Mighty Princess

Chapter 1 - Luna

"Ouch." I yelped as I got a pin in my calf. My tailor was altering my late mother's dress, which is much too long for me in our baby blue tailor room. My mother was lanky while I'm the size of a troll, luckily the tall kind of troll.

"I'm so sorry, beloved Princess Luna. My apologies, please forgive me." Lucinda said, almost as if her life depended on her apology. All of the servants fear my anger even though I don't have a ruthless bone in my body.

"It's alright. No worries." I said with a light, airy smile so Lucinda would know I'm not angry. About twelve more pins and ten bleeding holes later, Lucinda finished. I swirled around, looking at myself in the mirror, and asked, "So, how do I look?"

"Beautiful as usual, Princess." Dominic said from the doorway. I turned and smiled at him while he was leaning against the doorframe in his pearl white armor.

"How dare my knight lie to me? Dominic, I am very disappointed in you." I said, with a "serious" tone. He flicked his mocha brown hair out of his caramel colored eyes.

"I'm offended that you would think your loyal knight would lie to you." His tone made me think he was really hurt, but his tone changed. "To everyone else, it's quite possible but, to you, I would never." He said with a crooked smile on his face.

"You look just like your mother, Princess Luna. I bet you miss her terribly. She was a great lady." Lucinda said like she was trying to comfort me or something.

"Thank you Lucinda," I said as I walked behind a gold silk room divider to change into something more my style. "Don't you dare move, Dominic." He stood against the door, and Lucinda helped me out of the red dress. Once I came out from behind the divider I wore my gold strapless dress. Dominic came to me and knelt before me.

"My Lady, your father wishes to see you." He said, holding out his hand to me.

"Get up, Dominic. Let's go see my father." I said as I walk past him and out the door. He got up and trotted to catch up to me. "Finally, I'm getting sick of all the 'Princess Luna' this and 'Princess Luna' that. I'm tired of all the crap I get just because I'm a princess. I wish I wasn't born a princess." Dominic grabbed my shoulder, stopping me in the empty, light-filled hallway and I turned to look him in the eyes

"I know Luna. It's hard to outgrow your family's shadow. That's why I........" his voice trailed off. I stared at him for a good minute, trying to get him to tell me the rest. He just smiled and pet my head, which wasn't hard since he's a good foot taller. Remembering something, a tear formed in my eye and rolled down my cheek. As if, almost by instinct, Dominic reached his hand out, brushed away the tear, and pulled me into a hug. "Are you ok, Luna?" Realizing the tear escaped, I just nodded, even though he knew I was lying. He just held me tighter and said, "Is it about what Lucinda said?" I shook my head at first, but nodded and began to cry. "Shh. It's alright, Luna. Shh." He said, rubbing my back and trying to comfort me as best he could. I heard footsteps down the hall, headed in our direction, so I pulled away and wiped away my tears. I'm not allowed to cry in public, because it shows weakness.

"Is it noticeable?" I asked. He shook his head, as a few servants passed the hallway we were in. After they were out of earshot, he smiled and tickled me. "Stop it.......... Stop.......... Dominic........ Quit it." I choked out through my laughter. He stopped and pet my head again. I shook my head, smiling, and said, "Let's just go." I started to walk again, Dominic caught up and we walked down a few halls to the throne room. When we got there, Dominic opened the door and held it open for me, I smiled and passed through the door. "Dad? You wanted to see me."

"There you are. Sweetie, as you probably already know, in two days is your birthday, and on your 16th birthday you must chose one of the forty dukes to marry, as our tradition says. There are few that are only 4 years older than you, but I would choose one of the older dukes, since they are wiser." My father said, just trying to be helpful. I slammed my foot down in protest.

"But, father I don't want to marry any of the dukes. All they care about is ruining our precious kingdom. Why do I have to get married anyway? I am more than capable of running the kingdom alone. And besides I deserve to find true love like you and mom did." I said, irritated that father is so bent on tradition. Dominic put a hand on my shoulder, telling me to keep my cool.

"Luna Marta Austin! Your mother's and my self's situation was different. As your father I order you to marry one of the dukes." My father said, more like yelled. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off. "Be more honorable like your mother. If it weren't for your rebelliousness your mother would still be alive." Tears welled up in my eyes, though Dominic kept trying to keep me calm. My father realized what he said, but it was too late, I exploded in anger and tears.

"Why do you always compare me to mom? If anything it's your fault that mom was murdered. If you would have protected her like you promised that stupid mercenary wouldn't have taken her from me. You never cared about me like she did. I HATE YOU, YOU REPULSIVE, UNFEELING MAN." I screamed at him, tears streaming down my face. I tore out of the throne room, down two hallways and into my gold colored room. I slammed the door behind me and slide down the door, bawling and screaming. I got up, away from the door, and started to just scream and throw glass across the room. A piece must have come back at me because my arm was bleeding but I didn't care. I was too hurt and angry to care. After 20 minutes of screaming, crying, and throwing things I heard a knock at my door, a general two hit knock. I picked up a sharp piece of glass and gripped it tight as I said; "GO AWAY!" anger filled my voice when I said that.

"Luna. It's me. Can I come in?" I heard the voice say. One person calls me Luna; I dropped the bloody glass shard on the floor and ran to the door, desperate. I swung the door open, pulled him in and slammed it behind me once more. I turned to him, tackle-hugging him, before he could even react and I started to cry into his armor-clad chest. He was startled at first, but he just wrapped his arms around me, and let me cry. He's the bestest friend I've ever had and is the only person who knows the real me.

"Can you believe him? I mean he knows that's a touchy subject but he acts like he never really loved mom." I said, through my tears. Dominic said nothing at first, he just pet the back of my head and looked at me with sincere care in his eyes. He broke the silence.

"I know Luna. I know what it's like to be compared to your parents. I hated it too." He wiped away my tears and smiled. Normally, I would push for answers but, I was too upset. "You know.......I'm loyal to you, not to the kingdom. If you want........." his voice trailed off and he looked away.

"Dominic? Please tell me." I asked, turning his face to look me in the eyes.

"Do you want to run away from here? So, you can find your true love." He asked, with sadness and a little anger in his voice that he thought he hid, but I could tell. "I can get everything ready and we can leave tomorrow night at dusk. That is, if you even want me to come with you on your search for true love." I knew he was in love with me; it was obvious, I mean what knight tells the only heir to a kingdom that they can leave. Then again, he also owed me a debt for saving his life, but I liked that he cared enough, no matter what the reason.

"You would betray your kingdom to help me find true love? Even if it isn't you?" I said, smiling. He blushed and was about to speak but, I cut him off. "If you are caught, you'll be imprisoned and you'd never see me again." I said the last part with a snobby tone of voice to mess with him.

"First, I'm not in love you. Second, I told you I'm loyal to you, not the kingdom. Third, I'm willing to take the risk and fourth, if I don't go with you, I won't know where you went so they can't imprison me." He said, matter-of-factly, even though he was a horrible liar when it came to lying to me.

"Thank you Dominic and I'd like you to come with me." I smiled and hugged him. "You are the best."

"I'll start getting everything ready. We'll leave when everyone is asleep tomorrow. Now, get some rest Luna, we have a long day ahead." I closed my eyes, and heard him open the door and whisper, "Sweet dreams, Luna." I smiled after he closed the door.

"Good night Dominic." I whispered, and fell asleep.