Book 2: Internal Threat

Ainslee

My mother carefully picks a skull fragment out of my hair, her jaw set but her lower lip still quivering a bit. Zoey and she had carefully unraveled the careful coif my maid had made earlier that morning to get all the blood and bits out of it. Then they scrubbed it, and me, thoroughly. While my mother helps me dress, Zoey disappears and so does the ruined wedding dress.

Zoey returns, and my mother and she repeat the same process on Princess Sophia while I sit, stunned, on the edge of my bed. The black and blood red gown I wear is accompanied by a different, black veil. It’s a sort of macabre wedding gown parody, meant for a funeral. I had no idea I even had one in my closet.

I guess they really did have me prepared for all occasions.

Princess Sophia emerges and gets plugged into a similar dress from her own collection, complete with veil. She looks a long time at her sleeves, then hiccups a sob.

I rise from the bed and quickly