Maddy spun in the mirror in front of the princess. A beautiful white balldress dress decorated in crimson reds circled around her with her spinning. While nothing could atone for what Ivera had done, her cruel forcing of etiquette had at least taught the queen how to walk in heels, not tall ones but still heels nonetheless.
"Wonderful," Lily grinned. "I would be lucky if I could become your lady in waiting."
The queen tilted her head, "Can't you?"
"Of course not. It's impossible for a princess not to mention I have or had a job as the Captain of the Royal Guards. While this 'vacation' has allowed me to relax, I intend on getting my position back."
Maddy winced as Lily proceeded to then tug at the strings of the back of the dress. "Don't pull so hard. I intend to eat tonight not throw up tonight."
Lily rolled her eyes, "Fine. But it's your loss."
"Loss? I'm sorry but I'm really not that self conscious of my body beyond my shortness."
"I hope your human arms can tug mine tighter at least," Lily muttered finishing off Maddy's laces.
Maddy shook her head and tugged the laces hard earning a very shocked squeal from the princess.
"I'm sorry!" Lily squealed as the Queen yanked the laces tighter.
Maddy grinned a smirk, "But I thought you wanted it tight Lily."
"You are a monster," the guard gasped pouncing on her friend and tackling her onto the bed.
"Hey careful! If you rip the dress I'll kill you. It took forever to choose and put on!" Maddy exclaimed.
"And there are many others!" Lily declared throwing the queen with a pillow. "And its my birthday! I can make you change as many times as I want. I'm practically queen on my birthday."
"And I'm a monster? You are even worse!" Maddy gasped.
Lily grinned lying next to Maddy. "You are amazing. Thanks to you I'm finally having fun being girly."
"Girly?"
"Well feminine. I didn't like ballgowns because they just seemed to be a way for women to exert authority over each other with competing about best designers and they would put down those not wearing the best. They were brutal and made anything feminine feel like torture for me. But with you it isn't like that. I'm actually enjoying dressing up and doing these things."
"Uh I still don't like ballgowns. Well other than when they spin out."
Lily laughed, "You are so easy to please. Xavier really is stupid for now understanding how to do that. Just shiny spinny stuff."
"Now you are making me seem like a child."
"Oh but I would never my queen!" Lily gasped.
There was a nock and the door opened, causing the pair of girls to turn. "Your highnesses, the King has declared you must be at the top of the stairs 5 minutes ago." A servant reads out from words messily scrawled on the palm of his hand.
"Maddy! Put on your shoes we need to go!"
Maddy finished with a buckle on her heels and raced after Lily into the passage. "Okay so what do we tell him about being late," Lily fretted.
"We are late it is not that big," Maddy scoffed.
Lily stared wide eyed at her as they ran. "Xavier is the biggest time freak I know. You haven't been here long enough to realise that Xavier does not accept late. He is ALWAYS 10 minutes early to every meeting. This is so bad. We needed to make him happy to accept the proposal."
"Lily! Maddy! It is 7.08. You were supposed to be here at 7, if not earlier. Do you two want to ruin the whole night by going in late."
Maddy glared. "Oh don't be so obsessed. It was 8 minutes. I was once a day late for a meeting with someone. It is no big deal." She grinned as she had a thought. "But they have been waiting meaning all attention will be on us, their anxious and excited looks will all be focused on the birthday girl."
"Troll," Xavier corrected with a scoff.
Maddy went on her toes, reaching up and flicked him on the cheek earning a slight "ow". "Be. Have. Lily's special day. You make her happy. I have been too compliant with your every request to stay in bed, do this, take that disgusting medicine, take this injection. I have had it! You will do as I say and at the end of this ball, you have 3 options. 1. You give us our freedom and Lily back her position. 2. You declare intentions to erradicate human slavery. Or 3. and this is the best one, you lose your mate!"
Xavier frowned. "What do you mean lose my mate?"
