Chapter 1
Staring up at the sky, I giggle. I am so memorized by the lights and the stars illuminating the sky. I am addicted to astronomy and I have quite a taste. I exhale a long breath that I have been holding in and try to breathe slowly out through my nose. It is quite hard to breathe and exhale when one is wearing a very tight corset to tighten the midsection of my body.
A corset can be good and bad but it makes me stand and sit straighter like a lady. Of course I don’t really act like a true lady time to time. I’ve secretly learned how to use weapons and fighting combat with my secret trainer named Eliza. Eliza is magnificent; he taught me so well. If I was ever under attack I would know how to fight back. If I ever asked my Mother if I could get fighting combat lessons she would of course say no because it isn’t proper for a lady. Only for the soldiers she says.
I dress like a lady, talk like a lady, eat like a lady, but I don’t fight like a lady. Only Eliza has seen me fight. I’m quite proud of myself, I’ve won against him sometimes.
I sit up straighter and look toward the direction of my mum. My Mum is American, but I am British/American from my Dad. My Dad died a few years ago but my Mum and I have been together ever since. We have been over mourning for a while now. My mum and I live in a small part of England called Bornelumb. Bornelumb is quite a name, I have been making fun of that name for years ever since we started to live here in this new town after my dad died.
Bornelumb is known for its huge palace, just about fifty miles away from where Mum and I live. I would say that this mini town we live in is quite beautiful from my perspective. At day you can walk around town and buy or fancy some things from looking into shops from a window. At night you can watch the stars since there isn’t any pollution in the night sky.
I jog over to Eliza’s house, we are close in connection so we like to meet up with each other late in the night.
I run up to his window and climb the tree that connects to his tree house and window.
“Eliza?” I whisper shout.
“Lydia?” He asks.
“I’m here!” I say as I swing in from the tree branch into his room.
We enclose in a huge and he kisses me on the cheek and gazes into my eyes.
“You look... beautiful.” He whispers into my ear. I gulp and trace my finger along his jawline. He has a sharp jawline and beautiful brown hair that swishes through the air during battle. Today he let it hang in his eyes. I love when he lets it hang in his eyes.
“Lydia...I love you.” Eliza says startling me. I turn and face him.
“Really..?” I ask with confusion etched into my brows.
“Yes. I have admired you for so long but this is time.”
“Time for what?”
“This.”
He moves closer to me and dives in close to my face. He gives me a hungry kiss and backs away looking into my eyes. My eyes open wide, shocked.
He dives back in and kisses me passionately and I kiss him back.
“Miss Lydia! Your Mum is calling you in for dinner!” Mum’s friend shouts over to me. Mum’s friend knows about Eliza and I?
I back away apologizing and jump out of the window onto the tree branch. I swing down and do a soft landing onto the ground. I look up to Eliza’s window and he stands there grinning in the pale moonlight. I smile back and jog back home.
I look up at the stars one last time and head into the house. I wipe my shoes on the rug and take my hat off and place it on the hanger. I race up the stairs to my bedroom and leap and fall onto my bed. I watch my fan spin and spin as I slowly begin to become dizzy and I shut my eyes. I fall into a deep slumber and dream about the stars and life better. Life better with new beginnings but most importantly happy endings.
“Lydia! Wake up. Our Mum is calling you to go downstairs with her!” My older sister says while shaking me to get me awake. I slowly open my eyes and stare at her. I grunt and cover my face with a pillow, shielding myself. She laughs and rips the pillow off me. “Come on Lydia Hunt. You don’t want the demons coming after you!” Eleanor says and sprints off out of my room. The demons coming after us was a funny joke my sister, Eleanor and I made when we were younger. I am almost seventeen now with Eleanor almost turning fifteen.
I get out of bed and walk down stairs to my Mother’s study/painting room. My Mum is truly a very good painter as she can capture the moments that she memorizes so well. I knock on the old door and it creaks open. She shouts for me to come in.
