CHAPTER THREE
1231 Words
It was Sunday and I was looking forward to seeing Alice. I couldn’t wait to tell her everything that had happened during the week. I found it crazy how in what seems like split seconds I had gotten myself tangled in a knot that my parents had tied up for me.
I sighed remembering the events in my head. I shifted in my bed to check the time. 8:30 am. I tapped on the intercom that was connected to my maids’ chambers and said, “Leyla, I’ll have breakfast in here.”
I yawned one last time and scurried my way to the bathroom. I took a nice short shower and prepped my face. When I got out, my lady’s maids were setting the table in my balcony.
“Good Morning, your highness,” they greeted in unison.
“Good morning, girls,” I replied happily.
Leyla came up to me and said, “Would you like to have your breakfast first before changing, your highness?”
I eyed my robe and then to the balcony. It seemed a pretty good day to have breakfast in a bathrobe so I nodded and said, “That’d be perfect.”
“Very well, your highness,” Leyla responded and walked over to the balcony to help set up the table.
I thought it was also a perfect time to invite Alice over for breakfast.
“Oh and Leyla, could you please call on Alice, tell her I’m inviting her over,” I ordered. “And tell her to not take long.”
“Yes, your highness,” she complied.
Alice was always self-conscious, not to mention she usually takes too long to fix her appearance before going out.
“Your breakfast is ready, your highness,” Teresa announced.
“Thank you, Teresa. You may excuse yourself, I’ll call if I need anything,” I said and sat down.
A few moments later, Alice came barging in, her hands on her hips. Her hair was messy like she’d just got up from bed. She was in her robe and I assumed she still had her night gown underneath.
“This better be something good or I’m gonna make you pay for getting me out of my room like this,” she crowed and flumped on the chair next to me.
Holding a fork up to my mouth, I laughed comically at her reaction.
“Oh, I promise you this is something juicy,” I said cockily.
She shifted to place her elbow on top of the table cradling her chin, her eyebrows rose up and down as if to say “I’m listening.”
I chuckled at her gesture and stuffed a waffle in my mouth.
“Aren’t you eating?” I asked.
“Well, fine,” she replied, rolling her eyes. She grabbed a pancake, bathed it with maple syrup and filled her mouth with it.
“You’re such a serial eater,” I told her laughing at her pancake stunt.
“I know, right?” She spoke with her mouth half full and laughed. “Okay, now what’s the juicy news?”
“I’m dating someone.”
“You--- what!?”
The pancake almost leaped out of her mouth but she managed to keep it there and chewed it to bits before speaking again.
“Like, a guy? What is he normal? What is he?”
“Of course he’s a guy!” I blurted in high pitch. “And not just any guy, he’s a prince.”
“Whoa. Where did you meet? Do you really like him?”
“Well, it’s kinda not like that…” I trailed. “It’s more of like a setup. I didn’t know the guy since they came here to visit.”
“Like a blind date? Is that still a thing? And what…he visited?”
She dropped her fork and listened intently.
“You know how it is with me. Mother and Father thought it’s what’s best for me, since, you know...” I said and raised my hands in the air.
“And you just agreed? You don’t even know the guy!”
Alice had a point, but I did tell Lyonel I was willing to make things work out between us.
“I didn’t really have much choice,” I said sheepishly. She simply sighed.
“But you did meet him already, right?”
“Yeah, and he’s alright, I guess.”
“Alright? What kind of guy is ‘all right’? Come on, tell me more about him.”
Alice and I spent our morning like that. Slacking off and talking about boys. I was glad Alice was always there to talk about things like this with me. I was grateful to have someone to talk about subjects that I wasn’t comfortable talking with my mom.
At dinner, it was just me and my mother. I assumed my father had to attend an important meeting, but mother said he’d catch up if he could and that there was something important they wanted to tell me.
“You and Alice had a great time?” my mother asked. She took a sip of her wine and turned her gaze to me.
“Uh, yeah. We basically just spent the day relaxing but it was great to have her around.”
“That’s good to hear.”
I just nodded and we fell silent again. For what seemed like a minute after, my father walked in, his pace quick and straight.
“Pardon my being late,” he said, placing his napkin down.
“So how did it go?” my mother asked him.
“It went very well, which reminds me, Callista we have something to talk about.” He shifted to face me.
I looked up from my plate then to him. I nodded slowly, questions flooding through my mind. What’s this about this time?
“I’m listening, father,” I said quietly.
He placed his glass down and wiped his mouth. I could see my mother grinning widely from the other side of the table.
“Queen Ellyn and King Hiron would like to have you in their home for a few weeks,” he began. My forehead creased at his statement, and as if it weren’t puzzling enough, he continued, and said, “Since after you get married, you and Lyonel would have to live here in Wildor, Ellyn said she’d want you to spend time in their home for a little bit.”
“And we thought it was only right dear. They’re going to be your in-laws, after all,” my mother chimed in, her grin still plastered on her face.
“Let me guess, I don’t really get to have a say in this, right?” I said sarcastically.
They looked at each other and then to me. My father sighed and shook his head sadly.
I sighed in surrender and meekly said, “Okay.”
- Writer
