Chapter 17: Chapter 17

REYNA

It was hours later. My nana was helping me get ready for my birthday dinner party when Cassandra waltzed in.

Her lithe body was draped in a long black dress with a sweeping train. She wore dark red lipstick that looked really good on her.

Her golden hair was pinned in place atop her head with a golden comb in an elaborate style, swept away from her long, graceful neck. She looked like the queen she was.

The last time I saw her was immediately after the fight, when she dragged me to Dr. Elizabeth to get another vaccine shot, despite having had one mere days ago. Despite my questions, neither she nor Dr. Elizabeth explained why to me.

Cassandra took the brush Nana Maria was running through my thick hair and waved her away with her elegant fingers.

“Leave, I would help her get ready, run along now and do whatever it is you servants do in your free time,” Cassandra ordered rudely, waving Nana away as though she were a fly.

My cheeks heated, and my eyes flared with anger. But there was nothing I could do. Cassandra was probably pissed I insisted on keeping Nana with me.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Nana said, turning about to leave the room.

“Wait,” she ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” Nana replied, not at all angry, already used to Cassandra’s rudeness.

I wished I could talk to her and tell her how rude she’d been to the woman who helped raise her daughter, but I couldn’t. My mother was the queen. Anything I said would only make the situation worse. I’d barely stopped her from sending Nana away at a great price.

I promised I’d apologize to my nana for this. She deserved better than being treated like a slave.

“Where is Reyna’s dress for the party?” Cassandra asked.

“It’s this one, Your Majesty.” Nana pointed and moved to carry the baby pink dress that was spread on the bed, then passed the dress to Cassandra.

My mother didn’t take it, only scrunched her face in disgust.

“Take this atrocity out of my sight. Tell my maid to find a gray dress and matching shoes for Reyna and bring it to her room,” she said.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I was embarrassed and angry, and yet I couldn’t defend the woman who treated me more like her daughter than the child she was duty bound to care for. The baby pink dress probably looked childish to Cassandra.

~But I liked it.~

It was a short dress that stopped at my knees in the front but was asymmetrically cut from behind. It had a half sleeve and a sweetheart neckline.

I loved it. It was the same dress I’d worn last year. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. But Cassandra’s words were what mattered here; my choice of dressing didn’t.

“You’re a woman now, Reyna, you can no longer wear those clothes, you’re turning nineteen today so act like it. With your mediocre looks you need a dress that can highlight your best features,” my mother repeated this remark for the millionth time, running the brush she’d taken from Nana Maria through my hair.

I’d heard it all before, and I knew what was coming next, word by word.

“You need a dress that will make your beautiful eyes pop, so people don’t pay attention to your body,” she twisted the metaphorical knife.

To Cassandra, the only redeeming qualities I had were my eyes, the same shade of blue gray as her own.

Cassandra hated that I wasn’t blonde, that I wasn’t tall like she was, but most especially she hated that my curves were a little above average.

I wasn’t fat—far from it, actually—I just had a fuller figure than all the women of our family throughout the years.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. My late aunt Regina, who was queen before Cassandra, also had a full body.

She was blonde, tall, and gorgeous—the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

I was sure Regina didn’t have her mother critique her on a daily basis despite her curves, that I knew of, anyway.

As always, I didn’t say a single word to her. While her words hurt, I’d learned to let them go before they could fester.

Cassandra moved on to apply makeup on my face when she was done with my hair.

My bedroom door was knocked twice before Linda, one of Cassandra’s maids, walked in.

A long dark gray dress was draped in the crook of one hand, and silver-gray shoes in the other.

I was sure the clothes came from my family vault, as always. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of clothes hidden inside; more shoes, jewelry, weapons, and a lot of other things were in there too.

“Your majesty.”

Cassandra took the dress and waved the maid out of the room.

I stood when she bid me to. I turned and released the towel as she ordered, standing with only my panties on.

Cassandra pulled the dress over my head. It fell with a whoosh, the cool satiny feel of it caressing my skin.

It was a long-sleeved dress, with a rounded neck made with fake diamonds that glittered and caught when the light fell on it. There was a long slit from one side up to my thigh that made walking in the dress easier. It also would come in handy when I needed to hide my dagger.

It was soft, softer than it looked. And it was longer in the back.

That, somehow, appeased the disappointment I felt for not wearing the pink dress.

My back was exposed and that meant no bra. The dress clung to my body like a second skin, as if it was made especially for me.

I let my long, silky hair down. I liked it that way; it also helped cover the scars on my back.

Cassandra didn’t always want me to let it down. She always said my hair was more presentable when it was out of the way, in a bun.

Even battered and bruised, I looked okay, I guess.

It helped that Cassandra had made my face look less like something a dog had chewed on and then spat out.

Now, I was even sounding like her.

I took another look in the mirror and straightened my shoulders. I looked beautiful.

There, I said it, and more importantly, I felt it. It was my birthday, the only day I allowed myself to truly enjoy being a princess.

“You look presentable at least, if a little overweight,” Cassandra said.

I didn’t feel the flash of hurt I expected. In my heart, I knew I looked good and I felt it, even with my black eye and split lip.

What she saw as fat was actually muscle I’d earned with my hard work. So I took her words as a compliment and replied.

“Thank you, Mother.”

She nodded.

I sat down and slipped my feet inside the straps of silver heels, first one foot, then the other. And for the first time, I thanked Sabrina and the girls for teaching me how to walk in this deadly thing.

My mother’s living room was where we’d celebrate my birthday. The party was underway without the party girl.

When we walked through the ornate double doors, soft music and hushed voices chatting and laughing greeted us. There were over two dozen people in the vast room, including the maids who were made to stand at the walls, waiting for the time they’d serve dinner and then leave.

I recognized all of the council members. Some of the Roses were also here, and there was Dr. Benjamin and another man, whom I had never seen before but could swear something about him looked familiar.

I was extremely surprised that Cassandra allowed these men to join the party; she’d never done that before. No male had ever attended any parties that I knew of before, until now.

Olivia had come with Amara, and I was glad to see I wasn’t the only Rose trainee here. We glided amid the guests, who were nodding their greetings to Cassandra and me, each holding a tall glass of champagne.

Everyone was dressed to the nines. Women wore beautiful dresses with various colors and designs, some short, some long. The three men in attendance all wore black suits, their hair styled.

We stood in the middle of the living room. A servant brought a tray with two glasses of wine and something that was covered with a white cloth or handkerchief.

Cassandra carried both glasses and passed one to me, smiling. I took the white wine and took a sip.

My eyes widened when Cassandra unveiled the other thing covered with a cloth. It was a shiny new revolver gun.

I searched my mother’s eyes, asking for an explanation.