“Mum? You called for me.” I say with her with a small smile.
“Oh, yes Lydia. I have something serious to talk to you about.” Mum replies.
I take a sharp gulp and nod, slowly sitting down in the chair facing her.
“Lydia.. I have took into serious consideration of how so much of a lady you are becoming. You are now almost seventeen and ready to start a new life. I have entered you into the Princess Examinations.”
“WHAT? MUM! You know I hate that stuff. I am not truly a lady to be entered into that such!” I jump out of the chair and start pacing the room.
“Lydia... calm down. You don’t even know if you have gotten in! I hope you do though.”
“When will they announce? I really hope I don’t get in. UGH! Mum!”
“They announce tonight. We will broadcast on our vector tv.”
“Fine mother.” I exclaim as I storm out of the room. I run up the stairs and plop down in my chair next to my bed.
I gaze at my plants hanging from the ceiling. They shine in the sunlights and sway silently and gracefully. My favorite pot of them all is my rose pot. It is overflowing with roses. There aren’t any red roses nor pink roses. They are the roses of the color yellow like the sun that shines. Yellow roses are very important to me. Each rose has their own meaning, but I would think that everyone would choose the basic rose, the red. With a red rose menacing love, passion, beauty and respect, a yellow rose means joy, delight, friendship, and new beginnings. New beginnings aren’t just beginnings to me that start fresh and anew. They are special. But not just special, magical.
3 hours later...
“Lydia! The vector tv is now prod casting! Come down quick!” My Mother shouts up the stairs and runs towards our oldern tv. I groan and awake from sitting in the chair and slowly pull on a jacket to keep warm. I walk begrudgingly downstairs to the tv where Mother is sitting. I plop down next to her and groan more.
“Stop your fuss and groaning! That is NOT how a lady should act!” My Mum scolds me.
I slowly nod and turn towards the tv. An image pops up on the screen of the palace and the live broadcasting is showcased. Images of the queen, king, and the prince that will be in the Princess Eliminations appears. I look at the King and his posture is so straight it strains my eyes. The Queen looks elegant and beautiful sitting on the throne next to the King. Finally, the prince is shown and he just looks... kind of handsome. I mean I couldn’t say he isn’t, it would be rude! I continue staring at the tv and I feel my Mother’s eyes watching me. I turn towards her and she says, “I told you he was handsome, Lydia!” She smirks.
I grunt and face back to the tv. “Welcome all of Bornelumb and Arcadia! Today we will be announcing the final contestants that have entered and got into the Princess Examinations!” The head announcer, Marko, announces. Arcadia is the town next to Bornelumb, only Bornelumb and Arcadia were allowed to enter into the trials/examinations.
“Please welcome King Arnold, Queen Eva, and finally Prince Thomas!” The TV casters show more of the queen, king and the prince before they announce.
“Ladies and gentlemen! The moment you have all been waiting for!” Marko projects and opens a piece of parchment.
“Miss Esther Bates, Miss Grace Warner, Miss Hazel Evans, Miss Julia Stewart, Miss Miss Naomi Glover, Miss Rachel Moore, Miss Ruth Connolly, Miss Zoe Walters, Miss Ruby Howard, and Miss Jacqueline Renaud from Arcadia!” The high ranks in the background applaud with the king, queen and prince. Prince Thomas has no reaction to the names which makes me squirm. Is he really resenting us coming in to the palace to learn more about him?
“Now for the beautiful girls from Bornelumb! Miss Rochelle Ashton, Miss Cecelia Clarkin, Miss Haylnn Stuart-Lane, Miss Dianna Benson, Miss Calliope Finn, Miss Blanche Rutherford, Miss Lydia Hunt...” He goes on but I don’t even hear the names coming after as my Mother jumps up and squeals so loudly.
“Lydia! Oh LYDIA! You got in! You got in!” She screams and runs around the room.
