AnotidaMandemwa

Everyone is playing a regal game. Everyone except Lucia (who probably should).

After her father faced accusations of trying to seize the throne from his father and king, he was exiled along with his family. They were no longer royalty, but his wife would not have it. She was friends with the queen of Vershia and used that to her advantage. Her two older daughters were the right age to marry the two princes, and she would make that happen come what may.

That became a problem when the oldest daughter was ignored by the crown prince, who formed a friendship with the youngest of the girls. There was still hope; Lucia could become the future queen. But Lucia was not groomed for this role. She did not want to live for the type of marriage she could snag. She did not want to take the man who had been planned for her sister.

But that’s the thing with plans, isn’t it? She never planned to fall in love with the man, and there she was: an unwilling participant in the regal games. Would she capture the crown? How would everything affect her relationship with her sister? Was there ever pleasing her mother?

[WSA 2024 Entry]

Regal Games

"Ooooh!" Caroline cooed at her younger sister, "You look so pretty!"

Lucia beamed at that and said, "Thank you! You look pretty too!"

And she did. They were both wearing their bridesmaids' dresses, the same forest green floor-length fabric skilfully cut and sewn into a keyhole neckline, hugging the gentle curves of their torsos and flaring at the waist into a ten-eighty-degree circle skirt. Adela had not stopped there. She had insisted her sisters wear white roses in the intricate buns in their hair and had simple teardrop diadems drop over their foreheads.

"Adela is not joking around," Lucia said as she touched the jewel over her brow.

"And speaking of Adela," Caroline said as she glanced at her watch, "we need to go to her."

Can’t Amend Perfection