A Princess' Choice

CHAPTER FOUR

The number of times that I had been away from home in my entire life could only be counted with my fingers. The longest being a five-day vacation at my grandparents’ house for Christmas.

I didn’t know what to feel about this visit to my, as how my parents liked to put it, future in-laws. Sure, it was great having them over, the palace felt lively then – but only because the place was buzzing with busy people. Being their guest was another story.

The whole thought did not put me to sleep that night so I decided I could use some advice. And who else could help me better than someone who had gone through the same phase, herself? My mother.

At lunch, I had told her I’d go over to her office to talk. I could tell she was surprised to hear it from me because I was never the one to initiate a conversation. I had never anticipated this day, either.

I walked the hallway to her office, planning my talk inside my head. When I neared her door, I waved at Ulric and he smiled. As per usual, he thumped his baton twice and the door opened immediately. The guards and maids bowed as I entered. My mother looked up from her computer and grinned upon seeing me.

“Hello, Mother,” I greeted, walking over to her desk. She stood to pull me in a hug.

“Hello, dear,” she replied, letting go of her grip. She picked up her paperwork and set them to the side of her desk.

Grabbing my arm, she turned to Malina and instructed, “Go over those files and review them for me, I’ll be with Callista for a while.” Malina nodded and went on with her task.

“Where are we going, Mother?” I asked, curiosity flashed on my face as I creased my forehead.

“Somewhere we can talk in private,” she retorted as she walked towards the door and I followed behind.

Wherever my mother goes, her security goes. So she paused at the door to give Ulric some instructions. “Ulric, I’m going to need a moment with my daughter so I’d appreciate it if you stayed put,” she stated with authority.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Ulric bowed.

“I will be back.”

She continued walking and I followed suit. We walked up the stairs without my mother talking so I decided to speak.

“You know elevators take you up faster without having to exert any effort, I bet Queen Ellyn has one or two in her palace.”

We take the last few steps to the second floor and made a right to her room.

“Nonsense! We don’t alter anything in this palace,” she objected. “This dates to many centuries back, everything here is still as it was for years. Except for the furniture of course.”

“But don’t you think it’s time for change?”

We stopped in front of her door and she grabbed on the knob.

“Silly! We can’t just deconstruct parts of the palace to install elevators!”

“Okay, okay. I was just suggesting.” I chuckled as we entered. I close the door behind me and walked over to her sitting area.

She fell to her sofa sitting on her right leg while the other fell to the floor. I sat beside her, bringing both my legs up on the cushion.

In that moment, she wasn’t a Queen and I wasn’t a Princess. We were a mother and daughter duo teaming up to resolve a boy problem.

“This feels good,” she said, heaving a deep sigh as if she was really feeling the moment.

“It does,” I agreed.

“So what did you want to talk about?” she began.

I hesitated for a moment, but then managed to speak.

“When it was your turn then, and you found out you were engaged to a stranger, what did you think?” I asked.

“Well…” She shifted and crossed her arms against her chest. “It troubled me a lot. I mean, I was seventeen!” I nodded as she spoke. “So, I do understand what you feel now.”

“It really is a whole lot of crazy,” I remarked.

“But when I met your father, I was awestruck.” She placed her hands on her heart as she recalled.

“That can’t be true!” I practically shrieked.

“Oh, it is. He was so charming then, he stood like he was already King. And my, did he have the loveliest smile.” She chuckled.

“Yeah, right. Only because his must’ve been the only smile you’ve ever seen in your life.”

We both laughed.

“Oh, I’ve seen others, trust me.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. Of guards, pilots and dukes, but nothing could compare to your father’s. Not even that boy I met at a hotel in Hosienna when I sneaked out of my suite when I was fifteen.”

“You did what?” I exclaimed.

“But that was a one-night-only kind of love. I like to call it an adventure of a lifetime.” She sighed as she remembered.

“I wish I had that, too,” I admitted.

“But, anyway, when I met your father I wasn’t so scared anymore. It was like I was enchanted by him.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her story. I wished I had that feeling with Lyonel when we first met.

“You really felt that way when you first met him?”

“Oh, not right away! I admit he had me with his looks, but as we got to spend time together more, that was when I felt it was right.”

“You and father are so lucky to end up with each other,” I said dreamily.

“And I think you and Lyonel will end up just fine. Maybe even better than me and your father. Just give him a chance,” she reassured me. She ran her finger through my hair and brushed my cheek with her thumb. “Give it time, Cal, you’ve only met him once!”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I guess I did get kind of lucky with your father, but it certainly did not happen overnight nor the second night around. It took time for us to be comfortable with each other. We let our walls down for each other, we opened ourselves up for each other.

“Sometimes, you don’t just let fate do all the work. Fate doesn’t bring you true love, fate brings you the person and the rest is in your hands.” She now had my hands squeezed in hers. “It’s all on you, Cal. Fate brought your father to me, but loving him was my choice.”

And in that moment, it all made sense. The odds of me and Lyonel meeting was fate, and it was up to us to make something out of that.