"Yes, mother." I bow my head obediently. Sitting in her velvet chair, she smiles at me.

"Alright, that is all." Hearing that, my mouth automatically breaks in to a grin.

I turn on my heels, ready to race out of the room.

"I'll be at the garden!" I yell.

"Not too fast child!" Mother yells back, although I can't think why, because I don't lower my speed at all.

I slam the door open and rush past a few servants who are busy preparing for tomorrow's ball. I accidently knock a tray to the ground, and call out an apology to Trixie, our servant.

The hallway divides into two. When I was younger, I would find my way around by the paintings.

The left one was of a quite stout man with five chins protruding from his neck, and the riht one was of my Aunt Celia, a haughty lady with jewels glittering her teeth.

Let's see. Guests would be arriving soon and I do not want to meet them. At least, not yet. So the back-door it is then.

I run past the portrait of Aunt Celia, past the tapestries and long red curtains, finally arriving at a smaller staircase the servants used to get around.

Down the stairs was the kitchen. And right now, it was filled to the brim with ladies in long brown dresses and quite a few men as well.

A servant girl, Cassia I think her name is, smiles at me. I smile back.

The back-door opens into a narrow alleyway, which is used as a second-hand dump for pretty much everything. I try to avoid the mud as I make my way towards the trees which lead to the garden.

Key word being tried. By the time I'm out of there, the hem of my dress is painted an ugly shade of brown.

It's almost autumn, but the grass is still green and the trees have not started shedding their leaves yet.

I almost trip on a stray twig once or twice, but luckily I avoid falling. I'm clumsy like that.

Down the hill, where the flowers start to grow, mother has paved the area and built a fountain in the middle. An archway is placed before it.

The archway, covered with wild twines and ivy, is a mass of pillar elaborately constructed by Mills, a man who works for my parents. Well, everybody here works for my parents, I was just stating...

Never mind.

There she is with her back turned towards me, humming an old song we used to sing when we were children. Her long blonde locks are down today, wrapped in red and silver ribbons.

She hears me approaching and turns towards me. "You're late." She says, but smiles nonetheless.

"I'm sorry." I reply. "Mother had me preparing for the ball."

She nods. "The ball." She says. I sit down on a chair in front of the one she's sitting on, next to a little circular table. She has a half completed flower headdress in her hand. "You know your parents expect you to find a husband tomorrow."

I roll my eyes. "Not you too, Maya, please."

She laughs. "It's true."

I lean forward and drop my voice. "At least I'm not the one secretly running around with Joshua."

She gasps and attacks me with a stray flower. It falls to my lap and I pick it up.

It's almost five in the afternoon. I look up at the sky, to see the sun hidden beneath several layers of clouds. They're not dark, so their might not be a chance of rain after all.

'How I wish I had your life." I sigh.

She frowns. "You seriously don't mean that."

I look up at her. She's really beautiful, why she loves Joshua I would never know.

That guy is the reincarnation of devil himself.

Just last week, he and my brother, the devil's advocate, smeared flower dye all over my new dress. And it was one I actually liked, so you could see my dilemma here.

But yes, Joshua was head-over-heels in love with Maya. Maya was my best -and maybe only- friend. She was born to one of my mother's servants, although we never treated her like one. My father often joked about having two wonderful princesses as daughters.

"Miss Riley!" Somebody screeched from on top of the hill. The voice sounded suspiciously like Trixie's.

I groan. She's running toward us at alarming speed. "King Arden is here" She pants. "Your father has requested your presence at once."

I look at Maya, not the least bit fazed. King Arden was the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom, a tall man with a jolly laugh and lively eyes. He and my father were old friends.

"If I have to." I sigh and get up. Trixie gasps. "Miss! Your dress!"

I look down upon it. I shrug. Apart from the mud, it looks presentable.

"I'll get her ready in time." Maya stands up too and I throw her a grateful look. "The throne room, yes?" She asks.

Trixie nods before walking away.

"Come on." Maya says to me. We follow Trixie up into the castle till the kitchen, where Maya's mother arrives.

"Hello." She says to us. "You two having fun?"

"Not anymore." I sulk. Maya nudges me.

"Maya I need your help setting for dinner." Her mother says to her.

"But I'm helping Riley get ready to--"

"It's okay." I cut her off. "Go, I'll be fine."

Maya's mother smiles gratefully at me. When they leave, I make my way out of the he kitchen and I'm just about to go up the stairs when I notice my brother -his name is August, but I love calling him Auggie. He gets so mad - sulking.

"Hey!" I walk up to him. "What's wrong?"

He sees me and looks up. "Joshua took Midnight out for a ride today, and injured her."

I throw him a look. That boy and his horse.

But how dare Joshua hurt Midnight. She was the sweetest, prettiest thing ever.

My brows furrowing, I say "I will talk to Joshua."

Talk indeed. I clench my fists.

"Don't hurt him too hard." He says. "I'm going to see Midnight at the stables. Tell father that?"

I nod. I walk out into the main hallway, looking for Joshua. If he's not at the stables, then he is going to be in his room.

That little-- ugh! What was his problem? Why was he riding Midnight in the first place? He has his own horse, stupid Apple who was just as arrogant as him.

And do not even get me started on why he named his horse Apple.

I've just turned around the corner when I bump into someone and go flailing back. I lose my balance for a minute, but manage not to fall.

"Idiot!" I hiss to whoever who was blind enough to come walking down so blindly.

Holding my hand to my forehead, I look up. The guy I quite literally just bumped into is very handsome - complete with a sharp jawline and perfect light hair. Curse my wrong timing.

He chuckles softly.

"In pretty sure it was your fault." He says in a deep drawl. I frown at him.

"Tell me Princess, do you always roll around in mud like that?"

I grit my teeth as I look down at my dress. Belive it or not, I've had worse days.

He must be one of my father's guests for tomorrow. Many were staying in the castle for this week's festival.

"Listen you little--"

"Riley." I hear my voice from a person behind me. I whip my head around to find Joshua standing there with folded arms.

"You'll have to excuse her manners. She's not been brought up in a pig sty, that I can assure you, even though it may be hard to believe."

Why did everyone love making fun of me so much?

Joshua walks up to the guy and holds out his hand. "I'm Joshua." He says, "And this is Riley."

The guy grins as he bows. "Lucas." He says.

Huh, Lucas. What a humble name for an egotistical guy.

"You better clean up before going to the throne room." Joshua says. For a minute I contemplate hitting him for what he did to Midnight, but then I find myself waiting for the perfect minute.

I catch Lucas's eye as I turn around the bend. He winks.