~.✧ Ethira ✧.~ [COMPLETE]

~.✧ one ✧.~

The beautiful champagne pink fabric of my dress pooled at my feet, and despite it symbolizing what should be the happiest day of my life—my wedding day—I couldn't bring myself to smile. The tailors really had done a wonderful job on it; the material was some of the finest I'd seen, each stitch of the embroidery perfectly placed and given the most immaculate detail. If I were any other girl, I might be giddy over how perfect the dress was. But I was me. And there were much bigger things on my mind than how I looked in my wedding dress.

One hour. Only one hour until the ceremony started and I would not only marry Prince Varien Delaskez of Ethira—our neighboring country—but also become Ethira's queen. I'd been preparing for this day for almost four years yet here I was, staring at myself in the mirror and thinking, I can't do this.

"Asria," a soft voice prodded into my thoughts. I blinked and looked over at my older sister to see her giving me a soft smile. "You look beautiful."

But even for Saidy and her sweet compliments, I couldn't force myself to look happy. "Thank you."

The tailor, one of the younger of the three we'd brought to the Ethira-Austora Border Palace for emergencies like this, accidentally pricked me as she tried to repair the seam I'd popped when putting it on. I barely reacted, the physical pain a far lesser uncomfortability than the fear slowly squeezing at my chest, making it harder and harder for my heart to pump the blood into the rest of my body. Any minute now, I expected my fingers and toes to start to fall asleep. An image of them popping off and leaving a trail like bread crumbs down the aisle entered my mind. I shook it away. There was something wrong with my mind right now to be coming up with such pictures.

The tailor backed away and nervously looked up at me. "Finished, your Highness."

"Thank you," I told her, because I didn't want her to think my foul mood was because of her. The castle staff was already intimidated by me enough.

I bit my cheek. I guess what the Austoran castle staff thought of me wouldn't matter now. Just the Ethiran Palace staff. Because that would be my home after this day.

The tailor packed up her needle and thread and then shuffled out. When the door closed behind her, Saidy let out a small breath, one that didn't escaped my notice. While Larklind, her husband, had revolutionarily helped with her social anxiety, there were still instances when she was stressed and didn't have him nearby that made her revert back. The pressure of the day and the unfamiliarity of the setting and tailor must have made her more stressed than I'd first realized.

I normally easily picked up on my siblings' emotions; it was what I'd always done because it was easier to read them than have to ask them what they were feeling and risk them asking me back. But I was so distracted that I hadn't even noticed and I was disappointed in myself for having left Saidy feeling anxious all because I'd been too preoccupied by my own selfish thoughts.