The Crystal 3 by Jones M (best beach reads TXT) 📖

to my home and watch Desperate Housewives.

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Emery's P.O.V

Two days had passed ever since I went to see Selena. The days left to her coronation were reducing, and Crystalia had been in a buzz.

The next queen of Crystalia chose to stay in the castle to prepare for her coronation. I just hoped Selena did not take me seriously when I told her about watching princess movies.

On other things, the crystal was considered royalty, even if he/she may not be a ruler. I was apparently needed for the coronation for stuff I was about to find out. I realized that was something Selena had failed to mention when she had asked me about helping her improve her vocabulary.

The coronation was going to be held after two weeks. I was back in the castle, observing as the servants moved about as they prepared the rooms with the appropriate decorations.

That still included flowers and decorative sheets hung near the ceiling.

"Emery! There you are!" Erick shouted my name as he and another lady with gray hair approached me.

"Erick! What a pleasant surprise to see you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We already saw each other five minutes ago." I rolled my eyes at what he said.

That was a thing I liked about Erick. He was Crystalia's king, and he rarely forced others to treat him as such. He wanted people to talk to him as if he were an old friend or brother. However, that would not be expected during Selena's coronation.

"This wonderful lady here," Erick continued, motioning to the smiling woman with gray hair, "is Madam Lavigne."

"Ooh! Like Avril Lavigne?"

"No," Erick deadpanned. "She is a famous stylist from earth."

I blinked my eyes, expressing shock to the King.

"Don't worry. She'll forget this ever happened when we return her."

"Huh?" Madam Lavigne said in shock, but Erick ignored her.

"Anyway, she is going to help you with your hair and dresses for the coronation."

"Erick, shouldn't that be done on the actual coronation day?" I asked. It seemed to make sense to me, but Erick looked at me as if I had asked a dumb question.

"What?" I queried.

"Girls can take hours on deciding what to wear. I'd also rather you get prepared as if the coronation is today. Then on the actual coronation day, you will just teleport the dress and whatever hairstyle you pick. I even wrote a spell to help you with it."

Erick gave me a small piece of paper with some words written on it.

"Did you actually write this?"

"Don't worry, Emery. I had the spell tested. It works. Now, go along with Madam Lavigne. I have work to do," Erick dismissed me as he went towards the hall.

"See you later," I replied before turning my attention to the stylist. She had a focused look as she gazed at me. It had me furrowing my eyebrows at her.

"Can I help you?"

"No, darling," she said with a low voice. "Don't mind me. I'm just making observations and picturing the type of dresses that can go with your figure."

"Oh," I said, feeling uncomfortable. The woman spent a minute walking around me. I felt as if I was being checked out.

"Okay," Madam Lavigne finally said. "Follow me."

The woman quickly walked along the hallway that was opposite the hall. I almost gasped, surprised by her quick speed. I followed her, going past the entrance hall of the castle. Madam Lavigne had us climb the stairs.

I soon found myself on a familiar floor. I followed the stylist, and she took a sharp right turn to an open room. I entered it, coming to a stop as I realized why the hallway had looked familiar.

It led to my room.

Why didn't the woman say we were going there?

It's like everything I had left was still there, untouched. Nothing seemed to have been moved or replaced. However, the room was weirdly clean.

I thought the guys hated me enough to throw out my stuff.

Wait. Selena did sell the house we shared with my mom in New York years ago. Maybe Elizabeth had intervened when they tried to dispose of my stuff in the castle room. The more I thought about it, the more I believed it was true.

I shook my head, not wanting to focus much on the events of the past. I turned my gaze to the windows where I could see the Crystalia mountains. They were a beautiful sight that I got accustomed to when I stayed in the castle.

"Hey! Girl!" Madam Lavigne's voice echoed in the room, forcing my focus on her. Servants were currently entering the room. They were bringing in dresses that were placed on a clothes rack.

Pink dresses.

"So I heard the theme color for this coronation was..." Lavigne trailed off.

"Pink," I finished for her.

"Yes. So here are the dresses," she said, taking one of them and bringing it to me. It was sleeveless and made of velvet. I frowned in confusion, seeing that the dress looked familiar.

"Isn't this already taken?" I asked.

"Oh," Madam Lavigne said, taking the dress from my hold and throwing it unceremoniously on my bed. She took out another dress, and she brought it to me. It still looked like the other dress.

I was more confused. I walked towards the rack of dresses, perusing through them and looking for one that was different from the other.

There was none. The color and design of each dress were the same.

"There must be some kind of mistake," I said.

"Really?" Madam Lavigne spoke. "I don't see it."

"They're all pink! They all look the same!"

"No. This one," she picked the first one," is light pink, this one is a lighter pink, this is white pink, this is pink-pink..."

"Seriously?"

"I am so sorry," a woman servant entered with a man, taking the clothes rack.

"We made a mistake. These are meant for the princess."

