I soon found myself sitting in front of a vanity as a beautician brushed and set my hair. The prince had mentioned once that he like my hair down, so in deference to him, I told them to let most of my hair fall free. The beautician had curled the front half of my hair back and allowed the rest she set in soft waves down my back. To my surprise, she also put a golden tiara with a delicate circular design in my hair that curved gracefully around the pile of curls on top of my head. She then set to applying my make-up, including a beautiful shade of violet that matched my gown.
A little more than an hour and a half after I had been taken to prepare for the evening, I joined the rest of my family in the parlor until it was time to go down to the coronation, Brenna had also joined us. As we were waiting, a soft rap came at the door and in strolled Ashton, replete in a blue dress uniform with a bright red sash falling from his left shoulder to his right hip where it met his black belt. He had his white dress gloves tucked into his belt for the time being. He wore black slacks and shining black shoes as well. I stood and gave him a once over, amazed at how he was able to look even that much more handsome that he did this morning when I thought he couldn't have looked better.
I heard the slight intake of breath from the prince when he got the whole effect of my dress and hair, and blushed. He quickly made his way across the room and swept me up in his arms and kissed me as if he hadn't seen me in years rather than the few hours we had truly been apart. "You look absolutely ravishing." He sighed in my ear.
"You look equally as yummy, yourself." I smiled back at him, knowing my eyes had taken on a bit of a golden tint.
"I love you," he whispered huskily in my ear before kissing me again. "I have something for you." He told me, taking a short step back so he could reach into the pocket of his dress pants and retrieve a small box. Opening it, he pulled out a small silver ring, similar to the one Brenna had loaned me, only instead of a small pearl where the heart of the clauddagh would normally be, sat a multi-faceted diamond that sparkled and shone brightly, even in the dim light of the room. Seeing the question in my eyes, he explained that the diamond was an enchanted diamond that sparkled even in the dimmest of nights. "My eyes aren't as good in the dark as yours, this way I will always be able to find you." He smiled, removing the borrowed ring and replacing it with the one he had brought. "Normally I would have given you a ring from the family jewels, but I thought this one would suit you and our story better."
"I love it," I smiled up at him, "And I love you."
"I love you too," He murmured, pressing his lips once more to mine before looking over my shoulder at the two young women who had silently come up behind me. "Brenna, I think I have something of yours." He smiled at her, placing the borrowed ring back on her right hand, "Thank you, my friend."
"No worries," She smiled back at him before turning her focus to me, "Now let's see this new treasure that Ash has gifted you with." As Brenna and Bianca oohed and ahed over my ring, my mother joined the group as Ash looked on proud of himself and the men slapped him on the back in congratulations.
"I sincerely hope you have the most honorable intentions for my granddaughter." I heard Grandpa say to the prince.
"Yes sir, I do."
"Huff puff, forget honorable," Papa teased, "I want grandcubs someday." The men, excepting Grandpa laughed good naturedly at this.
"On that note," Mama added as the women joined the men again, "When are you wanting to get married?"
"As soon as possible," Ash, me, and Papa said in unison.
"Wolf, is there something you not telling me?" Mama pointed a half-serious glare at her mate.
"Nothing like that, my sweet little lamb chop," Papa assured her. "It's just common for wolves to marry quickly, often within days or weeks of meeting their mate. We had rather a long engagement, three whole months. It was practically an eternity."
"Three months is usually cause for suspicion in most non-wolf circles." Mama pointed out. "It generally is an indication that the bride is pregnant."
"You also have to take into account it takes months of planning to arrange for a state wedding." Wendell piped in, "Which is expected of their union since, after tonight, Ashton will be King of the First Kingdom."
"Either way, we should probably leave in the morning and put some distance between these two on every full moon from tomorrow until after they are married." Mama nodded, "The Kingdoms will be shocked when they hear of Ashton and Christina's engagement. No need to make it any more scandalous."
"I think I may have a solution to that." Ash chimed in, "Most of the reason that state weddings take so long to plan is that they have to wait long enough for people to be able to travel. Everyone is already here, we can get married tonight while everyone is here for the coronation."
"Yeah, that won't look scandalous at all." Grandpa huffed.
