IT WAS ABOUT 10 o'clock in the morning when the coachman opened the door beside me and held out a gloved hand to help me get out. I took a deep breath and looked up at Calanthe's majestic palace. The front walls were painted a faintly rosy shade of white, and every door, every window, every detail was made out of pure gold.
Calanthe was wealthy and it was obvious that this palace enjoyed flaunting the kingdom's power.
Ana seemed stunned by the beauty of that place. The grass was very green, and the lawn flowers were planted to spell "Calanthe" in cursive letters. The fountain gushed crystal clear water, and the angels sculpted in the marble filling the fountain with the water that came out of their pots made it look even more ethereal.
I haven't been here for a long time, and since then this place has become unimaginably more wonderful.
Ana stopped beside me and checked without any kind of discretion nor elegance if my dress was wrinkled or if the skirt of the gown as crumpled.
"Oh! Here is so beautiful! Isn't that right, Your Highness?"
"Yes, it is. Come on, let's go". Ana stayed two steps behind me as we walked through the palace's entrance.
A tall, formally dressed woman came over to greet us as soon as she saw getting ou the vehicle. She bowed, giving a short curtsy and Ana bowed as well, but I frowned, Ana shouldn't bow to anyone other than the royal family outside of Anwar.
Didn't she know about our etiquette outside the palace? Did she know nothing about her only job?
I saw, behind the tall woman, the palace doors opening, and another woman and an old man were waiting for me in the entrance hall.
"It is a pleasure to greet you in our Palace, Your Royal Highness, Princess Daryia." My smile was so fake it hurts.
The first woman led us to the entrance, where her supervisors dismissed her.
"Your Highness." Greeted the old crancky man, who didn't seemed happy to welcome me, I imagined that a grandpa like him wouldn't be happy even if he saw his own lovely wife after a long day. "Your Royal Majesty Queen Cristina is waiting for you."
I faked another smile, it may sound rude, but I didn't felt comfortable to even say a word to that man, my voice just felt wrong.
Queen Cristina herself wanted to see me? How unusual.
"Please, follow me, Your Highness." Said the lady who accompanied the cranky old man, and I followed her.
She led me through several corridors lit by sunlight and left me in front of a double door that two men opened, revealing a beautiful balcony. Then, after saying some things that I didn' heard she bowed, and the two men who opened the door did the same.
As soon as I entered the porch the doors silently closed. We were alone, Ana and I in that place. We admired the rosy shade of the floor, which appeared to be made of a single white marble stone with gold and emerald accents. There is also a huge round table made of pink granite, and it has a delicate ceramic vase on it, with several flowers that incensed the surroundings, the smell was mixed with some citric fragance, really magnificent.
Ana strolled across the porch while we were alone, but I realized later that the balcony had more than one entrance. I motioned for Ana, but she didn't realized I was calling her in silence and I didn't want to raise my voice to tell her to be quiet, maybe that would draw unwanted attention and my throat is still hurt from the screams from the last night. Princesses can never get a bad reputation for being scandalous or loud, my mother would kill me for that.
My lady-in-waiting was on the opposite side of the room, she kept twirling around like she was a princess on her birthday. A tiny part of me wanted to be like her, innocent and happy.
YOU ARE READING
The Prince's Collection
Fantasy"There was no way to hide from my mother's eyes. They were everywhere. They saw my every move. She knew where I was." Miserable, tiny, anxious and surprisingly poor princess. After a traumatazing night on the beach, Daryia w...
