Chapter 9 – Astronomia

10th March 1914

The maids of the palace were running all over the corridors and the stairs. They had to get prepared for the party! The palace wasn't decorated enough, the King was on a meeting with the queen and the princess was still sleeping!

Felicia, the first daughter of the King, was already awake and ready. She was wearing her usual long sleeved green and white ball dress, with her long brown hair in a ponytail, clipped with a golden hair slide flower shaped. Her pale skin was almost shining with the sun.

She was walking fast on the corridors, towards her little sister's room. It was ten in the morning, and she wasn't awake yet. What a lazy girl!

Felicia quickly opened the door of her sister room. "Good morning!" She said while walking to the curtains she opened as fast as possible. It was working: her sister hid under her pillows. Her brown and long hair was hiding her tanned skin. "What do you want?" She mumbled.

"I want you to wake up, lazy bones! You still have to get ready for the party!"

"Yeah, and? I thought the party was on the evening, not morning!" She replied rubbing her eyes.

"You have to put your dress on."

"I can do it in five minutes."

"I don't care, get up!" Felicia said with a smirk, throwing a pillow at her sister.

"Okay… Only because you're asking it politely and with softness."

"Oh, and!"

"What?" She sighed loudly.

"Don't forget, Father and Mother's best friends' son Leo is coming tonight!"

"And?" The princess scratched her arms once she stood up.

"Remember you have to find a fiancé!" Felicia replied excitedly.

"And?"

"You'll meet a boy tonight!"

"And?"

"He could be the one for you!"

"Please… If he is like the last one Mother tried to introduce me… I don't want a man who only lives for being the-best-warrior-of-the-whole-universe!"

Felicia laughed. Her sister opened her wardrobe to find a dress to wear. She liked to choose what to wear by herself. "So, what would be your kind of boy? I always wanted to know that!" Felicia asked, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Her sister shrugged. "I don't know. I don't like the boys who like fighting. I think I'd want a pacifist boy who would use weapon only if it is necessary."

"I always knew you liked shy boys." Felicia winked.

"That's true. I like boys shy and mysterious. If my fiancé was like this, my life would be perfect." Felicia smiled. The princess finally found a white long sleeved dress, with sorts of leaves drawn all over the bottom of it. "I'll wear this one."

"If you want to." Her sister walked towards her dressing table. She sat on the chair and took a hairbrush.

"And physically?" Felicia asked again. She was too curious.

"Well, I don't really care about how he would look like." She shrugged again. "But if the eyes could be blue, it would be perf-" She stopped, trying to undo a bow on her hair.

"I still don't understand why you don't like the maids." Felicia admitted. She shrugged.

"I like them. But I think they have enough work with cleaning the palace and cooking and everything. I can do it by myself!" The older sister smiled. She had always been kind hearted.

It took her ten minutes to get ready. Felicia was waiting for her aside her door. She didn't like walking on long dresses, but she had no others choices after all.

"You look pretty!" Felicia said.

"Thanks." Two maids walked in front of her and bowed. "Good morning princess!" "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning. I did, thank you, Rose, Violet."

"Your father King Andrea and your mother Queen Elenne just came back from the meeting. They are waiting for you in the ball room."

"Thank you." Felicia greeted them.

The maids walked away after it. "So, ready to see how the ball room looks like?" Felicia nodded.

The ball room was beautiful. All the tables were covered with white table clothes, with a lot of candles on them. The walls were covered with white roses –her favourites- and ivy. The floor was almost shining, and the huge windows would be covered by curtains until the beginning of the party. On the ceiling was hung a huge chandelier made of crystal candles.

The King and the Queen were standing at the middle of the room, talking with a maid who was greeting them.

The King Andrea was a tall man, with an impressive pale stature. He had an extensive crown of the top of his head, and a sword was tied on his back. He really looked more like a captain of an army than like a King.

The Queen Elenne was quite the contrary of her husband. She was smaller, and her tanned skin really contrasted with her Husband's pale one. She looked calm, and was holding a bouquet of blue orchids on her hands which were covered with gloves.

When he saw his daughters walking towards them, Andrea showed a happily smile.

"Felicia, Astronomia." He greeted them with a hug. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine, I think she is too." Felicia answered, looking at her sister. "I just had a hard time waking this girl up. I think she is not in the best of the moods."

"Hey! I didn't throw a pillow at you this morning! You did!" Astronomia replied, sticking her tongue out in her sister's direction.

"Hey, you leaved me no choices! You would still be sleeping!"

"And? I know how to get ready in five minutes!"

"It took you ten minutes this morning!"

"Oh, shut up, Felicia!"

Andrea and Elenne laughed. "Hey, it's not time for fighting! It's time for celebrating! Your mother and I have been married for twenty years today!" The King said while holding his wife by her shoulder. "And it's been twenty years since we started to reign over this realm."

"That's why you want me to meet that guy?" Astronomia sighed to herself, but was heard by her parents.

"Your sister is already engaged. You have to find someone too, sweetheart." Her mother explained softly. "It is not urgent. But one day you will have to get married."

"We're just helping you of finding the good one." Andrea winked. "Leo is a nice boy. He could teach you how to use a sword. He's really great at this."

Astronomia sighed and laughed ironically. "Sure."