"The man has a point." Wendell agreed, earning a harsh look from my grandfather, "I think it's a grand idea, true the timing may seem scandalous, but I think so long as they are careful for a few months or at least until the Kingdoms realize that pregnancy was not the reason behind the rushed betrothal and marriage, it will be fine."
"We can also explain to those here that it's culturally acceptable for wolves to marry quickly, even if marrying a non-wolf." I added.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Ash smiled at me before waving towards a young woman who I hadn't noticed before, carrying a large box. "That's why I brought this. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of asking the royal seamstress to alter it for you."
The young woman gently laid the box on a nearby table and pulled out yards and yards of soft white fabric. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and sleeves that fell off the shoulder, a purple sash, similar in color to the dress I currently wore, was attached along the trim waist. The bodice, and gauzy skirt and train was tastefully decorated with pearls and diamonds scattered through its flowing length. It was one of the most beautiful dresses I'd ever seen. My eyes welled up with unshed tears of joy.
"It is the dress that every woman in my family has worn since the days of Cinderella. If anything is ever added, it is a sash around the waist to reflect the woman's individual style." He explained, "Besides I figured you likely didn't bring your mother's dress with you."
Mama blushed, "I didn't have one, not really, Wolf and I got married when I was just starting to show that I was pregnant with Warren, I wore a summer maternity dress at the courthouse."
"Oh, I didn't mean to offend," Ash looked embarrassed.
"I'm not offended," Mama assured him. "But how are we going to get the children here?"
"I took the liberty with that as well, a messenger was sent by traveling mirror to request their presence. They should be arriving shortly." As if on cue, my younger siblings came bursting through the door in into our parents' waiting arms.
"Messenger said, 'Stina's gettin' married," My youngest sister, Felicity told our mother as her twin, Fiona, stood nodding in agreement to her sister.
"That's right," Mama smiled at her before turning her gaze to Kevin who stood, critically glaring at my fiancé, looking as if he was about to growl at the young man. "Kevin, stop that."
"He's alright, Kev," Papa said, placing his hand on the young wolf's shoulder, "I wouldn't let him marry your sister if he wasn't." This seemed to relax the boy.
"Well then, I believe you have some changing to do," Ash smiled, before kissing me on the cheek, "I'll be waiting in the chapel in two hours, I've already sent messengers to inform the guest that the coronation is being moved there. I love you."
"I love you too," I smiled at Ash as he quickly slipped out the door.
"I think we better get that dress on ya, don't you think?" Brenna asked as I was quickly surrounded by the women and guided back to my rooms to change into the borrowed dress. I was surprised at how quickly they had worked to do the exchange. As soon as I had stepped into the dress so as to not muss my hair, Leonia pulled up the dress, as I slipped my arms in to the sleeves. Mama made quick work of the buttons as Bianca secured the sash around my waist. Lastly, Brenna secured the filmy white veil that had been in the bottom of the box, to the crown of my head just behind the curls that had been piled there.
Just as the women finished preparing me, my younger sisters burst in to the room, each wearing little white dresses with purple sashes around their petite waists. They twirled excitedly as all five year olds in pretty dresses are want to do, for Mama who smiled at the haphazardly tied bows on their backs. "We got dressed all by ourselves." Fiona crowed proudly.
"Papa helped us with our bows." Felicity added beaming next to her sister.
"That explains the bows," Mama murmured to the adults, "Let's see if we can't get them a little straighter, though." Mama and Brenna made quick work of the bows as the little girls continued to wiggle excitedly. As soon as the bows were straight, the girls ran back out again to show Papa. Mama smiled amused at their retreating forms, "It's a good thing they don't have their tails yet or else those dresses would be riding up from all the wagging." She laughed.
Brenna looked confused as she looked between Mama and I, searching for an explanation. I took pity on her and explained that wolves don't develop their tails until they reach adolescence. "That's why Kevin was acting so irritable when he first got here. His tail started coming in a few months ago, which means either tomorrow, or the next full moon, he will experience his first cycle." Brenna nodded her understanding before joining the other women to help carry the long train of my dress as we joined the men and my sisters to walk down to the chapel.