The Black Rose (3 page)

“I guess,” Wilhelmina said. She didn’t really know Jerome, but Edolie seemed happy to be dancing with him.

“That should be you.”

“Milly,” Wilhelmina hissed.

“Well it should be!”

“
Shhhh
!”
Wilhelmina said frantically hoping not to catch anyone’s attention. Luckily everyone seemed focused on Edolie and Jerome.

“Sorry,” Milly said, “It just irks me.”

Wilhelmina sighed, “Just let it be, there’s nothing we can do…”

Their conversation and t
he dancing
were
interrupted by the king and queen’s entrance. Everyone bowed as King Wilhelm
Frederic of Aridale
and Queen Henrietta
Anne of Aridale
walked down the
marble staircase
.

“As most of you already know, we are here today to celebrate a very special occasion,” King Wilhelm smiled at his daughter, Edolie. “
Princess
Edolie Marcelle of Aridale is to marry
Prince
Jerome Alexander of Vanica.” Everyone began clapping, even Wilhelmina
and a reluctant Milly.

The king continued,
“Princes
s
Edolie and Prince Jerome shall be our future king and queen
, so I know you are
all
wondering when they
are to be
married
.
” King Wilhelm paused for suspense, “
Their wedding
date has been set
to be on the last day of summer
.” The room filled with applause and Wilhelmina had to leave. All the ce
lebration was strangely getting to her
and she headed out the back door to the Queen’s garden.

The Queen’s garden was in full bloom.
There were hundreds of different flowers of many different colors, but the garden
was
most
famous for its rare blue rose
s
. The blue rose was Queen H
enrietta’s favorite flower. They
lined the stone path exiting the castle and stopped at a white arch covered in green vines. Behind the arch was an open area that had a beautiful fountain at its center. The fountain featured a sculpture of an angel
holding the sun
. By the founta
in there
were
a couple of benches,
one
on
each side. Wilhelmina sat down on the nearest one and looked up at the night sky.

She
w
as not sure why she felt upset. She
had
already accepted the fact that her sister would be the next queen. S
he also did not want to be queen
.
The fact it bothered her so much made her even more upset and frustrated.

Wilhelmina began to doubt herself.
Maybe she really did want to be queen and telling herself she
did not had been a
lie. It was selfish for her to take the role from her sister. Sure she was the oldest and should be next in line, but then
what
would become of her sister? Edolie would probably feel the same as Wilhelmina was
feeling right now
,
and with that thought, it made it easier for her to acce
pt Edolie as the future queen of
Aridale. Besides, if
she really wanted to be a ruler
she could always marry a prince and rule a different kingdom. Wilhelmina shook her head at that thought, no; she wanted to marry for love. Not a single guy had yet made an impression on her, not even Jerome, the handsome prince of Vanica.
She sighed and looked down at her reflection in the fountain.
Then again, she was rather plain herself. She doubted she could attract anyone and turned her attention the moon.

Back in the ballroom, Milly had been asked to dance by a gentleman and took the offer since she was not able to find Wilhelmina. Jerome, on the other hand, had spotted Wilhelmina leaving, but Edolie demanded his full attention. He had no idea how long they had been dancing
and
greeting guests before she finally told him she needed to go freshen up. As pretty as Edolie was, she was quite a talker
.

Jerome
needed a break from his fiancé and
decided to go out for some fresh air. He
secretly
also wanted to see Wilhelmina again. She had caught his eye and he was very interested.
Edolie
was of course beautiful and charming
, but there was just something about Wilhelmina
that
appealed to
him.

Out in the
Queen’s
garden
,
he spotted Wilhelmina sitting on a
white
bench by the fountain. He watched her for a bit from a distance. She seemed lost in thought as she stared at the night sky. He looked up to see what she was looking at. The moon was full tonight and there were a few stars, however
,
many of them were hard to see with the light of the palace.
Jerome turned his attention from the sky to Wilhelmina and made his way over to her. She didn’t even look away from the sky when he approached her.

“Excuse me,” Jerome said as he bowed in front of Wilhelmina.

Wilhelmina was startled out of her thoughts. She quickly stood up
to greet Jerome with a
curtsey.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Jerome smiled, “I just came out for some fresh air and noticed you were out here.”

“It’s alright,” Wilhelmina said regaining her composure.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, you don’t look bad yourself,” Wilhelmina smiled awkwardly. They didn’t really know each other and Wilhelmina wasn’t very good at small talk.
She never really had much practice
since
her only friend was Milly.
She also
was never allowed out of the castle.

“Wilhelmina, right?”
Jerome asked.

“
Yes
.”

“I’m Jerome,” Jerome said and Wilhelmina nodded. She already knew that of course.
“Your sister sure likes to talk a lot,” Jerome
added
trying to make conversation. They would soon be related through his marriage to Edolie and he wanted to be on good terms with her.