I smile to be nice and get up and hug her. While hugging her over her shoulder I make a face and smile when I turn back towards her.
“They said they are going to come to our house and make the final adjustments! Oh Lydia! You will win Prince Thomas’s heart!” She exclaims.
I smile again to “look” like a lady. A quick knock on our door sounds and we turn and rush towards it. Mother’s friend, Anastasia, struts in and comes to give me a hug. I give her a hug resentfully even though I hate how Miss Anastasia is so full of herself.
“Oh dear! They better be coming any minute now! I must go and tell my kids! They will be so happy you won, Lydia!” Miss Anastasia says too cheerfully. I grin, hiding my true feelings about this stupid Examination Trial whatever thing.
Another knock sounds on our door and my Mum goes racing to get it. As she opens the door, a big man with huge muscles walks in pushing the door open. Mum freezes and steps aside grinning almost too happily. The man walks straight towards me.
“Please sit down sir!” Mum says as she spreads her arms wide.
He grunts and sits down on the sofa and I slowly sit down next to him. He gives me a form to fill out and I read over the questions. Some were weird ones, asking if I even ever met the prince it would give me the upper-hand. Of course I said no, I would know if I ever met him. After-all, I know what he looks like from the television.
I keep answering questions as the minutes pass by and I stop on a question looking up at the man in horror.
“This is a personal invasion of my privacy! Is it really asking if I had any sexual encounters?”
The man nods and says that they need to know so they know if you need to be disqualified.
I mark the checkbox of no, and give the form back to him with all the questions completed.
He grins as he looks over my answers and encloses the form in a case. He straightens and gets up from the sofa wishing us a great day and he says that the results are final and I have gotten in from the look of my answers.
Mum squeals more and grabs my shoulders and shakes them. ANOTHER knock is sounded and a woman rushes in with a huge rack. On the huge rack there are ball gowns and gowns ranging from every color to every size. My eyes feel like they are bulging out of their sockets. I have never seen anything like these dresses before.
More minutes pass as she measures me and gets me ready in a gown. The woman tells me to pack a light suitcase of all the things I need but most things I need would be at the palace already. Any sentimental things to keep me going in this war of Examinations will definitely be in my suitcase.
I look in the mirror and gasp. The nice woman fits me in a blue dress that fits my body shape and characteristics perfectly. My hair is dark brown with golden highlights from the sun and my skin is as pale as the moonlight. My eyes are a light blue color that matches the dress.
I smile at the lady. “Thank you! I look lovely miss.”
Her smile lights up her whole face as she bows and faces my mother.
Mum is in complete shock as she stares at me and covers her mouth with her handkerchief. She nods, grins, and wipes a few tears that were released while looking at me. Mum runs over and crushes me in a deep hug, not caring about her posture for the first time in her life. I laugh and smile as she shakes me.
“You look so beautiful, Lydia. I’m sure Prince Thomas will be memorized by you.”
I laugh nervously and glance toward the woman who dressed me. She is looking me with twinkling eyes as well.
“Come along now! It is time for you to go to the palace! You have filled out a form, dressed, and now you are ready to leave, my dear!” The nice woman says to my Mum and I and grabs my arm gently and pulls me in the direction of the door. Mum hurries after us and we step out of the house into the cool air. I breath in the fresh air and look around the streets. The streets are filled with girls protesting that they didn’t get in and others are happy that they did get in. I feel like I should be laying in my bed staring at my plants right now, but instead I’m wandering the streets in a beautiful, blue, floral dress. The girls around me as I walk through the streets stop and look at me. They skim their eyes along my body. Some grunt out of jealously and some grin and nod at me. Girls like us in Bornelumb don’t really get nice things. Bornelumb is the poor town compared to Arcadia with beautiful dresses and streets flowing with people. People like me aren’t used to being dressed in beautiful things like this in our own homes.
