Chapter 9: Dance Of Fire II

"I never thought I would get to see such beauty in my life, miss."

Readying her hair, Aurora seemed to be on the verge of tears. It wasn't even her wedding day and her older friend already behaved as though she was going to move to her husband's house the next day.

"Thank you, Aurora," Lillian laughed, reddening at the compliment. "I am glad you think so."

"Every one else will think so as well," Aurora replied. And when she was done, she helped the lady stand and look herself over in the full length mirror.

Lillian even was in awe of herself. She had to admit, she certainly did look beautiful.

"You look just like your mother, when she was younger," Aurora sighed, affectionately looking over the lady. Her statement, however, captured Lily's attention.

"You have seen a younger version of my mother?," she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. Aurora nodded.

"Have you not?," she asked, her brows furrowing slightly when Lillian shook her head. "There are paintings of your mother in the abandoned drawing room upstairs."

Lillian slowly nodded, looking away. Aurora meant the attic her mother had locked up and had left it that way. She opened it once in a while to have it cleaned, apparently.

Funny enough, Lillian had never seen a painting of her mother as a young girl. Her father, she had seen. But all paintings and murals of her mother she had seen had been taken from around the period she was married to her father and onwards.

She had seen no pictures of her mother from her past. That was odd.

A knock on the door interrupted the mistress' thoughts, bringing her to the present once more. The knob turned and her father's head peeked through the small gap in the door.

"Honey, your mother awaits-,"

He did not finish his statement as his eyes swept over his daughter's form. His eyes immediately glazed over and an emotional smile graced his lips.

"My dear, you look wonderful," he complimented, inviting himself into the room to take a better look at his daughter.

His compliment caused a bright smile to illuminate Lily's face as she gave a dainty twirl.

"You are growing up too fast, Lily," he exhaled, as though trying to keep his emotions in check. "Your mother awaits your presence. She is already anxious, insisting we are running late."

"We are going to get there too early," Lily laughed and her father chuckled.

"That is just your mother," he sighed, taking one last look at his daughter before nodding, affection raw in his eyes. He turned on his heels. "I'll leave you to finish getting ready. Don't take too much time, else your mother might actually lose her mind."

"I won't," Lily turned, smiling at herself in the mirror. "This is the first time I'll be going to a ball. It makes me feel...nervous."

Aurora went to stand behind Lillian, admiring the dress on her. "The first ball I attended was where I met my husband. I was so afraid to go initially, considering my family's reputation."

Lillian's grey eyes met her friend's brown eyes in the mirror, Lily's eyes were empathetic, having been reminded of her family's sad fate.

From what Lily could tell and had been told, Aurora had had a good relationship with her father. But he had been accused of witchcraft, or something of that sort. Even Aurora herself was not certain.

And he was exiled into the forest. She hadn't seen her father since. And the town had not helped with the loss as they had treated her family as outcasts.

Aurora had believed she would not even get to marry, until she met her husband a couple of years ago.

"What I am trying to say is that you will enjoy today's performance, alright? So do not let your dislike for the Prince stop you from enjoying it, young miss," Aurora said. Her words earned a smile from Lily's lips.

"I do not dislike the prince, Aurora," she said.

"You dislike the idea of marrying him," her older friend chuckled. "It is basically the same thing."

When Lillian laughed, Aurora placed her hands on her shoulders gently. "Take a look at yourself in the mirror, Lily. You look too beautiful to go crawling in tunnels in the castle."

Lillian blushed, bashful and embarrassed. "I wouldn't do that!"

"I am only reminding you, my lady," Aurora bowed, though her tone was very much teasing. "Let us quickly meet your mother."

"That would be a good idea. Let us go."

♡

As Lily had expected, they had arrived at the castle much earlier that necessary. Her only comfort was that Ava's mother, Amelia Burgess, had thought quite similarly to her own mother and they also, had arrived rather early.

"You look very beautiful, Lily," was the first thing the youngest heir of the Burgess family had said to her.

"I could say the same to you, Ava," Lily replied. "I would say that as you are good with picking out designs which suit me, I am good with picking out designs which suit you."

"Sir Benjamin will surely notice you today."

"Please," Ava rolled her eyes, though Lily did not miss the way her cheeks tinted a light shade of red.

Lily smiled. She had not been lying about Ava's beauty either.

Her friend was wearing the green dress Lily had suggested she wear and her beautiful, black hair was styled, falling all around her shoulders and framing her pretty face. Lily was sure that although Benjamin was going to be arriving with his fiancèe to the ball, his eyes would be on Ava.

It was no secret that they fancied each other, atleast to Lily. However, the man was a knight and at the age of five, was betrothed to Babette Jovinson, a daughter of one of the King's courtmen.

To make matters worse, Count Burgess and his wife were not lovers of Sir Benjamin's family as their families had always been in some sort of feud. It was unspoken but it was obvious.

"Let us just focus on the fact that we will be watching the dance of fire today," Lily said. "Let nothing ruin it."

"Honour that advice, because your fiancè is heading towards you right now," Ava said and she placed her hands on either sides of Lily's shoulders, spinning her around to meet Gilbert who was walking down the steps in her direction, to welcome her.