As the days passed, rushing by in a blur, the coronation grew closer and closer and the entire palace grew busier and more frantic.

Meredith worked on her dress each night, and was pleased with how it was coming along. It was floor length, with an empire waste and plenty of ruffles. Now that she had the chance to dress up, and Isabella was helping her, she was going to spoil herself with the most beautiful dress she could make, the dress she had dreamed about making someday. Isabella told her that she would 'look like a princess'.

She noticed that, here lately, Isabella had been disappearing out of doors more and more lately. She felt sorry for her friend. The only place Therese would not follow her was out of doors, as she complained that her hay fever began to act up.

Therese, meanwhile, had broken the news that Isabella was going to meet and spend time with Lord Andrew during the coronation ball, but she would be able to refuse the match if it was not agreeable to her. She said this with much hesitation, beginning to wish she had not agreed to Antony's request. Remember the Lady Adelaide, she constantly reminded herself.

Isabella, knowing that even though it was her choice, her mother would continue to hound her and to tell her all the benefits of marrying Lord Andrew, put on her cloak and sneaked out the back door yet again to escape to her only solitude.

Antony spent more and more time in his study, being called upon by advisors, generals of the army, and lawmakers about even the smallest thing concerning his coronation and the laws and edicts he was set to put into place immediately afterwards. His least favorite visitor was the royal portrait painter, who, after the coronation, would need to paint a new portrait of Antony for the Royal Family's portrait gallery. There were fittings for dress uniforms, opinions asked on what music should be played at the coronation ball –Antony sent them to consult Olivya-, and decorators asking what colors he preferred for the Royal Dining Room.

The day drew nearer and nearer, and all of Alacia seemed to hold its breath.

Meredith finished the main stitching for her dress and had only to add the bow, which Isabella wanted to help her with. Therese sent a reminder to the Lord Andrew and the Lady Adelaide to make sure both her chosen ones were coming. Isabella continued to avoid her mother, finding solace in talking to Meredith or escaping the palace whenever her mother searched for her. Antony finally grew too overwhelmed and ordered all the advisors to leave his study, only to fall asleep at his desk.

The day before the coronation arrived faster than anyone expected.

As most of the guests were already at the castle, Antony found it easier to remain in his study, or his library, and simply avoid them all. He knew that Therese had been overjoyed the day before at the arrival of the Lady Adelaide, but he had kept to his rooms, annoying his aunt, he knew, but not wishing to have a confrontation until it was completely necessary. Besides...Therese would be appeased soon enough; the ball was tomorrow.

Antony ran a hand through his hair and sat back in his desk chair, gazing listlessly at the papers all over his desk: documents needing to be signed, the orders he planned to give, maps of Astoria, a scrap piece bearing the date that the portrait painter wanted to begin...It was hard to keep them all straight at times. He swiveled his chair and looked out the picture window, out over the courtyard, the lawns, and all the way to the water. How he wished that things would be simple again.

She stared at herself in the mirror, standing there barefoot, only in her undergarments and sleeveless white underdress. She was a thin girl, and short. She was much thinner than Isabella, and friend's figure was much nicer than hers, in her opinion. She turned sideways and looked at herself mournfully. She was tiny, and small, and plain. She sighed.

"Ready?"

Meredith nodded at Isabella and then closed her eyes, holding her arms over her head. The next moment, the silken fabric was slipping over her head, down into place, folding itself around her body, making her feel almost...beautiful.

She opened her eyes and gazed at herself in the mirror. It was almost as if some transformation had occurred. The dress seemed to turn her into someone fit to wear it, its full skirt and the ruffles over its bodice making her seem not quite so thin as she knew she really was. She turned, admiring the dress from different angles.

"Here," said Isabella, tying the white bow that finished the dress around Meredith's waist and setting shoes before her. Meredith slipped on the shoes and their heels gave her a bit of new height.

"You look lovely," said Isabella, softly, smoothing the skirt and standing back to look at her friend. "You must let me do your hair. May I practice on it tonight?"

"Certainly," said Meredith, grateful to Isabella for all her help. "Now I must take this off. I can just see myself dirtying it the day before the ball. It would be just like me."

Isabella helped her get the dress back over her head and back on its hanger in the wardrobe. Back in her simpler day dress, Meredith felt almost palpably disappointed. It did not make her beautiful as her gown did. She sighed and turned away from the mirror.

