26 – wedding dress

Sipping the wine, prince Nicholas hated the werewolf kingdom all over again. He was used to taking fine, exquisite wine but the wine over here wasn't the same. And each time he recollected that they had with them wine to bring over as gift and they were stolen by the bandits, he almost wanted to hit his head on the wall.
Princess Laura had gotten the best seamstress to make her ball gown. She had put in deliberate efforts to ensure she was looking her best. Mary had helped her style her hair. Everyone wouldn't stop looking at her. It was either because she looked beautiful or that the news of her father's blindness was spreading and it was funny to see her celebrating when her father just lost his sight.
The werewolf king had chosen to stay indoors from the arrival party of the Vampire prince. He didn't want his subjects seeing him as a weakling. He was trying his best to stay brave but it was impossible to think of what would happen to the kingdom when his daughter, who was his eyes at the moment, got married.
'Do you think he'll like my dress?" The princess looked down, seeing her dress again. It was baby pink with white ornaments and designs on it.
Mary gave a bright smile, 'you look amazing. Trust me." Her best friend returned the smile.
The princess made her way towards the prince. He was with Gaston sipping wine. She noticed a frown appear on the prince' face as she approached him. Just before she got to their table Gaston walked away, leaving the prince all alone. A wide smile spread across her face when she stopped at where he was standing. He took a final sip from his glass of wine, emptying the content.
Princess Laura collected the glass and placed it on one of the trays of the waiters passing by. She held his hand and pulled him towards the dance floor.
Prince Nicholas had outrightly wanted to refuse but he made eye contact with his father and he saw that the frown marred on his father's face only meant trouble. His hand reached for her waist and hers to his neck and slowly their bodies began to sway to the soft music coming from the royal band.
'You look handsome tonight." The prince was in a forest green tuxedo and he had his hair gelled to the back. Prince Nicholas' only response was a nod and her heart sank when he didn't give her a compliment like she had expected. 'Tell me about you."
'Why?"
'We'll soon be married soon. I want to know you." She looked at his eyes but he was looking somewhere else. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to know him intimately and share in his pains and victories. It was one of the ways to build love between two parties.
When she saw him for the first time her heart skipped a beat. She didn't think he would be so handsome having all the qualities of a perfect man. She had imagined him to be ugly and and some stuck up prince. She thought he was going to be another one of those princes that she wouldn't care about.
The stomach of the prince churned as he heard those words. So instead of replying, he made her spin around thinking she would forget about the question but instead she brought out again, 'I want to know you."
He took his hands from her waist and returned to where he was. She repeated again, 'I want to know you Prince Nicholas."
'There is nothing to know about me." He growled as he leaned his side on the wall.
'There's nothing to tell?" The princess asked. He was probably too shy to tell her all his achievements, she thought. 'I'm sure you have a lot of stories about your childhood, wars and life. '
'I. Do. Not." This got her to stay silent for a little while before she asked again, 'where's your mother?"
He gave a frustrated sigh. 'She's dead."
Her mouth gave an O shape then she mouthed the word ‘sorry' but he didn't regard it. 'My mother died while birthing me." The prince only nodded. At least there was something they both had in common and it was the absence of a mother figure in their lives.
He had thought of ways to get off the hook of a fake marriage but he was sure his father would never agree to them. He had tried to get his father to believe that the werewolf kingdom was bad luck. What else could explain the bandits and the king's blindness? It was just the gods working in his favor. When the prince wasn't responding to her, Laura returned to Mary with a sullen look on her face.
'You know, love grows." Prince Nicholas turned around to see Gaston. 'You both can grow to love each other."
I scoffed. 'I don't want to grow to love anyone. I want to fall in love knowing that's the right person for me, not hoping my love will grow." Prince Nicholas took a glass of drink from one of the waiters passing by. He took a quick sip.
'Excuse us , Gaston."
Gaston nodded and left the father and son.
'If you're here to treat her right, I'm already doing that. You saw us dance ,didn't you?" No one understood how he had wished to have a woman like his mother. Someone who was brainy and helped with weighty matters like his mother had helped his father. He was only a child but he wanted what they shared and more not some arranged marriage to merge two kingdoms together.
