ROYALLY UNFAIR .

PROLOGUE - CHAMPAGNE AND CORNFLAKES

prologue . champagne and cornflakes

(four years ago)

The sisters didn’t know what was going. Pixie had woken up first. She sat up, gently untangling her younger sister’s arms from around her and slipping out of their bed and pulled the curtains open, letting some light in the dark house. It was silent, there was no scent of lavender and vanilla streaming across the house from various candles and it was… dark. Completely dark and cold. She frowned before going to the small wardrobe and picking out something light to wear, automatically going to some leggings and a baggy tshirt. She watched Jordan wriggle in her sleep, wrapping her arms around a pillow due to Pixie’s absence. A small smile tickled her face as Pixie left to go to the bathroom when she heard something from her parent’s bedroom. She frowned and knocked on the door before entering, her hair unbrushed and looked shocked when she saw instead of her parents seated on the bed, her aunt Lillith. Her eyebrows raised as she examined what her aunt was wearing: black, hair pinned back so tightly it seemed painful. Her aunt looked up with a small yet sad smile, “Ah Pixie. Getting ready for school?”

“Um… It’s a Saturday?”

“Oh… why, yes-”

“Where’s papa? Where’s mum?”

Lillith’s sour expression looked at her, “Your mother’s downstairs… You didn’t see your father yesterday night?”

Pixie wondered how she knew, “Well… yes. I didn’t see him, I need to show him something, I need some help for my Physics class-”

“Pixie, your father’s dead.”

Pixie’s eyes widened, “What?!”

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. On  his way home, there was a major accident on his route… he was rushed to hospital. He died earlier today. Severe damage to his brain and chest.”

Pixie felt tears begin to prick at her eyes and she swallowed down the wailing beast her heart had become, “T-Thank you for telling me… I’ll be going.”

She left the room, gently closing the door behind her and struggled to keep her sobs in. due to the open door of their bedroom, it seemed that Jordan was now awake. She quickly got dressed, taking a paracetamol for the aching migraine she had but it didn’t help when she thought that no amount of medication would heal and stitch the broken parts of her together. She wiped her tears, still bottling her sadness as she walked downstairs, entering the dining room. Jordan was seated at the table, eating cornflakes and reading the back of the box due to her bored state. She went and sat opposite her sister, serving herself some cornflakes. She took a mouth but the milk tasted sour and the cornflakes stale. She pushed her bowl away and looked down at her feet, fiddling with her thumbs, blinking back tears and painting a smile on her face for Jordan’s sake. Her sister clearly didn’t know what had happened.

Their mother trudged into the the kitchen, draining a glass of champagne. Jordan frowned an went to Pixie’s ear, “That’s her third glass this morning? What’s up?”

Pixie wanted to tell her but the words were stuck in her throat with her tears and sobs and wails. She just gave her a shrug and returned to her bowl, so she wouldn’t seem that suspicious.

“Hey Pix? Are you crying? C’mon, the movie wasn’t that sad yesterday.” Jordan said with a smile, trying to attempt to lighten the mood.

Pixie’s heart was a weight, dragging her body and mental state down with her. She caught her reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. Her smile… it was like those fake selfie smiles. She would always just be a broken, quiet, dreamy girl under a perfect mask. If her mask slipped… no one would appreciate it.

She looked up at her mother desperately, wanting her mother to explain soon so she could relieve herself of all of this pain by letting go of all her tears and break down completely. Hiding herself hurt. But nobody seemed to understand that- her mother just refilled her champagne flute.

She looked back down at her breakfast. Watery milk. Now mushed cornflakes. Pathetic. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and picked her bowl up, going to drain it down the sink. Jordan perked up, “Okay, something is really up. Spill it already, both of you are acting weird. And why is Aunt Lillith here? Pixie, you were talking to her- did she hurt you?”

Pixie simply shook her head and rested her hands on her sister’s shoulders, “I’ll let Mum explain… I really can’t talk right now.”

She gave her mother a stern look to her mother before hugging her sister goodbye and leaving, tears blurring her vision.

‘Chin up Pixie,’ she thought to herself, ‘your mask’s slipping…’

***

(a year ago)

Jordan looked out of the window, Pixie taking photographs from the other window. The view was stunning in Jordan’s perspective but the journey was boring her. She wanted to do something, not just sit in the fancy vehicle she, Pixie and their mother were in for another hour. She could feel Pixie’s anger ripple off of her as she clicked at her camera angrily before chucking it onto the empty seat between them. She didn’t blame her. Her mother had always had strange viewpoints and  done unspeakable things but getting married again?! She had never expected that. Neither had Pixie. Jordan had watched her elder sister and mother quarrel and had held onto Pixie when she was broken. She missed her father but this was only a fraction of Pixie’s pain.

Jordan looked across at her sister, reaching out for her hand. Despite being two years younger than Pixie, she seemed to act like the elder when it came to comfort. But Pixie always took the responsibility, defending her sister. She looked at Pixie, at how distant she was. She then returned her gaze to the window and thought: remarriage. But not getting remarried to anyone- to a king. King Lucian Montgomery. His name seemed a bit comical to Jordan, always calling him Lucifer away from her mother’s acute ears. But it still shocked her. She had been raised in a humble and quiet family. Only two years after her father’s death, her mother planned to erase any trace of his existence besides Pixie and Jordan. How sweet.

Jordan blinked. It was a true rags to riches story. She had eaten stale cornflakes this morning, her sister and her could bathe in champagne if they wished to this evening. The thought amazed her but also slightly disgusted her. Her father’s own wonderland would soon only become a distant memory for her. She was going to be raised in the luxury despite her hesitance. She sighed. The sigh seemed to relieve this ache in her head. She closed her eyes, shuffling over so she could use Pixie’s shoulder as a pillow and tried to get to sleep and imagined awaking in her father’s arms, in their small house in an unknown village.

***

A/N: that was the prologue of ‘royally unfair’! i hope you enjoyed, im sorry if this was sad, it’ll get better i promise. this chapter is written by me, almasa and i hope you enjoyed!

-almasa <3