Princess Lily

Chapter 38

Baron Rothberg sat under the bleachers ready to give Counselor Vesky the signal.

Above him, Carl and the Empress sat chatting and completely unaware of what was going to happen.

"But mother Lily should've been-"

"Not another word Carl," said the Empress. "I don't want to hear one more word about Lily."

"Yes mother," said Carl and bowed his head. Sasha sat fanning herself. A tight-rope walker suddenly appeared and began to do flips on the tightrope.

"Boring," said Sasha, yawning.

Carl suddenly looked up to see Lily walking into the tent. All eyes suddenly riveted towards her. She came walking into the tent wearing an emerald green gown with long sleeves. Her long golden hair flowed down her back in a mane and shone beautifully. Clips held her hair back from her face with two thin wisps framing it.

Carl stood up suddenly and offered Lily his seat. Lily bowed slightly before accepting and sat down next to the Empress. Lady Molly went to sit behind the box the whole family was sitting in as Carl sat down in a seat beside Counselor Vesky and behind Lily. He was sending a clear message. Lily outranked him as his brother’s fiancé and the future Empress. 

"You look great Lily," Carl whispered from behind.

"Thank you," Lily whispered. She suddenly felt a hand grab her wrist tightly. Lily looked down to realize it was the Empress. The Empress who was sitting beside her spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'll see to you after the carnival."

Lily pulled her hand away and ignored her.

Bella suddenly came out.

"And may I present our beautiful acrobat!" boomed Lord Wodsworth.

Bella bowed and then swiftly did a series of backflips. Many people clapped and then she stood up and balanced herself on the toes of her right foot. She the bent backwards making her left leg rise up as her head dipped down behind her.

Many people applauded and Bella stood up. She bowed and then got a pen and loose sheets of paper out of her long purple cloak.

"Ladies and  gentlemen! This is my magic pen! It truly works!" She called a little girl up to touch the pen and try to see if there was any type of trick to it. The girl wrote her name and a few other random sentences. She declared that nothing was amiss with the pen. "It was given to me by a gypsy who said that since it’s creation, this pen has held magical powers. It shows a person their true identity. See." She held the pen up and handed it to the girl in front of her. “Say Abracadabra and push the button behind the pen,” Arabella instructed. The girl did as told and a splatter of ink erupted from the tip of the pen, landing neatly on the loose page in Bella’s hand. A sparrow appeared appeared. "A wonderful sparrow!" declared Bella. "Always helping others and very loyal! You must be a very sweet girl."

The girl looked away shyly and ran back to her seat.

"Try me next!" exclaimed Sasha.

Bella walked towards Sasha and gave her the pen. Sasha aimed at the paper in Bella’s hand and a splatter of ink hit the paper forming a snake. A roar of laughter issued from everyone who had seen and Bella decided to save the deceitful girl some embarrassment and not tell everyone her true nature.

 She then went up to Lily who had been pointed out by Anya. Holding the pen in front of Lily, Lily did as told and the ink splattering against the page in Bella’s hands formed a crown.

"A Princess!” Bella declared. “A beautiful Princess destined to be Queen and lead her people!" Bella announced.

Lily smiled.

"Keep it Princess," said Bella gently and slipped the pen into Lily's hand. "You'll be surprised what information this holds." She then turned and left. Everyone applauded Bella.

The clowns suddenly came out and started doing different antics making everyone laugh. They all assembled forming a pyramid before balancing plates on stick poles.

Lily clapped her hands happily, watching everything with merriment.

Fortius guards suddenly appeared, surrounding the carnival ring.

Counselor Vesky stood up. "Terribly sorry, Lady Sasha, for cutting your birthday party short," he said and then in a loud booming voice spoke up. "This carnival is under arrest for being in league with the Pacem outlaw Alexei Novikov! Especially Bella the acrobat!" he pointed towards Bella and realization dawned on Lilys eyes. Bella....she was Alexei's childhood friend!

But Lily had no more time to think as the Empress grabbed her arm and pulled her up suddenly.

"Come with me you rebel!" she hissed as Sasha took the pen from Lily.

"I'll figure out the trick to this pen," she muttered. "A snake, honestly. I was supposed to be the princess…" and Sasha walked of trying to pull the pen apart.

Lily was dragged all the way to the front of the castle.

"Bring out her old things!" called the Empress. In less than twenty minutes guards had brought out Lily's old Bavarian things. The last memories of Bavaria she had left. "Burn them!"

"No!" Lily exclaimed trying to free herself from the Empress's grip. She watched as her old photo albums were thrown in. Pictures of her and her family. Pictures of her father and the only picture of her and Helaine when they had been friends as little girls. She watched her old dresses go up in flames. Dresses that held so many memories. The first dress James had ever seen her in. The dress she had worn when James had proposed to her. She didn't cry. She refused to cry. She just silently watched the black smoke rise up into the sky. Sasha stood there snickering.

"Oh look the little peasant is crying for her peasant things," she snickered.

Lily at that moment felt anger boil and spill over. She freed her arm from the Empress's grasp and brought her hand back.

A deafening c***k filled the air that could be heard above the merrily crackling fire. Sasha staggered back clutching her cheek.

"I am sick and tired of you Sasha!" Lily shrieked. "You are always bad mouthing me to the Empress and are always plotting against me! I hope you're happy you conniving little wretch! I have nothing left to remember my old home by! Nothing!" Lily had a deranged look about her and her hair was a mess now. She looked as if she'd kill anyone that came within a few feet of her. This however did not scare the Empress.

"What impudence! You disrespectful girl! How dare you talk to Sasha like that?" The Empress gasped. "Sasha is a thousand times better than you. You shall never be half the lady she is. I think I must teach you another lesson! Lady Molly is going to be relieved from her duties."

Lily's eyes widened. Lady Molly was going to be punished because of her. It was highly insulting for Lady to be relieved of her Lady-in-waiting duties. 

"I'm not finished yet," the Empress said. 

She dragged Lily by the hand into a small room in the palace. The next thing Lily knew her long hair, which had grown all the way down to just below her butt, was being cut. It was cut all the way up to the small of her back. When Lily looked in the mirror she had to admit it looked stylish. It had been cut into layers starting from just beneath her face and framing it perfectly but her hair had been cut. She hadn't had it actually cut for sometime. A trim here and there maybe, but never a haircut. This was…

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She knew it was more her vain side crying over something so small as this but she'd become so attached to her hair and James had always loved her hair. He'd always liked the fact that it was so long.

Lily was pushed into her room where she fell into bed face down. A small click told her that the Empress had locked her door. She began to cry. She began to let everything out. She didn't just let the tears pour out of her eyes, she let out all her pain and sorrow in those tears. Big gasping wails reverberated throughout the room. She heard a small click and knew that Empress Sophia had unlocked the door. She was too caught up between her crying and wondering why Sophia was going to punish her again to notice that whoever it was, was now sitting on edge of the bed beside her. She suddenly felt a warm hand on her back and recognized it immediately.

"My Lily what's wrong?" asked a concerned voice, running his hand up and down her back for comfort. Lily turned onto her back and looked up into the warm eyes of Prince James full of concern.

 Indescribable joy filled Lily. James was back.

"Oh James," Lily sobbed. "I missed you so much."

 She let her hands snake around his neck as James leaned in.

James bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. As the kiss gradually deepened, a warm feeling spread through Lily and she felt as if everything was all right again.