Little Princess

Traveling

*Nymeria's P.O.V*

I stared at myself in front of the mirror, a small frown on my lips. The dress I was currently wearing was tight to the skin and showed a lot more skin than I liked to show. It was a suggestion by one of the seamstresses and I had put it on just to entertain the idea.

"Are you almost...what are you wearing?" Castien asked as he entered my room. I rolled my eyes as I turned to look at him. "You're not wearing that, are you?" he questioned.

"No, it was a suggestion from one of the seamstresses," I stated with a frown on my lips. "I think she wants me to fail to be honest," I said as I turned to continue to study myself in the mirror. The dress was the opposite of what I normally wore, it was low cut, white, and tight. I normally wore dresses that were modest in the neckline, colorful, and flowy.

"I would say so. If you wore that it would look like you're trying to seduce them," Castien said as he stood behind me. "So go change, we are leaving soon," he stated.

"The zipper's stuck," I muttered after a moment as I bit my bottom lip. He sighed as he tugged on the zipper for a moment before it came loose. "Thank you," I sighed as I tugged my arm out of the short sleeves.

"You are welcome, your royal highness," Castien said with a mock bow which made me roll my eyes. I went behind the changing screen and tugged my dress off, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Can you hand me the dark blue dress?" I asked after a moment. I held my hand out past the screen and smiled at the familiar feeling of fabric in my hand a second later. I pulled the dress behind the screen. I lifted it up and slid it on, feeling the soft, cool fabric slide down my body. This dress was my favorite formal dress out of all the ones I had, the ruffles that flared at the bottom of my dress and the matching gloves that I wore with it.

I stepped out from behind the screen and looked at myself in the mirror. I nodded my head as I smiled slightly, looking at Castien who was putting the rest of my stuff into my trunk. He glanced up at me and offered me a small smile.

"You look perfect princess," he said as he tossed me the matching gloves, I slid them on, turning to study myself in the mirror. My outfit was perfect and my hair was braided back into a crown braid. This was all according to the etiquette books I had read. They were outdated, the last one being written nearly 500 years prior but they had been my lifeline as of late. I needed to impress the Royal alliance, my kingdom's survival depended on them liking me.

"Don't call me princess and since you're here, please take my trunk to the carriage," I said as I smiled at him, batting my eyelashes. He rolled his eyes as he shut the trunk and shut it, flicking the lock into place.

"Fine Nym, I'll do it for you just this once," he stated as he lifted the trunk up with a soft grunt. "What the hell did you pack? Bricks?" he asked as he carried it out of my room. I rolled my eyes as I shook my head with a small smile.

Castien was my closest friend, my head guard, and my rock. He was the only one I had left after Grandmama passed away from illness. Castien had been her head guard for a couple years so he had some experience to make up for the lack of experience I had. I wasn't even supposed to be the ruler of the kingdom, my older brother should have been the one to rule but Mother had put an end to that a couple of years ago.

I shook my head as I tried to ignore the tears that had gathered in my eyes. I wouldn't...couldn't dwell on old memories at the moment. I looked around my room for one final time before leaving, shutting the door behind me with a final click. It would be at least a week, maybe longer, before I came back.

I made my way down the stairs to the main castle, relishing the silence. Most of the time the castle was full of people, maids, guards, even petitioners. Since it was extremely early, I knew that no one would be allowed in except the guards who guarded the entrances and Castien. I should get up early more often, the silence was quite nice.

I smiled tiredly to the guards who opened the doors for me, nodding their heads in greeting as I passed by. I walked out of the castle, shivering at the chill in the air. I should have brought a coat as it would only get more cold as we headed up north. I made my way to the carriage, smiling at Castien who held the door open for me. He helped me into the carriage, looking at the book bag that I had him put in there earlier.

"Have fun reading princess," Castien said before he shut the door. I sighed as I pulled my book bag over to my lap. I preferred to have someone to talk to on long carriage rides but Castien had to ride his horse. He was also leading my horse since I had requested an extra stall for her. Castien named her Nyx since according to him 'Nyx and Nym go together so that has to be her name'.

I opened the book bag, pulling out my book on the history of kingdoms. I opened it up to the first bookmark, looking at the overview of the royal families. This book had been written ages ago but it seemed that not much had changed in who was ruling. It was also what I had used to address my letters when I wrote to the Royal Alliance. They had responded after a month of torturous waiting and invited me to visit to discuss the trade agreements and possible alliance. Now all I had to do was not screw this up.