My Kingdom

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lady-In-Waiting Maddie's P.O.V.

"What are you doing in here?" I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around slowly ready to face whoever is behind me. I look up right into his face.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to answer the question?" Prince Zayn says crossing his arms with a light smile.

"Um..." I stutter. "I was just looking."

"But it was locked." He asks raising an eyebrow.

"I... picked the lock." I say looking away embarrassed. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"It's okay." Zayn says. "Just be careful what rooms you unlock."

I nod and start to walk out. "The pictures are beautiful by the way." I say looking back.

"Thank you, I know." Zayn said giving a smile.

I walk out the door. Then I start to speed walk to get out of this part of the palace. As a turn the corner of a hallway I run straight into something. I fall backwards and land right on my butt.

"Are you okay?" I hear a familiar voice ask. I open my eyes to see Holden looking at me worried.

"I'm okay, thank you." I grab his hand and he pulls me up. He smiles at me and I smile back.

"I was just looking for you." Holden says.

"Oh really?" I ask.

"Yeah, I was." He says. "Princess Emily assigned me to guard you and Bridget while she went to go meet Nathan."

"That was very thoughtful of Emily." I say smiling to myself about Emily playing matchmaker.

"Do you know where Bridget is?" Holden asks.

"I think she's..." I start but stop when I see Bridget walking down the hall. "Right there."

Holden looks up and sees her. "Princess?" He yells down the hall.

Bridget looks at us and smiles. "Yes?" She asks.

"Your mother assigned me to guard you and your lady-in-waiting." Holden answers.

Bridget looks at me with a grin. I know exactly what she's thinking. She knows about me liking Holden more than just a friend. "Alright then. We need to meet my mother out in the lawn so lets go and wait for her." She looks at me again and walks ahead of us.

"I haven't talked to the princess much," Holden says as we walk. "But I can see how you two are best friends."

"You should get to know her better." I say. "She's really awesome! We have a lot in common."

Once we get out into the lawn we wait there for Emily. Bridget held Darcy, and Holden and I stood beside each other making small talk.

"Look!" Darcy screeched. "Mommy and Darwin!" She clapped her hands together. She's so cute.

Once Darwin lands, an unfamiliar man gets off his back with Emily. Emily walks over to us and takes Darcy from Bridget's hands. Then she brings Bridget and Darcy over to the man.

"Nathan, these are my daughters, Bridget and Darcy." Emily says.

Nathan, the man, looks a little taken aback when he heard Emily say daughters. Then he introduces himself and bows. When he takes Darcy, Bridget starts to walk away. Holden and I follow.

"I hope he's not a spy." Bridget says as we sit down in the large living room area.

"Emily seems to trust him, so I'm going to hope he's not a spy." I say leaning back on the couch. Holden stands hesitantly for a minute before Bridget tells him he can sit. He sits beside me on the couch.

"I also hope we avoid a war." Bridget says.

"Nathan will hopefully help us with that." I say.

"I trust the Princess." Holden says from beside me. He looks over at me. Then he slides his hand into mine and squeezes. "If we go into war, this man can be our ticket to victory."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Princess Bridget's P.O.V.

"I trust the Princess." Holden says from beside Maddie. He looks over at her. I can tell he cares about her also. Then he slides his hand into hers and squeezes. "If we go into war, this man can be our ticket to victory."

"We'll see." I say sitting up. "Do you want to go to the library?"

"Sure, I love the library!" Maddie says sitting up letting go of Holden's hand. She jumps up and locks her elbow with mine. Then we skip down to the library with Holden following behind.

We get walk inside the library we see my mother introducing Nathan to Christine. Christine is a bit clumsy, so when she sees us she accidentally knocks into a table knocking it over. Papers go flying everywhere. Her cheeks redden and she starts picking up the papers apologizing. Nathan helps her.

"Hello Bridget. Hello Maddie." Christine says once she gets the papers up.

"Hey, Christine." Maddie and I say in unison.

"I hate to say if but we must be moving on to the next room now, we have a deadline." Mom says. "See you soon, girls."

"Nice meeting you, Christine." Nathan says with a small bow.

"Likewise." Christine says smiling.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Mom says looking at Maddie and I. "You two must pick out your dresses for the Ball coming up in a week. I need you two to look beautiful." She smiles at us.

"I'm looking forward to it." I say smiling back.

"Love you." Mom says hugging me.

"Love you too." I say hugging her back.

When she leaves, Maddie and I look around at the books on the Land of Almost Here, Taylor's kingdom. Christine joins us also, since she has a break right now. After looking for an hour Ryan the head guard walks in. Ryan is the kind of guy that I always dreamed of marrying one day. He's only two years older than me and he's strong, sweet, and attractive to look at.

"Bridget." He says walking over to me.

"Yes?" I ask not being able to hold back my smile.

"Can you join me in the garden for a minute?" He asks.

"Yes." I say to quickly. "That will be good." I look over at Maddie who has a huge grin on her face. She gives me a thumbs up and I walk out with Ryan.

We walk in silence as we get closer to the garden. I can tell he's nervous. Once we get there I stand beside the fountain. The stands only a few feet infront of me. He's a lot taller than me so I have to look up.

He hands me a pink rose that he was holding behind his back. "It's for you." He smiles.

"Thank you!" I take the rose from him and smell it. It smells wonderful.

"I was wondering if you would... Well only if you want to," He looks away. When he looks back he takes a breath. "Would you like me to escort you to the Ball?" He gets out in one breath.

I smile widely. "Yes, I would love that!"

He exhales a breath of relief. "Good, I asked your mother and she said that I could ask you. I'm very glad that you said yes. I know you will look beautiful, like always."

I blush. "Thank you. I'm glad you asked."

"Do you want me to bring you back inside?" Ryan asks.

"Yes, please." I say. He grabs my hand and brings me back. Once we get back to the library he lets go of my hand.

"I will see you soon Princess." He says walking out of the room.

Maddie spots my rose and comes running. "What happened?" She asks practically jumping up and down.

"I just got an escort to the Ball."