Chapter nineteen:

Darling woke on Saturday and smiled softly to herself, as she was very much looking forwards to the day ahead. When she picked up her phone Darling was thrilled to find a message from Raven waiting for her. 'Good morning my lovely Charming lady knight. I love you so very much and wish you a very happy birthday from the bottom of my heart.'

Smiling widely Darling hexted her back. 'Thank you for your good wishes.I love you too and I look forwards to seeing you later on my lady princess.'

'I look forwards to seeing you later too. I hope that you have a good time with your family this morning.' Raven told her in the return hext

After this hext interaction was over Darling made her way down to the castleteria, where she grabbed a quick breakfast. Once Darling had finished with her breakfast, she made her way back to her room, where she pulled out of the cupboard the box her parents had sent in the post for her birthday and placed it on the desk along with some scissors to open it and her mirror pad.

A few moments later her mirror pad chirped to alert her that her parents were calling. Darling sat down at the desk and answered the call. "Hey mum! Hey dad!" Darling greeted cheerfully.

"Morning and happy birthday Darling!" Her mother said smiling widely.

"Happy birthday, my little princess!" Her father said to her cheerfully.

Darling returned their smiles. "Thank you both! I have your box here, shall I open it now?"

Darling's mother nodded to her. "Yes, please do."

With this permission given to her, Darling picked up the scissors and then carefully used them to open the box up. Carefully she pulled out of it the first of the three presents which were inside it and opened the gift. Inside the wrapping paper was a lovely white capelet with a hood, the inside of which was lined with a thick blue fabric. "Oh wow, this is lovely and should help keep me warm during winter."

Darling's mother smiled widely at her daughter, before saying to her. "I'm so glad you like it. I saw it in a local store and instantly thought of you."

"I can see why." Darling told her with a smile.

Darling put the caplet to one side, she reached back into the box, she brought out the next gift and opened this, inside the paper were a new set of brushes for Sir Gallopad.

"Oh, new brushes! Thank you. I really needed some of those!" Darling said to them gratefully.

"I know it's a fairly boring present, but we know you needed them." Her father said with a note of apology to his voice.

"Oh, please don't apologise, they are perfect." Darling assures him.

Darling drew the last present out of the box, she unwrapped it to see that this present was a book of the legends, folk and fairy tales from the kingdom of Regal. "Why did you send me this book?" Darling asked them with confusion.

Darling's parents shared a smile, before her mother said to her. "We wanted to show you that we accept your relationship with Raven. These stories all come from her kingdom."

"Wait Raven is the heir to the Regal kingdom?" Darling asked them in shock.

They nodded to her and Darling's father said. "Clearly Raven had not told you that."

Darling shook her head. "No, she hadn't, but to be fair it's not something we had really spoken about yet, things have been rather hectic for us since we discovered what we mean to each other and that we are more than likely the start of a new fairy tale. It will be wonderful to know the kind of stories Raven grew up knowing. Thank you, for the gifts mum and dad."

"You are very welcome Darling. Are you going to be meeting your brothers after this?" Her mother asked her.

Darling nodded to them. "Yes, I am."

Darling's father asked her conversationally. "How are things between Raven and yourself?"

As soon as he asked Darling this, her face lit up with a wide smile and her eyes sparkled with pleasure. "They are wonderful, I love my lady princess so much. Knowing she is my true love brings me a great deal of joy. Raven accepts me as I am, she never tries to make me do anything I don't want to or behave in a way I am not comfortable in. I will admit I am very enjoying the training and subjects I am now studying."

Hearing her say this caused both her parents to relax and Darling's father said to her in a happy voice. "It's wonderful to hear that you are so happy with your new situation in life."

"I couldn't be happier." Darling assured them.

"Well, we should let you go, so you can go meet up with Daring and Dexter." Darling's mother said cheerfully.

She nodded to them and said. "Yes, I should. I love you both. I'll talk to you both soon."

"We love you too." Her parents said to her, before they ended the call.

Darling let out a happy sigh, she was so glad that her parents were accepting her new part and that Raven and herself were in love. Darling picked up her phone and hexted her brothers to find out where to meet them. Daring answered her, telling Darling her that they are waiting for her in one of the study rooms.

Darling left her room to head off to meet her brothers in the study room. When she entered the room, Daring and Dexter stood up, they smiled widely at Darling and say cheerfully together. "Happy birthday Darling!

"Thanks!" She said to them, while crossing the room. When she reached them Darling shared hugs with Dexter and then Daring.

When they finished hugging, they all sat down on one of the comfortable sofas in the room and Daring presented her with his gift. "Happy birthday little sis!"

"Thanks, Daring." Darling said cheerfully, accepting the gift from him.

Darling opened the present to reveal a book of Daring's best things to say to charm a lady. Darling fought to appear happy to receive this gift from him. "It's great, thank you Daring,"

Dexter shook his head slightly, of course Daring's gift would still focus on himself. Dexter then handed his present over to Darling. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Dexter." Darling said cheerfully, as she took it from him.

