The princess was worried. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if the plan didn't work. But she knew she couldn't let herself think that way. It had to.
"Princess, do not fret," said Roraina mentally, perching herself on the window sill to sit in front of the princess. "The Ancient Ones have planned this carefully. Just do your part and leave the rest to her."
"You're right," she acknowledged. But she still feared what she already knew her uncle was planning. There was still so much that could go wrong.
The fox nuzzled against her comfortingly. "I must leave. Good luck."
"Thank you, Roraina."
With a nod, the fox disappeared into nothing, and the princess was left to await her uncle Stretton's visit.
"Your Highness?" said a meek voice.
With a jump, the princess spun around, only to see it was only her servant. Taking a breath to calm herself, she tried to hide the shaking in her hands. "Yes, what is it?"
"You told me to inform you when your uncle arrived."
"Ah, thank you."
Bowing politely, the servant backed out of the room and closed the door. The princess returned her gaze out the window and clenched her fists on her lap. Roraina was right. This would work.
And with the help of the unknowing servant that left moments ago, everything would fall into place the way it was meant to. Yes, as long as the princess could convince her to help her, everything would fall into place.
With that thought on her mind, she lifted herself from her seat and went to meet her uncle. And more importantly, to see if her informant had their information correct.
Did he have the necklace?
The conversation between her parents and her uncle was dreadfully dull as usual, which was a good thing for once. As they spoke in the parlor, the princess found that for the first time, she was glad to play the role as the polite and soft-spoken character that was completely opposite to her nature. No news was good news, in her case at the moment.
"You aren't even listening are you?" whispered a disapproving voice behind her seat on the chair.
She clucked her tongue softly so that her parents couldn't hear. "Why should I? The only thing uncle ever has to talk about are dreadfully boring subjects."
"You know, it's the very fact that you think of everything as 'boring' that embarrasses me just to be around you. Perhaps if you paid attention every once in a while, maybe you'd learn something for once."
"What does it matter? You are the crowned prince, as you constantly remind me," she added with bitterness. "I can stay as stupid as I please. It's you that has to learn all of this rubbish."
"Stupid indeed," Renen remarked snidely. She payed her brother no mind as he stepped from around her chair and joined his father and uncle in their conversation. She had too much on her mind to be bothered by his opinion of her. She worried for him for entirely different reasons.
"Well then," her father was saying, in a tone that signaled the end of their friendly chatting and interrupted her thoughts. "Shall we begin dining? I'm sure the long journey has left you hungry, Lord Stretton."
"Yes, it has. Thank you, my King. Let us dine," Lord Stretton replied, his perpetually stone face unchanging, even while giving gratitude. In her opinion, it was because he was envious of his sister for marrying royalty and becoming queen. She always felt that from him, though she was sure Renen would chide her for even the thought. And so his visits to the castle itself were very rare and few, which was the reason why the King and Queen were so surprised by his visit, though remained cordial nonetheless.
The princess was the only one that suspected less than righteous reasons behind his visit. But it wasn't like she could share the reasoning behind her thinking. She couldn't exactly tell her parents that it was because an invisible fox told her so.
They made their way to the dining room, accompanied by a set of servants with the task to manage the serving of the meal. Just as she was entering the room, she felt a jerk as Renen grabbed her by the forearm and pulled her in slightly.
"This is embarrassing," he hissed.
"What?" she objected, matching his tone.
"You've invited your favorite servant again?"
He was looking at Yunara, who had taken her usual position against the wall, dutifully awaiting orders from the royals that dined in front of her.
"She works here. It's what she does," she replied matter-of-factly.
"Then have her do it elsewhere. Do you know how obvious it is that you've formed a friendship with your handmaiden? You bring her everywhere you go without fail. And it's starting to look silly. Well, sillier than you usually look, if that's even possible. Why don't you get rid of her for once and for all? If you had any sense of pride, you'd see she's a nuisance. You've trained her to think she deserves to be in our presence or something."
She turned on her brother with an icy chill to her tone. "You will not bother her. She is a good servant that has served me well for many years, and has treated me as a sister better than you have. So I suggest you find something else to criticize me about. Father hasn't complained about her ever, so I don't see what your problem is."
"Hmph," he merely grunted. "Father is a buffoon."
Hearing the words come out of his mouth left the princess in such shock, she hadn't realized that he'd walked away after saying it, and was seating himself at the table. Regaining her composure, she joined him, the doubts that filled her mind about Renen resurfacing themselves. He was never so cold before he started receiving and writing letters to Lord Stretton all of a sudden. And she suspected that his recent loath towards his family arose from that relation, as well.
When they were little, she and Renen used to be so close, she recalled with melancholy as the servants brought out grapes, nuts, and olives for the first course. But the more he grew into understanding his birthright to the throne, the colder and more distant he became. It was like he didn't just want to be king, he wanted to outshine his father, for some reason. A reason the princess never came to understand.
