the castle walls.
“Princess Ornella, there you are!”
A voice came from across the castle gardens. As I turned back around, Kathlyn, my lady’s maid, stood there with her hands
on her hips and a stern look on her face. She didn’t seem very impressed with me.
Kathlyn was like what I’d imagine an older sister would have been like. Protective, stern, argumentative and always had to
have the final word. Even as the princess, she would treat me like an equal and a friend. Her brown hair was done in a tight,
neat bun with a navy-blue cap on her head, tied up with a white ribbon. Her velvet dress matched in colour and on her feet,
similar laced-up ankle boots like mine, only hers were not covered in mud. She looked more like a princess than I did.
“The king has been asking for you.”
I joined her, standing in front of her. Her eyes travelled up and down, staring at the mess of my clothes and she rolled her
eyes, holding out her hand.
“Come on, we best get you cleaned up before anyone sees you.”
Although her voice was gentle, I could detect a slight tone of anger. She must have been keeping my father at bay for a
while if she came out looking for me.
“I wish you wouldn’t disappear all hours of the day. I know you think you can do whatever you like, but you can’t. And if
you went missing or were kidnapped, I would be the one who’d lose their head.”
Sneaking back into the castle, we went through the servant entrances and headed up the staff corridors. No one even batted
an eyelid as we made our way past the staff while they carried on with their duties, bowing or curtsying as I went by.
“You know that won’t happen, my father knows how much I adore you and I highly doubt he’d make you pay for my
stupidity.”
“Even so. I wish you’d at least told me you were leaving this morning. I had to convince your tutor to lie for you and say
you were studying for a test of some kind and thankfully, Hector loves you and will do anything for you.”
Hector was my tutor and someone I had grown rather fond of. He was a little older than me. We did flirt from time to time,
mostly one sided and I took advantage of that, always escaping my lessons early to galavant off to do my own thing. I did
sometimes enjoy my lessons, they were always fun, carefree, and full of laughter. Hector always said the best way to learn
something was through play and laughter.
As we reached my chambers, Kathlyn and my other maids got to work cleaning me up. Washing my legs with warm rags,
putting my loose copper hair up into pins, and then almost stitching my body into a tight royal purple velvet dress with gold
lace trimmings. I felt like a dressed-up doll.
“Oh, his majesty also wanted me to tell you there will be a guest tonight.”