Chapter 38
I hardly noticed how quickly the days were passing, or that the leaves had already begun to fall from the branches.
I watched through my bedroom window as the wind carried the dancing leaves in its hands. When all the leaves fell and the great oak tree in the courtyard stood bare, my birthday would come, and with it, my ball.
"Issi, what do you think of this one?"
I turned away from the window and looked at the beautiful, though slightly too short, dress in Meera's hands.
"I'd like it to be a little longer, with a large train."
I ran my hand over the fabric before taking the dress from Meera and placing it on the enormous pile covering my bed.
"Lord Rut and Prince Pierre sent you dresses as well," Welme said, moving the pile into another wardrobe.
"Lord Poe also sent fabric embroidered with golden thread a few months ago," Meera added.
"Every one of them wants my favor, and if I wear their dresses, they'll think they have it. Father himself said this isn't a ball where I have to find a husband."
I pulled out different corsets, trying to find one that was both comfortable and beautiful enough for such a long evening, while the two of them searched for the perfect one.
"I knew you were spoiled, Isolde, but where did you get all these dresses?"
Meera stood in front of the entire walk-in closet, which was larger than the maids' rooms, her hands resting on her hips.
"There must be thousands of dresses in here. Where did you get all of this?"
I shrugged and followed her into the brightly lit room.
All around us, sequins glittered, and dozens of types of expensive fabrics shimmered, embroidered with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and every other precious stone in the realm.
"This one was sent by Prince Caspian, wasn't it?" she asked, holding up an emerald-blue dress embroidered in the style of his culture.
"Yes. For my nineteenth birthday. He had visited Sanaedeo shortly before that, if I remember correctly, and brought it with him."
"Well, do you want this one? It's really beautiful."
I shook my head. "I don't think it's wise to wear another prince's dress, especially when he won't even be there." She nodded in agreement before continuing to look around.
"I genuinely don't know what you need all this for. If you wore a different one every day, it would take you ten years to wear them all." I laughed and pulled out a yellow one that I didn't even remember owning before putting it back.
"Most of them were gifts, either from lords or from my travels. And I was constantly buying and ordering more. You know what I used to be like."
I shrugged, looking around at my little kingdom.
"I actually ordered the maids to take some of the older ones and either keep them for themselves or sell them and give the money to the poor. I'm sure they took around fifty."
Meera stared at me in shock.
"And where did Lysande go?" I asked when a brown dress reminded me of his eyes. Meera glanced at me from the corner of her eye before turning back to the dresses. "He asked Corian to watch over both of us for a few hours while he takes care of something in the city."
My stomach tightened at the thought of him going into those parts of the city, but even if he had, I couldn't forbid him. He wasn't mine in that way.
"And what did he go to do?" I asked, and she shrugged.
"I have no idea. He didn't say. He only asked to leave."
I pressed my lips together and stepped farther into the dresses so she wouldn't see my expression.
"And where is Corian?" I asked, trying to control the way my voice cracked beneath whatever emotions had suddenly taken hold of me.
"Outside. He'd probably throw up if he saw all this color."
She lifted her head, looking at the dresses on the second and third levels.
"This is exactly the kind of place that makes you want to sit down and cry."
"Tsk, tsk." I clicked my tongue a few times and walked past her toward another section of shelves.
"We really have to choose today. There are only four days left, and the guests have already begun arriving."
She said it more to herself than to me, and then Welme suddenly appeared from somewhere.
"We also need to find shoes."
"Where did you come from?" Meera asked, startled by her sudden appearance from between the racks.
"I've been here the whole time. In this row."
Meera now looked utterly horrified.
"Sister, you're exaggerating." I turned toward Welme. "And you, Welme, go and try to find me some comfortable shoes. They won't even be visible beneath the dress, so make sure they're as comfortable as possible." She nodded and disappeared to take on yet another impossible task.
"What will Lysande wear?" Meera suddenly asked, and I froze in my tracks.
"What do you mean? Surely his armor?"
She shrugged her right shoulder. "Wouldn't it be interesting if he wore your colors or something like that?" She glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
I pressed my lips together, trying to hide my smile as I remembered the shell on his chest.
"And who said he isn't already wearing something of mine?" I asked. She turned toward me fully, her face going completely blank before her eyebrows shot upward in shock.
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I pulled out a dress in a horrible color and moved it aside for the maids to sell later.
"The shell on his chest. It's Nuso. That's how and where we met before the tournament." So much had happened since then that it felt as though it had been years ago.
"Aaah." That was all she said, as though she had finally connected all the pieces of the puzzle. "Speaking of him, how are the lessons going?" she asked.
"How do you know about that?" I asked, confused.
"The reading lessons? Lys told Corian that you were teaching him, and Corian told me." She shrugged. For a moment, I felt the urge to snap something back, but there truly was no mockery or teasing in her voice. Just pure curiosity.
"He's incredibly smart. I've been teaching him for what, a couple of weeks now, I think, and he can already read and write quite well." I couldn't hide the pride in my voice, and for a moment, I stopped searching through the dresses just to tell her that.
"But we don't have much time every day, so maybe he's progressing a little slower than he could."
"I'm proud of you, sister," she said.
At that moment, as I looked at her with unshed tears in my eyes and ran my hand over the dresses, one of them caught my fingers.
I knew even before I saw it that it was the one. Heavy and intricate, I could barely pull it free from where it hung.
Dark red and embroidered with intriguing patterns across the entire body, with a bare chest and long, delicate sleeves, this was the dress I would wear to my ball. "Beautiful," Meera said when I finally pulled it out. I could see in her eyes that she thought it was the right choice too.
I held it in my hands as though I were carrying priceless treasure. "Well, sister, now let's go find some shoes."
My poor sister looked at me with wide, scared eyes.
I couldn't hold back the laughter that had been building in my chest as she shoved me away, horrified and pissed at the same time.