All I Need ✔️

Chapter 21

­Third Person POV

Emalina worked like a tornado, frantically pushing, prodding, poking, twisting, tying. This was far different from the typical, leisurely work she normally did. No hair could be out of place, no loose threads, no bumps or lumps. It had to be perfect.

The dress was also very different. Gone was the light, sheer material, replaced by heavy brocade. The dress was a non-descript dark gray and silver pattern, with a matching, long-sleeved overcoat on top. Her hair was styled into a partially up, partially down look. "You look...royal," Emalina said to Safania, stepping back to admire her finished work.

Safania looked in a mirror, shocked to see the woman staring back at her. She preferred the feel of the other, simpler dresses Emalina had made for her, but she couldn't deny that she looked just like any other noblewoman she had ever met.

"Now you remember what I told you," Emalina said to Safania.

Safania nodded. "Avoid Orphasius, stay on Celine's good side, don't speak to anyone unless spoken to."

Emalina nodded. "You have a bit of an advantage - no one knows you speak the language. So only people who speak Anguinese will be able to talk to you. Unfortunately, most of them speak Anguinese."

"Emalina, you realize the prince must speak it too, right?" Safania responded, finally remembering what she wanted to say.

"What?" Emalina said, caught off guard.

"I mean, he knows Eir. Why would he learn that language before the language of his own people? He's smart enough to know a dozen languages, so it's not like he couldn't learn it. And if most of his family speaks it, he would want to know what they're saying."

"But then...why would he tell me he doesn't understand...?" Emalina asked.

"The same reason I don't want people to know I speak Ledish. To eavesdrop."

Emalina's face became paler than it already was. "But...I've...I've said some things about him that I definitely didn't want him to hear. I've called him a pompous ass before!"

"To his face?" Safania asked.

"Close enough for him to hear," Emalina said.

A knock came on the door. Emalina straightened herself out and answered. Prince Cassius was at the doorway in a slightly more elaborate dark blue and silver brocade jacket. His hair was styled more like the first night they met, not the messy look Safania had become accustomed to. "I'm here to escort Safania," he told Emalina.

"Of course, your highness," Emalina said, recovering quickly from figuring out the Prince spoke her language, but resolving in her head to only speak about him favorably in the future.

Emalina brought Safania her crutches and helped lift her out of her chair. The two walked over to the doorway.

The prince was a well-read man. Multiple stories he had read spoke of someone taking another's breath away. But he had never understood it until that moment. When Safania emerged from the room, he simply forgot how to breathe. Even in a relatively drab print and very little detail, she commanded attention. Her dress didn't need embellishments - she was the embellishment. The dress seemed as though it were simply there to highlight her beauty, not to make her beautiful. The make-up Emalina had used wasn't the type of make-up he was used to seeing on the other women of the court- brightly colored lips and brightly colored eyes. Safania just looked like herself, except more. Somehow, her eyes were greener, her mouth was poutier, her skin was dewier.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, interrupting Cassius's thoughts.

"No! No, not at all. You just look...different," he said stupidly.