The nice lady leads me through the crowd and positions me in front of other girls with some short and long flowing dresses. They are probably the other girls that were selected along with me in the Princess Examinations.
Two coaches lead us out to carriages with glowing white horses positioned in the front. I wave goodbye to Mum and blow her a kiss. I try to push back tears. I have never been without Mum for long periods of time. Maybe I won’t be in the Princess Examinations for long. The prince might even disperse me once he sees me!
I pick up my dress and sit down in the carriage that I am assigned to. I look with wondering eyes at the other ladies coming in the carriage with me. There are three of them.
“You are Miss Lydia right? I am Maisie Bryton! I have seen the pamphlet with all our names and pictures.” The newly introduced Maisie says to me with a wide grin.
“Hello, yes I am Lydia. Please don’t call me Miss. I don’t seem that formal.” I say with a polite smile.
Maisie nods and smiles and faces the other girls introducing herself. I hear a screech from the opposite side of the carriage. I turn towards the screech.
“Ew! Don’t touch me! You clearly never heard of personal boundaries!” One girls says with more screeches. Maisie turns towards me and backs away from the girl frowning.
“Maisie didn’t mean any harm, miss.” I say to the girl.
“Ugh, as if!” She says with a snort. She turns toward the girl that was sitting quietly and she introduces herself as Dianna Benson. Of course, a name like Dianna could be a cruel person. No offense to the other Diannas out there.
I start a conversation with Maisie and we talk until we get to the palace. I never thought of making actual friends since the Examinations is almost like war. Maybe Maisie will actually become my friend or turn on me sooner or later.
A coach opens the door and Dianna Benson scurries out first. Of course she went first.
I look at the castle in front of me and smile. This is going to be one adventure.
I look up at the palace and study it in admiration. I look over to the other girls who are studying the palace as well and sigh in amazement. I see that the Arcadia girls are here as well, they arrived only minutes after us. The Arcadia girls have much tanner skin, unlike us Bornelumb girls who have pale skin.
I look to the coach and he ushers all of us into the palace’s gates. I am bewildered of how the castle/palace is so big, it is quite beautiful. I guess I would be happy to stay here for as much time as I could be.
As we all step into the palace, I see the thrones in the front empty. I frown and turn to see the other girls reactions. If they are surprised to see that, they aren’t showing any expressions of it.
We walk in our gowns towards the stairs that are on both sides of the thrones. We walk up on the left staircase. The guard explains that we will first settle into our rooms first before we meet everyone. I nod in agreement and follow a guard with five other girls that have rooms on the same hall as I.
As the guard points to the room I am assigned to, I slowly open the door and gasp. The room is all in white and purple, royalty colors for our town. There is floral lace almost dripping from the ceiling forming a canopy over my new bed. There are chairs on either side of the room and there is the bathroom to the right with the biggest tub and shower. Wow, these people are rich.
I hear a knock on my door that I shut and I open the door. Two maids walk in and gracefully go into a deep curtsy.
“Oh! Nice to meet you both but what are you doing here?” I ask with a slight nervousness.
The two ladies both chuckle. “We are your maids of course! I am Arabelle and this is Dani.”
I nod quickly and spread my arms wide letting them come into the room.
“It is getting late miss. Would you like me to start a warm bath for you?” Dani says.
“Oh my! That would be so pleasant. Thank you both for helping me.” I say with sincerity.
Both Arabelle and Dani nod and scurry off to start my warm bath. I plop exhausted onto the bed and drift off into a deep sleep.
30 minutes later
After waking up and taking my nice cozy bath and getting dressed in my new gown again, a guard called me and withdrew me from my room. Heading downstairs we all positioned ourselves on either side of the staircases facing the front doors.
“Hello ladies! Welcome to the palace!” Marko projects.
All the ladies clap noisily and start cheering. I follow along to be nice. I don’t want to be the odd one out on my first day here!
“Please welcome King Arnold, Queen Eva, and Prince Thomas!” He says cheerfully.
