I watched Lily sit on the plush cushion that sat on top of the chair beneath her. It was a very fancy casual chair. She, and even I, couldn’t tell if the legs were just painted gold or made of real gold. She lifted her left foot as I slipped her high heel off, gently pcing it on the wooden floorboards. I reached my arm out beside me to grab bandages from a little medical kit. I unraveled some bandage, snapping a small piece off, and wrapping it around her heel.

  “Sorry, if I had ointment with me, I would have put it on, but we are running low unfortunately,” I said in an apologetic tone, slipping her shoe back on, moving to take off her right high heel and doing the same with another piece of bandage.

  She winced as pain shot through her heel, feeling the bandage press on her blisters. I noticed her reaction and tried to put the bandage on again, more gently. When I finally slipped her shoe back on, she stood up. She looked more comfortable as her feet were relieved from the blistering pain, so she gave a thanking nod to me and I gave her a gentle smile back.

  “Well, that’s done. I suppose we should prepare to meet my parents,” I held out my arm for her once more.

  I could see Lily started feeling nervous. She had seemed just fine before but I could see small beads of sweat glistening on the top of her forehead, and her wonderful brown eyes were painted with worry. I wanted to wipe that smudge of worry away and paint it again to make it look confident and self-assured. And I knew I was going to do just that.

  “Talk to me Lily. Let’s ease any worries you have before you meet my parents,” I pushed her shoulder gently to make her sit down again so I could kneel in front of her. I looked up at her. Her brows were dipping in at the ends, almost meeting each other. I grabbed her hands in mine and held them gently, letting my thumb run over the back of her hand.

  She inhaled deeply before talking to me about her worries. I almost didn't listen, distracted by her pretty face and the wrinkles on her forehead that creased in worry. She talked about how she feared that she wasn’t good enough to even be talking to me or my parents and how she was scared of leaving a bad impression and all of that stuff. I promised her, and myself , that I wouldn’t leave her, even if my parents didn’t particurly like her. I offered her some comforting words. Well, hopefully comforting. She was visibly more rexed, which made me happy. I painted confidence back into those eyes of hers, with an added gleam which I assumed was happiness. Happiness that I cared enough to console her. Of course I did.

  “My Lily Rose, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Don’t overthink it, ok? If I see something is going wrong, I’ll help you. And it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes. They may be royal, but they are also my parents,” I thought that humanising my parents would make her feel better, and luckily it seemed to work.

  “I do have to warn you that my step-mother is quite…. straightforward. Just don’t be intimidated by her. I’m not that close to her anyway,” I gave her a warning, as I didn’t want her to walk in there blind, but I tried to y it down lightly so I wouldn’t ruin my painting. Her wonderful, wonderful joyful eyes.

  I stood back up, moving my head to look down instead of up. I once again held out my arm for her, expectantly waiting for her to take it.

  “It won’t be long. Let’s go take a short walk then we can go meet my parents in the throne room,” I fshed her a smile, and she gave one back. She took my upper arm gently, but firmly, as if scared I’ll leave her side if she doesn’t hold tight enough. I walked out in the hallway, and although we walked side by side, I was clearly leading. She sometimes stumbled slightly, with all the twists and turns of the hallways, she never knew which way I was going to go. I kept my arm stiff, so she wouldn’t face pnt into the marble.

  Whenever we passed a window, she would look out of it, especially when we passed one that looked out into the gardens. It was filled with flowers that were a representation of Camelias’s colour. It was a variety of red and pink flowers but especially roses and lilies. I made sure of it. It was a coincidence that the two colours were the same as the colour of the flowers in Lily’s full name, but it definitely wasn’t a coincidence that there were so many roses and lilies filling the bushes, with only small amounts of other types of flowers littered in-between them.

  We stayed quiet on our little walk, but it was a calm and peaceful type of quiet. I could feel her physically calm down the more we walked, but I had to interrupt her tranquility.

  “We should head to the throne room now. My parents will be waiting,” I felt her tense slightly again so I pced my hand on hers that rested on my arm. I decided to walk slowly to the throne room, just to give her time to calm down, but it wasn’t long before we stood in front of rge, wooden double doors. They had intricate designs in them, as the te queen had requested them the day after her marriage to my father. No one has any idea why but I thought it was because of her love to decorate, to make things look as pretty as she was.

  Lily's eyes traced across the vines carved into the wood, likely to calm her racing thoughts.

  I squeezed her hand.

  I walked one step forward.

  I watched the guards push the heavy double doors open.

  Bright lights flooded my vision. I could see them when I squinted.

  My parents.