Princess Charming

Chapter 12: Charmaine

"So Charmaine," her mother said from her bedroom doorway as the maids who had been attending to Charmaine's dress fitting scurried from the room. "Tonight is the final night. Are you ready to make your choice?"

Charmaine sighed and hopped down from the box the maids had perched her on while they prodded, tightened and sewed. Nothing was going to plan. When she'd first come up with this stupid ball idea, it was only meant to be a delaying tactic. She'd never expected to meet anyone. Especially not someone she was fairly certain was her former best friend in disguise.

She couldn't even begin to get her head around it. If he was at the balls, if he behaved the way he did the previous night, did that mean he wanted to continue where they had left off? Did he want to be her choice? If he did, why wasn't he being honest with her? Why was he still hiding his true identity?

"The mysterious young man you've spent so much of the previous two evenings with seems like a promising candidate. Can you tell me any more about him? Where is he from? Who are his family?" Her mother came further into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm not sure," Charmaine replied, sinking down onto her bed. If she voiced her suspicions, her mother would think she'd gone insane.

"You're not sure? How can you not know after spending two evenings with him?" Her mother took a seat on the stall at her dressing table, gently smoothing the creases out of her dress as she spoke.

"He's very... secretive."

"Secretive? In what way?"

"I don't really know anything about him. Where he comes from, what he does, what his real name is..." Charmaine trailed off, realising how ridiculous this all sounded. How could she suggest marrying someone who's name she didn't even know?

Her mother echoed this sentiment. "Well, are you sure you can trust him? How do we know that his intentions are noble? We're picking not only your husband here, but the future ruler of the Kingdom. Maybe I should have your father's men interrogate him when he arrives tonight, just to make sure that we're safe."

"Don't be ridiculous, mother! If you didn't want me to marry a complete stranger, perhaps you shouldn't have agreed to host these stupid balls in the first place. Maybe you should just have let me pick a husband at my own pace. Maybe I don't need to be married!" Charmaine snapped.

"These balls weren't my idea," the queen replied coldly. Charmaine looked across at her, surprised at the anger in her tone. "They were dreamt up by you and your father, remember? I had something quite different in mind for you."

Charmaine tilted her head to the side, intrigued. "What?"

The queen paused for a moment, watching her daughter carefully. "Charmaine, what exactly did you do to Elliot?"

Charmaine sighed. So that was where her mother's hopes had been directed. Charmaine had done a lot of truly horrible things over the years, but this one was the worst by a long, long way. Charmaine looked down as she spoke, busying her hands pulling at a loose thread on her skirt.

"The night before I left for school, Elliot told me that he was in love with me. We were twelve, he probably didn't even really mean it and was just trying to be sweet. But I panicked. Leaving was already difficult enough, without starting some doomed-to-failure long distance relationship. Having a connection would have made going away too hard. So," Charmaine paused, taking a deep breath. "I told him not to be so stupid; that I was a princess and he was the son of a merchant. I was going to marry a prince, not some nobody I'd grown up with. I told him that he was just a convenient playmate for my childhood years, but that I was about to go to school with the sort of people I really belonged with. I told him that he'd served his purpose; I didn't need him in my life anymore."

"Oh Charmaine." When Charmaine forced herself to meet her mother's eyes, there was pity in them, rather than shame.

"I didn't know what else to do," Charmaine continued softly, looking down again. "I couldn't start something that neither of us were ready for, but I've felt terrible about it for every second of every day since. I'm a monster. A cruel, callous monster and I don't deserve to one day be queen, let alone find happiness at a fairytale ball. I should be cursed to live out the rest of my life as a troll."

Charmaine herd the rustle of her mother's satin dress as she moved to sit beside her, enveloping her in a tight hug.

"If Elliot has become half the man I always thought he would be, he will understand why you said those things and forgive you. But if you're clearly still so in love with Elliot, why host these balls at all? Why spend your evenings with that stranger?"

"At first, I thought Elliot might come to the ball. But I think whatever situation he has found himself in must be complicated. I think there's a reason that he has to stay away. And I think the man I've been dancing with at the ball has the answers."

"Then let us hope you can get them out of him before the bell tolls twelve tonight," her mother replied, curling a loose strand of hair behind Charmaine's ear.

"I hope that I can, too. I'm not feeling very confident though."

"Charmaine, you have never met a challenge you couldn't surpass," her mother told her with a laugh. "You will work this out. You just need some time to scheme. I'll leave you alone for a while to plan. Tonight, we will show the kingdom that nothing can defeat their future queen, least of all a little bit of fairy magic."

With a rustle of her skirts, the queen left the room before her words had time to sink in. Fairy magic? Charmaine hadn't said anything about magic. Did her mother know more than she was letting on? And was fairy magic the key to unlocking this mystery? She eyed the clock on the mantelpiece. She still had five hours until the ball began and she needed to get to work, starting with the royal time keeper. Tonight, the bells were going to toll twelve a little later than usual...

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