Three figures walk through the palace doors with grace and elegance. King Arnold is structurally built while Queen Eva is built with sincere poise. Prince Thomas is... handsome. I never thought that I would think the prince is handsome, after-all I never payed any attention to the television before this.
All three royals walk towards their thrones and sit down. We all cheer and clap again as the royals smile and wave. I see Prince Thomas skimming his eyes through the crowd of girls until his eyes catch mine. He stays staring at me, I take a sharp intake of air and slowly breathe out. His eyes skim over my body and then they come back up to my face. Why is he still staring at me? I quickly look away before anything gets too intense. Even though it kind of already was.
I glance under my eyelashes and luckily he isn’t staring at me anymore but he’s staring at his mom. Her Majesty gets up and waves while we clap.
“Welcome to the Princess Examinations! You have all qualified to be in these Examinations. I wish you all the best of luck!” She says as she sits down again.
The guards usher us out of the room after more clapping and cheering. Honestly it’s sad that I have a bad attitude about this but this is all overrated.
I see Maisie scurrying back to her room to go to bed and I stop her by putting an arm on her shoulder.
“Thank you Maisie for being so kind to me when we first met.”
“Oh! It’s my pleasure.” Maisie replies sweetly. I grin and follow her down our hall to our rooms.
I jump on my bed un lady like and put my head on the pillow. I slowly drift off to sleep and dream about how wonderful the palace is like. I hope Mum isn’t worried.
I wake up with a yawn and turn towards the windows and jump off my bed. I close the curtains acting like a vampire not wanting to see the sunlight.
I scurry around my room with my maids while they help me get ready. I feel destroyed, I’m so frantic! I never wanted to enter this pretty life with all these pretty things. I would want the opposite of what most girls want.
The maids dressed me in a deep plum dress with a tight bodice and a flowing waist. I gasped loudly as I turned towards the mirror looking at myself from top to bottom. I was just stunning! My eyes contrasted with the deep plum color. It’s just...beautiful. I never saw myself look so pretty, I’ve always been the girl that fights in combat behind her mother’s back. I was never interested in getting in gowns and pleasing men for how I look. Why is that maybe changing now? I have this feeling that I would almost try to look stunning for the prince. I mean, everything changed after he stared at me like that. No one stared at me like that before. He stared at me like I was the only one in the room. He made me feel gorgeous.
I swept up my gown in my hands and scurried out the door to the sound of a bell ringing through the palace. I was guessing that we had to get into places for the Princess Eliminations to begin.
Us girls are ushered into a white room filled with white objects. I frown in confusion and turn to the other girls while they are doing the same. We take our seats and the prince walks in with two guards shielding him on each side. Surely he doesn’t think us girls are that ravenous?
“Hello ladies. I am Prince Thomas and welcome to our castle. I will be announcing the first trial since Marko is ill.”
Whispers erupt around the room but I stay still being quiet like Maisie. The prince looks around the room as if looking for someone until his eyes find mine. I stare into those green depths of trees and grass. He stares into my blue eyes never taking his eyes off mine as he continues talking.
“Here is your first challenge: You ladies are supposed to travel to the town of Arknas and find something that describes you. Once found you will return to your carriage and travel back to this palace. You will showcase what describes you and I will take in to thought what you have chose. The first elimination of two girls is tonight.”
Loud gasps and whispers erupt again. The prince tells them to quiet down and be silent as the carriage coaches are arriving soon. The whispers soon come to a stop and we sit in silence until the carriage coaches walk in and call names according to the assigned carriage.
“Miss Lydia and Miss Maisie?” One coach calls out to the room looking for his assigned carriage riders. I get startled but walk with Maisie to the front of the room. When we walk out we pass the prince and our arms brush past each other. I look up into his eyes and look away. I run forward getting behind Maisie to go to the carriage.