"It means exactly what I said. I will leave, I will ignore you, I will cut you out my life completely. You changed for me, but do you know how little you changed and how much you changed in the wrong areas. You have been letting me do nothing! You replaced every scissor in my room with 'safety scissors' that cut nothing! I am not a child so do not treat me or Lily like that. We are adults, we are the women in your life, so treat us with respect if you actually want to keep us!"
"M-Maddy," Xavier stuttered.
"Either do as I say or suffer the consequences. You have until midnight to decide, and you will decide." Maddy declared, turning to see the opened curtains and guests staring in shock at the queen going off at the King.
"Good night. Lily, let's go. I heard the cake is great," Maddy said dragging off the dumbfounded princess who was stuttering in surprise at the outburst.
Maddy released her prisoner at the dinner table and began to pile her plate with cake and sweets.
Lily whispered in her ear, "What on earth was that?"
"Me. Taking initiative. This ball was to do that, sure not as indirect as our intentions, but he was working on my nerves and I am fed up with him. Mate this. Mate that. Well if he wants a mate after midnight, he better make her a happy woman."
Lily twiddled her fingers, nervous for the first time in a long time, and for the first time, maybe even a bit in awe and fear of her Queen. "Are you sure doing it in front of the guests was well appropriate."
"Not my intentions. But if it forces him to act then I have little concern. He deserved it. I can accept he is not perfect. I am definitely not perfect, I have a thousand flaws. But I cannot take this Lily. Do you know how hard it is having to throw away everything I taught myself to fit being Queen and even that is not good enough. He still then adds pressure on, prioritizes work and others."
Lily nodded, beginning to understand, grabbing a plate and some cake herself.
Lily smiled, "Well, you did the right thing to be honest. He needs to cool down and stop hurting you with all his uptight rules. If he denies your demands, I will personally escort you out and run away with you. We could find a cute place somewhere. The Kingdom of Dragons is honestly beautiful. Went there as a child before a whole war broke out. But tensions settled and honestly they would be your kind of people."
"How so?" Maddy asked curious.
"They were the first kingdom to ban human slavery. Its a rather peaceful place. Beautiful gardens with waterfalls. As a pup I fell asleep under this cute pink mushroom in the forest, it took the guards 3 days to find me after I ran off there after a butterfly. Those were fun times."
"I didn't take you for someone who likes to travel," Maddy grinned.
The princess laughed, "There is a lot you don't know about me. Don't worry. We can learn all about each other in a cute cottage in the woods of that kingdom where we will have glorious home made feasts once we learn to cook and not burn the food. And we will have pets. Lots of pets! We will make them clothes and train them and have them cuddle us to sleep at night."
"You think he won't take the deal?" Maddy sighed.
"Honestly... no. He is too stubborn and believes it would be too much effort and people would not change their ways. We are better off planning to run off and live our lives as glorious peasants in a cottage happily dancing life away."
Maddy gave a small smile at that, "Lily is it wrong that I don't know if I could leave him. The last time when I was kidnapped. The bond was horrible..."
"That was because he was yanking at it to find you. He failed but not taking your deal means letting you leave meaning the bond really won't care. It's his loss not yours. So lets have a drink! It is my birthday! No more depressing talk!" Lily cheered raising a glass of wine to the sky.
Maddy laughed violently at that, uncontrollably giggling. "No thanks. I would like to be sober tonight."
"And depressed. At least a sip?"
"You say that like I have never drank before. The stuff is disgusting, I have tried it. Ugh."
A/N
This was absolutely not how I intended the chapter to go but once I got the idea I ran with it and I kinda like how bits of it came out. I know Maddy has been pretty weak often, but she has many sides to her and I really wanted her frustration to just come out after being bottled up. I was going to announce it and all without any sort of incentive but this feels more right. He has been a jerk more than a few times and needed to be forced to make a choice.
Please comment how you think he will act and what he will choose.
Sorry its been so long. Really been struggling to write and been super busy. Also got elected as secretary for next year for a society I am in at University so I have been super excited. I am sorry I am so excited and had to share that.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and be free to share theories of how the story will progress in the comments