heap of cushions, gazing at the picture of the princess.
"If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I'll die!" was all this spoilt boy would say; and at length the king, in despair, resolved to send a fresh embassy to Lucy's father to implore him to permit the marriage to be celebrated at once. "I would have presented my plea in person, he added in his letter, "but my great age and infirmities do suffer me to travel; however my envoy has orders to agree to any arrangement that you may propose."
On his arrival at the palace Gray preached his young master's cause as fervently as the king could have done, and entreated that the princess might be consulted in the matter. The queen hastened to the furnished underground, and told her daughter of the diminished state of the prince. Lucy sank down at the news, but soon came to herself again, and set about inventing a plan which would enable her to go to the prince without risking the ominous pronounced prophecy over her by the wicked fairy.
"Ah Ha!" she exclaimed joyfully at last. "Let's build a carriage through no light can permeate, and let it be brought into my room. I will then get into it, and we can travel swiftly during the night and arrive before dawn at the palace of the prince. Once there, I can remain in some underground chamber, where no light can enter."
"How clever you are," cried the queen, embraced her in arms. She hurried away to tell the king.
"What a cool wife our prince will have!" said Gray bowing low; "but I must hasten back with the tidings, and to prepare the underground chamber for the princess." And so he departed.
In a few days the carriage commanded by the princess was ready. It was made of white leather, scattered over with large golden wheels, and lined inside with silver brocades embroidered with green spiral patterns. It had no windows, of course; but Levy, whose counsel had been asked, had managed to light it up with a soft glow that came from the word light, which she had written in the air.
It was carried straight up into the great hall of the basement, and the princess stepped into it, followed by her faithful maid of honour, Mirajane, and by her other lady in waiting Lisanna, who also had fallen in love with the prince's portrait and was bitterly jealous of her mistress.
The fourth place in the carriage was filled by Lisanna's mother, who had been sent by the queen to look after the three young people.
Now Barakiel, an angel, godfather of the princess Angel, to whom the prince had been betrothed before the picture of Lucy had made him faithless. He was very angry at the slight put upon his godchild, and from that moment kept careful watch on the princess. In this journey he saw his chance, and it was he who, invisible, sat by Lisanna, and put malignant thoughts into the minds of both her and her mother.
The way to the city where the prince lived ran, for the most part, through a thick forest and every night when there was no moon, and not a single star could be seen through the trees, the guards who travelled with the princess opened the carriage to give it an airing. This went on for several days, till only a twelve hours journey lay between them and the palace.
Lisanna persuaded her mother to cut a great hole in the side of the carriage with a sharp knife which she herself had brought for the purpose. In the forest the darkness was so intense that no one perceived what she had done, but when they left the last trees behind them, and emerged into the open country, the sun was up, and for the first time since her babyhood, Lucy found herself in the light of day.
She looked up in surprise at the dazzling brilliance that streamed through the hole; then gave a sigh which seemed to come from her heart. The carriage door swung back, and by magic, a white doe sprang out, and in a moment was lost to sight in the forest. But, quick as she was, MiraJane, her maid of honour, had time to see where she went, and jumped from the carriage in pursuit of her, followed at a distance by the guards.
Lisanna and her mother looked at each other in surprise and joy. They could hardly believe in their good fortune, for everything had happened exactly as they wished. The first thing to be done was to conceal the hole which had been cut, and when this was managed (with the help of the vengeful angel, though they did not know it), Lisanna hastened to take off her own clothes, and put on those of the princess, placing the crown of diamonds on her head. She found this heavier than she expected; but then, she had never been accustomed to wear crowns, which makes all the difference.
