(Hello one and all! I hope you enjoy this little fic I threw together while I was sitting at home when I was suposed to be doing homework...opse! lol Oh well, I hope you all love this as much as I do. The names suck I know, but I'm open to any sugestions. As per my usual, no flames unless you want to deal with my wrath, and please review unless you also want my wrath. I hope to see all your loving reviews. Thanks!)
Chapter One:
Thea Cain
The castle was quiet, the only people within the walls being that of Princess Thea, Prince Luke, and Glitch in his personal study. Thea sat in her personal rooms on the fifth floor looking out over the lake with a book gingerly placed in her lap. Her golden shoes discarded beside her on the floor, and her dainty feet tucked up under the folds of her dress.
A record player was turning in the corner of the room waiting for a servant to come by and reset it for the princess, but all the servants had the week off, since her parents were heading up to the Northern Island. Thea had forgotten about the record player in the corner, and even the book that she had intently been reading for the past week.
Glitch poked his head into the Princess's rooms and saw her in her usual place at the window and knocked on the door. Thea motioned with her hand for Glitch to enter the room and he closed the door behind him.
"Your mother has sent news from the Northern Island. Her and your father have made it there safely and hope to be back as soon as the disputes in the north are settled," Glitch said in his authoritative voice and then cleared his throat. Thea turned her head so her eyes were trained on him and he looked into those brilliant blue orbs and smiled warmly. Thea only nodded and looked back to the window.
"Thank you, Glitch. You can go now," Thea said noticing that he was lingering in the room longer than needed. She looked back at him and saw that his authority had gone from his posture and his voice.
"Thea, are you okay? You've been in here looking out that window since your parents left only three days ago. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Glitch asked as he walked closer to her and she put up her hand and he stopped. Thea sighed and looked up into Glitch's dark eyes and smiled.
"Thank you for your concern, Glitch, but I'll be fine. I just have a lot on my mind," Thea said and Glitch nodded as Luke burst into the room waving a letter in the air. Glitch quickly excused himself from the room and Luke walked up to his sister.
"We are cordially invited to a ball hosted at the Tharqua palace by our loving grandparents!" Luke said and Thea nodded she got up from the window and turned the record player off. She turned to her brother and smiled.
"A ball sounds like a fantastic idea. It's just like Grandmama to throw a party when I'm feeling at my worst," Thea mumbled looking at her pale face in the mirror and slapped some color back into them. "Go fetch Mary, I must have a new ball gown, knowing Grandmother she will have invited every eligible man in the OZ to the ball," Thea told herself as Luke left the room to fetch the royal dress maker.
Thea walked over to her bookcase and put her book into its proper place and walked down the main staircase to the grounds. She walked over to the gazebo and sat on the swing that she loved so fondly.
That night the ball was held in the Thargua palace, the home of the former queen and her king. The last to walk through the doors were Prince Luke and Princess Thea. Luke had one of his friends hanging off of his arm, while Thea had her arm looped through Glitch's.
This wasn't abnormal to see, the Princess with her mother's right-hand-man. Most people were used to seeing the two enter through a set of grand doors together. It started when DG insisted that Glitch escort Thea to her first social ball, ever since the two were seen everywhere together, though by now people had stopped the rumors that the two were together.
Thea and Luke walked up to the platform with four thrones adorning it and bowed to their grandparents whom bowed back. Thea sat in the highest of the four chairs her grandmother next, then Luke, then her grandfather.
Thea had been right, most of the company at the ball were men looking for a wife in the young princess, but Thea only had eyes for one of them. Dougal Blake was the son of the head of the royal armed guard and was considered the most handsome young man in the entire OZ.
"Hey, Thea, your boyfriend is here," Luke said as he pointed out into the crowd of men at the tall, broad-shouldered, dark haired man that sat at the end of the table against the right wall.
"Shut your mouth, Lukas, you have no idea what you speak of," Thea said standing from her seat abruptly. "Ambrose, I wish to dance," Thea declared and Ambrose took her hand and motioned for the musicians to start playing something to dance to.
"Is there something troubling you, Princess?" Glitch couldn't help but ask. Thea shook her head and smiled as a slow song began to play. She put one hand on Glitch's shoulder and the other was clasped in his.
"Thank you," Thea said softly as she leaned in to place her head on Glitch's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kept her head on his shoulder. Glitch gently…tentatively…put his arms around Thea's waist.
"I just feel like everyone is pressuring me into marriage and I don't want to think about that right now. I just want to enjoy my youth," Thea said as she grip tightened on Glitch.
