Home is with you
Hello readers! Here is the first chapter of a story I just thought up. I know my last story kinda drizzled away but I'm planning to keep this one going till the end, based on people's reviews and encouragement. Enjoy!
-Sailor Josseme
King Darien leaned on the balcony that was connected to his royal bedchambers. The young King always enjoyed being outside at night. The smells and sounds were all different from those of the day. It was almost as though they were little secrets only he knew. A soft breeze swept by him and tickled his face. Dairen ran a hand through his disheveled, black hair and sighed.
"Another day, another damsel." Darien was become weary of the parade of young girls storming through his house. Even after he slept with them, after promising marriage, he was never satisfied, only frustrated. His latest 'Dreary Damsel', as he liked to call them, lay sleeping in his bed. He sauntered over to her, wearing only his housecoat. He gently shook her shoulder and she began to stir.
"Emerald, was it? You had better go before your ladies in waiting come to look for you."
"Humm?" The sleeping duchess was beginning to awaken. "Don't you want me to stay with you so we can sort out the wedding plans, dearest?"
Darien laughed, "Wedding plans? Don't be ridiculous, woman. There isn't going to be a wedding. Now get dressed and speak of this to no one, unless you want your reputation ruined." With that King Darien left his latest damsel to dress on her own.
oOo
"Serena! If you hit me with that you know I'll have to kill you!"
"Oh Mina… you know you could never hurt me. You love me way too much!" Serena laughed while edging toward her best friend with an especially plump pillow.
"So help me, Serena, don't you dare start a pillow fight with me again. You know what happened last time!" Mina was also laughing. She and Serena were always getting themselves into these sorts of innocent fights. And they always had to spend hours cleaning up feathers while Ms. Flinch, their nasty mistress and the woman who runs their orphanage, watches them. Mina looked away for one second to see if Ms. Flinch was coming down the hallway to their bedroom. Serena took the opportunity and slammed Mina over the head with her pillow. Mina was stunned for a second, then went into warrior mode and the two beat each other senseless with their pillows, laughing the whole time.
Half an hour later when Ms. Flinch did finally come down to check up on the girls she found them rolling on the floor laughing themselves to tears in a sea of white feathers.
"TWWEEeeeEEETT!" Ms. Flinch blew her military whistle so loud the two girls had to cover their ears while the stood up.
"Attention!" the girls hurried to follow her order as they stood with their backs straight and hands by their sides. 'Now girls, I see we've had another little… accident. What happened this time?" Serena began to answer but Ms. Flinch interrupted her "No, no, no. I'll do the talking here missy. Now, you two little orphans are getting a bit too big to get a spanking from dear old Ms. Flinch, aren't you?" The girls nodded enthusiastically. "Now how old are you… darling… girls? Ms. Flinch's voice reeked of sarcasm.
"I'm 17 years old Ms. Flinch." Mina answered.
"So am I." Replied Serena, staring at the floor. She knew what was coming next.
"Oh are you little miss Serena. How do you know? How old were you when you came sobbing at my doorstep in the dead of night begging for a place to stay? How old were you Serena when I, out of the goodness of my heart, took you in. But no, you don't know the answer to any of those questions, do you? You can't remember… how sad! You don't even know if your parents are alive, do you, you little twit. I bet they never wanted you. It's been ten years since you came to me. And did I turn you away? No. I fed you and clothed you and still you rebel against me and make a mess of your fellow orphans' room. How is that for gratitude, you little orphan. You little… nobody."
Serena felt tears stinging her eyes. Mina's hand slowly crept into hers and she gave it a soft squeeze.
"I'm sorry Mistress. It won't happen again."
"Damn right it won't happen again. I'm sending you two off. The palace needs new maids and there's no one I would rather send into a life of hardship and blisters than you two miserable girls." With that Ms. Flinch stormed off leaving the girls slack-jawed in their bedroom.
"The… palace? We're going to live in the palace?" Mina said, completely dumbfounded. The girls looked at each other. Slowly the friends began to smile…
"EEEEE!" They screamed.
"This is so exciting Mina… we get to live in the palace, isn't that amazing!?"
"Serena, it's what we always wished for… maybe your dreams were about this job, this opportunity." Serena's smile dropped for a second. Almost every night Serena wakes up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down her face. Her dreams are never very clear, but Serena always remembers seeing a young girl with little blond pigtails running through an enormous palace. Sometimes she's in the kitchens, sometimes in her room, sometimes with her parents. The only person who's ever clear is the little girl. The strangest part of the dream is the balcony. In every dream, just before Serena wakes up, she sees the little girl on the balcony. The strange part is that instead of looking at the moon in the night sky she's looking at the Earth, surrounded by stars. Then she always wakes up crying. Serena shook off the uneasiness that always comes with recalling her dreams. She looked up at her best friend and smiled.
"This is going to be great, Mina. A whole new life… a new home… I have a feeling we're going to love it there."
oOo
Darien's advisor, Malachite, was seething.
"King Darien, do you not understand the importance of your marriage for our planet? If you do not marry and produce legitimate offspring you will leave no one to rule the planet! Then who will take over? Your lovely cousin Beryl. And we both know how that would end. Why did you turn down the last girl? Too fat? Too thin? Not… sociable enough?"
"Calm down Malachite." Darien was lounging on his favorite couch n the library while his advisor and life long friend was pacing back and forth in a frenzy. 'She wasn't… right. She wanted to get married next week… and besides, she was boring in bed." Malachite sent Darien a death stare.
"Must you bed every single available woman before your wedding day?"
"Well, every woman would be quite the task… but I'm always up for a challenge." Darien shot his advisor one of his most handsome grins.
"That's it!" Malachite fumed "I'm transferring to Jupiter!" With that the brunette stormed out of the library. Darien sighed… he was becoming tired of his conquests; even more tired of his advisor's rants.
'Maybe I should settle down…' Darien thought wearily. He got up from the couch and went to the window. Darien's parents died ten years ago, when he was eleven. He never had any siblings so the responsibility of the throne fell directly onto Darien's shoulders. He had a council of elderly men ('The Council of the Almost Dead' as Darien liked to call them) to guide him, though in the end all major decisions, changes and laws were Darien's responsibility. 'I need a break.' He thought to himself. Leaning on the window frame Darien could just make out a carriage coming up to the entrance of the palace. The door opened and a petite blond woman stepped out. She was dressed in loose, dirty clothes, but Darien couldn't take his eyes off of her. He watched at she looked around at his gardens and the palace in awe. 'Who is this girl?' Darien thought to himself. Just then the girl looked up to the sky and saw Darien in the window looking down at her. He was four stories away, but he thought he could almost hear her heart beating.
That's my chapter one! I hope you liked it. I know it wasn't very long, most of my chapters will be closer to 2000 words, but i didn't want to give too much away in the first chapter. Please review! That will encourage me to update faster! Also read my other stories, Just to be with you and Caught by a Butterfly.
Happy Reading!
