Royal Blood

Chapter Twelve

When I woke up I was no longer in Jasper' s house, instead I was in my own bed. The first thing I see is the ever so familiar ceiling that I have woken up to my entire life. I can feel my duvet covering me, keeping me warm through the night. None of this is right though.

The palace is too quiet. Normally I am woken up to the sound of butlers hurrying about or the smell of breakfast that has just been freshly prepared. Today there is nothing other than the sound of my own thoughts.

How did I get back here? The last thing that I remember is falling asleep on the old, battered couch at Jasper's house which is in the middle of the woods. A wood which is at least a two day journey away from the palace. Did I ever leave the palace in the palace in the first place or was all of that just my imagination. Maybe if I close my eyes, I will wake up in Jasper's house when I reopen them.

I close my eyes and for a moment everything goes dark and then I reopen them. I'm still in my room at the palace but this time Louis is stood over my bed.

"Louis you know you should knock first! It is only polite." I yell while shuffling further under my duvet. "I never heard you come in though." I realise. Yes I had my eyes closed but I never heard the door open.

"You need to choose one princess." Louis responds but his voice doesn't sound like his.

"I need to choose what? And are you okay?"

"You need to choose one princess." he repeats but this time he points to the three doors in my room. The three doors that are ordinarily not next to each but have somehow rearranged themselves so that they are.

Curiosity gets the better of me so I crawl out of bed and walk towards the doors. They look the same as before with the exception of where they are placed. "You want me to choose a door? Why?" I turn to Louis and ask him. This time he doesn't answer me, all he does is stare at the doors pointing at them. It is as if he is a zombie.

"Well this door leads to my bathroom, which you know. Probably my favourite place to relax. This door leads into my wardrobe which is full of clothes my mother has picked out for me. I probably won't choose this one as it makes me feel like I am under her control. The last door leads back out into the hallway allowing me to escape this room when it feels like too much. It allows me to have my freedom so if I have to choose a door then I choose that one." I tell Louis.

"Choose one." His voice hauntingly tells me.

"I just did." I back away from him because for once he is scaring me.

"Choose one princess. Choose one. Princess, princess, princess... PRINCESS."

I awake feeling startled. Jasper is hovering over me and I am back in his house, or shall I say his shack. I was never back at the palace, everything was just a dream. There were no doors for me to choose from, no zombie butler, no princess life. I realise now that it was Jasper shouting 'princess' at me towards the end of the dream and not Louis.

"Are you alright princess? You were mumbling something about having to choose something." he asks me.

"I'm fine, it was just a weird dream. I honestly felt like I was back in the palace but I wasn't." I explain the rest of the dream to Jasper and he listens to every word I say with no interruptions.

"Like you said, it was just a dream. Everything will be fine." He reassures me and I decide to believe him.

"Why are you up anyway?" I ask him because I eventually realise that it is still dark outside. It looks like there are still hours until sunrise.