Once Upon A Princess

30: Impressions

The candidates were told the test would be in two days. For the time being, every candidate was staying in the castle. Amelia thought that would make it harder for her to be alone, but it turned out that everyone had wanted to spend their time with Castiel. Since she was still content to avoid him, she found herself alone still. Even with the flurry of temporary servants and bustling traffic in the halls, the princess found it hard to avoid the nightmare she'd woken up nearly falling out of bed to.

Brand had been accompanying her the whole day, but since he was either moody or seemingly distracted for it she felt like she couldn't share the newest bunch of things that were terrifying her.

She is trapped, something is around her neck. She scratches at her throat to get it off, but then she is small, too small, and a vast room holds shadows with glinting weapons and long teeth. Everything is covered in a red film, like her eyes are bleeding. She scratches at her face, trying to get it off before they come for her, and then she is being yanked away, her hair screaming as it's pulled...

Though the dream still clung to her, Amelia tried her best to shake it off. She even considered visiting Mia in her nursery, but then she figured she had a good chance of running into Theolon there, and he was the last person she wanted to talk to.

The long and boring day was finally nearing its end, and it was time to eat dinner with everyone. It was the first time all the candidates would be meeting each other face to face, and they'd all be in one room together with the royal family.

She wasn't as nervous eating with them as she was seeing Castiel again. Last time they'd really spoken she'd gotten mad at him, and since then their conversations had been formal and clipped. They'd barely even spoken when they'd danced last night, a room full of eyes on them. It was much the opposite as when they had first met, when he'd seemed charming and decent compared to his younger brother. Turns out annoying traits ran in the family.

For the dinner she chose a russet brown dress to wear. She liked that it was simple, and flowed down to her ankles. Her hair was braided down both sides to fall down past her shoulders; it was out of her face where she liked it.

By the time she entered the dining room — the large one with the table that could fit fifty people — there was already a good number of women seated. All of them were towards the head seat where the king would be, which meant they'd be closer to Castiel once he arrived.

Out of all the seats, she was supposed to sit near the Bellemere family since she was of higher status than most of the other women here. In fact, she was the only princess. Already there were girls sitting in the spots next to her own seat, and they were looking at her as if they had hoped she wouldn't be coming.

They were all so much older than her, she thought as she sat down. Most of them were around Castiel's age, and it felt like an insurmountable gap. The girl sitting next to her, probably a Duchess, had long raven hair and was glaring at Amelia with her dark eyes. Her skin was smooth and soft-looking; not a speck could be seen. Her dress was clearly meant to impress; a lilac color embellished with white lace. It was low-cut, showing off her impressive breasts. Amelia had a flat chest and it had never bothered her until now. Ugh, she didn't even want to vie for Castiel's attention, but she still found herself caught up in the competition of it all!

The girl across from her was the only one smiling at her. She had ebony skin and eyes dark as onyx. Amelia smiled back; at least someone here could keep their pleasantries alive.

Castiel entered the room with a fast walk, prompting everyone to look at him as he sat down. Several girls gasped or giggled, and a few were clutching onto each other across seats. Amelia had to force herself not to roll her eyes. He placed himself at the head of the table, which only made everyone give him confused stares. He had an apologetic smile on his face.