"Well, don't let anyone force you to do anything you don't want to," Glitch said and Thea looked up from his shoulder. She pulled away and smiled at him for a moment until they heard the music change and a tap on her shoulder signaled to her that she was going to have a very busy night of dancing ahead of her.
Once dinner was over and the dancing continued, Thea was dancing with one of the high officers of Central City until Dougal tapped her on the shoulder to cut in. They danced together and it seemed to Thea like they were the only people in the room. Glitch dragged her away from the dance floor when it was time for them to leave and she bid farewell to Dougal.
"Have a nice time, Princess?" the coachman asked and Thea nodded to him as she climbed into the carriage. Thea sat next to Glitch in the carriage and Luke sat opposite her.
"Thea, I'm sorry," Luke said and Thea turned her head to look at the trees rushing by. Luke kept trying to get her attention, but each time he started the conversation again, Thea would grab Glitch's hand and turn her attention to the trees.
"Luke," Thea said as Luke was trying to bring up his apology again. "Can you shut your mouth for more than five minutes?" Thea asked as her face turned a bright shade of red and shook her head.
When the carriage approached the castle's main door, Thea jumped out of the carriage and ran up the front stairs. She ran up the staircase and into her room, tears falling down her face. Glitch and Luke stood in the entrance hall dumbfounded by Thea's actions and just shook their heads.
Thea shrugged off her gown and buried her head in her pillows, her corset and pantaloons still on. Thea tried desperately not to cry, but the memory kept coming back into her mind…
Thea had been dancing the night away with Dougal when he walked into one of the back rooms to talk with some of his friends. Thea walked over to the refreshment table and picked up a glass of champagne trying not to listen to the gossip the other women where speaking of.
"Princess, I wonder if you have heard the wonderful news," Mrs. Blake said as she walked up to the Princess and curtsied gracefully. "My son, Dougal, you know, the one you dance with so fondly, he has been engaged to Miss Amora Setter, of the Central City Setters? Anyway, I have always thought they would be a good match," Mrs. Blake said as she pointed to Dougal and the girl he was dancing with.
"You mean Dougal is engaged? For how long?" Thea asked harshly and Mrs. Blake took a step back as the chandelier above their heads had started to shake an Thea's hands had a purple aura around them.
"Three years to this day, that is one reason I asked my dearest friend, and your grandmother, Duchess Illeana to throw this lovely party," Mrs. Blake said as if it were so obvious it had been written upon her brow. She curtsied and walked toward Dougal and Amora. Dougal looked longingly at Thea for a moment, but looked away with his head bowed in shame.
Thea walked over to her throne and sat firmly in it. She did not budge for the rest of the night, despite the pleadings of Glitch and her grandparents. Thea held her head high and would not let some foolish boy drag her through the mud at a party thrown by her own kin…
However strong her will had been during the party it completely crashed as the carriage brought them closer and closer to the castle until she broke down completely in the privacy of her room.
"Princess, a letter for you from the north," one of the maids said as she walked into the room and set the letter on the bedside table and left in a hurry. It must have gotten around the castle that the princess was distressed.
Thea sat up in her bed and opened the letter written in her mother's hand…
My dearest Thea and Lukas,
I write with sadness in my heart and a bandage wrapped around my wrist. A great battle has taken place and we have lost many good men, including one very close to us all. Your father was engaged in a gun fight and we have yet to find him. There is no need to worry, though, the men are out looking for him as I write and I hope that we will have found him by the time this letter reaches the two of you.
There is no other news I have to report to you my darlings, but please do not worry and keep your father and myself in your hearts and your prayers. I hope things are well in the south, but I must be honest when I say that no news has come from your aunt, Azkadelia, as of yet. Be strong, my darlings, we will be home soon.
With all my love,
Queen Dorothy Gale II
Your mother
Thea's tears once again washed her face of the makeup she had worn that night. She ran out of her room to the kitchen where she knew Glitch and Luke would be after a party as dismal as that night's was. Thea burst into the kitchen with nothing but a nightgown and shawl on and threw the letter at he brother while seeking comfort in Glitch's shoulder.
"Oh no," Luke said as he read the letter and Glitch let Thea's tears stain his shirt. Luke walked up behind his sister and wrapped his arms around her handing the letter to Glitch and walking Thea to her room.
"Leave me," Thea said through her tears and Luke only nodded, knowing full well that leaving his sister alone to deal with grief was the best for everyone. Thea lay out on the bed and curled up into a ball. The day couldn't get any worse.
(Thanks for reading now please, please, please, please review! They really do encourage me to write more. This is only the first chapter...there is more mayhem to ensue and there will also be a (slightly obvious) romance. I'll see you soon my dear readers and until next time REVIEW!!)