Elixir. Every woman in the city of Arkaans has one in their drawer somewhere. It helps make the skin soft , heals any wound and removes any marks or blemishes. Can't you see how beautiful the women look in this city? "
Maria explained giving the potion to Meredith. Meredith took it and stared at it with her brows furrowed tightly.
"And why are you carrying it around you?" Meredith asked, it's not everyday that you will see someone walking with a potion inside their pocket. It made all of this weirdly suspicious.
"I'm always working, I can cut myself or burn myself at anytime. My mom gave it to me in case of these emergencies."
"Oh…" Meredith nodded. She knew the city was filled with witches so she guessed this made sense.
"So how do you use it?"
"Just pour some in your palms and rub it at the site you want and then watch magic do its work."
Meredith slowly pulled the cork covering the bottle and the sweet lavender smell of the potion spread across the room. It was the most soothing scent she has ever smelled
"Smells good right?" Maria beamed at her.
Meredith nodded in response. She took a whiff and poured some of the oil in her palm, gently dabbing it at the nape of her neck.
"So….is it gone?" Meredith asked Maria after she was done rubbing the oil on her skin. She thought some sparkles would surround her or she would feel the magic in her veins but nothing like that happened.
Did the books lie about how magic and potion works?
"Yes. You can check it in the mirror." Maria replied.
Meredith walked towards the mirror and her mouth opened in shock. The red marks on her skin had completely disappeared in the blink of an eye and her skin looked softer and younger.
"Wow." She breathed in shock. Many women in the human realm would die for something like this. That Meredith was sure of. She wished Sofia was here with her; they would have gushed over this together.
"Amazing right?" Said Maria behind Meredith.
"Yeah, can I keep this? Please " Meredith turned to Maria and made a sad puppy face hoping it would work, at least it used to work on Atlas.
Maria chuckled at the princess behaving like a kid and nodded, "of course you can keep it. I have more of this."
Meredith beamed and pulled Maria into a hug.
"Thank you Maria,"
"Welcome, now let me get you ready to meet the prince. "
Meredith had completely forgotten about her meeting with Marcus. She wondered what he was going to show her.
*****
Two hours later, Maria was done preparing Meredith for whatever event Marcus had planned for the day.
She had trimmed Meredith's hair to perfection, after washing and conditioning it twice with strange,colored oils that smelled of flowers. She had washed the dye out of Meredith's hair showing her natural blonde hair.
Meredith had never seen her natural hair so shiny before. Maria had applied the oil she gave her into every inch of her skin, which made her skin glow and softer.
Maria had applied her make-up to perfection,
making it look so natural, and yet quite glamorous,
at the same time. Her hair had been left down, but
the sides had been braided back, showing off my
manicured face.
Meredith starred in the mirror, memorized with the
transformation Maria been able to achieve in such
a short amount of time.
She didn't even dress her up like this during the ball so what the hell was going on? Curiosity was killing Meredith.
"Princess,do you like it?"
Maria asked while she stared fondly at Meredith in the mirror.
"It's... wow. I look…. Different.." Meredith whispered.
Meredith had forgotten how she looked with her natural blonde hair.
"Different? This is you. You look so beautiful with your natural hair color, why did you dye it?"
Maria furrowed her thin brows and asked.
Meredith stiffened for a second and shrugged,
"I wanted to start over I guess."
Maria met Meredith's gaze in the mirror and nodded,
"You don't have to hide yourself anymore princess."
Maria whispered softly behind her.
Meredith turned around and faced Maria with a soft smile on her face.
"So…where is Marcus taking me? I know he must have told you with all these preparations you're making."
Maria shook her head and bowed her head slightly, "sorry princess but I do not know. He just gave me the instructions to make you look your best today more than you had at the ball so I'm assuming you're attending an important event."
Meredith groaned in frustration. She hated being kept in the dark.
"Hmm then I guess I have to meet Marcus myself for answers don't I? Can you take me to him?"
"Alright princess."
************
Meredith stood outside of the massive door leading
to Marcus's personal suites, thinking how odd it was.
Maria was not allowed to enter in with her so here she was alone entering the lion's den.
Meredith trembled slightly as she knocked on the door.
Almost immediately, a butler, of sorts, opened the
door and ushered her through several rooms until she entered Marcus's office.
It was decorated with heavy, dark furniture and lavish accoutrements. Meredith never understood these men and their obsession with dark colours.
Marcus acknowledged her with a nod of his head without looking at her and motioned toward the chair nearest to him. "Sit."
Meredith dropped into the chair quickly and sat silently, waiting for him to be done with whatever he was typing.
"Mere-" He trailed off when he finally looked up from his computer.
He studied her intently. Meredith flushed slightly,
wondering what he was looking at. Finally he
called out her name quietly,
"Meredith?"
Meredith stared at him dumbly. He was behaving extremely weird.
"Yes….?"
"You look…" he trailed off.
Meredith raised her brows as she waited for him to continued, but he said nothing as his gaze held hers and the seconds droned on.
Meredith mumbled, "I look what?"
"Beautiful."
A/N: Please add my new book, The sweetest Temptation to your library. Bad boy * an innocent mob boss daughter romance. It's purely romance no fantasy. Thank you!