Lousy Little Pest! | Sequel to Gothel's Greatest Gift

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Happy birthday, my flower!" Gothel wished the newly one-year-old Rapunzel.

"I can't believe you're one!" King Frederic reflected on the past year with his beautiful daughter. 

"It's gone by so fast," Queen Arianna realized, wiping a tear away from her husband's eye.

Gothel held the princess up to the sun, feeling content in this moment. Sure, she now had to use someone else's kid to keep her immortality, but she also got to live in a castle as a respectable nanny. Life was good.

"Happy birthday, Rapunzel!" Cassandra called out while carrying several heavy bags into the ballroom.

"Cassandra!" Gothel hissed. "Rapunzel is sleeping, be quiet!"

"Sorry, mama," Cassandra apologized while still trying not to drop the goods. "Could someone please help me carry these bags?"

Queen Arianna was about to help Cassandra, but Gothel convinced the queen that Cassandra needed to learn how to do things on her own, so Cassandra was left to her own abilities.

"But they're really heavy, oh!" Cassandra spilled all the party favors, decorations, and presents all over the floor.

"Cassandra! How could you be so careless?" Gothel screeched at her young daughter, which was unsurprising for the king and queen. They just figured that Gothel was strict, though, so they didn't protest. Plus, it's not like Cassandra was their daughter.

"I'm sorry, mama," Cassandra began, her head held down in shame and a little tear trickling down her face. It was the first time she had cried in a long time.

"Clean this all up!" Gothel demanded, which Cassandra began right away. Had the king and queen not been watching, the interaction between mother and daughter would've been much worse.

"And no more do-over birthday party!" Gothel yelled down the hall while Cassandra went to retrieve her broom. However, that was no punishment. Cassandra already knew she wasn't having a fifth birthday party. It had already been six months since she turned five! Gothel's "love" wasn't through punishment. It was deprivation.

–

"To Quaid!" Eugene toasted the captain, holding up his glass.

"To Quaid!" the group echoed, all of them cheering and laughing.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Rapunzel exclaimed. "I made you something," she told Quaid. She pulled a shiny gold sheriff badge out of her satchel and pinned it onto Quaid's olive-green cape. "I couldn't help but notice your old one had seen better days".

"I suppose you're gonna throw this thing out?" Vex asked the new-old captain as she held up his old badge, but Quaid had another idea.

"Well, it occurs to me, that every respectable sheriff needs a deputy," he told Vex, taking the old badge from Vex's hand and pinning it onto her shirt, leaving a proud smile across both of their faces.

"Oh!" Vex exclaimed before realizing that excitement was spilling out of her and not wanting to sound uncool. "Yeah, uh huh. Okay. Whatever," she recovered.

"To a new Vardaros!" Rapunzel toasted, which everyone echoed enthusiastically, Eugene taking a giant gulp out of a beer mug.

"I'm pretty sure that was bee pheromones," Cassandra smirked at Eugene.

Eugene spat out the gooey liquid so quickly, Max didn't have time to react, and was left with another full face of bee pheromones.

"Why is this just sitting here in a drinking glass!?" Eugene wailed, trying desperately to wash his mouth out. Max, however, had bigger problems. The poor royal horse was being chased all around the field by Quaid's vicious bees.