Unattainable Prince Charming ~ a Kaden Schreave fanfiction

2-To the palace I go

I woke up in a bed that felt foreign to my skin. Not mine, too comfortable. I though vaguely and I tried to sit up. It was day, more like evening, judging by the setting sun. I took in my surroundings. I was in an infirmary. Weird, where are there infirmaries near home? Empty ones at that? A man walked up to me then. I didn't recognize him.

" How are you feeling?" he asked kindly, a smile lighting up his face.

"Better" I croaked.

"That's great. Here, eat this, the queen and the Ledgers should be by soon." He smiled, patted my small leg, got up and walked back to what I assumed was his office.

I took a bite of the bread on the plater near my bed, but froze mid-chew. The queen?? Why was the queen coming to see me? What did I get myself into? And who were the Ledgers?

I nervously picked at my food as I thought all this through, but I was so hungry I ended up devouring it in minutes. I waited, fidgeting in the cot. I heard the doors open and turned my head to see two women and a man walk in. I recognized all three of them, the man from yesterday, his stride purposeful, lead the way, closely followed by a beautiful but somewhat fragile-looking Lady. And behind them, was the queen. She looked so confident, poised, calm, kind, and a million other qualities. But most of all, she was stunningly beautiful, just like on the report, but even more so in person. They strode together to my bedside. The man kneeled down beside me, and the two women stopped on either side of him. The guard spoke first.

" Hello again, how are you feeling? Do you remember me? From last night? I brought you to the castle. My name is Aspen Leger." He spoke gently.

The castle, I though in wonder, I'm in the castle.

I wasn't the kind of girl who dreamed of being a princess, but being here, in the palace, still felt surreal. I tried my best to look confident, composed, polite. Smile, sit up strait and smile, love, no one can resist your smile. It's contagious, my mothers melodious voice rang in my head.

" I'm doing a lot better thank you. I don't mean to be rude, but what am I doing here?" My voice sounded so small and high pitched. I smiled then, because that's what my mother says to do,  because I didn't know what else to do. It worked, as it always did. They seemed to relax a bit, and all three of them grinned back at me.

"When we found you, we couldn't just leave you there to die," the lady said," You looked so frail and small, and your hands were so cold. We didn't really know what to do, so we brought you back here, to the palace."

I nodded.

"Uhm... So now what?" I asked shyly, brushing a lock of my  long hair behind my ear.

" We were waiting for you to wake up so we could find out more about you. Maybe you could start by telling us your name." the queen said.

"Melody... Melody Notes." I gave them my mother's name. I had decided, then and there, that if my father was to disown me, then I would disown him.

Queen America smiled. "what a beautiful name."

"My mom chose it.", I mumbled, my eyes downcast.

"Speaking of your parents, we should let them know you're okay.", Officer Ledger added.

"I... That's not really necessary, not that he would care." I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" asked the Lady.

I looked up at them then, seeing their kind faces looking down at me. I should tell them, I thought, it's the queen, maybe she can help me.

"Well...my mom's dead and my dad disowned me... That's why I was, well, where you found me. I'm alone now." The words felt odd coming from me, distant. It was as if I was listening to someone else speak, like the words where coming from another's mouth instead of my own.

I had only ever told one person about my troubled life: Elizabeth. Liz was flowers and sunshine and joy. She was bright in every sense of the word, she was kind, she was fun. She was my best friend. We had know each other since before we could walk. Our mothers had been best friends. We were inseparable. Once, we were three. Liz, Mel and Xander the three musketeers, triple trouble. When you saw one, you knew the other two were nearby, they used to say. We would explore our village, go on adventures, pretend we were pirates, nights, wizards, warriors. Then, one morning we woke up and Xander was gone. Gone, without a warning. Not even a note was left in our tree, or on the wall near our alley, or stuck to the stone under our bridge. Not even a goodbye from Alexander. We never saw or heard from him again, but that doesn't men we forgot him. We talked about him a lot, thought about him. We promised, long before he disappeared from our lives that we would never forget each other, never forget our adventures. And so we, meaning Liz and I, never did. Liz, I thought, I left her, just like Xander left us.

"Oh hun." The Lady's soft voice woke me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw all three of them looking down at me, pity evident in their eyes.

My eyes were rimmed with tears, and I yawned, the fatigue only now catching up to me. They glanced at each other, then looked back at me.

The queen reached towards me to push my hair out of my face, but I flinched away from her touch. She looked at me, a slightly startled look on her face, followed by one of grim understanding.

"Why don't you get some rest and we'll talk some more in the morning." She smiled at me, and motioned for the other two to follow her out of the room.

My eyes closed as I heard the sound of their receding footsteps. A door opened, closed, and I was consumed by yet another deep sleep.