The Black Rose (5 page)

“She’s getting a custom made gown,” Bianca said, “It makes sense, but they have been at it for hours!
They spent a whole hour just deciding on how long the train should be.”

“They?”
Jerome questioned.

“Delaney and Edolie,” Shirley responded, “Those two are crazy!” Wilhelmina, Jerome, and Bianca
burst into fits of giggles.

Jerome sighed, so this was supposed to be his wife. He wasn’t sure if he liked Edolie as much as he had before. Wilhelmina had a certain charm to h
er, but she was not next in line for the throne
. After their talk today, he began to wonder why
she
wasn’t chosen and planned on confronting his
parents
it. He just needed to come up with an excuse to return home.

“Hey, what are you spacing out about?” Bianca gave Jerome a little shove, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Oh nothing,” Jerome laughed nervously. Jerome glanced at Wilhelmina and noticed she was smiling at him, but soon he found himself looking at an angry Bianca. “Um, what did
you
say?”

“I asked what color
do you
think looks best on Edolie.”

“Oh that’s easy, blue,” Jerome responded
remembering the Edolie’s eyes were blue
, “It goes well with her blue eyes. Why do you ask?”

“
Oh Edolie just wanted to know, so she knew what color of dress she should wear the next time you two go dancing,” Shirley said.

“Is there going to be another ball?” Jerome blinked in confusion.

“Yes, at your place,” Bianca said before heading back into
the castle
with Shirley.

“Um, what’s going on?” Jerome asked Wilhelmina.

“They want to have a ball at your palace so they can meet your family,” Wilhelmina said, “They’re thinking it would be fun to have a Masquerade Ball.
Honestly,
I think they ju
st want to have a reason to dance with lords and princes
.”

“Probably,” Jerome laughed. The girls came out of
the castle
to inform them that Edolie had finished designing her wedding gown and that they could
all finally take a break
.
They decided that they were going to have some tea and cookies in the lounge room.

Edolie
grabbed Jerome’s arm and
began to lead him to the castle. Jerome experienced a strange feeling
of disappointment
when he was separated from
Wilhelmina. He wasn’t quite sure why, bu
t he forced himself to let go of his feelings
in order to listen to Edolie chatter about the wedding. After all, it was thanks to Edolie that he now had an excuse to return home. He was sure his parents would approve of a
b
all. They
also
probably want
ed
to meet Edolie
since she would
soon be their son’s wife
.

Wilhelmina giggled, and, along with the other bridesmaids, followed after them. She, howeve
r, decided to go up to her room. It was a long day and she was worn out. Plus she wanted to avoid Milly for a bit since she knew her dear friend would demand to know everything that happened.

Chapter 4

A couple days
had passed since picking out the bridesmaid dresses and to
day Jerome would be heading
home to
ask his
parents about
holding
a Masquerade Ball.
Edolie had begged to go with him, but he wanted to do a proper introduction with her at the ball like they
had done for the Spring Ball. She
was sad to see him go and
decided to
put all her
energy in
to
planning
the wedding ceremony.

Wilhelmina was becoming less and less excited
for the wedding as Edolie stormed the castle barking orders. On the other hand,
Milly was only becoming more enraged. It probably didn’t help that Wilhelmina had
decided to tell Milly about
her conversation with Jerome.

“It just doesn’t make sense!” Milly exclaimed
throwing her hands in the air out of
frustration, “None of this makes sense! You could have left the castle and married by now!
Why are they keeping you locked up! It’s like
you
’
r
e
Rapunzel!
”

Wilhelmina had had some time to think on it the past
few
day
s
and had come up with one reason
able explanation
, “Well, if Edolie had died, and I hadn’t married a prince, then I think our kingdom would have a slight problem. A commoner has never ruled before...”

“True,” Milly said, “But that would be
their own
fault for picking the youngest!”

“Milly…” Wilhelmina sighed, “How many times do we have to go through this?”

“Well it’s just not right,” Milly huffed as she crossed her arms and sat down
on the bed next to Wilhelmina.

Wilhelmina placed her hand gently on Milly’s arm, “I’m sure my parents had good intentions, we just don’t know what they are. I think it’s best to just let them go because I’ll be allowed to marry after this and then it’s no big deal.”

“You’re right,” Milly sighed in defeat, “The whole thing just frustrates me.”

“Well on the plus side, we’ll be able to dance with
some handsome gentlemen
at the Masquerade Ball.”

“Maybe you’ll meet your prince charming,” Milly teased. She knew Wilhelmina had never taken an interest in any
man
.
She
wasn’t even sure what
Wilhelmina’s type was, but she
must
be really
picky if not a single
man had
managed to attract her attention
. Then again,
Wilhelmina didn’t really get to meet very many
men since she was often confined to the palace.

