Broken Royals

Chapter Nine: The Royal Visit

The sleek black Bentley, carrying Erin and her advisor, pulled up to the palace entrance. Erin's door was opened and she was helped out by some men in black suits similar to The Advisors, men of which she didn't know and each bowed in unison. On the other side, The Advisor was just getting out of their seat before rushing over to Erin's side. The two began to walk into the palace, with The Advisor naturally trailing behind; however, the guards stepped in front of them.

"Any other third party of the Royals is not permitted to enter. State your reason for entering the palace grounds." The guard spoke, with a stern and logical tone.

"I am here as Her Royal Highness' advisor as well as escort and supervisor." The Advisor stated, to which the guard only nodded and stepped aside.

Not another word was said as the two continued on and were guided to the main room where the briefing was taking place. The Elming Palace was much different to what Erin grew up in. Everything was lighter and felt more open, from the light coloured wooden floors, to the white ceiling with red sprinkled here and there. The sound of clicking heels against the floor gave Erin a sense of power as they finally reached their destination.

Another guard stood in front of The Advisor and stated, "No-one bar the Royals are permitted beyond this point."

"But-" The Advisor tried to speak, wanting to follow Erin and make sure she was safe.

"It is fine, Peter-Alexander, I trust you will not run away." Erin joked with a cold and formal tone, sending all kinds of mixed signals as to whether to laugh or not.

With no response, and with The Advisor uncomfortably stepping aside, Erin braced herself before the white doors in front of her were opened.

The room fell silent, with the other Royals bowing and curtsying as she walked past. The silence allowed for the clicking of her heels to echo throughout the room. Once she reached the main elevated platform, Erin cursited and apologised for her inconvenience, before moving to the next available space at a table.

The room was clean and somewhat large. There were velvet red curtains on either side signifying walls, scattered about the place were some tables, presumably for guests to either stand or sit by. Each had a white table cloths and yet again, red decorations. Erin inhaled sharply and smiled at some of the other Royals staring at her.

"Well, now that Ethar is here we may begin the briefing!" The Queen, Blair of Elming, began, snickering could be heard at a table behind Erin. "As you know we are going to be visiting the highschool, personally funded by both Charlie and I. Though, this event is about the community, not bickering, nor business conversations with other Royals. We are there to establish a connection with the civilians we all pledged to protect and serve. So to get our small talk out of the way, I have an ice breaker for you adults... and Her Royal Highness, Princess Erin. What is something you couldn't live without?" The Queen continued, the way she grabbed then attention of everyone in the room without yelling or having to play flat out dumb was astonishing to Erin.

A few minutes passed of getting well acquainted with the other royals, Erin walked around and re-introduced herself to the more senior of Royals. Everyone in the room were all who were 'in line' to the Grand Throne of Arden, which practically ranked the Royals based on importance and status, which is also why only the main family members of each royal house were in that room. Through speaking to many of the other royals, Erin learned that a certain King of Montram was both a childish adult and a strategic one. He would play all these games and say things you'd expect to hear in a foreign white chick film, and yet he managed to get what he wanted through trickery. Erin even got some all too familiar questions about her family.

Eventually, Queen Blair had gathered the attention of the congregation again to mention that briefing time was over, and The Royal Visit was going to begin. In amongst all the movement Erin overheard a grumpy voice groan about her mother, stopping Erin dead in her tracks.