Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Mornings are just awful
The morning of the ball arrived, bringing with it a flutter of nerves in Anaisa’s stomach. Her dreams were still terrible–evidence that Trace had kept away from them–and she stretched her tired limbs.

She’d considered asking her husband to give her good dreams again, but she wasn’t sure, for one thing, that she wanted to invite and condone the invasion he’d done before. Secondly, laying her heart’s desires open to him, willingly, felt utterly vulnerable.

As long as he held his secrets from her, she hesitated to give him permission to access what was deepest inside her.

A logical part of her brain argued back that he’d probably seen as much as he was likely to, and that she wasn’t resting well without him. She would need all the rest she could get to do well at the ball, wouldn’t she?

She’d changed her mind a dozen or more times, but it was too late for that now. The ball was tonight!

Creeping over to the door adjoining her small chamber with Sapphira’s larger one, she cracked the door open slightly.

Despite the near-silence of her movements, the princess flopped over onto her side and faced her servant with a restless expression.

“Oh Annie,” She frowned deeply in the lamplight. “I dreamed about him again. What am I going to do??”

“Put him out of your mind,” Anaisa moved towards the princess and sat on the edge of the bed.

“But he’s been there every night. I know you told me not to trust my dreams, but you like Trace, and if he’s the one putting these things in my head… can it be so bad?” She whispered with a glance toward the door to the sitting room.

“I don’t fully understand what’s happening,” Anaisa said honestly. “I wish I had all the answers for you. I’m convinced Trace means well, and he’s also the one that told me to make sure you don’t trust these dreams.”

“You trust him?” Sapphira sat up with fearful eyes. “Truly, you trust what he says?”

The question was a deeper one than Anaisa had been prepared to answer first thing in the morning, and she pondered it carefully before speaking.

“I trust that he wants what is best for the kingdom,” She responded at length.

“So the man in my dreams, I truly should reject him?” The princess sighed, and Anaisa nodded.

“I imagine you won’t meet him tonight. That will fall to me,” The maid replied quietly. Only a few people knew that the princess would not be the center of attention tonight.

The Advisory, of course, knew that a double existed. That fateful day in the throne room where Trace had revealed the plot was likely fixed in all of their minds, but the king had apparently implied that the double was no longer an issue.

So, while they might suspect the double still lived, none of them should be able to predict that Anaisa was taking Sapphira’s place this evening. The masks made the discovery even less likely.

“So you’ll reject him on my behalf,” Sapphira scratched her head. “That will make things easier.”

“I imagine any suitor that wants your hand will approach your father directly. Even open dislike from me will probably not deter anyone who truly wants the power a marriage to you would bring,” Anaisa warned.

Wooing the princess would help a man on the path to marrying her, but it was not the most important part of the process, and not even strictly necessary to accomplish the matter.

The truest way to the princess was through the king.

“I suppose it’s good then, that I’ll be stationed next to Father,” Sapphira cheered up slightly for the first time. “I can see who’s trying to get around me by going directly to him, and maybe I can deter him from the truly detestable ones.”

Anaisa nodded encouragingly, but she knew that the cleverest of politicians did things behind closed doors. Those Counts and their relatives who sought the princess’s hand would find clever ways of truly private audiences with the king, and subtle ways of putting themselves forward.

And it was likely that the cleverest would prevail, if her father’s stories were to be believed. Anaisa swallowed. She didn’t like how the knowledge of his plots had come to serve her now as she sought to help the princess, but there was no changing it.

“I will take careful mental notes and report to you who is most polite and who is insufferable,” Anaisa promised with a smile. “Although, with the masks, I’m afraid I will be no judge of who is handsome and who is not. Perhaps it is best you make those determinations for yourself at some later date.”

“I imagine the boldest will introduce themselves right away,” Sapphira leaned forward and pulled her knees up to her chest, “maybe I’m too young to be courted and marry. This whole process is ridiculous.”

“I’m sure you will come through it well enough. No one said you have to accept a suitor tonight and marry tomorrow,” Anaisa assured her. “You’ll have time to get used to the idea, and to the man.”

That was more than she’d been afforded, and yet… she could not find it in herself to be discontent in her marriage. In fact, she was becoming rather restless to go out into the main room and see her husband now. The way his hair was mussed in the morning had become a great amusement at the beginning of each day.

She would hate to miss it by lingering too long here.

“I should get dressed for the day. I’m sure there are preparations to be done.” Anaisa breathed deeply.

“Oh, did I not give you the day’s schedule?” Sapphira’s lips curled with mischief.

“No…” Anaisa led with trepidation. “When did you get a schedule?”

“When the dressmaker was doing her final touches on fitting you yesterday, the housekeeper sent it up. I forgot about it until right now.” Sapphira jumped out of bed and made her way to a dressing table, opening the drawer and withdrawing a long sheet of paper. “If you need any proof that no one knows you’re a fake, take a look at this! They’d never go to such lengths for a double.”

A pounding at the door punctuated the statement, and Sapphira brightened.

“Oh! That must be your dawn skin and hair treatment!”