The morning light shown through the curtains; opening her eyes and letting out a loud yawn, the brunette stretched and leaned out of bed. The room was foreign and quite surprising. Isabelle expected her room; with it all its familiar furnishings but saw antique dressers and the large mirror she stared into yesterday. She walked around the room and admired the details she missed the night before. The curtains were an off white color due to age and everything metal was encrusted in gold. Noticing her feet were cold she looked down and saw white slippers. "I missed a lot last night." She smiled to herself while putting on the nice footwear. The inside felt like rabbit's fur but much thicker and definitely kept her feet warm. "Hmm, I am curious as to what kind fur this is." Shuffling across the floor she looked outside to see the gray sky above and what looked to be a garden below with life long gone from its womb. "I wonder why nothing grows here." After that thought she felt a grumble in her stomach and decided to get dressed. "This will be the first time I will dress myself, well here we go." There was a knock at the door. Having the nightgown almost over her head Isabelle hastily tugged it back down and went to see to who was there. Upon opening the door she saw the woman from before standing with her chin lowered and her hands in front of her. "Are you here to help me?" Asked the shocked girl, the figure gave a single nod and Isabelle shrugged stepping to the side to let her in.
Isabelle followed the woman as she gestured for her to enter the washroom. There the large white tub was filled with steaming frothy water; it engulfed the room with the smell of roses. Small hands caught the top of her nightgown and pulled it off. Out embarrassment Isabelle immediately covered herself. "I am sorry but most of my maids leave the room when I am bathing, no one really stays in here with me." She spoke while easing into the hot water. Breathing in the sweet aromas she began to relax despite there being another person in the room, she felt one hand on her shoulder and then the hard scrubbing of a sponge on her back. She was pestered into standing up, where the assault continued on the rest of her body. After the vigorous washing Isabelle was allowed to sit and had her neck guided backward with closed fingers over her eyes. A warm waterfall poured down her scalp causing her to take in a deep breath while she enjoyed the sensation of a slightly cold liquid massaged in afterwards with gentle fingers. She kept her eyes tightly closed afraid to get the soap in her eyes but could barely keep her neck in its position with the rest of her body becoming completely relaxed. No one had washed her hair since she was a girl. This feeling made her feel so calm that when it was time to get out she was somewhat sad; even with the water getting cold. Led over to a small chair and vanity in the room she sat dazed while staring at her wrinkled fingers.
As the woman pulled on her hair Isabelle looked up and noticed how her hair had been braided over her head into a tightly woven bun. Her faceless companion never made a sound as she did her work, just gesturing whenever Isabelle needed directions on where to be. When she was done they walked together back into the main room where they stopped at the large dresser by the wall. Opening the doors revealed a large array of dresses; the colors were breathtaking and the styles outrageous, none looked fit for anyone less than a queen. Pulling out a couple the masked female tilted her head as though asking what her thoughts were on them. The one on her left arm was a large red dress with dark garnets lining the bodice and golden frills across the opening in the center where her petticoat would show. Making a face she looked to her right and saw an even less appealing dress, much larger than the first one was and far more gaudy. "I think I will do this part." Putting up her hand to both choices she sunk her arms into the many dresses pulling out the plainest white gowns amongst them; mainly because it stuck out against the colors. It had a low collar with blue trimming around the neck, the sleeves and the opening down the front. Her companion lifted it up and helped to get it on. "There, more dresses like this will be much better for me. I like being able to move around. Dresses like those will be too hard to maneuver in especially if I have to wear a corset with them." Her mind went to the last day she was at home when Merta fastened her into the first corset she had ever worn. It made her waist small but the whole time she felt a little out of breath and couldn't wait to get it off, though the corset did help her to fit into Gretchen's dress immensely. Extravagant dresses weren't really something she liked to lounge in very often unless told otherwise, when the girls were young she would often wear boy clothing; reason why she always played the prince when they were pretending. Her father would laugh every time he saw her saying he always wanted a son. As she grew older she did her best to wear dresses though when she could she would actually wear some of Stephan's clothing after he grew out of them. Isabelle didn't disagree with gowns but she preferred men's clothing because it required less work than wearing women's attire.
"Alright, I am all dress now what shall we do?" Her faceless companion stood there; despite the fact not a peep came from her there was hope that words would still come from the blank figure. A grumble in her stomach made the woman's head lift up and went to the door; opening it she waited while Isabelle followed when they were shouldered again she began to walk while keeping pace with her. The hallway was dark despite it being daylight outside. There weren't many windows, only one that was right by her door and was doing its best to illuminate the hallway. As they walked down it became darker and darker eventually the candles provided the most light. The high ceilings had paintings of epic battles and the walls were an off colored yellow, their steps echoed off the walls as they made their way down the hall. Isabelle could smell something sweet and warm as they came to one large doorway when looking in she saw a gargantuan dining hall. Statues of men in armor lined the walls and on the far one a painting of a man. She could see a resemblance of all the men they looked stoic and were all lovely to say the least. The armor on the men changed as she walked down the table to where she could see a place was set for her. "They must be the men of this castle, perhaps the kings? The princes?" She thought. Isabelle stood in front of the painting admiring the portrait. There was blond man standing with one foot on a glorious throne, he looked off into the distance and had his hand holding the lining of his jacket. His hair pulled back into a tight ponytail though you could see the golden curls behind his shoulder, his eyes were a striking brown. The light hit his cheek bones creating a shadow that stopped at his jaw line. Standing agape at the man she almost forgot why she was there until another noise came from below her chin. Shaking off the red that traveled to her skin she sat down and at the breakfast before her.
