Little Princess

Dinner

Characters in this chapter-
Merpeople rulers- King Thorne and Queen Ordelia
Elven King- Folmar
Vampire Queen- Queen Morticia
Witch Queen- Queen Elvira

*Nymeria's P.O.V*

Once Queen Belladonna and I were inside, I ended up having to separate from her. Not because I wanted to but rather because we passed Queen Morticia and I needed to speak to her. Queen Belladonna had pouted at that but let go of my hand.

"Hello darling," Queen Morticia greeted me, looking away from one of the old paintings that decorated the walls.

"Hi," I smiled slightly as I glanced at the painting. It was one of the ones of my ancestors, one of my many times great grandmother who I was named after, Queen Nym.

"Did you need to speak with me?" Queen Morticia questioned, drawing my attention to her. Her dark red eyes were glittering from the dim light that was shining through the windows.

"Well I've just noticed that at meal times, you and King Lazarus don't really eat anything. I've only seen you drink from wine glasses and I was wondering if it's anything specific or if it's just..." I trailed off, unsure of how to phrase my question.

"If it's just blood?" Queen Morticia asked, chuckling softly when I nodded quickly. "It's just aged blood called Vetus Sanguis or Old Blood," she informed me. A sudden memory hit me and I perked up slightly as I looked at her.

"I've seen bottles that say that in the wine cellar. Would those be the bottles you're talking about?" I questioned, earning a small nod from her. "I'll have a maid bring them up then," I informed her, a small smile on my lips as I turned to head to the kitchen. It was the one room connected to the wine cellar.

"Can I help you, your majesty?" the head cook, Yelena, questioned. She was an older woman who had been working in the castle since I was a child. One day she would retire and I dreaded that day.

"Can you send one of the maids to the wine cellar to get Ve..Vetus.." I trailed off, my eyebrows furrowing in frustration.

"Vetus Sanguis," a voice said simply from behind me.

"Yes, thank you," I sighed as I turned to look at King Thorne. "It's very hard to say," I said softly, feeling the need to defend my lack of ability at saying the blood's name.

"Indeed it is," King Thorne agreed as he smiled softly. His teeth were kind of sharp, I wondered why that was and I wondered if Queen Ordelia's teeth were sharp like that too. I would have to check that next time I was close to her. I lost my train of thought when Yelena cleared her throat. I knew what that meant, that meant that she wanted you out of the kitchen without actually saying it.

"We should probably head to the dining room," I said after a moment, earning a small nod from him. I let him go first, waiting a moment before I entered the dining room. I was nervous, I had never hosted a dinner with visiting royalty.

I sat at the head of the table, noticing that they all were already sitting down. I glanced at the empty chair that was right next to mine at the head of the table. I wanted to just get rid of it, it made no sense to have it there when I wasn't married. Hopefully I never got married, it sounded boring.

I snapped out of my thoughts as the drinks were served. I noticed that there were several different bottles of Vetus Sanguis that were offered to Queen Morticia and her husband. They seemed happy with the options that were offered to them which was great. I was really worried that they wouldn't like what we had stored.

I waved off the maid who went to pour me a glass of wine. I often went without drinks for meals which was probably why I was so dehydrated. I wasn't going to tell my doctor that though, mainly for my sake.

I waited for everyone to be served before I dug into my steak. I had made sure to have several plates of different foods so that everyone could pick what they wanted. Whatever was leftover would be offered to the maids first since quite a few of them didn't feel like cooking when they got home and then whatever was left after that would go to the guards. The guards lived on the castle grounds though so they basically got meals like that everyday. The scraps would be given to the stray dogs.

My hand jerked when a hand touched my shoulder and I looked up to see Castien. I raised an eyebrow slightly as I glared at him, a small frown on my lips.

"I've got to go home a bit earlier than planned, be good and no riding," he warned me. I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, waving his words off. I was a bit concerned about why he had to go home sooner than usual but I knew he would fill me in if he felt I needed to know.

"No riding?" King Folmar asked, catching my attention.

"I like to go on night rides sometimes, Castien doesn't like when I do that," I shrugged my shoulders with a small sigh.

"I have to agree with Castien, I think it is quite dangerous to ride at night," Queen Ordelia said. I looked at her with a small pout. Why was she agreeing with him? She should be agreeing with me.

"It's not that dangerous, I only go in the paddocks so it's plenty safe," I stated simply with a small pout.

"I think we all disagree with that," King Folmar said. My pout deepened as I looked at him. They were wrong, I could prove that to them easily.

"You're pouting," Queen Elvira said, making my cheeks flush as I looked at her.

"I am not!" I said vehemently, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You are so. You're also getting dangerously close to throwing a fit," Queen Elvira stated simply as she looked me in the eyes. I looked down at the table with a huff, sinking back into my seat.

I was most certainly not getting close to throwing a fit, she was wrong about that. Just like they were all wrong about riding at night being dangerous.