“Yes, that is one of her flaws,” Wilhelmina said starting to feel more comfortable. At least they weren’t talking about her. “Do you like her?”

“Oh, yes very much,” Jerome said hoping he didn’t seem like he was complaining, “She’s very pretty, sweet, and her voice is very lovely, which makes up for her
chatter
.”

Wilhelmina giggled causing Jerome to smile. He wasn’t quite sure what it was
about Wilhelmina,
but
he was d
efini
t
e
ly attracted to her
. He liked Edolie of course, but it was different.
He felt both girls could equally be a suitable wife even though he knew he had to marry Edolie in order take the throne
.
Jerome
felt confused, it as if his heart was being pulled in two different directions.

“There you are!” Edolie exclaimed as she ran
toward Jerome and Wilhelmina
. She instantly began rambling about something and grabbed Jerome’s arm.
Her interruption distracted Jerome from
his thoughts and mixed feelings
. He looked at Wilhelmina and she smiled
at him, renewing his confusion, but once again
Edolie distracted him by tugging on his arm.

“I’ll see you later,” Jerome managed to say
to Wilhelmina
as Edolie dragged him back to the ballroom. Wilhelmina giggled and
followed th
em back inside
. She looked for Milly to tell her she was going to end the night early, but noticed Milly was dancing
with
a
gentleman
. Wilhelmina decided not to disrupt her friend’s fun and headed off to her tower.

In her tower, Wilhelmina undressed. She sighed in relief when she changed into her red night
shirt and shorts. The maids had taken her gown
and were putting it back into her closet
.
She had
survived the night and wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed.
However, she had to wait till the maids left. Once the lights were out and the maids had
gone, she climbed into bed
and looked at her ceiling
.

She
wondered if Milly was still dancing
. She
hoped
Milly
wouldn’t be upset that she decided to go to bed without letting her know. Wilhelmina was too tired though to worry and decided she would apologize in the morning. She was sure Milly would have all sorts of things to tell her tomorrow.

Chapter 3

Days
had passed since the Spring Ball and Wilhelmina had spent
most of
the time in her tower avoiding the wedding preparations. However, today
she had no choice but to be a part of
the wedding
planning
since Edolie had picked her bridesmaids and of course, Wilhelmina
was chosen to be one of them
.

“Who does she think she
is!
”
Milly was furious and did not approve at all. She did not think it was fair that Wilhelmina wasn’t chosen to be queen.
“She is going to be queen and now she rubs it in your face by making you stand up there and watch!”

“Milly….”
Wilhel
mina did not realize how upset her friend
was over
the situation
until
now
. It
was going
to
take all
of
her
energy to calm
Milly
down and she was not sure
if she would have any left to pick out dresses
with Edolie.
Milly let out a frustrated grunt as she sat down on Wilhelmina’s bed.

“Milly, it’s not a big deal. I don’t want to be queen,” Wilhelmina said more for herself than for Milly. Even she was beginning to have doubts.
Wilhelmina
had been so passive about the situation for so long that she had no idea what she truly wanted.

“But you would be so much better than that spoiled brat!” Milly exclaimed as she jumped off of Wilhelmina’s bed.
She
had had a rough week with dealing with Edolie. Edolie wanted everything to be perfect and
had been constantly
yelling at th
e
maids and servants
to get everything right
. Wilhelmina believed that
the pressure from Edolie had caused
Milly to snap.

“Edolie is getting married so it’s normal for her to be crazy, that’s where the term
‘
bridezilla
’
comes from,” Wilhelmina said calmly as she got Milly to sit back down on her bed, “Besides, I don’t want to marry Jerome. I don’t love him.”

“But…. Oh…” Milly sighed as she gave in. She knew Wilhelmina
was right. She
was just frustrated with Edolie. Also, Milly didn’t want
Wilhelmina to be
forced to be
with someone she didn’t like. “I guess love has always been more important to you than ruling.”

Wilhelmina smiled. She was
glad that she managed to get Milly to calm down. “Just remember, after the wedding, I’ll finally be able to go outside. Then we can do all sorts of things together, so it’s not all bad.”

“Oh
my gosh
! I can’t believe I totally forgot! Now that Edolie is going to be married, we can do all sorts of things outside the castle, even dance with guys!”

Milly’s explosion of excitement began to make Wilhelmina regret reminding her that she would be allowed to leave the castle.
Fortunately, she was
freed from Milly when Edolie’s maid of honor, Delaney, came in to let her know that they
were ready to pick out dresses
.

The king had hired the best
dress maker
in Aridale
for Edolie. The dress maker was located in one of the spare bedrooms in the royal chamber.
The room had been emptied out and replaced with tons of dresses and fabric. In the back of the room
wooden folding
screens had been put up for changing purposes.
What once was a bedroom now resembled a dress shop.