She smiled up at the man every now and then as though at any moment he would come to life and sit down with her. Isabelle had never felt such butterflies before. "I wonder if that is King Adam. Must be if I remember correctly I have seen a large painting of Fredrick in the dining hall back home before. Wow if that is him then he must be quite admirable in person." Her face felt warm again. Finishing up the cereal she got up and began walking down the other side of the room seeing the men on that side. "Hmm there isn't one of him. I wonder why? Well perhaps I can ask him later." She looked over at the expressionless maid and despite her better judgment asked a question. "When will I see my future husband?" Nothing. "Never mind I will see him when I see him I guess." They came to the center foyer and Isabelle thought that if she can't talk at least she could lead. "Can you show me around the castle?" A nod was the response as the women took off into one direction. She would stop periodically in front of door allowing Isabelle to walk in. After spending time in the room the brunette would come out and off they would go to another location repeating the process. The rooms were more or less the same; plenty of studies, a few libraries and music rooms but there was one room that caught her attention enough to stay longer than the others. This one looked over a large fountain that was dry, large trees created a path to what seemed to be another part of the courtyard. In this room a picture of a family was in it, one older looking man and an older looking woman. They were surrounded by five gorgeous boys and two young men. All had the same light features with the older man and one of the young ones having the only brown eyes. A collection of swords lined the top walls and book cases were under them. A desk was by the window and a large chair was in front of the fire place. "I wonder if this is his room." She thought while touching the books. At the desk there was a leather bounded book with a black ribbon in the middle. Sitting down she opened it up. "Uh, its in a language I can't read." She sighed closing it. "Well it's probably best anyway, sort of looks like a diary."
Finding that most of the books were in the same language she decided that it was time to move on. Stopping only once to eat lunch they had come full circle and were back to Isabelle's room when it was nightfall. "This place is so big! I couldn't believe the number of rooms!" She exclaimed. "Thank you for following me." The brunette fell on the bed before she realized, she had fallen asleep. The clock struck midnight waking the dozing girl. "Oh my goodness! She yawned while rubbing her eyes and could hear a light knocking at the door. Opening it she found the same black masked woman, her head tilted up and began to walk in one direction. Isabelle followed but felt unsure as to where she would be needed at this hour. They came to the room where she had spent some time in before and the woman opened the door bowing once while seeming to disappear into the darkness. Her breath got caught in throat when she saw a young man sitting at the desk. It was him, beauty incarnate covered in glorious blond curls and looking quite large in his chair. The girl came in, halting when he spoke.
"Sit by the fire place." His head came up for that moment and went back down after he was done. Shaken by the man she did as she was told sitting on the ground expecting him to take the chair. Time passed by and the man said nothing and continued writing. Isabelle was beginning to tire of this when he seemed shocked by her choice. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" Amusement passed through his lips while he came up leaning against the nice armchair, he looked down at her with a slight grin to his face.
"I thought you would want the seat your highness." Sheepishly Isabelle flicked her eyes over at him. She noticed that one eye was a deep brown and the other was almost a white blue. Quickly before they met she brought them back to her hands.
"Did you now?" More amusement came from his tone. "What makes you think that I am the king?" He came down to her level putting one hand on his knee while resting the other under his jaw.
"You look like the man in the paintings."
"Ah I see. Well forgive me for last night you came earlier than I expected and I wasn't looking my best. I wanted to make a good impression on my future bride." He smiled while looking at her. "Tell me about your day." Isabelle's skin was burning from his smile and she had to look away in fear that he would see it, why did she feel so coy around him? His shirt was open in the front revealing a nice chiseled chest with a sweet bronze color from the fire. "Kill her, kill the lying girl." The voices whisper. His forehead crinkled a bit when he heard them but was able to brush them off for the time being.
"My day was well. I spent it with that female maid. She doesn't say much."
"None of them do anymore." He sighed closing his black eyelashes down for a moment before opening them to look at her some more. "Does her silence bother you?"
"I am not used to it, also the fact that the servants are covered from head to toe with black. They look so blank."
"They don't like their appearance."
"Why?"
"They are no longer what they used to be, nothing is anymore." His face became sullen as he spoke.
"Where were you today?"
"So many questions," Adam turned away having an almost painful expression as he stood up walking back to the desk. "She is going to leave you."
"Are you going to answer my question?"
"I really don't need to. You are just a girl not a princess, even as my queen I don't really need to answer anything you ask." His voice was condescending as he responded.
"Well I guess you don't need to answer me your highness."
"Does it bother you that I wasn't around today?"
"It was a little lonely since my servant didn't speak to me."
"I can see you during the day but you must promise me something." His hands clasped together and his stern mismatched eyes met with hers capturing them in an unbreakable hold. "You mustn't look at me in the daytime."
"Why?"
"You will die of fright, unfortunately I cannot go into details but you must give me your word."
"What?" she was perplexed at his request.
"Belle, I cannot speak of it for it is part of the curs..."His voice died off almost as though his words lost their wind; he cleared his throat. "Please."
"It will be like last night then?"
"Yes, during the day you can only know my touch and my tender breath against your neck." His voice seemed full of heat while he ran one finger over his lips and looking out the window. "At night you will know that I am real or that I am dream, whichever you desire." Adam looked up his face growing long and almost fatigued by the conversation. Already seeing twilight, he got up feeling the ache in his chest once more and changes from the night fading. "I have to go," He grunted and abruptly exited the room. "Call on me anytime, just remember the promise."
Woot really cranking out these chapters I am really enjoying this. The story has really taken on a life of its own. Never really wanted to put in there the beast by day man by night kind of thing but anyway tell me how you guys like it. I am curious about your thoughts about this story it would mean a lot to me :3