THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[6.1] MIRROR, MIRROR

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"I- I think she's d-dead."

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"WELL GO AHEAD," Daya began, folding her arms as she laid back in her seat. Swinging one leg over the other, she motioned to the suitcases, "Those are yours. Towels are in the wardrobes."

My gaze lingered over her for a moment, wondering if she expected me to change while her eyes were set on me. Forgive me but I was used to privacy and much of it. Unless on rare occasions my mother would barge in without knocking. She gave the polite reply, 'It's my house when I complained and if she caught me indecent, she would shrug it off with, 'It's nothing I haven't seen many times already Hun. '

Yes, there was no winning when it came to her.

But, as a single child, I did have all the space one would long for. as lonely as it seemed, it was in my nature as a person situated on the more introverted side of the equation. The silence was lonely, but it was also my comfort.

It was apparent, however, that I had no control over my current situation. As much as I daydreamed about how it would be to be normal for once, a normal teen, this moment had never crossed one of my imaginings and it didn't lessen the embarrassment and or shyness resonating from deep within, having to undress in front of a peer.

I had never gotten naked in front of anyone since I was a child.

"Are you shy?" She asked with a slight snicker, "C'mon We are girls here," she teased, raising an eyebrow at my hesitation, "unless otherwise," she muttered the last part underneath her breath but my ears had long adapted to snarky comments, her eyes darting to my bottom half.

My cheeks heated up, in part shock at the insinuation, moving toward the wardrobe like a robot, ears burning in light humiliation.

Taking out a towel, I proceeded to roll a suitcase up to my side of the bed, well at least I presumed it was my side, seeing as the package from before was on it, pulling it up onto the bed. Unzipping it, my eyes immediately lit up, settling on the sight of various colors of normal-looking clothing neatly folded and pressed.

I picked up one shirt and realized these were not mine. They were regular, tops, jeans, dresses, and skirts none remotely near to the Ekusi print I usually wear at home.

Not even as much as an Ekusi wrapper, to cover over my jeans.

It was quite apparent Gravis wanted me to be the typical teen, which was nothing I could complain about.

Regular was a feeling I had longed for, to not have this constant burden raining over me about what was expected from a future queen, and in fate's own messed up way, I was granted these things.

I mean where in my God's green land would mom allow me to walk around palace grounds in bare jeans? Nope, a princess must be modest at all times. Modesty was treated in high regard in my country, our traditions differed from the outside world. Royalty had to look like royalty sporting Ekusi ornaments wherever they went.

I wasn't particularly angry about it, it was a part of me I was proud of, but as a 17-year-old girl, another part of me yearned for the normalcy of movie teens I feasted my eyes on via Netflix and the glitz, glamour, and freedom of just being regular.

A smile crept on my face as I pulled it out of the suitcase, pulling out for me to fully inspect. I couldn't believe Gravis had picked these out for me, well at least I thought it was him. There was no Zali here after all. If it was him, it seemed he was pushing me to take on the regular girl role quite well. If I was a good actor was a whole other thing altogether. Daya cleared her throat and my head snapped to her expression, having completely forgotten she was still there.