Ch. 31

Rosemary stared out the window, toying with a black Italian paper fan.

“Rose, hold still. I can’t do your hair properly when you’re moving around so much,” Susan complained. It was the night of the ball, and Susan was at Michael house getting Rosemary ready.

Medeleck laughed and said, “I know why you’re complaining. You’re just upset that Dekanire is spending so much money on Rosemary and barely any on you.”

“Shut it,” Susan warned.

“It’s true. The shoes imported from Paris cost 450 euros. And that fan from Milan cost 275 euros. The hair piece from Egypt is 300 euros, and the dress from Tokyo is 2,500 euros. The jewelry from Canada is a grand total of over a million euros. That makes it . . . over 1,003,525 euros. Do you know much koruna that is? Not to mention filler. I’m just glad that the handbag is yours. I don’t want to even think about how much money that would be,” Medeleck said thoughtfully.

“Since when have you been good at math?” Rosemary asked him, sounding annoyed. He then stayed very quiet.

But Rosemary really did look magnificent. Her black, silk, strapless dress fell to a few inches below her knees and was tied up on the back with gorgeous ribbons. The fan, even though made of cotton, had an extremely intricate and gorgeous design on it. The five inch heels had strings of beads flowing at her ankles. The hairpiece was a flower design that emphasized her fountain of curls that fell over her right shoulder beautifully.

Now the jewelry. Her necklace was a choker of onyxes and diamonds surrounded by string upon string of black pearls that sat on her collar bones and looked more like lace made of glass than a necklace. Her earings were the matching pair of onyx studs with a white gold chair that ended with a diamond, and vice versa. On her wrist was a watch with four strings of black pearls as a band. The watch itself had a circle of diamonds around it.

The handbag had black sequins on it in a straight line pattern, making it look
somewhat like a disco ball And her black nails made the outfit all the more extravagant.

“Where’s Michael?” Rosemary asked Susan, ignoring the laughter rumbling in Medeleck’s chest, or seeming to.

“He’s waiting with Bodoleck in the living room. His sister, Anna I believe, is beautiful in that black satin dress she bought. And those ballet flats do go nice with it. But-” Susan started saying.

“Ugh! Please stop with the fashion talk. I think I’m gonna be sick. I’ll be with my brother. Then maybe I won’t have to run into the human bathroom faster than you can say full moon,” Medeleck complained.

“Fine. But no tormenting Michael. He’s worried enough. I don’t understand why, seeing as he’s perfectly safe with us, but leave him alone. Or else,” Rosemary warned.

“Ooh, scary. Little shrimp versus me.” Medeleck chuckled at the thought of that.

“Do you really want to test the spell work of the royal blood?! Because I wouldn’t mind breaking a few bones tonight! Maybe even pop a blood vessel!” Rosemary yelled, standing up.

“Rosemary, calm down. You’ll ruin your hair. I spent forever on it, and I don’t want my work to go to waste,” said Susan, almost sounding bored. She was glum, for her clothes were barely fancy. Her mini-dress with a flared skirt, imported from China, had red dragons on it that went lovely with the shiny black background. Her black boots went up to her knees and her hair was in a high bun with black chopsticks to keep it in place. So far, she didn’t have any jewelry.

Rosemary sighed and sat back down.

“I’d better go before someone really gets hurt,” said Michael, straightening his simple, black suit.

“Oh, we’ll go with you. Rosemary is ready, and so am I. Let’s go,” said Susan cheerfully. Medeleck left the room, but Susan kept Rosemary inside and asked her, “Okay. What’s up? You’re only in this bad of mood when my mother is in the room and you aren’t allowed to hurt her. Tell me.”

Rosemary sighed again, “Was it that obvious? I guess it was. I just want this night over with. Michael is in a bad mood, and that puts me in a bad mood. And I can’t even have fun tonight. We have to get in and out as fast as possible so that the book will be properly guarded and Michael and Anna will be safe again. It’s strictly business. If Grandma and Grandpa aren’t there, we have to leave straight away. Veripema wouldn’t dare set foot anywhere near my house again, so we don’t have to worry about that, but I just don’t want anything to happen.”

“What do you mean that you can’t have fun? Of course you can have fun. You’ll just have to be a bit more careful about what you do and say. Like normal royalty. Michael and Anna will be fine. Don’t ask me how I know. I just have this feeling. Now, let’s go,” said Anna. They left the room together and headed downstairs only to find Michael and Anna arguing.

Anna was holding a comb and saying, “You need to fix your hair. It’s a mess. Entirely unsuitable for an event like this. And embarrassing for us. Now do us all a favor and take the comb.”

“My hair is fine. Can someone please talk some sense into her? She’s making no sense at all to me,” Michael said angrily.

Rosemary, standing right behind Michael, pointed her finger at his back and said, “Lilits. Michael, your hair really is a horrid mess. Anna, can you give me that comb and some gel?”

“Sure. Wow, you look amazing, Rose. And I like the nail polish. Compliments the rest of the outfit perfectly,” Anna commented. She was, like Susan said, a black satin dress and ballet flats. The sleeves below the elbow was lace that nearly went to the tips of her fingers, but not quite. The dress itself was plain, so she had jazzed it up with a silver belt that fit crookedly (on purpose) and tied at the hip with silver ribbons, and in the middle was a large safire.

“I agree. Rosemary, you look lovely,” said Bodoleck. Like Medeleck, he was wearing a plain black suit. So was Michael, for he hated dressing up and didn’t even want to go to the dance so why bother?

“E ee eeee!!” Michael complained.

“I think that was supposed to be ‘let me see’ or something of the sort,” said Susan. Everyone agreed with her on that.

“Okay, Michael. Evom,” Rosemary said calmly. When she stepped in from of Michael, his reaction was normal.

At first, he just gaped. But then he asked, “Where’s Rosemary and what kind of model had you replaced her with?” Rosemary rolled her eyes and nearly dragged him out of the door to the awaiting limousine, lent to them by Dekanire for the night.

When they got to the mansion, Dekanire was waiting for them outside. He saw that and acknowledged them each in turn, “Bodoleck! Good to see you. This must be the lovely Anna I’ve heard so much about. Beautiful. You’ll be the only one wearing blue, I know that. Rosemary! You look amazing as always. Now. You get rid of Veripema and you can keep it. Michael, looking sharp. Medeleck! The life of the party has arrived. I hope you brought your funny bone this year. Susan! I’m so sorry that I didn’t get your jewelry to you sooner. Oh, you’ll look better than Rosemary! Here’s the necklace and the matching earings. There. Beautiful.”

Dekanire had given Susan a ruby the size of a plum on a thick gold chain and earing with a gold Japanese sign that meant ‘love’ dangling on more rubies. Now, Susan’s smile literally shone so bright that it seemed to make the mansion itself look brighter.

They stepped into the front entrance hall and found . . .