I really don’t want to be here. Althea sighed as the carriage clanked and shifted going through the castle gates. She didn’t have the audacity to peer through the curtains at the place she used to call home before she was shipped off to other kingdoms to be married off.
Scoffing, she threw her feet up on the bench across from her and tried to untangle her legs from the crinoline suffocating her movement. The silent carriage ride came to a squeaky halt making Althea lunge forward. She huffed in annoyance, “you could’ve warned me, Pat!”
The door swung open, revealing a young man with a floppy hat that could cover the sun’s rays for numerous people that resided under it. He rolled his eyes and stuck out his hand for Althea to help herself out of the carriage with but she just jumped out herself instead. “Three weeks on a ship, four days by carriage and now you want to talk to someone?”
“Don’t worry short stuff,” she flipped one leg up behind her and slipped on a cutesy pink heel and finished with a laugh, “I just wanted a warning that’s all.” She grabbed his shoulder to slip on her other shoe then glanced up at him with a wink, “I wouldn’t wanna get close to a boy that was just assigned to me, now would I?”
“N-no, your highness.” He straightened up after being reminded of who exactly he was speaking to with such a nonchalant tone.
Without another word, Althea stepped onto the marble stairs and looked up to see the grand golden doors creak open revealing two lines of royal horns on each side of the staircase. A man at the top cleared his throat after the horns blared at an annoyingly high pitched tone, “now presenting the arrival of her highness, Princess Althea Catherina Valencia Lupus daughter of King Oliver Harrison Michael Lupus, King of Opal. May you prosper in all of our glory!” The man awaited his stubborn princess’ bow, but she decided it’d be best to just walk past him into the place she never thought she’d return empty-handed.
I wonder what he’ll say? I know I messed up big this time, but it wasn’t even my fault! Althea panicked as she hightailed it up the shiny steps and into the east wing. Her shoes clacked, echoing throughout the halls. Prying eyes from every corner didn’t dare say a single word to her as she bit her fingernails down to their nubs thinking of possible excuses for what she’s been doing all this time. Maybe I can just say I got lost? It’s worked before, so why not use it this time? I was in a whole different kingdom after all!
Pushing open the heavy doors, she crept inside to come face to face with her old childhood guardian. “Ah, Princess! It’s been so long since you’ve returned home, how was the Isle of Grenley? I hear they have phenomenal winters!” Arnold was a very frigid man that always doted on raising Althea into the perfect princess.
Althea’s mother, Charlotte, told him to watch over her in the castle before she passed away from an unknown disease. She was always swarmed by magicians, doctors, and healers that she was able to tell Arnold her last dying wish in a small moment’s notice. When her time came, he swore to always lead Althea in the right direction to serve her kingdom and carry on their family legacy. While doing so, he took up the position of Hand to the King to always be able to have Althea’s future in mind.
Wiping the sweat from her face, Althea pushed past Arnold and circled around the room, “where’s my father?” She turned back to him in a huff and pouted not wanting to waste anymore time as her lie was getting more extravagant as she thought of it.
“He’s in his study. I told him to go and greet you but at the mere mention of your highness, he threw a dagger at me and ordered me to leave.”
“Serves you right for trying to tell him what to do.” She scoffed and pushed through the doors again feeling her unwanted lap dog tagging behind her.
“I’m his advisor, he’s supposed to listen to me!” He sighed and scurried along after her.
Althea didn’t slow down or wait for him. The only thing she was currently worried about was not tripping in her blasted shoes. These damned things! How do men expect any woman to escape or fight or even run in these contraptions? They give me blisters faster than when wielding a sword!
Trudging up another set of stairs, she had had enough. Stopping in the middle of the staircase, she flopped on her rear-end and peeled off each heel and snapped her crinoline. Stepping out of the fashionable hell she’d been forced to wear for half of her life, she continued up the steps double the speed with the agility of a Cheetah. Her dress flowed with each step, flat and flowy making her hold up bunches at a time to keep from tripping over the satin material.
“Thea…”
“That’s your royal highness to you.” Althea snapped when she heard her old nickname leak from the lips of a man she used to look up to dearly. She spit out at him, “and if you were really his advisor, you would’ve advised him not to send me away instead of agreeing with him!” She whipped around in a fit of rage and went off on the poor lackey, “trying to marry me off as soon as I turned eighteen isn’t what I’d like to think my mother wanted for me when she asked you to protect me.”
“Althea, I’ve told you this many times before,” he sighed.
“Yes, yes, I know! I wasn’t there, so I obviously couldn't possibly know what she meant by ‘protect me.’ Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten our old talks.” She swiftly turned back around and kept heading for her father’s study.
Arnold tailed behind her and mumbled, “It’s in your best interest that you shake off that attitude before meeting with your father.” He snapped his fingers and in an instant, Althea was back in her painfully perfect pink heels and tightly knit crinoline making her puffy pink dress, well, puffy again. He sighed and stepped in front of her before she could yank open the door, “just promise me you’ll remember all of your etiquette lessons, they’ll help you sugar the truth.”
Rolling her eyes, she gave a small curtsey and allowed him to announce her presence. When the door opened, Her father, King Oliver, was sitting at a worn wooden desk scribbling down who knows what. He didn’t look up, knowing that the only person who dared to enter his study at this hour in the day would be his only child Althea.
KEEP READING....
Comments (0)
See all