Hi, so here is another story from me, my first for this fandom that i discovered I loved after watching the movie.
I am going to keep this short and sweet-I am including the songs here, I am not great with spelling and grammar and I am planning to make this about twenty chapters long.
There is going to be some swearing-it wouldn't be a story without that from me so if that offends you stop now.
I tend to do a mass update of my stories all at once so please keep that in mind.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.
Please Read and Review.
The Slipper And The Lily
Chapter 3-The Dream Book
Lili wakes up with a song in her head. Call her insane but she knows that it's not her song either.
Lili wakes up with a song in her head. Call her insane but she knows that it's not her song either.
There was not one young person at court who could ever claim that they got enough sleep but as she slept in the next morning she found that the usual pull of dizzy sleep did not work. It was actually easy to get out of bed this morning even though every inch of her body wanted to relax. The chamber was warm and chaotic, everyone helped everyone in the chambers and it was only the young girls that shared. Most married or unmarried ladies shared with each other and there was more decorum that came with that then there was in the maid's chambers.
But she woke up early and more to the point she woke up humming. It was like the song that was in her head had been put there in the dream.
She got out of the warm bed and padded to the small desk which she shared with some of the other maids and she picked up her quill and before she could stop herself she wrote down the song that was in her head. She didn't know why she was thinking of it or even why she was writing it down but she knew that she was writing it.
Suddenly, suddenly it happens and the dream comes true. Wonderfully, beautifully it happens and your world is new. Magically, you're holding the golden prize. Mystically, your castles begin to rise
Suddenly, dizzily you're spinning with the thrill of life. Suddenly, thirstily you're drinking in your fill of light. But secretly you just can't believe it's true. When wonderfully, beautifully. Suddenly it happens to you…
She paused as the ink dripped onto the parchment. She didn't know what came next she just knew that there was parts of the song that came next. It was hard to think on dreams if she was being honest.
She tapped her foot against the cold floor and sighed. It was still winter but winter was always over sooner this side of Christmas and not the other side. It was dreadfully dull…life was dreadfully dull. John was right when he said that due to their positioning nothing was going to change. Only he said it morosely for different reasons than to her.
Dressing with help from Caroline she found she wasn't needed. The Dowager Queen had decided to take breakfast in bed as she mostly did during the winter months and so only the ladies were needed which gave her free reign of the castle. She found herself once again sat in the Prince's chambers with him moaning at how utterly unfair his life was while John went through his winter wardrobe seeing what could be saved for another year and what needed to be replaced.
"Do you know what the problem is?" he said to nobody. "I am not a servant. A servant can marry who they want"
John shot her a look that promised her a bollocking if she opened her mouth. That only proved her suspicions that he had not told the Prince about Caroline. She sighed shooting him another long look over her book and then.
"If you want to switch lives you can at a heartbeat's notice you know Sire. Might give me the chance to see life outside these walls?"
"Is that what you want?"
"The furthest away from this castle I have been is when we took the Royal Barge for a picnic last spring. I have never even seen our border guards never mind gone that far. I certainly have never travelled through another country with the howling winds at my back"
"And the howling winds were not the only things at your back" her brother said with a wry grin. "I love you little sister but you do have a wonderful way of making a fine romance out of the tedium that comes with long days on horseback"
"Your arse falling asleep" the Prince muttered as her brother took up the prompt.
"Your toes dropping off—"
"Seeing new people and new places—"
"I can assure you Lilibet that where we went was not a new place and a new person indeed had it been a different person the outing might have had a different endgame"
"Teeth"
"Beg your pardon?"
"Your Royal Father was announcing at dinner that you now have a new thing about teeth"
"Oh for the love of—"
"Sire!"
"Oh John I live in the Maid's chamber it's nothing I haven't heard before in spades"
That threw them both for a second as she knew it would. Trust a couple of men to assume that young ladies all behaved perfectly when indeed they did not. The Ladies might but the Maids were a bunch of girls away from home for the first time and nobody could make them behave not even the Dowager Queen who to be honest after three cups of wine was more dangerous and foul mouthed than the rest of them especially when she was alone and especially when it was about something or someone she didn't like.
It was wonderful to serve such a lady.
And Lilianna could say that with a straight face too.
There was a pause and then the Prince threw himself off the bed and stared out the window.
"At least it's stopped snowing. That's usually a good sign, once it stops snowing then we can clear the snow and go riding…sure sign that winter is fading from view. Tell me Lilibet has anything else happened in our absence?"
