I rolled my eyes. I shouldn't have spoken aloud. The mirror didn't always answer when I spoke to myself, but it did often enough for me to have learned to be careful about it.
"That's a no to the headdress," I said with certainty.
"If you ask me..."
"I didn’t," I cut it off and turned back to the drawing. Oh, a staff. That would be the perfect addition. The Fright Festival was all about the costumes, and so far, mine was nothing more than a statement about myself.
With a few smooth strokes of a pencil, it started to take shape. I added a high crown with dripping gems.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," I called.
The door clicked as it was shut behind the person entering, and Mother swept into the room.
"Your Majesty, all beauty pales in comparison to yours," the mirror started.
Mother's face fell for a moment, but her easy smile was back within moments.
"Are you ready for me to take the sketch?" she asked, ignoring the mirror. She sat down on my bed and ran her fingers through my hair.
"Not quite." I sat up and handed her my sketchbook. As our fingers touched, another picture flashed through my mind, not unlike the one earlier when I’d been speaking to the general. This time My mother was deathly pale, her eyes closed and her hands together as she lay on her bed. My father’s glassy eye expression showed he’d been crying. Then as soon as it came, it was gone. I gave myself a little shake and let go of the sketchbook so my mother could look at it.
The moment she stared down at it, she gave a sharp intake of breath. "This is beautiful, darling."
"Not as beautiful as you are, Your Majesty. Even the moon dare not claim it is more radiant than you," the mirror gushed.
Mother shot it a disgusted glance. "You've said your piece, now be silent."
The mirror didn't respond; it wouldn't dare. Nothing was more terrifying than Mother using her Queen voice. I wouldn't be making a sound in the mirror's position, either.
"You really think it looks good?" I asked. "I think there's something not quite right about it."
"Hmm." She rubbed her chin with her fingers, studying the smooth lines of my drawing and the tiny notes I'd made about materials and how I wanted things to fall and look. "Can I make a couple of changes?"
"Of course." I handed her my pencil.
I watched as she made a few extra notes, and added some more details. A gem to the top of the staff, that her notes instructed should be a deep green. She thought for a moment and noted that the dress should be green too.
"Not white?" I asked, frowning.
She shook her head. "You want to stand out, don’t you? Wear black, and you’ll look like you always do. Wear white, and you’ll be dressed like everyone else. Your eyes are a beautiful shade of green. Maybe it’s time to spice things up with your wardrobe? You can still wear the silver over the top and you should wear a red lip paint to contrast. With your dark hair and green clothing, it'll be very striking." She swiftly drew a face onto the diagram and added what she'd just said to the notes in the margin.
The thought of adding color filled me both with dread and excitement. No one wore colors of any kind in Enchantia.
"What about in the crown too?" I asked. "If there's going to be a little bit of color in the staff, maybe there should be some there too."
She nodded and added a couple of larger jewels to the drawing of the crown. "I think you're right about that."
We spent a little bit longer going over the design, dissecting every part of it until we were completely satisfied with how it looked.
"Thank you," I said once we were done.
A wide smile spread over her face, and she reached out to cup my cheek. I felt like I was five years old again, with her looking down at me like I was the apple of her eye.
"You're going to look beautiful in this," she assured me.
I snorted. "I wouldn't go that far."
I waited for the mirror to cut in with one of its attempts at a soul-crushing retort, but it didn't happen. Perhaps it was respecting Mother's wishes and staying quiet.
"Don't listen to that thing when it tells you you're not." She shot the mirror a displeased look. "Beauty isn't something that is skin deep. It's something that's etched in the soul and is shown in so many other ways. I've watched you grow into a strong, caring, and wonderful person, Kelis. That's what makes you beautiful. I'm proud to call you my daughter."
A tear threatened to fall, but I blinked it away before it could. There wasn't a reason to cry, not when she was being so lovely to me, but I couldn’t shake the image I’d seen earlier. Her eyes had been closed in the vision.
"I know," I whispered. "I promise I listened every time you told me that growing up." And I had. I'd also realized that not everyone had the support I got from my parents.
"I know, darling. You're going to be a wonderful Queen."
"But only of the Fright Festival, right?" I deflected, not wanting to think about her not being the Queen any longer.
She chuckled, no doubt realizing exactly what I was doing. I could have sworn it was some kind of Mother-sense she had. "You'll be the best Frost Queen they've ever seen."
I glanced at the drawing, still clutched in her free hand. Frost Queen was the right description for it. But was it going to be enough to impress Jake?
"He won't be able to take his eyes off you," Mother said, reading my thoughts, a slight hint of amusement in her voice.
"How did you..." I trailed off, not
