Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home



Unlike what Gaddes had predicted, they didn't arrive the next night but rather the morning after the expected time. They arrived just as the sun was rising, signalling the beginning of a new day. Melody looked in awe at the large city. It was everything Iris had made it out to be. She truly felt like she was in a medieval story.

Vast crop lands and forests surrounded the city itself. Zenada was nothing imaginable for Melody. As she rode through the stone roads and streets on horseback to the castle, she tried to take in everything she saw. There were shops that looked like they were of British design, homes that looked Egyptian and libraries that had the architecture of the romans.

The castle took her breath away. It was larger than she thought it would have been. Great stone walls acted as a bearer between the city and the castle. As they passed through the massive gateway, they crossed the crystal blue moat and through another wall that surrounded the castle. It was when they passed through the second wall that Melody's breath was truly taken away.

The walls of the castle were a pale gold colour and looked like it was built with marble. The castle was six stories high. The overall shape of the castle looked like a rectangle that was cut in half lengthwise. When they arrived at the entrance to the castle, stable boys stood by waiting to take the horses back to the stables.

Iris was the first to dismount and hand her reins over to one of the boys. Iris inhaled deeply, taking in all the scents that she missed so dearly. It was good to be home or so Iris thought.

"My lady! Your parents crave a word with you!" the old maid shouted in her stern old voice as Iris walked up the white marble steps. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. She knew her parents were going to give her an ear ache by the time they were done with her.

"Thank you Gloria. I'll talk to them later."

"No later. They want to speak to you now!" Iris didn't bother to argue. She needed to save her energy for her parents.

"Okay, okay I'm going. Could you please show our guests to their rooms in the east wing?" Iris hurried up the steps and went to her father's study. It was where they always had their 'family' talks. She knocked on the polished wooden door softly. When there was no reply she let herself in. Like usual, her father sat at his desk with a displeased mask on his face. Her mother sat beside him looking the same way.

"Iris, what you did was very irresponsible. You could have been seriously hurt. Did you not think of what would happen if you left the safety of Asturia?" Iris held back her laugh from her mother.

"Yes I did actually. And you know what, for the first time since I came here, I actually had a good time! I had a lot more excitement when I was travelling with Millerna and the others!"

"So I see you met Dryden." Iris clenched her fist in a ball. She was hoping not to get onto that topic but her mother always found a way to change the subject.

"Yes . . ."Iris groaned. "Wait a minute, why do I have to get married to Dryden? I don't think it's fair that Ian get's out of marrying someone he doesn't want to!"

"Iris . . ." her mother paused and tried to find the right words to use.

"Iris because Ian is marrying outside of nobility and royal blood, he doesn't ascend to the Zenadan throne. You do." her eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"I don't get it. What does blood have to do with any of this? I've seen other royals marry commoners before. So why do I have to marry into nobility?" her father sighed and rubbed his temples.

"In Zenadan tradition at birth it is determined who will take the throne by a prophecy. Your grandparents thought it was nothing when the prophecy said I would become king and not my older brother. As you already know he was assassinated before he could take the throne. We didn't want that to happen to Ian." Iris had a blank stare. Everything her father said was slowly making sense to her. However questions would arise in her. She began to wonder if it was some joke they were playing on her.

"So you're saying I'm going to become queen of Zenada." her mother nodded. "And what does that have to do with me having to marry Dryden? You still haven't answered that."

"The people favour noble marriages."

"So what! What about what I favour!? It's not like they have to live with him for the rest of their fucking lives!" Iris shouted, cutting her mother off.

"Iris! The arrangements have been made and there's no way in changing it." Iris took a deep breath and rolled her eyes at her parents. She couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't really in the mood for an argument. So she turned around and began to leave. "Iris, where are you going?" her father demanded. However, Iris didn't answer him and just left.



Iris walked into her room and slammed the wooden doors shut. Her pace slowed as she approached her four poster bed. She sat down and laid backwards. She never felt more confused and frustrated in her life! What was she going to do? There seemed no way in getting out of marrying Dryden. But did she want out? She thought back to her conversation with her parents and wondered why she didn't fight as tough as usual.

"Hello? Iris?" Millerna opened the door and then knocked.

Iris sat up right and raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Is there something you want?"

"Well I was thinking we could all go down to the bazaar this afternoon. You know, just the girls." Millerna walked into Iris' room and made herself at home by sitting in the dark blue, cushioned sofa by the bay window.

"Millerna, I'm not really in the mood. You guys can go. I just need to get some rest." Millerna stood up and looked concerned for Iris. She knew something wasn't right.

"Okay then but just remember, you can always talk to me if you have any problems." Iris laughed inwardly but made no sound.

At the sound of the door clicking shut, Iris glanced around her room and wondered what she could do that would perhaps take her mind off of her problems. When her eyes landed on the neatly folded towel a thought came to mind. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

She walked to her dark oak dresser and opened one of the lower drawers. In the drawer was an assortment of her neatly folded bathing suits. Iris dug through the draw until she pulled out her deep blue two-piece bathing suit. It was her favourite from Earth. It had a normal bikini top but the bottom piece were like shorts.

She changed out of her outfit and into her bathing suit. When she was changed, Iris grabbed the white house coat that hung on the coat hanger. She slipped it on and tied it up loosely. She next slipped on her sandals and grabbed a towel before leaving her room and heading to the pool on the first floor of the palace.

She opened the door and looked around. No one was there. *Perfect!* she smiled and went in. After she shut the door, she locked it to stop any one from intruding. She walked over to one of the wooden reclining chairs where she put down her towel and took off her coat and sandals.

A chill went up her spine as her feet touched the cold, white marble floor. She walked quickly across it to the pool. When she stood at the water's edge, she dipped the tip of her foot into the water to test the temperature before she drove in. as she swam to the surface, it seemed that all her problems were washing away. Nothing could ruin that moment for her.

As she broke the water's surface, she turned to swim away from the edge and towards shallow end of the pool. As she turned around, she saw the one person she least expected standing before her.



A/N: ya, ya, ya . . .I know it's short but I've been soooo busy with school. I'll try to make the next chapter longer and I'll try to get it up sooner. Hope you enjoyed and please review ^_^