Isabella and Meredith made their way into Isabella's small, cozy library, where they sat in two adjoining chairs and attempted to read. Neither could, however. Both felt distracted, but neither knew what to do to occupy themselves. A brief picture of her taking Isabella to meet her family came to her mind but she quickly pushed it away. Who knew how her family might react? And besides...the trip would take too long. They'd miss the coronation itself.

"We should play two truths and a falsehood," said Isabella. "I have not played it in a very long time, but we're becoming rather desperate for entertainment, are we not?"

Meredith nodded and set aside the book that she had been pretending to read.

"I'll go first," said Isabella. "If you cannot guess which statement is the falsehood, I will ask you to choose a truth or a dare, and thus will be your consequences for a wrong guess."

She paused in thought, no doubt formulating what her statements would be.

Finally, she smirked, and began.

"Statement one," she said. "When I was younger, I was in trouble with my mother because I wore trousers to play in.

"Statement two: Once, when Antony was mad at me for losing the book he was reading, he found my diary and hid it in the woods, leaving me to wander through thorns and brambles in a mad attempt to find it.

"Statement three: My horse's name is Emery."

She watched Meredith expectantly as Meredith attempted to puzzle through the statements. Not knowing much about Isabella's past, or her horse, any one of the statements could have been false, and she would have no idea. However, her statement about Antony did not seem to fit with the image of Antony that she remembered from their childhood so she said "Statement two is false."

Isabella grinned wickedly. "Wrong," she said. "Antony really did steal my diary and hide it from me. Statement one is also true. Statement three is false. Emery isn't my horse; he's Antony's. So: truth or dare?"

Meredith sighed and thought for a few moments. Deciding that a truth could get her into trouble, depending on what Isabella asked, she settled on... "Dare."

Isabella now had to think of a dare suitable for retribution of Meredith's wrong guess. She brightened then, and Meredith knew she had thought of something that could get both of them into trouble.

"Have you ever ridden a horse?" she questioned, her eyes alight.

"Well...a long time ago...but it's been forever. We could never afford a horse."

"Get ready to ride. As you failed to guess that the statement about my horse was the false statement, we're going to go riding. But not just on any horse: you're going to ride Emery."

Meredith stared at Isabella blankly.

"But..." she finally said, finding her voice. "Emery is your cousin's horse. Won't he be angry?"

"I've never seen Antony really truly angry at me. I don't think he'll mind. Besides...what could go wrong?"

Plenty of things, it turned out.

It went smoothly enough, at first, as the two ladies entered the stable –Meredith incredibly grateful that it was Evan's day polishing silverware- and the stable boy brought out their respective horses.

Emery was beautiful, and Meredith knew that if she were to have a horse, she would want one like him. She gave him a small treat handed to her by the boy and stroked his side, praying inwardly that he was a gentle horse.

Setting out from the stables wasn't so bad either.

Isabella rode Ria, her paint mare. Emery seemed to be behaving nicely for Meredith. Once they were further out onto the trails and the lands behind the palace, however, things went wrong.

Emery seemed to sense that his rider was inexperienced, and he wanted to run, having not been ridden for some time, so he took off at a full gallop. Isabella easily galloped along beside her and shouted at her to yell "Whoa!" and pull back on the reigns.

"Whoa!" Meredith screamed, fear paralyzing her in the saddle.

"Pull the reigns!" Isabella yelled.

Meredith jerked back on the reigns, hard.

Emery came to a sudden stop, and she found herself flying forward, straight into his neck, and then backwards. Then the unpleasant sensation of slipping...her ankle caught in the stirrup and she felt a fiery jolt of pain shoot through her angle and up her leg...and she found herself in a mud puddle.

For his part, Emery stayed next to her, not running off...but she was now covered in mud and very unhappy.The pain in her ankle had dulled to a low throb and her mind was completely occupied with how much trouble they were going to be in later. Isabella dismounted and helped her friend to her feet and they both walked back to the stables, leading their horses. They were greeted at the entrance by the stable boy, who was looking rather pale.

"Your cousin is looking for you," he said to Isabella. He then took the horses and scurried off.

Meredith turned and looked at Isabella, somewhat scared. "I thought you said he wouldn't be that angry," she whispered.

"It sounds like I was wrong..." said Isabella. Then... "I'll go speak to him. It was my foolish idea. I'll set things right. There's no need for you to get into any trouble." And she walked stoically across the yard to face her, presumably very angry, cousin.