"Okay, why are you being even more of a dweeb that usual?"
Amy flinched in surprise, her head jerking upward before she relaxed back into her seat realizing it was only her doofus of a brother.
"What are you talking about?" She demanded, voice slightly fainter than usual, eyes brimming with an emotion Dan couldn't exactly discern.
"You've been reading in your room by yourself all week," Dan pointed out, closing the door behind him and leaning on his sister's massive dresser.
"So?" Amy raised an eyebrow, "I do that all the time," she closed the leather bound volume she had been poring through and placed it on the table, crossing her arms in a defiant motion.
"True, I forgot you were a hermit," Dan grinned, narrowly missing the hairbrush Amy aimed at his forehead. "You just seem sad, dude," he said, uncharacteristically gentle as he perched himself on the corner of Amy's bed.
Amy paused. "I don't know what you mean, Dan, I'm sorry if I don't seem like I'm in a good mood or something, but I mean, I-I'm fine," A flurry of denial poured out of Amy's mouth, but she closed it the instant a stutter escaped.
"Is this because of the mysterious letters Uncle Fiske is having delivered for you?" Dan asked slowly, tone accusatory, gaze unwavering from his sister's telling face.
Amy failed to contain her surprise as her mouth popped open, eyes widening. "I-what-how did you know about those?" Amy had always known that her brother's playful nature and tendency to find trouble was accompanied with the brightest intellect, but she also knew him to have a one track mind. Clearly she had underestimated how observant he was.
"Tell me who they're from or I'll tell mom and dad," Dan lowered his voice, leaning forward clearly ready to hear his sisters secret.
"It's none of your business, dweeb, now leave me alone," she kicked him lightly on the shin, fingers grazing the spine of her book. "I'm busy."
Dan slowly rose, and walked towards the door, placing his hand on the doorknob. "Okay, I guess I'm just going to go tell mom that you're sending secret letters to someone," Dan sang over his shoulder, shrugging his shoulders.
"Wait!" Amy blurted, on her feet. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you, oh my god!" Why was her little brother such a pain in the ass.
Dan flashed her an angelic smile, before leaning on the door, raising his eyebrows in wait for an answer. "Well?"
"I'll tell you but you have to swear not to tell anyone, alright?" Amy groaned, head in her hands.
Dan nodded expectantly, tapping his foot in anticipation as Amy looked up. "So, Ian Kabra and I have been writing letters back and forth for a few months-" Amy started.
"WHAT!" Dan interrupted in surprise. "You've been talking to that creep?"
"I know, I just thought we had something, there was a spark, and I wanted to not be a coward for once in my life and actually go for what I wanted," Amy bit her lip, and Dan's eyes softened.
"Well, he's a snake, and I know you're really ugly but you can do better than him, Amy," Dan teased, and Amy's lips quirked into a reluctant smile.
"Well, he hasn't written me back in weeks, so I think I'm going to have to, anyway," Amy blinked back tears, "I don't know what I did wrong, I even wrote him another letter in case the last one got lost or something!"
Dan watched Amy wipe away a tear that she had clearly been working hard to contain, and he squatted down next to the love seat she was sitting on.
"I don't know what his deal is, but he's a huge dick, and you're way better off without him in your life," Dan said, smiling gently.
"Thanks, Danny," she grinned, eyes glistening. "I just feel like such a fool for letting me feel like this, you know?"
"Yeah," Dan patted her on the back. "But you're not a fool, you're the smartest person I know, so stop letting him get to you."
Amy blinked her tears away and nodded, feigning a sense of ease and comfort. She appreciated her brother's words, and she wanted to take them to heart, but she couldn't. Ian Kabra had wrapped his fingers around her insides with every sweet word and mischievous grin, and he'd managed to yank them out by simply never speaking to her again.
Amy had read about heartbreak from the points of views of different characters in all her favorite romance novels, but she had yet to experience it herself until she met him.
She sighed and waved at her brother as he left the room, the thud of the door punctuating the end of the slight solace Dan's presence had brought her.
