"I’m not looking for flattery," I responded. "I don't need to be the most beautiful person in the land." I shrugged.
"I know you don't. The mirror makes me nervous, though." She looked over at it, her distaste plain on her face.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to fall for its charms. Not that it has any."
She opened her mouth before closing it again, clearly not wanting to get into the same argument we'd had dozens of times before.
My mother reached out a hand and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, an act reminiscent of my childhood when she'd help me get ready for the day.
"How is the magic coming along?"
"You know I don't do much with it," I pointed out.
She sighed. "I know. But it would make your life easier if you did..."
"Didn't you once tell me that an easy life wasn't a life worth living?"
She chuckled. "When did you become old enough to remind me of my own wisdom?" A small smile quirked at the corners of her lips, conveying the true pride I knew she felt for me.
"I remember a lot of the things you taught me. Mostly about being a leader. I don't need people to fawn over me to rule well. I just need people to respect and like me as a ruler." She'd been teaching me since the moment I'd been old enough to understand, and I'd soaked it all up.
"You'll make a great Queen someday." There was a sadness in her voice that I didn't understand, but I didn't want to say anything and make her more upset.
"Not for a very long time," I murmured. I hated it when she brought this up. It reminded me of the future and what I'd one day have to lose to reach my full potential.
"I don't plan on it." She smiled again, this time reaching her eyes. "I didn't come here to talk about some far off future, though."
"You didn't?" Curiosity pinged through me. “What’s up?”
She shook her head. "Adam's coming to visit."
"He is?" My heart began to pound again, but for a very different reason. If my cousin was coming for a visit, there was every chance he’d be bringing Jake with him.
"He is," she echoed. "He's coming for Fright Fest."
"Oh," I said as nonchalantly as I could muster. The Fright Fest was the highlight of every Enchantian’s calendar. On the 31st of October every year, the whole kingdom came together to celebrate with a big party. It was supposed to be a festival to celebrate our ancestors, but nowadays, it was an excuse to dress up, show off, and have fun. If I was right about Jake coming, maybe I’d get to have a little fun too.
“I believe he’s bringing some friends with him. You remember Jake, right?”
I sucked in a breath to calm my heart from doing a circuit round my chest at the mention of his name. I nodded, trying to keep my excitement from spilling out.
"How long are they staying for?" Fright Fest wasn't until the end of the month, which gave me plenty of time to pluck up the courage and say something to Jake about how I felt. How I’d always felt about him. The last time I’d seen him, I’d been a girl, but I was over eighteen, a woman now.
"They're arriving tomorrow and staying until after the Fest."
"What time?" I asked eagerly then checked myself. “I mean, shouldn’t we arrange to meet them?”
"They'll arrive in time for the banquet tomorrow night."
“That's perfect,” I replied, not doing a great job of keeping my enthusiasm from showing. “I wonder what I should wear?”
My mother gave me an odd look but didn't say anything. I had no doubt she'd read enough into my words to know why I was suddenly fussing about things that didn't usually bother me.
"If you need any help with that, let me know," Mother said.
"Thanks," I muttered, turning back to my wardrobe and wondering where I should start.
"I'll see myself out then." She chuckled. The door clicked back into place behind her, leaving me alone with the mirror again.
I rifled through my clothes, trying to decide what was best to wear tomorrow.
"Why is none of this right?" I demanded out loud, almost ready to give up on finding something to wear. There was a reason I never spent this long deciding on an outfit normally. I just didn't have the patience or the aptitude for it.
"Because you have no measurable sense of style," the mirror mused. If he'd been a real person, he would have been studying his nails as he spoke.
"At least, I'm unique." It was true. The style throughout Enchantia was to wear white at all times. I never wore white, preferring my predominantly black wardrobe to the chagrin of the mirror.
The mirror scoffed. "And do you think your mother became the fairest in the land by being unique?"
"I'd have thought it was only possible to be the fairest if you're unique," I replied passively.
"You just can't pull it off," the mirror retorted.
I rolled my eyes. One day, it might say something nice to me. I snorted. Yes, right. The mirror would say something nice the day magic dried up in Enchantia.
Turning my attention back to my clothes, I pulled out a black skirt I hardly ever wore.
I held it up to my body and looked in the full-length mirror in my dressing area. No way was I letting my grandmother's mirror have an opinion on something I wasn't even sure if I was going to wear.
"I wouldn't even bother. That went out of style before you were born."
Darn. It was like the thing had eyes everywhere.
"I'm a Princess, I'll bring it back in style," I shot back.
"You put the name Princess to shame."
"A Princess is more than what she looks like," I parrotted words my mother had been teaching me since I was little. "She is her actions and her intentions above all else."
"If you keep telling yourself that, it may become
