The Princess and the Peasant

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Annalise! Are you even listening to me?"

That was my mother yelling at me. That was all she did these days. Yell and yell some more. This time she was yelling at me because I had zoned out when she was talking about my wedding. It was not like I cared about it anyhow. I got no say in that castle whatsoever.

"Yes, of course, Mother. I was listening," I replied back to her.

She huffed out a small breath. "Fine. Then tell me what I just said," she countered me.

Oh, no. I tried to search her brain, but she had put up a shield. I hated when she did that. Then I couldn't use my telepathy to know what she had just said. I would just have to get a broad guess and hope for the best.

"You were just talking about my and Marcus's wedding. What I don't know is why you are even talking to me about it. I have no say anyhow, so why don't you just plan it and put yourself on the aisle? We would both be much happier that way."

My mother sighed. When she looked at me, I saw sorrow in her hazel eyes. "I'm very sorry that you have to do this, but it's for the best. You will thank me for it years from now. If it would make you happier, I won't tell you of the wedding plans. Is that what you want?" The look my mother gave me made me want to put down the wall I had created between us and give in, but I couldn't. I built that wall for a reason, and it was going to stay there until I found a reason to take it down.

"Yes, that would make me slightly happier. Thank you," I said to her in a monotone voice. At that moment, the door to the parlor opened, and a servant entered with a lunch tray.

"Here is your lunch, Your Highnesses," she said, curtsying. My mother nodded her head to excuse her, and she left the room. We seized talking while we were eating our lunch of stew, rice, and bread. After we were finished, the servant returned to collect the tray.

"Am I free for the day now, Mother?" I asked, hoping she would say yes.

"I suppose so. Run along and do whatever it is you do when I don't see you." She made a shooing motion with her hand and turned her head away from me. I walked out of the parlor giddy with happiness. I could finally see the sun once again! My mother had kept me stuck inside all week with wedding plans.

Walking up to the doors of the castle, I told the guards where I was going. Luckily, they didn't object, or I would have had to use my persuasion on them. I walked around to the back of the castle and found my favorite tree. It was a huge willow tree in the middle of the yard. The limbs were so long they reached the ground, so it made an amazing hiding place.

Reaching the willow, I parted the limbs and stepped underneath. I found the root that is curved so that it juts out of the ground to make a seat. I sat down and arranged my skirts. This was the place that I went to when I needed to think.

Why did my mother want me to marry Marcus? It was not like we needed an alliance with the Moonlight pack. Sure, they were the biggest werewolf pack in Eloewen, but we were the Supernatural rulers. We already had all the powers that we could get from them. There was nothing more they could offer for us.

My mother had the most power in all of Eloewen. She had every power of every being in the kingdom. She had super hearing and smell from the werewolves, speed and mind reading from the vampires, persuasion and magic from the fae, and spell casting from the casters. My father was a fae and had no other powers. In Eloewen, the women were considered very powerful, except in werewolf villages. There, males had dominance.

I, on the other hand, had almost no power. I was mainly fae because of my father, but I had some variation of the powers my mother had. I couldn't hear or smell as well as my mother or the werewolves, but my ears and nose were better than the average Supernatural. I could do some mind reading as long as they weren't blocking me. I had full powers from the fae since I was mainly that type of Supernatural, and I could cast some spells from the casters. Once I married Marcus, my full powers would come in. If I didn't get married, then my full powers would never come in.