Anybody But You

5

Chapter Five

Vibe: Smile by Maisie Peters

In only a few weeks, Alice's reputation had grown. Everyone was curious about the duke's daughter who had suddenly stopped being a homebody. And with her 17th birthday party in only a few short hours, her traps were set.

With daily lessons on business, politics, and social etiquette, Alice wasn't wasting a moment of her time. While memories of the past were now so faded she couldn't recall anything without getting a severe headache, she'd studied what she'd managed to get down on paper until she could recite it with her eyes closed. However, the one thing that never disappeared was Godric's face as he killed her—she supposed that memory would forever be painted beneath her eyelids.

Every night Missy would wake her up from the nightmare that plagued her dreams; her maid's soft whispers of encouragement like empty promises as Alice gasped for the air he had forcefully taken from her. Her rage grew silently inside of her small weak body with every passing second. The word 'revenge' chanting inside of her head like it was the only thing keeping her sane.

Or maybe insanity had already taken her brain over as she itched and scratched at the questions of why.

No matter how she looked at it, it didn't make sense. What drove her to such a sad, cruel ending? But she supposed it didn't matter if she struck first this time around, no matter if she was deserving of it or not, they wouldn't be able to do it a second time. She was sure of it.

Lucy, her father, Godric, and the others were all going to pay her back in their blood. But before that, she'd take everything from them, just as they took everything away from her.

Of course in the meantime, she had more prey to catch.

"Oh, Miss Alice," Missy stared at her in awe, her hands covering her mouth, "You look so grown up." The young maid who was only a few years older than her sniffled, "You've worked so hard these last few days, I'm so proud of you."

Alice felt a painful tug at her heart as she laughed tearfully at her maid's reaction. Missy was the only good thing in her life—this time around she wouldn't let anyone take that away from her.

Grasping Missy's hands, she smiled, "I couldn't have done it without you here supporting me, Missy."

The maid laughed, tears spilling from her eyes before quickly drying Alice's face. "Okay, okay, no tears, My Lady. We've just done up your face so pretty. It'd be a shame to cry it off."

Chuckling, Alice nodded, blinking her tear-filled eyes quickly to avoid smudging the dark liner around them, "You're right, Missy, as always."

Standing in front of the floor length mirror, Alice swallowed back the nerves. As usual, she looked like a doll—but gone were the days of her being a child. The blue ball gown fell to the ground with a softness that showed off her slim curves. The top piece comprised of dark blue flower pieces against the transparent mesh that delicately and tastefully protected her modesty as long blond curls swept down her back, the sides pinned up in braids to keep her face bare.

With shimmering, determined blue eyes, she was finally truly fitting of the title princess. All that was left was for her to go get her prince.

~*~*~

A.N.

Her dress is kinda like this:

*sigh* I relate way too much to Missy. I'm also crying, look at our girl all prettied up and on her way to exact revenge. I'm rooting for you lady Alice!

Are you excited to meet the prince?
Thank you for reading x

Also, unrelated, that movie sucked ballz. I'm sorry but as a feminist, I was hard disappointed (to the point where I still, to this day, complain about it lol). The tropes. The stupid bad guy. Like COME ON GIVE US A REAL VILLAIN not some over zealous chad with a fetish. We deal with those men on the daily, you're telling me Harley, a super villain basically, didn't have any of her OWN bad guys? Just jokers leftovers who were lameeee? Ugh, DIS. A. PPOINT. ED. But the aesthetics and settings and even some of the characters I can get behind 100%