"Not too tight," I tell Lian, but Mother stands beside me, staring at me with her soft, motherly eyes as if I'm her proudest achievement, and the feeling makes me suck in a breath and bear with the way my corset is too tight I can't even breathe properly.
Lian nods and adjusts the laces with practiced hands. "Apologies," She says, her voice muffled as she fusses over the intricate folds of my gown. "We wouldn't want any mishaps during the ball."
I force a smile. Mishaps are the least of my worries tonight. What worries me is whether the king realized that Niki, the boy I helped out and kept secret when I vowed myself to the crown, is a rebel and he wants me to kill him. What worries me is the fact that I might not be able to do it. The smile falters on my lips. Could I do it? Could I betray the one person who'd ignited a spark within me? A knot of dread tightens in my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs more effectively than the corset.
"There," Lian smooths down the emerald silk gown that hugs my curves a little too tightly for comfort and steps back to admire her handiwork.
I glance in the mirror, the familiar feeling of disconnect hitting me. The fiery red hair I usually wear down in braids is now piled high in an elaborate style, adorned with glittering combs that threaten to snag on anything I brush against. The girl in the mirror is a stranger, all porcelain skin and fiery red lips. A beautiful stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.
Mother, ever oblivious to my discomfort, reaches out and smooths a stray strand of hair from my face. "You look stunning, Nyx, just like a proper noblewoman." The compliment feels hollow. Tonight, I'm not just a noblewoman. I'm a spy in a suffocating cage, one that threatens to cut off my air supply before I even reach the ballroom. And yet, I smile at her, a practiced gesture that feels foreign on my lips.
The truth is, a part of me does revel in the transformation. For the first time in my life, Mother looks at me the way she looks at my sisters, Niamh and Lyra, and at Aera. The three of them are beautiful, so beautiful it sometimes feels like they were sculpted by the gods themselves, while I was merely an afterthought. But tonight, I caught a glimpse of the woman I could be—a woman worthy of my mother's pride, a woman who could stand beside my sisters as equals. The feeling is intoxicating, laced with a bittersweet longing for a life I can never fully embrace.
"Thank you, Mother," I reply, my voice barely above a whisper, as I gaze at my reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back at me is a stranger, her features softened by the glow of candlelight, her eyes filled with a longing she can never fully express. The emerald silk gown, though restrictive, drapes across my form in a way that commands attention and I realize this stranger could be a weapon, a beautiful, cunning weapon honed for a night of deception. A slow, insidious smile spreads across the stranger's lips in the mirror.
Upon stepping out of my chamber, my sisters walk to me with eyes so wide they could burst like overripe plums. Lyra, with hair like spun gold, recovers first. "Nyx," She breathes, her voice laced with awe and disbelief. "You look...magnificent." Niamh stands next to her, her green eyes fixed on me.
The weight of their stares makes me self-conscious for a moment, but then the slow, insidious smile in the mirror returns. This is the weapon I wield tonight—a beauty that disarms and a confidence that commands attention. "Thank you, sisters. Perhaps tonight, we won't be so easily distinguished from one another, after all." They smile at my words, though I can almost feel the tension lingering beneath the surface, the unspoken truth that sets us apart even as we stand side by side. Lyra is dressed in a flowing gown of pale lavender, the color accentuating the warmth in her golden eyes. Niamh, on the other hand, wears a midnight gown Father had especially made for her, the fabric catching the faintest glint of moonlight and swirling around her form like a storm cloud.
YOU ARE READING
THE CRUEL PRINCE | SUNOO
Fanfiction❝You're scared of the way I make you feel because you don't want to feel anything.❞
