CHAPTER 15: The doppelganger
Alex waited patiently for his sister to arrive at the dress fitting. He was ready to pull her out of her room if she rejected the offer, but to his surprise, she accepted it. Guess there was always a first for everything. But she was taking more than a few minutes to arrive. What if she lied about coming here?
Alex walked back and forth by the front door. It looked as if he was irritated by Clare's tardiness.
"Hello Alex," Clare's voice brought Alex back to earth.
"Finally! I thought you were avoiding me," he said.
"Now why would I do that," she said while throwing her hair back as she walked in. Alex couldn't understand the meaning behind her words. It had never happened to him before.
As soon as the siblings entered the room, everyone bowed. Classandra simply ignored everyone and went straight for the dresses. Not a single soul dared to stand up from their positions, instead, sneaked looks at her. Alex felt sorry for them and told them to get up.
Clare's face turned to her brother immediately. Looking him over from top to bottom and top again, she went back to the dresses on display, with a look of distaste on her face.
"Is everything alright?" Alex asked concerned.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Clare asked, again with the same sarcastic tone.
"These are the dresses you picked for a 'queen'? These are all an embarrassment for my title," she scoffed to no one in particular. Alex thought about what to answer. She had never talked this way to him. Maybe she just wanted to look good for the coronation, he reasoned to himself.
"Get other designs," he instructed the designer and she scurried off to the storage to scrounge for designs that she would never bring out for display.
"Sorry. It was me who instructed them to get these designs," he confided to Clare. "I just thought you wouldn't like anything fancy."
Clare looked directly at him, and there was something different about her that Alex just couldn't get his mind around. "That was because it was your coronation. I wanted you to have all the attention," Clare said, "but this time, it is my coronation. I want everyone's attention on me."
Alex simply nodded. Guess, getting a title really changes people.
Finally, the requested designs were out. Each and every gown on display was simply extravagant. From the fabric to the stones, every single piece was shining bright like the second sun, that one might be blinded by just the sight of it. The skirts were long, sweeping the ground, resembling a river. The dresses had hoops within that made it look really puffed. Last Alex remembered, those weren't Clare's type, but strangely, she looked happy by its sight. Whatever makes Clare happy, he told himself.
Eighteen dresses later, Clare was still trying on more designs. In these, she had chosen dresses numbered eight and seventeen as her choices, and none of them had Alex's opinion. Finally, Clare chose one more, and told the tailors to alter all the three and send it to her chambers. She would have all three and choose to wear one on the coronation, she had said. The fitters looked oddly satisfied by her decision. More dresses for them to sell, they had thought.
Alex started feeling more and more lonely. He had never been ghosted by his sister before. He felt really bad and thought he had done something to upset her. And her, walking out of the fitting room without a second glance at him only made his feelings worse. What did he do to deserve this treatment?
The throne room is empty, no one in sight. Just the footsteps of the soon to be queen echoed the hallway. An evil smirk danced on her lips as she glanced at the throne. Soon, she thought, very soon, the throne would be mine.
Every citizen in the kingdom would bow down to her. No one is above her. Just her and power. No one to undermine her. She will be the queen, yes. The first taste of power will rot her to the core, which would eventually rot the rest of the world, and she couldn't care less about it.
The cold breeze hit Clare's face as she stood by her window, overlooking the garden she used to take strolls on.
Few minutes back, she had finished packing whatever was necessary for the journey while her other half had gone off to the dress fitting. Never had she thought that she would actually miss this place. Guess, staying at a place for a very long time could make you attached to it. Clare could have easily ran away by now. There was absolutely no one in the area to stop her, except herself.
She couldn't shake the idea of leaving her family behind. Her sweet brother who had been through thick and thin with her, and her mother. Sure, her mother was not the most comfortable character in her life, but she will miss her nonetheless.
Perhaps a final meeting, Clare thought. A formal goodbye could take off a bit of a guilt from within.
Clare wanted to meet them so badly, but had to keep in mind that there was one more person in the hallway looking just like her, wandering about god-knows-where. So, it was a little embarrassing, yet, for the love of her family, she walked incognito in her own castle.
She reached her brother's room first. The last time she met him, he had just lost his throne. She didn't meet him after that. Hopefully, he was in a better mood.
Alex was sitting at his table with a parchment and a feather in hand to jot down his thoughts. He just couldn't shake off the ghost of the incident at the dress fitting, no matter how much he tried. A melodious knock filled the room. Alex didn't want to get involved in any kind of interaction, yet, for the sake of kindness, he went to open the door. Seeing his sister, his face turned sour. Clare was hit by an enormous amount of sorrow at her brother's reaction. He left the door ajar and sat on his bed. Confused on what was going on, Clare took cautious steps in and closed the door behind her. Her brother was still not looking at her. At that moment, Clare wanted to do something she had sworn to never do. Cry. But she didn't. She knows well enough to control her emotions.
"Hey," Clare said, taking careful steps towards her brother while trying to catch a glimpse of his face which he was very well hiding.
He couldn't reply. After what she did at the dress fitting, he couldn't bring himself to act normal around her. Sure, the incident wasn't so revolting in a common sense, but it meant so much to him. She was his sister for crying out loud! They've done everything together, and now, all of a sudden, she's acting like he was a nobody. Alex couldn't shake off those feelings. It was a burned scar on the heart that would last for eternity to come.
"Alex," Clare called again. "Is everything alright?" Clare was on the verge of combustion from all the unknown feelings boiling inside her.
