Bitter-Ellie

Chapter 1

A year later…

Amber’s POV

“PSs. Griffin! What do you think you are doing?” I whisper into my little brother’s ear as we enter the crowd of people, but not just any group of people-these are highly sophisticated people that have a purpose in life. The only reason I am able to get in here is because I know someone, that someone being Prince Max, but I call him Max. Of course, the story of how we met is a long one, a complicated one that combined the lives of two families, one being my own. But enough of this…let’s get back to the story.

“Hey! I’m just trying to get some food! Your cooking stinks!” Griffin piles another frosted pastry into his already stuffed mouth when Lady Truman begins to look at him strangely, but receiving strange looks from people is something I am very well used to. It is then when Lady Truman glances my way and her face lightens up almost instantly, like any good Lady she walks gracefully to greet her acquaintances, which at the moment is me.

“Amber darling, how are you? I almost could not recognize you! It has been much too long.” Lady Truman gives me a warm hug, but I am not the hugging type so I just stand there and grin, while my brother continues to make a fool of himself.

“Hello, Lady Truman. I am fine, how are you?” I reply awkwardly; I am not accustomed to speaking with manners.

“It is fine, you do not have to pretend-it is only me, sweetie.” Lady Truman reassures me with a chuckle.

If you must know, ever since I got back from my little adventure about a year ago, Griffin and I took weekly trips to visit Max and his brother Dustin in his castle, in another kingdom. You see I live in Sleeping Beauty’s Kingdom, which is a long walk to Belle’s Kingdom, so every Saturday Max graciously sends a carriage for us to our little cottage in the woods-it makes traveling a lot easier.

There are many reasons we visit…One of those reasons being, yes, I am a terrible cook. No one taught me how and I usually just eat the fruit dangling from trees. But ever since Griffin came along, I tried harder to be a good guardian, but cooking is just one of those things I can never seem to grasp. So, Griffin tends to stuff his stomach at the castle and fast during the rest of the week, since he refuses to eat cabbage soup. (It does taste pretty awful). Other than for the food, Griffin and Dustin have become best friends, considering that they are both the same age and love to cause trouble it wasn’t that hard for them to bond. The only thing they ever disagree on is Dustin’s knighting skills. Dustin did become one of the top knights in the kingdom and he is proud of himself, we all are, but Griffin thinks that one of these days he is going to get himself killed. They have the same argument every week, and every week Dustin has to say something about Griffin’s love of magic. It truly is a mess…Now not only are they friends, but so are Max and I. When I come to the castle, I usually try to learn how to cook, well I used to until Helma gave up. Apparently, she was tired of putting out the fires. When I gave up on that, Max decided to teach me how to hunt, which I also stink at because I don’t have good aim. But like any good friend, he decided not to give up on me; I know he probably thinks I should, but he hasn’t had the heart to tell me yet.

But, back to Lady Truman. The last time I visited, the King and Queen were having a little dinner party with Lady Truman and her husband. Remember when I said Dustin and Griffin love to cause trouble? This is what happened. Griffin tried to use magic to turn himself invisible, and when that didn’t work Dustin told Lady Truman there was a spider in her hair. During all the screaming, Griffin and Dustin were able to steal all the food, sneak it up to Dustin’s bed chamber and eat it. Later that day I asked them why they did it and Dustin said that ‘being a knight really makes you hungry’ and Griffin said ‘Your cooking stinks.’ Needless to say they got in big trouble. Max and I spent the rest of the day with Lady Truman to calm her down and that’s how we got acquainted.

“Thank you and I’m sorry you had to see that. My brother has no manners when it comes to food.” I chuckle as I grab a napkin off of the table next to me covered in appetizers and pastries and wipe Griffin’s jelly covered chin.

“What would you expect? I am sure that witch gave him no food when he was a griffin. Relax, Amber. He is just being a boy.” Lady Truman reaches her satin gloved hand out towards the table, aiming for a flaky scone when another hand grabs it first.

“Oh.” Lady Truman is surprised to see it gone, but I, on the other hand, am not surprised at all.

“Griffin! Where are your manners?!” I gasp as I grab the scone away from him and hand it over to Lady Truman.

“Sorry.” Griffin mumbles as bits of food start flying out of his mouth.

“Ugh.” I groan; I give up.

“Amber, look…”  Lady Truman points to the descending marble staircase.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, let us celebrate our beloved Prince Max on his 18th birthday…” the royal squire formally announces at the top of the stairs, the crowd roars with cheers as Max begins climbing down the staircase…18 years old now.

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