The room was quiet. No one was talking. Lela and Kimi just had their eyes on the spy- the Queen's niece, Cora- the girl Lela was supposed to play friends with.
How much had she heard? Lela wondered.
"Why we're you leaning on my door instead of knocking and coming in?" Lela finally asked, folding her arms as she watched the girl look from her to Kimi, then around the room and back to her.
The girl had fair skin that almost looked pale, making the red around her cheeks and ears even more visible. So she was embarrassed that she got caught?
"Oh come on Princess, it was a joke, You know me, I like a good entrance," Cora lied. Lela hummed, nodding her head.
"Will you at least get up from the ground? You're ruining my carpet," Lela said the words in a cherry voice because the last thing she wanted was for the girl to notice a change in her.
Cora smiled, got up, and dusted her clothes, taking a seat on the chair Kimi offered, that smile still on her face.
Was it a thing in the Queen's side of the family, to always stay smiling? The first prince had been all smiles when she'd met him twice, the fourth prince and those little princesses had been the same, there was the Queen herself and her brother, now Cora. Lela's mind wandered a bit off, noticing that the King and Fayan didn't smile as much as the others did. Was scowling a thing on the King's side of the family? Although Lela hadn't seen anyone else from the King's side, it seemed likely.
Lela studied Cora. Despite her skin looking pale and almost white, Lela noticed that the princess's friend had smooth skin, and from the way she kept dusting her hands and face, it was obvious that she took great pride in her skin. It was only right that she did, her skin was beautiful, Lela thought.
The girl had round brown eyes and long eyelashes, which Lela thought she had gotten from her mother-even though she didn't get a closer look at the woman- because her father had sharp fox-like eyes. The girl had a slim face with high cheekbones and sculpted jaw, just like the Queen's, making her look just as regal. Her thick and long brown hair fell in waves behind her and Lela was jealous of the texture. She had never seen hair that looked that rich before. It only made sense what Kimi said about her hair. Overall, Cora was a very beautiful woman.
"Why are you in the palace?" Lela gave off a nonchalant vibe as she asked the question. Cora didn't have to know she was very invested in knowing why she and her whole family were at the palace.
"The queen needed help with the wedding," Cora answered, running her fingers through her hair slowly.
"Wedding? What wedding? You're getting married?" Lela's eyes popped, a smile on her face. Cora looked confused for a split second, then she shook her head and smiled.
"I wish," she said the words with such longing.
"Not my wedding, yours. You are getting married, that is why you are here, is it not?" Cora asked and Lela mentally face-palmed herself. She had forgotten that the palace wasn't the princess's home, and she had only just come to get married before she was treated unfairly by the man she was supposed to get married to, and then she di-
"You did not forget that you are getting married, right?" Cora asked. Instead of giving a reply, Lela nodded.
"How is he? Your husband to be? Surely you both have been getting intimate, right?" Cora's eyebrows shot up.
Lela was confused. She had never talked about boys with another girl before. Hell, she never had a boyfriend or anything close, but she had watched movies and seen girls talk about their boyfriends and what they had done behind closed doors, countless times, so she knew it was normal. The problem now was, she knew princess Solela and Fayan couldn't have had anything intimate with each other seeing as he killed her, so the only intimacy had been with her, in the garden that night and earlier when he kissed the back of her palm- a memory she tried to lock away at the back of her mind- Those intimate moments, had been with her, but she didn't know how close the princess was with Cora. She had heard that the princess was friends with Cora but how far were they in their friendship? She didn't want to give more information than Cora deserved, but she wanted to say something.
"You know how he is," Lela smiled sheepishly, or she tried to.
Cora didn't know what to make of this information. What did the princess mean by "you know how he is"? The last time they had talked, the princess said she was looking for a way out of the marriage, that was a few days before the accident that sent her into a deep sleep. When she had first heard that the princess had been in an accident, Cora thought it was a joke, she had even laughed and told her mother that it was a hoax to not get married because she had sworn that she wouldn't get married to the man. Cora had asked the question as a joke to mock the princess, just like she had always done whenever they met, so where was this coming from? This sheepish smile? This hidden meaning behind her words? Did something happen between them while she was away?
"I do not. Tell me everything," Cora moved to the edge of the chair, barely sitting on it. She was curious, eager to know anything and everything.
"Oh it is nothing, we are just like we have always been," Lela waved her off, still keeping that smile on her face. Was she doing a good job? Was Cora buying her lies? Cora's facial expressions weren't different from what she has seen in those movies, so she must've done a good job, right?
Cora looked from the Princess to her maid standing behind her. Maybe the princess wouldn't talk because her maid was standing behind her, and she didn't want her to hear about her intimacy with the prince, Cora thought.
"Get some tea for the princess and me!" Cora ordered Kimi, her eyes sharp on the maid. The maid jerked up and looked from her to the princess, as though she was waiting for the princess to say something.
"I just had tea," Lela pointed to the table with the teapot on it.
"But if you want tea, Kimi can't go, she has to be with me at all times. You can call for a maid to help you out though," Lela said the words without thinking of the implications of it.
"Princess it is okay if I go," Kimi tried to say, but Lela shot her up with a look.
Cora's mouth hung open, as she watched the princess with wide eyes. She couldn't believe her ears. Was the princess going to make her maid disrespect her? The princess had never had a problem with her sending her maid before, so what did she mean by this? Was she truly the princess she knew? Had she hit her head somewhere during her accident? All her behaviors didn't seem normal. Something was wrong with her.
"It is no problem, I'll have tea in my room later. I just remembered I have an engagement with the Queen," Cora lied.
"Have fun," have fun? What in the dragons' name was going on? Usually, the princess would send a message to the queen through her, whenever she was going to meet the queen, but all she said was "have fun"?
"I will. Enjoy your rest," Cora bowed and got up from the chair. She dusted her clothes, a million questions running through her mind, but she managed to keep a small smile on her face.
"Kimi, give her those gifts," Lela ordered Kimi.
"I didn't have much planned because I wasn't aware of your coming. I hope you'll like them," Cora watched as the princess lied through her teeth, while the maid carried the tray of gifts her father had given the princess and handed them to her.
What is going on?
"Thank you so much, I enjoy any gifts that are from you, Princess," Cora bowed and walked out of the room.
Confused and unaware of her surroundings, Cora bumped into someone. She looked up.
"Father!" She exclaimed in a low voice. Henley smirked, looking from the tray of gifts to his daughter's face.
"She is different, is she not?" Henley asked, that dangerous smirk sitting comfortably on his face. Cora nodded slowly, her signature smile sitting on her face.
"Come, tell me everything you noticed," Henley took the tray from his daughter's hands, leading her away from the hallway and into his room.