Lucia had used her room to wash up and put a light coat over her dress. As she got out of her room she looked up and saw Leroy. He was getting out of his room too. He looked up and their gazes met. She smiled at him. He had not changed a lot from the last time she'd seen him. The little goatee he'd been sporting was replaced by a morning shadow. His eyes lit up as he smiled back at her.
"Lucia?" he made it a question.
Lucia's smile widened. Was his voice deeper?
"Hey Lee," she greeted as he walked towards her and folded her into a bear hug.
He smelled the same too. Her big brother had not changed a lot. And so, she should have expected what he did next. He lifted one hand and used it to ruffle her hair.
"Lee!" She cried as she fought to be free of his grip.
He let out a maniacal laugh as his hold on her tightened and the one in her hair worked faster.
"Let go of me, you shit!" she screamed.
"Not going to happen now!" he said between rumbling laughter.
Lucia balled a hand into a fist and punched him in the kidneys. Leroy grunted in surprise and momentarily loosened his grasp on her. That was all she needed to be free of him but as soon as she was free, she was tumbling into the ground. Leroy had tripped her and was now kneeling by her with both his hands musing her hair.
She screeched at him.
"Get off me Lee!" she yelled but she was now giggling.
"What the hell are you two doing?!" A voice they both knew to fear cut through their fun and they both froze.
"Leroy Jarold!" their mother exclaimed as soon as she saw them.
Leroy was kneeling over Lucia with his hands in her hair. Lucia was on her back with her hands on her brother's wrists trying to fend him off.
"Get off your sister this instant!" Josephine yelled at her son.
"Seriously how old are you?" she berated him, "Lucia why are you still lying there? Get off the floor you two!"
Lucia and Leroy got up and stood side by side. They did not look at each other for fear of meeting the humour sure to be in the eyes of the other and bursting into laughter. They kept their heads bowed hoping to hide their smiles from their mother.
"You should be both ashamed of yourselves," their mother continued, "Especially you Lucia. You're usually more well-behaved. Proper young ladies and well-mannered gentlemen are never found making a racket and tousling on the floor! You know that!"
Lucia felt the humour fade out of her. It was always about aesthetics with their mother. Why couldn't she let them be? Should the life be sucked out of them to be "proper" in her eyes?
"Have you forgotten we have guests?" Josephine continued her voice hushing, "Any other day than today would have been fine. Go freshen up Lucia. Leroy, go straighten up your clothes. They're rumpled."
"Yes mother," Lucia and Leroy responded.
Josephine went back to her room muttering under her breath.
Lucia was turning towards her room when Leroy put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him with a smile.
"She has not changed a bit," she said sadly.
She had never held any hope that her mother would change but it always hurt whenever she saw how unrepentant the woman was.
"She means well," Leroy said gently.
Lucia shook her head and went to her room. Leroy had always gotten the better side of things. Their mother did not push for him to do a lot. He was expected to show up to events and keep an eye out for a respectable future bride. Even if their mother might mean well, she was still old enough to see when she was doing more harm than good.
Lucia looked at her hair in the mirror and smiled. She looked like she'd been attacked by a bird. She grabbed a brush and hoped she would be able to fix what Leroy had done in a few minutes.
It took more than a few minutes and a lot of swearing for Lucia to get her hair under some semblance of control. A knock sounded on her door.
"Come in," she said over her shoulder.
The door opened quietly and a maid stepped in.
"Dinner has been served, Miss," the maid said.
"Okay I will come right down," Lucia responded as she inspected her hair, "Thank you."
The maid nodded and stepped out, closing the door behind her. Lucia took a moment to examine herself in the mirror and cursed at Leroy's effectiveness. He knew how hard her hair was to tame once he'd mused it. he also how much she hated spending time taming it.
She decided that her hair was as best as she could get it and got up. She padded to the door and made her way through the passage and down the stairs. As she was turning to the kitchen, she saw Prince Alexander and Caroline walking hand in hand. They were both giggling at something. Lucia smiled as she watched Caroline playfully hit Alexander's arm, and he threw back his head and laughed.
Lucia noted that her father was also in the room and already seated. He was looking at his phone with a level of concentration that told her it was a work email or the news. She moved further into the room and picked an empty seat as far away from her father as possible. Her mother usually sat opposite her father, so it was reasonable to assume that sitting close to her father would mean sitting close to her mother. Lucia could do without that level of stress during her meal.
She heard a pair of footsteps and she looked over her shoulder to be surprised to find Prince Michael walking in with Adela beside him. She was not expecting the hurt to hit her so acutely. She turned her head away and faced forward. She feared rightly so that the pain would show in her eyes. She had been right to leave three years ago.
With her in the picture, Prince Michael and Adela would have never gotten closer. She could hear them talking in low voices. She heard Adela let out a low chuckle before saying something that she could not catch.
Three years ago, Adela had told her that she was the reason that she could not get with the prince. Was this true? She had not wanted to believe it. Maybe she should have. The fingers of guilt stroked at the keys of her heart. The only reason she'd left was because her mother had wanted to use her as a pawn in her games and she'd not wanted to play with Michael's heart. Her father had acknowledged that at sixteen she was too young to be in the vicious game of capture the prince. He had agreed to let her go to boarding school.
A chair was drawn next to her and she automatically turned her head to see who it was. Prince Michael was taking a seat next to her. Her eyes widened in shock. Her sister rounded the table and sat opposite the prince. Lucia dully noted that Prince Alex and Caroline sat next to each other. The chair on her other side was drawn and Lucia looked up to see Leroy taking a seat next to her. His eyes met hers and he flashed a smile at her and he lowered himself into his seat. She smiled back at him. Everything was okay.
She looked at the opposite side of the table and noted that Adela was looking at Prince Michael. Adela's gaze turned to Lucia and it seemed to frost over. Lucia felt the ice coat her heart. Adela would never soften towards her unless she got what she wanted. She wanted their mother's ultimate approval and to get that she needed to get Prince Michael to marry her.
She stole a glance of Prince Michael from the corner of her eye and noted that he was unashamedly looking at her. She turned her head away from him as she felt herself redden in shame. As she did so she saw the look her sister gave her. Adela was not obviously glaring but there was a fire burning in her eyes. The emotion in there. The pure rage and hatred. It scared her more than anything. There was no questioning it. There was a deep chasm between her and her sister.