"It's alright," I said, the servants giving me a smile as they took the dresses. Other servants entered, bringing dresses that were of a variety of colors. The dresses were also placed on my bed.

Madam Lavigne had me try all the dresses. My hair had gotten in the way when I tried the first three dresses. It was so irritating that I had to pin it into a bun. The dresses were a variety of green, orange, red, blue, yellow and purple. Weirdly, they were all chiffon.

"You look gorgeous!" Madam Lavigne commented once I tried a blue chiffon dress. It was sleeveless, exposing part of my upper back. It hugged my torso and it reached past my knees.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Great! Now let's get started with the face."

"What?"

"Makeup. I am a stylist, you know."

Oh crap.

*** Thirty minutes later ***

"And we are done!" Madam Lavigne said after applying the finishing touches on my face.

The woman had me sit in front of a mirror that had to be brought into the room. I stared at my reflection, finding it hard to believe that who I was looking at was me.

Madam Lavigne had me wash my face before she started applying the makeup. I had applied mascara first, and then I lost the order of everything else that was applied. All I knew was that I looked beautiful. My skin looked so smooth that I could barely see the blemishes! My lips seemed bigger with the red lipstick I was told to apply. My eyes were accentuated with eyeliner and mascara.

"Thank you," I said after a while of staring at my reflection.

"It's what I do. Feel free to wait as I write a list of every makeup item we have used. You know, just in case you lose them."

I nodded, getting up from my seat and walking towards the exit. Before I could leave the room, Erick appeared in front of me.

"There you are! I have been looking all over for you."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Didn't you know I would be in my room?"

Erick went to speak, but he stopped himself. He instead gave me a smile that told me he had forgotten.

"You look beautiful," he commented.

"Thank you," I replied with a smile.

"Zane is not going to resist you." That had me drop my smile.

"I'm not wearing makeup for Zane. It's because of your damned coronation that I have to look like a clown," I joked.

"Mhm," Erick humphed, not buying it. "Anyway, what did you tell Selena?"

"About what?" I inquired.

"She basically spent most of the week watching princess movies, including Barbie."

I choked on a laugh that was threatening to escape.

"It's bad enough the coronation's theme is pink. Why do I have to hear Barbie every time I enter her room? You have no idea how annoying it had been to hear 'I have magic!'on repeat. We too have magic! So what?"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I laughed so hard that Erick gave me an annoyed look.

"I didn't think she would listen to me. I was joking!"

"Obviously. But my wife thinks that you were serious. She is running out of ideas for the coronation."

"At first, I told her to be herself."

Erick blinked his eyes at me with an emotionless stare.

"Of course that would be a horrible idea," I stated.

"Exactly!" Erick said.

"Here, darling. This is the list of every makeup to use and application procedures," Madam Lavigne spoke as she went towards me, handing me a small piece of paper.

"By the way, why are you wearing a blue dress?" Erick suddenly asked. "You do know that the coronation's theme is pink, right?"

I frowned in disbelief.

"I thought Selena was the one who would only wear pink. The servants got it mixed up."

"Emery, everyone is expected to wear pink or anything that matches the color. Blue is not one of them."

Madam Lavigne sighed behind me.

"Come on, dearie. We have more work to do."

I groaned, following the woman back into the room. Erick gave me a sympathetic smile before turning to leave the room.

About an hour later, I was done with the coronation preparation procedures. I had decided on a thistle dress, and I was glad I was done with everything. I quickly exited the castle, not wanting to be pulled back for more unexpected preparations.

I had changed back to the clothes I had entered the castle with, and I was looking forward to seeing Zane. When I first went to Andreladia, Liam had told me that Zane was a teacher. I found it hard to believe, but apparently, it was true.

That explained why he had to leave in the morning. It was hard to picture Zane as a teacher, and so I planned to see it for myself.

Liam gave me the name of the school that Zane taught in, and so I went to it. It looked very much like an ordinary high school. Not knowing the school, I had been forced to ask the Principal about Zane's class. She gave me directions, and I followed them.

Seconds later, I was standing in front of the entrance to Zane's class. At the time, the hallway was empty, and the only thing I could focus on was the door. It had a wooden exterior with a translucent rectangular glass frame at the front. All I could make out were silhouette shapes. 

I was suddenly nervous. What if it was a prank? If it was a prank, Liam was going to get it.

But then, why would it be a prank?

With a sigh, I knocked on the door. If it was another teacher, I would have no idea of—

The door suddenly opened midthought. I came face to face with Zane.

Oh. So he was a teacher.

He seemed equally as shocked to see me. His eyes darkened a bit as he stared at me, and I felt a familiar pulsing sensation in between my legs.

Oh crap.

Zane had worn a blue checkered shirt and a pair of blue denim jeans. It did nothing to hide his form.

"Emery!" his face broke into a grin as he said my name out loud. The way he had said it sent tingles down my spine, and I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. I heard shuffling behind him, no doubt his students trying to see who was at the door. At the moment, his