How was the world going to take the news of two supernatural races getting married to each other? It reminded him of Beth. How was the supernatural realm going to take the news of their marriage? A war might start because other races may think of marriage as an alliance. It was but it wasn't to hurt anyone. It was to bring peace.
'It's for the sake of peace in the supernatural realm. As the heir you have sacrificed yourself for this." The King placed a hand on his son's shoulder.
He was tired of having to sacrifice. First, it was his childhood. He had no friends except Gaston who trained with him. They had to train tirelessly to be able to match up to the standard his father wanted him to be. He had dreams that he had to sacrifice being the heir. He didn't have a social life thanks to his status, he was always respected, preventing him from making friends. He was tired.
Mary took a sip from her drink. She had noticed Laura's eyes flickering to the prince every second, she just couldn't concentrate and was asking questions over again about Matthias's swimming lessons which he started some days ago. 'Are you okay?"
Princess Laura was carried away watching her soon to be husband. She was in awe of how handsome he was. She didn't expect him to be the hunk that he was. She could already imagine herself in his embrace and him saying sweet things to her. She couldn't wait to be his wife and if she had her way, she would want to be his wife right away.
'Laura, are you okay?" Mary reiterated.
'I didn't get what you said?" She answered, breaking her sight from the prince and concentrating on her best friend.
'You weren't listening were you?"
Laura's face flushed in embarrassment. 'Sorry, I have a lot on my mind."
Mary frowned, forgetting her friend was ignoring her. Mary's frown prompted the princess to speak further, 'I'm just so worried about my father. If I get married to the prince, how will he live?" This was a lie but she was really worried about her father.
She was definitely going to get married to the prince but she needed to to ensure her father was going to live fine. At the moment, she helped with all that he was doing and it was tough for her and Elaine who assisted. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her father was now blind, it felt so surreal to hear. It was like she was in a nightmare and she just couldn't wake up. She had prayed to the gods to help her restore her father's sight but there wasn't any improvement. The old king was starting to get miserable having to depend on someone for everything.
'You're going to get over this."
'When?" Princess Laura shouted, causing everyone to turn to her. Everything was goin south at the moment. Her father was precious to her and so was she to him. They had grown all by themselves and Elaine who was a mother figure to her. She kept thinking of ways her father was going to cope without his sight.
Princess Laura had found the old man crying in his bed when she went to check up on him. He had told her he felt useless without his sight. Being the good king that he was, the whole palace was saddened by the news of the king's blindness. Elaine had cried and some of the other maids. A few of them had mentioned some doctors that could visit to help the king and all of them that managed to come couldn't proffer solutions or give medicine to restore his vision.
When she noticed king Eric was leaving his son, she faked a frown and made her way to the prince. She smiled widely revealing her dentition. 'Hello." She smiled.
Prince Nicholas tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He had gotten pep talk from his father and told he warned and threatened him not to mess up the treaty. 'Hey." His lips curved up to give a fake grin.
Princess Laura was really overbearing and it sucked to think that he was going to get married and live with her for the rest of his life. His heart broke realizing that.
King Eric had worked so much to get the treaty to where it was and he wasn't going to let anyone, not even his son, ruin it for him. He was really passionate about bringing both kingdoms together. It was something he wanted to achieve before he transitioned to join his ancestors. His wife had once spoken about bringing both kingdoms together. She had told him to reach out to the werewolf king but his stubbornness had made him dismiss the idea. He knew the war was going to happen and so he had trained his warriors hard. What he didn't expect was that there was going to be a break in and he would lose his wife.
It hurt him so much seeing the lifeless body of the woman he loved the most. He had decided to put all his life into his affairs as the king to help him forge ahead.
'We should dance."
'We just did."
Princess Laura didn't understand what was making her act foolishly before the prince. Her face flushed in embarrassment but prince Nichoklas took her hands and moved to the dance floor. He held her by the waist again as she swayed to the music.
While they danced, princess Laura imagined for it to be their wedding dance. She had pictured herself in her white gown and their very first kiss together. Her mind traveled far thinking of their first night together. She smiled. The only thing that broke her heart was the fact that her father would be walking her down the aisle without his sight and he wouldn't get to see how beautiful her wedding dress is. She prayed in her heart that her father's sight be restored so he gets to see how beautiful she would look in her gown. Deep in her heart, she prayed to the gods to restore her father's sight.