Unmasked || Dreamwastaken (On Hold)

IX • Authority

  When I was forced to wear a dress to meet my suitors, I wanted to jump out of my room's window even more than before. The only good thing about it was that it gave Charity and I some time to reconcile.

  She had insisted on fixing up my hair for me instead of having Fiona do it, which I was beyond grateful for.

  I had been looking down dejectedly at my vanity as she worked with my hair until I felt a braid drop against my back. It was odd enough that I looked up at the mirror in front of me and saw what Charity was doing. I couldn't help but smile as I looked at the exposed antlers on my head. "You didn't cover them."

  "Of course I didn't." I could see Charity smile a little bit. "Can't let them marry you without scaring off the small minded ones, can we?"

"No. We can't." I agreed. I was just relieved that she didn't seem quite as angry.

She continued to braid the other half of my hair and made a comment. "Do you remember when I used to do this with Techno?"

I was instantly flooded with guilt for not telling her about Techno's letter. "Yeah, I remember."

"Then you'd go and accidentally chop half of his hair off while you were sparring and I'd have to restyle it completely." She chuckled. "I think he secretly liked when I'd braid his hair."

I sighed and faked a small smile. "Yeah. Maybe he did."

She dropped the other braid onto my back before putting the two pieces of my hair that she had kept out into place to frame my face. "And you're done. Go scare the weak ones." She pat my shoulder.

"Yeah. I'll do that." I laughed and got up from the chair I was sitting in. I saw the dress in the mirror and felt uncomfortable. It wasn't as bad as usual though. At least this was casual. "Love you, Char." I kissed her cheek quickly before going towards the door to the hall.

"Love you too, Aly." Charity smiled at me as I left my room. I began the dreaded walk towards the meeting hall and fidgeted with the horrid sleeves of the dress. Who decided it was a good idea to put such long sleeves on a dress? All it did was restrict movement, but that's all that any of this shite ever did.

  I was at the end of the hallway when I started to hear the yelling that was coming from the meeting hall. It was currently a single voice yelling and loud laughter that I recognized as Schlatt.

  I rolled my eyes and continued to approach the door. Of course Schlatt was causing problems.

  "You shouldn't even be here!" Dream's advisor, Lawrence, was yelling.

  "I am here as a duty to my kingdom! All you want is to cause trouble!" George's voice was raised louder than I had expected it to be. "I don't care what you think about her! I know you! You know nothing of responsibility! This is a goddamn game to you!"

  My frown became even more prominent as I continued to approach. What were they even arguing over? I thought that Lawrence and him would have a common goal here.

  Schlatt continued to cackle. "Oh, and what a game to play!"

  Was George arguing with Schlatt? I thought it was more likely than Lawrence and George arguing, but I didn't know if they even knew each other. Whatever this was about, I planned to interrupt it by bursting into the room unannounced. I couldn't care less about their petty arguments.

  "I can marry whoever I please." The levelheaded but commanding voice that came from the room made me stop in my tracks.

  "You can't marry that wench! Think about what's best for the kingdom." Lawrence's voice once again rose above the others.