FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

Coronation

“Please try to hold still, miss.”

I sighed and looked down at the little servant girl in front of me, digging her name from the recesses of my memory. Mary, I think. A number of servants had been fussing around me all day, tucking, tightening, pinching, poking…

I shifted on the stand, and the seamstress wagged a finger at me, “patience, princess. Soon you will be a Queen, and we can’t have our Queen huffing and tapping her toes.”

I nodded and tried to repress a smile. As soon as the servants had received word of the Queen’s death a miraculous transformation had occurred. I’d never seen them smile all the time, or whistle freely while they worked. They even made eye contact and sassed me now. I resolved that the first thing I would do as Queen was give them a fair pay wage.

A wave of shock hit me at the thought. Me…I would be Queen. How ridiculous.

I’d been buffeted by shock all day, moving around mechanically, doing as the servants ordered to get me ready for that night. Staying still while they yanked my hair into something fashionable, closing my eyes while they painted my face, sucking my breath in while they pulled the corset dress tight in the back.

Now it was nearly time. In a few minutes I would walk down the hallway of the ice palace and into the throne room. I’d sit down on the throne. Me, on a fricking throne.

Then the ceremony would start. My coronation.

I sucked in another deep breath, stomach doing backflips. I hadn’t slept at all last night. Charlotte had moved into Davin’s room, and the huge bed had felt so empty without her. It was just me, alone with the frenzied thoughts running through my head.

I pushed thoughts of last night to the side and tried to concentrate on breathing deeply. In and out, in and out. I can do this. I’m not going to faint in front of everyone. I’m not.

“Ready, miss?” Mary smiled up at me.

I gawped at her, heart racing. Was it that time already?  I stammered, “For what?”

“To see your dress of course,” she laughed, “don’t worry, miss. You don’t have to look so petrified. You look marvelous.”

I gave her a wobbly smile, “Thank you.”

The seamstress, who was almost as tall as me in spite of the platform I stood on, held out one hand to help me turn in place, “have a look in the mirror, love.”

I turned slowly, making sure I didn’t step on the silky fabric of the dress. The sight of the woman in the full length mirror made me gasp. That couldn’t possibly be me. This woman was royalty, refined and resplendent in a beautiful white dress. The girls laughed at my stunned expression.

“Do you like it?” The seamstress asked.

My voice came out breathless, “I…it’s beautiful. I can’t…I can’t even say how beautiful it is.”

I sounded like a stammering idiot, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t take my eyes of the mirror. Off the dress I was wearing. It was blazing white, like freshly fallen snow.  It was strapless, and my shoulders were bare. Mary had dusted my pale skin with a fine sheen of sparkles that caught the light and glimmered when I moved. Just beneath the bust line shimmering crystals were set over the fabric in an icicle pattern. The dress was mermaid style, hugging me tightly around the waist and hips and flowing out at the thighs, ending in a long train that swirled around me in waves of silky fabric.

                When I moved, something in my hair glittered in shards of rainbow light in the mirror. Mary had done my hair in intricate, twin braids on either side of my face, fastening my bangs back save for a stray curl or two. A small diamond tiara accented my hair, and the choker around my neck was made of the same diamonds.