SERENA

PART I: Chapter 15 - Panic

In two weeks, Serena will be crowned and she is feeling extremely anxious.

She hasn't been able to sleep properly for weeks and the exhaustion only makes her feel even less in control. She can barely think enough to perform her daily tasks, so she can't even imagine ruling Elementia.

The sun has already come up, so Serena figures it's probably an acceptable time to get out of bed, since she can't sleep anyway. She drags herself out of bed and changes into a light blue dress. She looks in the mirror and sees the dark circles under her eyes. The first time she saw them, it worried her, but now she is already used to them. She feels like they will never leave her face.

She opens her bedroom door and enters the corridor. She can usually hear servants walking around in every direction and Rakon and Kira laughing and playing, but everything's silent now.

It really must be early, she thinks.

One side effect of spending so many hours awake in the night is that she is always hungrier in the mornings now, so the first thing she needs to do is to get some food.

Serena goes down the various corridors that lead to the kitchen, even though she's been told various times that she's not supposed to be there. But how could she not go there? It's the fastest way to get food and all the servants and cooks let her take whatever she wants whenever she wants.

As soon as she opens the door, she is hit with the smell of fresh bread and chocolate cake, which makes her get even hungrier.

"Good morning, Princess." One of the cooks says. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Good morning. I couldn't sleep and I was tired of being in bed looking at the ceiling." She replies. "What can I steal from you today? The bread and the chocolate cake smell amazing." She looks at him with her most charming smile.

The cook laughs. "You can steal both of them, Princess."

"Thank you."

Serena gets to the table where the bread and the cake are and cuts a big slice of each of them. She grabs a strawberry jam jar and spreads some jam on the bread. She puts her breakfast on a plate and starts heading for the door.

"Princess." One of the servants calls. "There's fresh orange juice if you'd like."

"Oh, yes, please." Serena replies and waits for the servant to pour the juice in a glass for her.

Once she has the juice, she leaves the kitchen and heads to the main garden of the palace. She sits on a bench beside a big tree and eats her breakfast in silence, enjoying the peace this place brings her.

However, the peace doesn't last long.

As soon as Serena finishes her breakfast, Rafi approaches her and tells her that later today she has a rehearsal for the coronation.

"But I still have two weeks until the coronation." She tells him.

"Exactly, you have two weeks to fix whatever goes wrong today, Princess." He replies. "Don't be late."

Rafi leaves and Serena is feeling even worse. Is she going to be so bad at this that she needs two weeks to try to fix her mistakes?

"You know what? I need to get out of here." She says to herself and then looks around to make sure no one heard her. It's not like people need any more clues that she's is going insane.

The only thing that can make her feel more relaxed is to be with Nolyn, so she decides to head to his house. Followed by two guards, of course.