Chapter 4

Festivities were called off for the week and postponed as the royal family recollected themselves. Carlotta and the other maids worked together to find all of the black dresses that they could for both Melody and Ariel to wear in their time of mourning. Melody needed some made merely because the last time she had been forced into mourning she was much younger and not all of Ariel's would fit her. Getting fitted for the dresses was a chore for her. Holding her arms out for a minute, moving slightly this way and that on a pedestal, slipping on shoes she didn't even know she owned in order to gain the proper length. All the while she stood silently, blocking out the attempts at conversation that the seamstresses tried. Instead her mind remained blank and her heart remained heavy. She remained separated from her parents in a selfish effort to avoid seeing them in pain. Melody knew her father would be handling the loss of Grimsby the worst. After all, he had just lost the father figure he had known the longest, even longer than he had known his own father.

A knock on the door indicated to Melody that she needed to be ready to go soon. The funeral began in about thirty minutes but Melody had been unable to force herself to get in her dress. Slowly she stood up to go answer the door, still in her pajamas. Chase stood on the other side in a newly tailored suit, black in agreement with everyone else's outfits. He played nervously with the buttons on his jacket, not used to wearing something this heavy. When she opened the door, Chase frowned at Melody. "Mel, I know you don't want to do this," he said softly, "and I'm sure that no one here wants to but you need to get dressed." Chase let himself in and began to go through her closet. "Is your mom making you wear the thing on your head that covers your face?"

Silently Melody went to her dresser and lifted up the veil that was on it. She set it back down and threw her pajamas to the side before stepping in her dress. Chase walked over and helped lace up the dress the best he could, following the quiet whispers of instructions from Melody. When she turned around he placed the veil on her head to match the way he had seen Ariel wearing it before. Quickly Melody pushed her hair back into a ponytail, not caring at this point in time about how she looked. Her shoes slipped on easily and when she was ready she finally made eye contact with Chase. He gave her the best smile that he could muster, hoping that in some way his smile could ease her pain. Instead it just brought tears to her eyes again and a burn to her throat.

Since the day that Grimsby had finally been pronounced dead by doctors, only after a day of remaining in medical care with the smallest of a pulse that finally ran out, Melody had only spoken to Chase. Other people had surrounded her but they were people who had no idea of the amount of pain she was feeling, aside from perhaps Carlotta. All of the guests had retreated to either the guest portion of the castle or to their ships in the harbor. Out of respect, some had even returned to their homes in order to allow the family time to mourn properly. All the while, Melody had remained closed off. The last time she had truly spoken to Chase was when he held her on the beach as she cried. Looking at him now only reminded her of the tears she had let out that day. Though she had isolated herself, Melody had been lonely. She had not sought out help or comfort from anyone and no one thought to offer it because they figured she wanted to be alone. Chase had been advised against it although at the second he saw the tears he cursed himself for not finding her sooner.

Taking her hand, Chase kindly said, "C'mon, let's go. I'll be here with you, don't worry." Melody stayed close to him for support. He quickly was becoming her stronghold, the one thing keeping her together. In her grief and quiet existence aside from Chase in the past few days, Melody had not recognized that those around them were noticing how she and Chase acted around each other. It was clear to many guests and servants that the pair had something special. Those who knew of Chase's true home questioned the ability of the couple to work out in the end. Would they split time between kingdoms? Would Melody continue to rule on land and Chase in the sea, only seeing each other every couple of months? The arrangement seemed nearly impossible, but imagining the two apart, especially when pushed together under the circumstances of a death, was an even more unlikely outcome.

Richard cursed under his breath when he heard the news that Melody and Jace, or whatever his name was, were sitting close together in the pews of the castle church. The old man croaking had taken away from his time with the princess and had only pushed her further into the arms of the mystery boy. No one seemed to know where he had come from, and he certainly wasn't a prince by a longshot. Constantly looking disheveled, an often times crass attitude, and then the weird action of speaking to animals which he seemed to partake in quite often. He truly couldn't be more than just a bump in the road for Richard, a mere pawn that he needed to knock out of the way. Melody was the only princess for him. She needed to be his queen. As the eldest he could not have the ugliest of wives compared to his brothers, and upon seeing Melody in person he knew she was superior to the rest.

While sitting in his room on his ship, picking at his fingernails, Richard heard a moderate knock on the door. He informed the individual that the door was open and that they were welcome to come in. When he redirected his attention to the guest, he was greeted by a young woman, no more than twenty years of age. She was short and slightly stout with thin lips and extremely thick dark hair. She was frumpy to say the least, a hideous beast compared to Melody in Richard's eyes. She wobbled when walking in and finally seated herself, sounding out of breath.

"And to whom do I owe the pleasure…?" Richard asked, eyeing the woman up and down. How she had managed to get her way to his room was a mystery. Had all of the guards and other men on the ship just ignored her and let her through? He was the most important person on the ship so for someone new and so off-putting to manage her way to his room was a shock to Richard.

"M-My name is Laila," she said, voice shaking. "And I know that you are Richard, eldest son and heir to a throne. I also know that you and I have something in common." Laila paused while Richard scoffed, clearly unable to understand how close their situations truly were. When his gaze focused on her again, she continued. "You wish to be wed to Princess Melody, correct?" A slow nod on Richard's part was given as his response. "And I wish to be wed to Chase. I know I am not of the same class or beauty or truly anything of Princess Melody's, but I believe I have a way to help us both get who we want…"

Richard was sitting up straight now from his previously hunched over position. He was a skeptic about mostly everything and from what this woman was saying it sounded as though she were implying something he should have been skeptical about. Yet at the thought of obtaining what he wanted, Richard pushed those thoughts to the side. A life with Melody might be right in his grasp. "Go on."

Laila smiled, relieved that he was listening to her. "To make a long story short, I propose we make them forget about one another, or at least forget any romantic feelings that were ever between them. Chase is not royalty," she continued, although she knew it was a lie, "and therefore would be unlikely to attempt a romantic relationship with a princess. If he ever decided to become bolder about it, you would already be by Melody's side as her loving husband and king." She hoped she was making sense and from the look of complete glee on Richard's face, she was. He asked how she planned to execute her idea to which she pulled out two tea bags, both filled with dried out and crushed autumn squill petals along with simple flavorings to suit the taste of each individual, cinnamon for Melody and mint for Chase.

"We just need to set them up for a tea party…" Laila began.

A/N: It has been AGES, and I know you're all probably so mad at me. However, I finally figured out where I am going with this story as I got lost with it before. Hopefully you can all forgive me and enjoy what's going on. Love you all 3