"Not much—the King wrote a note to the wife of a member of the nobility I believe—well he had someone else write it—you know how it is, something about the condolences on the death of her husband that kind of thing and then the rest of it has been staying as warm as possible. And the Lord Chamberlain keeps talking about war but to be honest with you I think that is mostly to keep your father terrified if I may say so about your unmarried state—"
"No you may not say so sister"
"No I rather like that picture" the Prince said with a grin. "One day I shall be able to retire that man."
"You'll pry that seal out of his cold dead hands" Lilianna said with a wry grin. "Even the Prime Minister says so"
The Prince laughed and then perhaps realising that it was actually not funny to laugh at things that were more than likely true his face fell into lines of utter misery.
"It cannot be that bad" she said putting down her book. "I mean…surely one of them has to have teeth right?"
"Teeth is not the problem. I want to love my wife."
"And that doesn't happen if it's an arranged marriage"
"You wouldn't understand Lilibet"
She opened her mouth thinking of Flynn's smile but John shot her a look and she fell silent.
"Love is a nightmare" the Prince said with all the viciousness of someone Lillianna thought, who had never been in love.
She turned back to her book.
Better to keep her opinions to herself.
As the snow slowly melted she found that the mood in the castle got more and more desperate. There was a real rush to get the Prince married and it showed. And more to the point she couldn't get that song out of her head. She had taken to a routine where in the morning she would sit and write it out but she never got past the second verse. It seemed like there was a word or perhaps a name that was needed to make it fit but she couldn't figure out what. Once she had scrawled her own name but she knew it was so false that she threw the entire batch of parchment into the fire which spat up and nearly set the hearth alight.
She did not see the fuss on the entire marriage mart but she knew that she could not see Flynn while the council was in session as he had to constantly assess the debate with his father. She did see him at meals but with John's eyes roving the hall she did not dare engage. Her brother seemed to have a sixth sense for when something involved her and he would come down like a ton of bricks falling high from the tower. She was not sure that he was ready for her to say that she had her eyes on a boy.
And she was sure as hell not ready for the Prince to know. That was the thing with their close friendship. It felt sometimes like she had two big brothers and both of them would react in two different ways and she was not sure that she wanted to share this delicious secret with anyone other than herself.
Problem was nobody had ever told Flynn that subtly was the right way to go.
"Why is that boy looking at you?" John had asked one morning.
"Which boy?"
"The one who looks like he has a thatched roof on his head"
She shrugged.
"I'm nearly fifteen John, I have lots of boys looking at me"
John turned to stare at her so fast his hair nearly went flying.
"What does that mean?"
She opened her mouth to say…well…actually she didn't know what she was going to say but then.
"Lili?"
"Yes Caroline?"
"Can you come and assist me with the Dowager Queen's hair? She's in a mood where she likes it to be you"
That was code for the Queen was in a foul mood with her son and not in the mood for anything other than a glass of wine and bed and so she nodded and smiled sweetly at her brother and left him standing there in the Great Hall looking very annoyed.
Caroline watched as Lili left and then turned to see John staring into space with a very put out expression. She did not know if it was appropriate to consider a man 'cute' but the expression on John's face reminded her of a puppy that had just had a treat taken away from him and it made her want to giggle and stroke his face. Seeing as she could only do one she giggled and his expression snapped back up to hers and this time he smiled.
She dared to take another step forwards so it looked like they were in deep conversation. It was easier now that his sister was in the court circular because she was able to explain that she was speaking to John about Lili. She suspected actually that her mistress knew that it was not the real reason why they would speak but she knew about it unofficially rather than officially which made all the difference in the world.
"What's wrong?"
"I think my sister just grew up"
"John" Caroline said fairly. "All little girls have to grown up and discover boys you know"
"Is she discovering boys?"
"I think so" she said biting down hard on her lip so that she didn't giggle. John looked so utterly woebegone that without caring what it looked like she took his hand and ducked under the curtain that hid the draft from one of the windows.
It was cold but it was private and she sat down and tugged John down next to her where he stared at her for one long second and then dropped his head down onto her shoulder.
"I hate everything" he mumbled and this time she could not help but giggle and was rewarded with a small smile from the man she loved more than she loved anything else in the world.
It was just utter heartbreak that she could not have him.
Utter…utter…heartbreak.
But that was love for you wasn't it?
Just heartbreak.
And there you go, hope you enjoy.
Next Chapter-In which his sister is growing up. And John does not know what to do with this information.