The dinner carried on much like in the parlor. Uncle talked of his latest travels to the Elven countries, and the incredible scholars and philosophers that he spoke to during his visit. Uncle was always traveling outside of Ecencia, a habit the young royal never understood until recently. But now, the fact that he'd been to the Elven countries might confirm her suspicions. He could have gotten the necklace from there, if he had it. But still, it was too early to tell.
By the time dinner was over, the princess was starting to think that her sources were wrong. Usually, when uncle was around Renen, the two of them were always talking, even more than the King and Queen, to the princess' dismay. But this time Renen was mostly satisfied with listening. It seemed she would get none of the information she was looking for from his conversation.
"How odd that your uncle would come to visit you, isn't it, Princess Cadri?" asked Yunara. The two were headed to the princess' bedroom so that she could prepare for bed.
"Yes, it is," the princess surmised, more to herself than to her servant. Then she decided to shake herself off. It was possible her sources were wrong. Perhaps her uncle wasn't making his move quite yet. Perhaps they still had time after all. Still, she had to be certain.
"But I couldn't care less about what my uncle does, the cold, hateful man. Why, all he does is make suggestions to my father about trade and our country's workforce, and things like that. As if he has no idea how to run his country. He's a bad influence on my brother."
"Well, he may simply has ambitions that he wishes to share that seem a bit assuming at times."
Cadri clucked her tongue. "Tell me what you really think."
The servant paused for a moment before confessing, "I think he's an absolute prig."
Laughing out loud, the princess turned and smiled at her handmaiden. "Thank you. I told you to be honest with me. I hate pretenses. I have to do quite enough of those whenever papa has visitors over, and I shan't uphold any of them with you."
"Well, then, you already know how I feel about your parents. I believe they're a wonderful King and Queen. Your uncle have a lot of ideas that make life very much so easier for the rich, but would make the lives of the everyday people much harder. I heard him suggest making new tax laws for the immigrants. I can't imagine if I had to come here paying an extra tax just to be here! I've already told you how hard it was for me to start my life here when I came. Your uncle is a horrid man."
Cadri had to agree. He was always looking for ways to turn a profit, and use as many people as necessary to do it. There were thousands of Ecencian inhabitants that were like her servant, who came from foreign countries, especially the naiads coming from Crila, to escape the harsh lifestyle of their homeland. Her maid in particular had to leave Crila urgently when her parents died to the hands of the cult that plagued her country heavily. Most came to Ecencia for their safety, and usually came with nothing. To make them have to pay taxes would make it impossible to come. She didn't worry, for she knew her father would never create such laws just because his brother-in-law suggested them. But it did concern her for Renen. He was next in line for the throne, and he did find reason in his uncle's ideas.
She sighed sadly at the thought. Gone were the days where they used to run around chasing each other in the palace garden. Now he was always critiquing her, admonishing her constantly. And what he said at the dinner table truly concerned her. She only prayed that he would see the error in their uncle's advice before he was too far gone.
And what truly scared her was that she feared that he already was.
Once the two arrived to the princess' bedroom, Yunara grabbed a brush and started making through the young royal's kinky hair, and eventually got to the point where she could braid it in a single row down her back. Cadri tucked her fairy wings in to put on her bed robe and changed her shoes for slippers. Though she didn't imagine she would get much sleep that night.
Soon after her servant left the room and she was laying in bed, she made a decision. She decided to be certain of whether or not he had the necklace. She put on her slippers, their soft soles making her footsteps all the more quieter.
"Princess," said Roraina, startling her so bad she almost screamed. She swiveled to see the fox had appeared on her bed, probably after having sensed her intentions.
"Roraina, dont scare me like that!" she scolded silently.
She cocked her head in confusion, not understanding how her appearance could possibly have startled her. The princess rolled her eyes. The Unseeables didn't understand how startling it was for mortals like her to see them appear whenever they pleased. But that was a conversation for another day.
"I apologize. It was unintentional. But I sensed what you're planning to do. Be careful, princess."
"I know. But I have to know, and this is the quickest way. If we don't act now, they'll beat us to it."
"Very well. But remember that your uncle has already consulted Nexa before coming here. He thinks you're the one Chosen."
"Which is why he won't kill me if he catches me. He thinks he needs me alive. I'll be fine."
"As long as you're sure," the fox said dubiously. "Good luck, princess."
"Thank you."
Behind her, the fox once again disappeared, and she crept her way through the door and started towards her uncle's room.
If he had the necklace, she was going to find it.
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Hi all! So, I've done quite a bit of changes to the first chapter here, and actually, if you've read the story before, you can expect a lot of changes from here on out. I'll be chopping my chapters into parts to make them a bit more engaging, and as you can see, I've given my first chapter a fresh new start to kick off my new changes. I hope you like it!
Please feel free to give any comments or feedback. If you liked the chapter, please consider voting! See you later in the next chapter! ;)