Once she had the paper off of the gift Darling realises it is new larger saddle bags. "I thought that now you are a hero you would need bigger bags to take all your rescue kit, weapons and supplies or anything else you need with you on any quest or adventure you might have."

"That's so thoughtful of you Dexter!" Darling said to him gratefully.

Dexter is thrilled to hear that Darling like his gift. "I'm happy you like my gift."

"I really do." Darling assured him.

"Will you be seeing Raven today?" Dexter asked her curiously.

Darling nodded to him. "Yes, I will be…I never did ask how you felt about Raven and myself being together."

Dexter let out a deep sad sigh and then said to her in a voice which was laced with pain. "I loved her a lot…I loved our date, but Raven made sure to tell me that as much as she enjoyed our time together, she saw me only as a friend and couldn't love me in the way I wanted to…After that I began to realise we are better as friends, then slowly I developed feelings for Cupid…We went on our first date just a week ago and she finds me perfectly charming as I am so…I'm not at all hurt that Raven and yourself are together…In fact I know you will take good care of Raven and that you will make her a wonderful knight and prince. I want you to know that I have no intention of trying to get between the two of you…Raven is my friend and you are my sister and the two of you are true loves…I could never hurt you both in that way."

Hearing all of this made Darling feel glad that her twin understood that Raven and she were true loves and that he had no lingering love towards Raven, just the feelings of a friend. Darling was very happy to know that Dexter wasn't going to try and separate the two of them. She hugged her twin and said to him. "I am glad you aren't unhappy about our relationship."

Dexter returned the hug, saying as he did so. "You two are true loves, sooner or later the two of you would have found each other and that would have been worse for me in the long run. I am happy that you have a true love…I want Raven to be happy and I know she will be that with you her true love. As I said I know you will take good care of Raven, let's face it you are a far better prince for her than I could ever have been. I'm her friend, former lover and now a protective brother I guess…My feelings are a little confused around this part, but not bad…"

Darling hugged him a little tighter and nodded. "I understand…However you should tell Cupid all of this."

"I already did and Cupid wants to take the chance on dating me any way." Dexter told Darling with a slight smile appearing on his face.

Darling nodded to him. "I am glad that Cupid is aware of the situation you are both in."

"All I ask is that you take good care of Raven and love her with all your heart alright?" Dexter asked her in a soft slightly wobbling voice.

Darling nodded to him again. "I promise I will always love and protect Raven."

"Thank you." He said in a whisper.

After this they broke the hug and shared a smile. "Go on, go hext Raven, so you can go meet your true love and spend some time together."

"I will do that right after I take your presents back to my room. Thank you both for your presents." Darling told them, before she left the study room. Darling made her way back to her room, she placed her gifts onto the bed, then set about putting them away.

Once she had finished sorting out her presents, Darling pulled out the mirror phone and sent a hext to Raven. 'Hey Raven I've seen my parents and brothers, I have received from them all their birthday wishes and gifts, so I plan to go down to the castleteria and get some lunch now. Where do you want to meet up after I have eaten?'

It didn't take long for Darling's phone to beep with an answer to her message. Darling quickly read the message to herself. 'Hello Darling, I wasn't expecting you to be finished so soon, so I said I would help Apple decorate the south ballroom for one of the up coming dances. I did tell her I would stop when you hexted me and Apple assured me that she wouldn't mind. I'll let Apple know that you've just hexted me and will be picking me up after lunch. Would you mind, coming to the ballroom to pick me up?'

Darling didn't hesitate to return this text. 'I am more than happy to come to the south ballroom to pick you up after I have eaten lunch. Did you settle on which movie we are going to go and see this afternoon?'

A few moments later Raven answered this question. 'It took me a little while for me to decide, because I was torn between the dragon and the princess or Beast within. In the end I settled on the Dragon and the princess, it sounds really interesting and romantic.'

The moment Darling read the title of the movie which Raven had chosen for them, she smiled to herself, she had been wanting to see that movie for a while and was very happy to know that Raven had a similar taste in movies. Darling quickly hexted her back. 'I am very much looking forwards to going to seeing that movie with you…Honestly I've wanted to see the dragon and the princess for a little while. I will hext you again when I have finished with lunch and I am on the way to pick you up. It should take me to long to eat and then come to get you.'

'Okay, I'll see you soon then my Charming lady knight.' Raven replied to her.

Smiling to herself Darling made her way from her room and down to the catleteria, she grabbed something to eat, sat down at one of the tables and started to eat.

Once she had finished eating, Darling took her tray to the right area of the castleteria and made her way outside. When in the corridor Darling moved to one side, she sent a hext to Raven. 'I've just finished eating my lunch and I am on my way to the south ballroom.'

The answer to this hext came swiftly. 'Great! I'll see you soon then!"

Smiling to herself Darling put her mirror phone away, she made her way to the south ballroom. When she reached the doors to the room, Darling pulled them open and went inside. "Welcome Darling Charming." Apple said to her in a formal voice and dressed in an equally formal gown. Darling staired with awe and surprise at Apple and the scene before her.

(Yes, I know I am bit mean ending this chapter here, but I promise I have a good reason.)