Amy Cahill was going to be Queen. She was a fighter, a leader, an apt politician. She couldn't go on this way, shattering into a million pieces just because a boy didn't write her back. Yet, it would be untrue to dismiss him as a mere boy, he had turned her life upside down by just meeting her gaze. There was something unexplainable between them, but they both felt it. Or at least, Amy had.
Amy was about to read Ian's letters one more time, when there was a knock at her door. Shit. She hoped her nose wasn't all red from crying.
"Come in!" She called, and the door swung open a crack, Nellie's cherry colored head popping out.
"Hey, kiddo, your parents are down in your mom's study and they're asking for you," she said, her usually unwavering sense of cheer seeming slightly translucent as she spoke a smidgen too fast.
Amy frowned. What could it be? "Thanks, Nellie, I'll be down in a second," she replied, rising and smoothing down her dress. As Nellie closed the door, Amy splashed some water on her face in the bathroom, and ran a hairbrush through her hair. Her parents didn't need to know that the Lucian Prince had ensnared her in his trap.
The door to the study was slightly ajar, and Amy pushed it open to immediately feel suffocated by the tension that clouded the room. Her parents, Grace, and Fiske were huddled around the desk, and they looked up when she entered, faces grave.
"What's happened?" Amy asked, voice clear and face composed. Her back was straight, and she commanded the room like a queen as she approached the desk to see a letter.
She almost snorted. Written correspondence seemed to dictate every aspect of her life at the moment.
"Vikram and Isabel did not accept Eisenhower's apology and they have doubled their troops at the border," Arthur started, sighing.
"Eisenhower responded by tripling his guards, and Vikram saw this as a hostile motion," Fiske explained, "we just received word a few minutes ago that the two kingdoms have begun to commit armed attacks against each other."
"Have you made the order to send in peacekeeping forces?" Amy asked her mother, who exchanged a look with her father.
"Amy, you are going to serve as Queen in less than a year, a few months," Hope took her daughter's hand in her own. "This conflict will be yours to handle, and so we think it is only reasonable that you make the decisions that pertain to it."
"Me?" Amy asked, disbelieving. She didn't know what else to say.
"We're all here to help you, and you must obviously sit with parliament, but you are to be the sovereign in a few months, and we don't want to make choices that will affect your reign negatively," Grace said gently.
Amy nodded. Her heart was racing. She held the future of the Cahill peninsula in her hands, and it was overwhelming. But she wasn't scared.
"So what are we going to do, your Majesty?" Fiske asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly. The four adults waited with bated breath as the seventeen year old looked from one of them to the other, features wrought in concentration.
"We are going to firstly send peacekeeping troops, we can't undo the fact that they have gone to war, but we can protect innocents of both sides from harm," Amy declared, and Fiske nodded.
"I think you should press for a meeting with the monarchs, arbitrate a discussion on the regulations of this war, ensure that no war crimes or other injustices are committed," Amy told her mother, "if there is to be a war the least we can do is ensure it is just."
Amy scanned the letter on the table. "Mom, you also need to speak with Queen Denise and Cora, make sure they don't take sides and stay uninvolved, we need to limit the scope of this conflict, we can't have kingdoms fighting one another in a chain reaction," Amy instructed.
Hope nodded and smiled. "At once, my Queen."
HELLO everyone! I want to thank you all for the love and support this story is getting, it mkes me so happy to hear that people actually enjoy this and you're all so wonderful and inspiring. So from this chapter on I'm going to start responding to reviewers! These are the people that reviewed chapter 9:
MlleEtincelle: this is so cute it made me laugh! Hells yes girl we are back, and I'm glad you liked that bit, I was wondering about when I would slip it in! Thank you for your continuous support you're amazing!
KingGuest: thank you so much you're so sweet! I'm trying to update as fast as I can, but I feel less inspired because this part of the story is so not fluffy. Yesss stay tuned for some Amian fluff, there will be some in a couple chapters!
Some Person: thank you! I'm glad you like the story, and I'll try to update as fast as I can for you haha!
Flora411: this is so nice thank you so much! It's such a pleasure to share this story with you and hear what you have to say! I shouldn't give anything away but Amy and will definitely be reunited in the next couple chapters! I'm so excited for you to read them!
Thank you guys for reviewing chapter 9! Let me know what you think about this one!