"Why wouldn't it be?" He says, getting up from the bed and walking away from her. He didn't know what he planned to do, but just knew he wanted to stay as far away from her as possible.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Clare asked, confused.
"Oh! You didn't know its meaning when you said that to me?!" Alex was facing her now, his eyebrows cocked up and his face in a scowl.
"What?" Clare whispered before she could stop herself. She wished Alex didn't hear it, but alas, he did.
"What do you mean, 'what'?" He questioned. "Don't tell me that you already forgot everything that happened during the dress fitting."
"The dress fitting," Clare mused. "Right," she nodded her head. She was being hit with realization, one by one, but still couldn't figure out what exactly her doppelganger did to upset Alex so much.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I was just trying out a new way to cope up and it turned out bad." She looked at his face to see his reaction. He was slowly melting. "I really am sorry," she said looking at him expectantly, and he finally sighed. A smile played on Clare's face, relieved by her brother's reaction.
"And thank you," she continued. "For putting up with me."
"You better not act this way the next time," he said, "cause I won't be forgiving you."
"Consider me warned," Clare smiled and hugged her brother from behind. Alex was caught in surprise by her action. He held her hand in consolation, for he felt a strange kind of attachment from Clare this time.
"Is everything alright?" He asked her as she didn't seem to end the hug. "I'm scared," she whispered in a voice that was barely audible. "You'll do great," he said. "And from the way I saw you acting today, I think you gained the guts to be a queen. But you could turn down the arrogance a little though."
Clare signed to his statement, and let go of him and stood straight. "Just know," she started hesitantly, "whatever happens or whatever I do, I'll always love you."
Alex felt dumbstruck by her words and didn't know why she was saying all this. The only practical explanation that Alex could come up with was that she was turning insane. And as far as we know, she actually might be.
"Alright lady sentimental, it was just one dress fitting. Don't act all worked up," Alex pushed her statements away.
"Right," Clare put down her head. "I should get going. Bye," she said and started making her way towards the door.
"See you soon," her brother yelled from a distance. Clare smiled a sad smile and stepped out the door.
Clare made up her mind to meet her mother and started walking towards her mother's chambers before she could convince herself to change her mind. Fast and swift floors echoed the corridors. All sense of discretion left her. Finally, Clare stood in front of the queen's room, guards standing on either side. "Is the queen available?" She asked. "Yes, your royal highness," the guards said in unison with a bowed down head. With a swift swing, the door opened to reveal the chambers. All the courage she worked up still now started to vanish. With a steady and cautious step, she entered the chamber and closed the door behind her. She found her mother at the study, deep in thought as her clever hands skimmed through the pages of the book.
"Am I disturbing something important?" Clare asked and the queen's body jerked forward. Her eyes found Clare's, and it was clearly filled with shock. Her voice betrayed her as she said, "Classandra?" Immediately clearing her throat, the queen went back to her composure but still had emotion lingering in her words. "No. You are not disturbing anything. Please come in."
Clare nodded her head as she took cautious steps in. "Do you need anything?" Her mother asked her. The circumstance was getting more awkward. Clare nodded a no. Elizabeth waited for her daughter to say something, but she didn't. Losing her patience, Elizabeth asked, "then what are you here for?"
"I don't know," Clare whispered with her head down. "I'm sorry, what?" Elizabeth asked, genuinely curious. "I don't know why I'm here, okay! I just felt like coming, and here I am!" Clare yelled all of a sudden. Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at her daughter's sudden outburst. "Alright," she said. "Sit down first. Relax a little," she said and pointed at a chair. Clare took the seat and put her head in her hands with closed eyes. Elizabeth took the seat beside Clare and observed her daughter. She realized something was up since this was not normal, but then convinced herself that it wasn't normal circumstances since her daughter's course of life just changed.
After a long silence, Clare spoke out, "I want to make Alex the head general."
"Very well," Elizabeth said. "That is a reasonable request."
Clare acknowledged her with a nod.
"Anything else?" Elizabeth asked expectantly. "Nothing that I can think of right now," Clare said, her head still down, eyes still closed.
"Of course," Elizabeth said, getting back to her cool. "You can implement whatever you want once you become the queen. Just make sure the order is reasonable."
Clare took in a deep breath as she heard the statement. "Are you still angry at me for announcing you as the heir?"
"What do you think?" Clare retorted back. Elizabeth was hit by waves of guilt at that statement. Before either of them could get a word out, the guard soldier entered the room.
"Sorry for the disturbance, your majesty," he took a bow. Clare sat up straight, her utmost concentration on him. Elizabeth gestured for him to continue.
"Your majesty, the royal practitioner wants to meet you on something important. He is waiting outside for your approval," he said.
Elizabeth looked at Clare to ask if it was alright. Without a glance, Clare simply nodded her head.
"Send him in," the queen ordered. With a bow, the guard stepped out.
Clare's heart started beating vigorously. The man whom she stole from is right here and her mind has gone into overdrive mode. She tries to tell herself that not everything in this world is about her, but the argument wasn't just convincing enough for her to agree with it.
Soon, the royal practitioner stood in front of them. The queen ordered him to speak and he started with utmost hesitation.
"My queen," he said. "The Prathilipi flowers have gone bad a few days ago and it has been really tough without them. I would like your permission to go out into the woods to dispose the old ones safely and harvest the new ones myself, your majesty."
And with that, Clare's heart dropped down and broke into a million pieces.
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