Golden Prophecy

X

RICH GOWNS of reds and golds shimmered in her wake. There were rows upon rows of gorgeous gowns, all shapes and sizes, every style imaginable there to see and touch.

Andorra was the first to admit she had never been interested in clothes in the past. Why would she have cared, when there was absolutely no one to even share that with, no friends to shop with, and no one at school to impress.

Except, there was the one time. At the dance.

Andorra shook her head of all thoughts and ran her hand down the sleeve of a green dress. Coralia was up ahead, looking at dresses with a sense of seriousness that made Andorra think that Coralia did care about clothes.

"Aren't these like, to die for?" Coralia pulled out a single silver dress, holding it up against her tall frame. "Like, just look at this! It's absolutely stunning. Boys would stare at me in this."

She wasn't wrong. The dress looked like liquid flowing freely through Coralia's grasp. It was made of silk, but not a silk Andorra had seen before. This silk looked unreal.

All of this was unreal. The dresses, the square, the fact that she attended a school for faeries. She was plucked from her life and dropped into this new one like it was some fairytale come true. Andorra released the green dress and moved closer to Coralia, eyeing the blue dress next to the one Coralia still held against her body.

"Okay, but where would you even wear that?" As far as Andorra knew, there weren't any upcoming balls. There was absolutely no reason to buy such a lavish dress.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying that life is the occasion? Live a little, Andorra."

Life was the occasion, alright. Andorra continued to look through dresses, her mind still stuck on a similar red gown she'd tried on in a store similar to this one, weeks prior. Back then, her biggest concern was whether or not Kyle really wanted to take her.

She tucked her hands behind her back to stop touching the dresses. There was a corner in the back of the room with masquerade masks, and she headed towards that spot as if drawn to it. The closer she got, the more she noticed the different masks. Some were lacy, some were hard, some covered just the eyes, and some covered most of the face. She looked up and reached, running a finger over the curve of one.

It was mostly white, and feathered up over the forehead and down under the eyes, almost like a bird. Her finger ran over the cool edge of the gold plated outline, her eyes taking in the jewels that sparkled back at her. It wasn't symmetrical, but rather the design had been flipped upside down in a diagonal sort of way. The jeweled design on the top of the left hand side was on the bottom of the right, and the checkered sort of black and gold marble was on the bottom half of the left, but on the top half of the right.

"I see you like the masks. Great choice, Princess."

Andorra spun, her heart hammering in her chest as she took in the man before her. A shop owner, perhaps, short in stature and round at the waist. A pair of wire-rimmed glasses sat on his nose, and he peered up at her through them.

"I'm just looking around," Andorra said, but she sounded guilty. Guilty of what, she didn't know. Her eyes flickered around the store, looking for Coralia, or even her two obnoxious guards, but none of them were to be found.

"And what an honor that my shop caught your interest." His tone was sincere, but there was an undercurrent of something else, something cruel. Andorra stepped back to put space between them, her eyes once again looking for Coralia.

"It's a very nice shop, sir." She tucked her hands into her pockets, wondering if there was a policy like, touch it, you buy it, and now she was stuck with an expensive mask she would never wear. The man must have noticed her discomfort, because he smiled at her.