"Remember that we're not forcing you on anything tonight, sweetheart." Andrea said. "If you don't like Leo, that's not a problem. We won't blame you for that."

Astronomia bowed. "Thank you."

Felicia saw the sad look on her sister's face. She quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Why don't we go on the garden, sister?"

She shrugged, and then nodded. "Why not."

The King smiled at them. "You can go to the city today if you want. Just make sure to be back for the ball tonight; we don't want you to miss it."

The girls nodded, before walking away. They decided to stay in the huge garden of the castle first.

A first part of the garden was mostly a labyrinth, made of hedges with pink and white roses all over. The roads were made of yellowish gravel, surrounded by whites and thin barriers.

The other part of the garden was made of lawn were there was only horse or heart shaped fountains and flowerbeds full white and pink roses. This place was where people of the court usually met when they wanted time alone to chat.

The sky was empty of clouds, so the sun was shining like never, making the garden look like a piece of heaven.

"Why don't they stop asking me to meet boys?" Astronomia sighed, as they walked slowly, riding up the bottom of their dresses. She knew that Felicia took her outside to talk to her about this. "I don't want to. I don't think I even want to marry a prince."

"They're doing it for your sake, sister." Felicia crossed her arms behind her back. "They want you to be happy. They just have a strange way to proceed. But keep in mind that they won't force you to do anything with him."

"I know." Her sister sighed. "But I want to marry for love, not for rules."

"Everyone wants that." Felicia put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "That's why Mother and Father leave you a choice. They want you to marry with the one you would feel the most happy with."

"You're right." Astronomia smiled. "Thanks, sis'."

"No problem." Felicia smiled.

"What about you? Is everything okay with Colin?" She asked, looking at her sister. Colin was Felicia's fiancé. They met during a trip on another planet, the realm of Eraklyon. Felicia was bored while her parents were on the meeting with the King, so she decided to go out on the city and the forest. That was on this forest that she met a boy who was playing guitar and singing with the softest voice she ever heard in her life. He was poor, his clothes were dirty and torn, but what she saw this day was almost an angel. They talked for hours, and became really close. So close that they ever kept contact when she came back on her own realm, Gaia. Some nights, he came at her balcony, singing her melodies she loved to hear. But one day, guards discovered him. When Felicia explained everything to her parents, they, at the contrary of what she thought, burst out laughing, and the King said "Then, marry him!" the most seriously of the world. That was this day that they became engaged.

"Well, everything is okay." Felicia seemed to enter a daydream. "He came to see me yesterday at midnight, on my balcony. He sang, like always. I like it so much…"

Seeing her sister's teasing smile, Felicia blushed. "Don't tell anyone about it."

"Well, if you do me a favour."

"What would it be?"

"I'll tell you later. Are we going to eat ice cream?"

"You bet!"

The beginning of the ball came sooner than they expected. The room was full of sounds of violins for the first dance of the evening. The moon was full and was shining like it never had before, making the floor of the room shine. With couples of dancers smiling and moving their dresses like fairies, Astronomia was dancing with her father, like tradition always said.

"Are you okay, Astronomia?" Andrea asked, looking at her daughter.

"I have a bad feeling father." She replied. "It's like something unexpected will happen tonight."

"Don't worry. The palace is secured: you don't have anything to worry about."

"Thank you." The violins stopped, and the couples changed partners, while Astronomia went to her sister and Andrea to Elenne.

The two princesses were "talking" with the boy Astronomia had to meet: Leo. Felicia promised her to be with her at this moment. Astronomia had to admit he was good looking: he had a quite tanned skin, with black short hair and black eyes. But, despite his appearance, she couldn't help finding him annoying (and she knew her sister was feeling the same by the way she was looking like she was falling asleep). This boy wasn't mean, but he was talkative. Too talkative. She met him an hour before, and since this hour, he only had been talking about him, about what he liked, about how he knew to fight, without even asking them to talk about them. Astronomia found it irritating. This boy wasn't for her at all.

She decided to look all around her quietly –he was too deeply onto his speech that he wouldn't notice that she wasn't listening-. Her parents were drinking with Leo's ones; Elenne was wearing a pink dress, with longs sleeves and a collar. Andrea was, as usual, wearing green outfits, with his sword still tied on his back. They always looked serious when people were around, but, when they were alone, they were acting completely differently: they were parents who loved each other deeply and who loved their daughters.

Astronomia smiled to herself. She didn't have to complain about her family. She was free to do anything she wanted as long as it wasn't stupid things. Some princesses couldn't even go on their garden without being surrounded by guards. At least, she had privacy.

When she finally decided to pretend being interested on what Leo was saying, she looked up again, but quickly, her gaze went away.

A pair of eyes was staring at the ball room through the darkness of the front door.

Astronomia gasped. These eyes were red, and were squinted; they were giving the impression that a vampire or a werewolf was about to attack her. Shaking her head and looking away, the princess tried to get into her head the idea that it was only a dream, an illusion, that she didn't see it at all.

But when she looked at there a second time, she knew she wasn't dreaming.

And she knew she wasn't dreaming when the chandelier fell on the floor and the walls collapsed. The air became colder, and was filled with mist.

What Astronomia saw ruined her life.

(Yes, I'm a romantic girl, and yes, I love white and pink roses.)

So, what do you think Astronomia saw which ruined her life?

I still hope you liked this chapter too! Reviews? :D