My Royal Story

Chapter 8

I woke up to a mug of hot tea and a plate of pancakes. Ramona sat next to my bed holding the tray, a big smile on her face. I rubbed my eyes, "What is it?"

"Well," she said, "You have so much to learn, but I decided today we would mix it up. We are going to go through your wardrobe!"

Yay. That was exactly what I wanted to do. Something was going on in this palace, but let's go through clothes. It's almost like a distraction.

"Come on! Let's go!" Ramona exclaimed as she took my hand and pulled me out of bed and into my closet. I noticed Luke wasn't in my suite anymore.

Ramona sat me down. "Okay," she said, "what do you want to do first, accessories or outfits?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Accessories it is!" She pulled me into my closet.

I was so groggy. My eyes were barely open. I flopped onto an ottoman and lay back. I was slowly falling asleep. "Lily! Get up!" Ramona yelled. Geez, she could be a bitch.

I rubbed my eyes, "Sorry, what do I do first?"

Ramona held up four pairs of shoes, "Pick two that you like, we will keep those."

"Uh, the red ones and the white ones."

"Seriously," Ramona rolled her eyes, "Lily, you have to be serious about this! You have to find your look!"

"Fine."

We spent an hour going through shoes.

"Ramona, can we do something else?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something other than going through shoes, or other clothes."

Ramona looked at me as if I was crazy. "Wait!" She said. "I have an idea! Come with me!"

She pulled me out into the halls of the castle. I noticed some guards looking at four knives in Dad's door and a message saying "Give up the throne". What was that supposed to mean? We walked on the marble floor for about ten minutes until we reached a large door, but who am I kidding, they are all large. Ramona opened the door and pushed me in, she was bossy.

Inside was like a little barber shop. There was two seats and a big mirror. On a long table there were scissors, hair curlers, hair dryers, and hair brushes. Wait-was I getting my hair cut?

My hair was down to my waist. It had a dandelion color to it. My hair was also straight and thin. I don't want to cut it off! "Um, Ramona, can I not get my hair cut?"

"Lily, this is going to help us find your style, stay calm."

A man with black hair and a goatee walked in. He approached me, "You must be Princess Lilian!"

"LILY!"

"My apologies, come take a seat." He took my hand and led me to one of the chairs. "Ramona, what are we doing today?"

"Well, Louie, we have to find Lily's 'style'."

"I see, I see. I will try my best!" He grabbed scissors and I shut my eyes. I didn't want to watch.

I heard my hair being snipped off. My head soon felt lighter. I opened my eyes and my hair was an inch below my shoulders! This was crazy!

Louie brought out a bowl of a brown liquid. Why did he have soup? Oh, it wasn't soup. "What? I don't want my hair dyed!"

"Lily, this is for your own good." Ramona said.

Ugh! I hate Ramona and her stupid, 'it's for your own good'! I sat down very stiffly and gave her a dirty look.

"Fine," Ramona said, "it doesn't have to be dyed." Yay!

Louie put a liquid into my hair and curled it. I looked into the mirror, my hair was the same daisy color, except it looked different. My hair was curly and bouncy.

"Looks great!" Ramona said. She looked at her watch, "Oh! I have to go!" She ran out the door.

What was that all about?

"Why is my hair curly?" I asked.

Louie held up an orange bottle, "This, my dear is a liquid that will keep your hair curly for up to six months!"

"Okay, thanks. I should be going-"

Then an alarm sounded. Louie grabbed my arm and pulled me into his next room. It was a dressing room. We went through a door and down a few flights of stairs.

It was then that I realized I was still wearing my nightgown! We came to a dark, cold basement. A lot of the staff was down here, running around. Louie and I pushed through all of the crowd.

We went into a small room. "I'm going to stay here with you until Luke comes down." Louie said as he grabbed my hand reassuringly.

"Thanks, but what's going on?"

"Oh, it's probably just another terrorist attack on the castle."

"A what?"

His eyes got big, "What! Nothing! I said nothing!" Luke entered. "Oh look! Luke's here, got to go!" Louie ran out.

Luke came in and sat down next to me. "Okay, what did Blabber-Mouth Louie tell you?"

"These are terrorist attacks?"

Luke sighed, "Yep, and they are aiming to hurt your dad."

I squeaked. Now I wished that I was still in the sixth caste, being unnoticed. Being here makes me feel exposed and vulnerable.

Luke noticed me feeling uncomfortable and put his arm around me. I looked up at him. His brown eyes were gleaming. I leaned in for a kiss, but Luke's hand stopped me.

"Lily, you do know that we can never be together, right?"

"What! Why not?"

"Um, it's just that you're a princess and I'm just your guard. You have to marry a prince, not someone like me."

"But shouldn't I have a choice, I am in a better caste now! I should have a say in what I can do! I'm at the top of the food chain!"

"No your not, Lily. Your dad is, then Ramona, Dominic, and finally you."

"But Luke, I want you."

"No you don't." He said. "You can't! I'm just a stupid guard!"

"Luke, I've only known you for a month, but I want you. You have been the only nice person to me in this castle and it has made me want to be with you."

"Lily, there are plenty of other nice people in this world, even royal ones. Go find yourself one of them."

"No, I don't want any of them, I want someone like you!"

"You are just a kid! You don't understand! You can't do this! It's wrong!" And with that, Luke walked away, leaving me alone in the middle of an attack.