“Well, even if I do, I won’t know who it is,” Wilhelmina said and both girls giggled.

Wilhelmina felt more comfortable with a Masquerade Ball because they would all be wearing masks. No one would have to know who she was
,
so
she wouldn’t be as nervous as she was at the Spring Ball. Wilhelmina also had never danced before and planned to do her best to avoid dancing, but if she had
to
, at least no one would know who she was. Milly, on the other hand, loved dancing, so the ball would be her time to shine.

“Maybe you’ll meet someone,” Wilhelmina nudged Milly playfully.

“Doubt it, what guy wants to marry a maid,”
Milly said standing up.

“Milly…” Wilhelmina began, but Milly interrupted her.

“I better get to work, talk to you later,” Milly said quickly before running out the door. Wilhelmina sighed. She wished Milly wouldn’t think of herself that way. She was a nice girl and Wilhelmina was sure some guy would be happy to have her
. Milly went through such hardships that it wasn’t fair for her not to ever marry and leave the castle.

Wilhelmina sighed, but then again what her parents had done to her wasn’t really fair either. It seemed
there were a lot of secrets that
involved
her
.
Though she had told Milly it was
alright and
not
to
worry about it
, she
found herself agonizing over not knowing
. It
also
frustrated her that she cared so much.

Edolie’s wedding had brought about feelings she had put aside for so long. If only there was some way she could find out why she wasn’t chosen to be the next heir.
Wilhelmina
figured asking he
r parents was not the best idea, but
unfortunately, that was probably the only way for her to
find out the truth.

Back in Vanica,
Jerome
,
his parents
,
his elder brother
, Nicholas
,
and his wife
, Loretta
,
were having a discussion
in the council room
.
Each kingdom’s palace had a council room. This allowed the kingdom’s to take turns on holding the council, making it fair for all the kingdoms. The council consisted of all kings and queens from all the kingdoms. It even included the future king and queens, such as Nicholas and L
oretta
. Jerome and
Edolie would soon be a part of the council
once they
were
married.

Vanica’s council room
had
a long solid oak table, consisting of ten beautifully carved
wooden
chairs on each side. There was one chair on each end of the long table, which was
where
the hosting king and queen would sit.
Along the back wall, there were six extra chairs
in case there was not enough
seating
at the table
. The future kings and queens would sit
in the back
if there was no room at the table
since they were not as important as the current rulers
. The walls
of the council room
were painted a royal blue
and had a
gold floral trim
painted
along the top,
which were
Vanica’s colors. The walls were also accented with gold frames that held beautiful paintings
of various plants and angels
.
The biggest painting was located above the fireplace and was a painting of the sun.

The sun was a very important symbol for all the kingdoms and each council
room held a
painting of it. All current kings and queens were
d
escendant
s
of the
king
s
and queens of the past that had been chosen by the heavens. The heavens had marked them with the sign of the sun. This symbol thus reminded them that they had all been chosen and must work together to preserve peace throughout the land.

The king was sit
ting at the far end of the table and his queen sat on his right side
. Jerome was sitting next to his mother and
across from him sat Nicholas
.
Loretta sat next to Nicholas.
This was the typical family seating. The eldest always sat next to the father and the youngest, next to the mother. However, Jerome would soon be sitting next to King Wilhelm and whoever Wilhelmina
chooses to marry
will sit next
to the queen. The Aridales were the first to break the long lasting tradition of the eldest having rights to the throne and Jerome wanted to know why. 

The conversation
had
started out simple with Jerome making a request for a Masquerade Ball. His parents
said
yes to that easily since they were eager to meet
Princess
Edolie. The marriage had been arranged at the girl’s birth and so they
have not seen her as the lady she now is
. However, the conversation took a spin for the worse when Jerome wished
to
inquire information about Wilhelmina.

“This was a decision made
by the council and will remain within
the council,” Jerome’s father, King
Baudouin, spoke in a
serious tone. Queen Isadora, Jerome’s mother, rested her hand gently on her husband’s shoulder to calm him.

“I think he should know the tru
th,” Queen Isadora spoke calmly.

“Mother, you….”
Nicholas
began to speak but the queen raised her hand to silence him.

“Jerome will soon become a m
ember of the council and so it would
not make any difference whether we choose to tell him now or later,” Isadora spoke looking directly at Jerome. Jerome had a feeling he was about to uncover a very dark secret.

“However,” Isadora continued, “What we tell you must not leave this room. You must not mention any of this to
Princess
Edolie, and especially not to
Princess
Wilhelmina.
Understood?
”

“Yes mother.”

“I do not agree with your mother,” Baudouin began, “But,
I will warn you. S
tay away from
Princess
Wilhelmina.
Princess
Edolie is your bride. I fear that you are asking because you have started to become attracted to the wrong princess.”