Nervously I re think about what just happened. I didn’t get to see his reaction apart from him staring back at me. Ugh! I shouldn’t have looked away. I mean.. he is a rich prince. What if he turns out snobby?
Maisie and I board the carriage waving to the other girls as our horses in the front trot off to the town of Arknas.
Two hours later
When we stop in the town of Arknas, Maisie and I say our goodbyes and we scurry along the streets trying to find an item or something that fits us for who we are. I don’t want to pick what other girls would, I want to be unique. I want something simple, something elegant that would rule over everyone’s choice. I look to my right and I gasp. It’s perfect! It’s the most simple thing. I should have thought of it before, I walk into the small shop and grin as I see my prize. A yellow flower still blooming stares back at me. I walk over to the lady running the flower shop.
“Excuse me miss? May I get that one yellow flower over there?” I say as I point in the direction of the gorgeous flower. She smiles and nods. She goes over and grabs the flower pot and wraps it within an interesting silk. My smile grows larger as I see the final result. The yellow flower is wrapped in a purple covering that looks like silk.
“How much would that be miss?” I ask politely.
“Free of charge ma’am. You look like a nice lady who deserves this.” She says with a wide smile.
I gasp and thank her as I run off with my new gift. Running so fast that I wasn’t looking where I was going, I trip and fall face first on the street. People walking near me snicker. I grunt, adjust my dress, and get on my knees to pick up my pot. Luckily the pot didn’t break but some of the dirt was dispersed onto the street. I quietly pick up the dirt and place it back in the pot ignoring the whispers and giggles coming toward my way. I gather my dress in my left hand and place the pot between the crook of my right elbow.
I feel a slight push on my back like someone is pushing me. I turn toward to pusher and gasp, it is an old man with a burly beard and a sharp knife in his hand. I stifle a scream and back away slowly down the alley way.
“You ain’t go anywhere honey.” The man says with an evil grin.
I gulp loudly and turn the opposite direction and break out into a sprint. My dress gets in the way of my running so I trip and fall face flat on my face. AGAIN. I hit my head very hard on the ground and I groan loudly.
The man with the beard and the knife’s footsteps sound as he travels up the alley way to see where I fell. I claw at the ground trying to get up to the best of my ability. I just can’t do it, I’m too weak. My head feels like it’s bursting open ever since it hit the ground.
You are a fighter Lydia. You took combat lessons for almost all your life. You can do this. Fight back through the pain!
I release another groan and gather my dress up in my hands. My dress is now stained with dirt and mud. Great.
I turn towards my attacker and scream as I run towards him. I throw a couple punches and kick my leg so high to his face level. My kick hits his face and knocks him back. I continue to kick and punch using as much force as possible. After all it’s not my best because my head is pounding in pain.
I hear a couple shouts but I don’t listen to them as I continue to beat up my attacker. After it looks like he’s about to pass out, I stop and back away with a satisfied grin.
I back away more and turn around and start heading down the alley way looking at the ground. As I look up I stop dead in my tracks. This is the last person who I would think that would see me.
There is the prince, Prince Thomas staring at me and looking back and forth between my attacker and I. It looks like he was just walking past the alley way and looked in this direction. He rushes over to me and I stay still and silent unsure of what to do or say.
“Are you alright Miss Lydia?” He says uneasily. I mean, he just probably saw me beat up a man.
“I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” I say as I gaze up into his eyes. “Ow my head hurts really badly.” I grunt.
“I can help you with that.” He says with a small smile. I nod slowly unsure of his intentions.
He sweeps me off my feet and cradles me in his arms. I gasp from the quick movement. He lifted me off the street as like I was a feather. He starts walking down the alley way and we turn a couple corners. With girls still looking for their items, they scurry about eyes darting to where Prince Thomas and I are positioned. I groan a little bit more as he hits a bump on the street and he quickly apologizes. I give a small smile or reassurance and close my eyes. I drift off into a deep sleep and my headache slowly goes away.
