Page 8

“Of course, Lady. Your ribbon is in the side drawer,” Olive said with a smile and a curtsy as she stepped away from grooming me and busied herself about my chambers.

Olive was a soft spoken maid–and my favorite.

It seemed that both of us understood each other without many spoken words.

I wondered if she would come with me to the castle .

I am going to live in the castle– I reminded myself.

With Prince Peter.

Because I am engaged to Peter, and we will soon marry.

It was, in part, horrifying, but mostly it was just splendid. It was only horrifying because it would be a royal wedding, and we would host hundreds of people, and I preferred to be alone, or at least, only with small groups of people.

Mostly, I just wanted to be with Peter, to be honest.

Still, it would all be worth it. Peter and I would be together forever after the wedding was over. That’s what I wanted more than anything–just Peter.

Speaking of which, I had hoped to hurry out of the house early that morning to get some much-needed alone time with him before he became swept up in his royal duties, and there I was daydreaming. It had been too long since it was just us.

Peter’s elder brother had finally returned to his place within the kingdom after having been away for more than ten years, and right away, he married Princess Meria who came from the underwater mermaid kingdom of Marren, which no one even knew existed.

Yes, it had, indeed, been quite busy in Walden.

Focus, I reminded myself.

I began to pull a few strands of my hair back from off my face and clipped in my bow.

Once it was placed correctly, I touched the ends of my hair; it was getting longer.

It was not as long as Princess Meria’s, though.

I wondered how it was that she could always have that perfect, long, blond-pinkish hair about her.

She owned a type of beauty I had never seen before: pale skin, pale hair, and beautiful sea-blue eyes.

I liked Meria as soon as I met her, even if she did not dress properly and was always kissing Prince Dominick in public, causing me to often feel uneasy.

She was so kind and seemingly the perfect partner for Peter’s pirate brother.

Her smile was sweet and kind, and I was quite impressed with how compassionately she helped the children we had saved from Pixie Isle.

She loved children. I smiled, just thinking about how she was with them.

I still loved to read childrens’ stories from time to time to the children at the orphanages, but I was shy when it came to really getting to know them, and I admired that Meria was the opposite of me in that way.

After I read to the children at the orphanage, I just smiled at them, and then I left.

I had even done the same with Peter when he first hired me to read to him.

I had gone to the castle, completed my task of reading; then I left, but Peter slowly broke down my walls.

I was glad he had.

For the entire time I’d known Peter, he was concerned about his impending duty to rule the Kingdom of Walden, even though he was the third born to the king and queen .

“Are you ready? Goodness, girl, you are taking forever! The prince sent a carriage for you; it’s been waiting for a quarter hour!” my mother shouted from my open door.

I cringed, closing my eyes and taking some deep breaths. Upon opening my eyes, I looked upon my reflection–which appeared terrified.

Drat, Mother .

I thought of Peter, who brought out true smiles, changing the sharp creases of fear upon my face to soft pleasantness.

With my shoulders pulled back and my hands resting softly upon my lap, I took in another breath, being careful not to raise my voice in the shrill way that she had, and I called out, “Yes!”

I would marry and be rid of her shouts soon enough.

I just wanted to see Peter. I would endure her until I was able to escape my mother’s manor.

I hurried from the room, thanking Olive and waving goodbye.

Luckily, my mother had disappeared by the time I came down from my room, and I could escape to the carriage without another interaction with her.

Once sitting inside the carriage, I touched my face, realizing that my expression had once again turned to fear, for I worried about avoiding my mother.

I decided to keep my hand about my face until I rid myself of that visage, until I created a softer one of joy, for I would soon see Peter.

Eventually, I did put my hands down, and I cringed for a moment.

It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, what my mother had instilled in me, to care about my outward appearance and be as perfect and proper as possible, would not leave me.

I leaned back with a smile and closed my eyes anyways, thinking of happier things–Peter.

Who would have thought that reading to a prince three years earlier would have led me to falling in love and becoming betrothed?

Not me.

I soon arrived at the castle and made my way to the large room.

“Oh, is he not here yet?” I asked Martha as I entered the reading room and sat down on the blue settee.

Reading to Peter was all I wanted, but he became busier than ever after he had saved me and found his brother.

I’d thought that once he was reunited with his brother, some of the work would be taken off his shoulders; it had, yet, it seemed he was more busy than I had ever seen him.

Maybe I was being too selfish. He was a prince, and he was busy. Of course, he was.

“Oh, dearest, he has business to attend to; he told me to let you know. He knows an escape from your mother would be welcomed,” Martha said with a soft smile.

It was true. I was always happy to be free of her pestering. Planning the wedding was not as joyful as I had imagined; my mother was doing it all.

Martha stood from her usual seat in the corner of the room and walked over to me .

“If I know Peter, and I do, he will find you as soon as he is free.”

She left the room, and I moved to the small table where a stack of books sat. We had enjoyed, over the previous three years, some of the best adventures within those pages. I opened one of the books about pirates, which I’d read right before the pixies took me.

I sat down on the settee and decided to wait for Peter until the carriage came again to take me home.

Surely, he would stop in, at least, for a hello , and in the meantime, I could lose myself in that story, a story that was near and dear to my heart because of the memory of the day I read it to Peter.