DG slept peacefully in her bed. Despite the fact that her parents weren't due until early that morning, she did not take any chances getting caught in Cain's bed . . . naked. She snuck back to her room shortly before midnight. After her talk with Azkadellia she went back to help Cain clean, even though he urged her not to. He looked her up and down as she helped dry the priceless china and valuable silver. He loved how laid back she looked in a pair of jeans and his shirt. He always said the sexiest thing a woman could wear was a piece of his clothing. Adora hated to wear anything of his, stating that a woman should never wear men's clothing. She said it was unlady like and the Queen would be horrified at the thought. Now he had the princess wearing his shirt. He couldn't get DG to stop wearing his clothes: a shirt here, a pair of boxers there, even his hat wasn't safe. After cleaning they made their way back up to Cain's room where they ended up laying in bed for a while, talking. When talking got boring they found other ways of entertaining each other. When Cain was fast asleep, DG wiggled out from under his arm and made her way back to her room. She fell asleep, exhausted, but entirely happy. She could have stayed in bed all morning, but that would not happen.
Azkadellia flew into DG's room, landing in the center of DG's bed with a flop. DG groaned and turned over on her stomach, shielding herself from the onslaught of Azkadellia. She loved her sister dearly, but sometimes it was just too much to take.
"Deeg wake up!" Azkadellia said, shaking her sister's sleeping body. DG groaned again and pulled her covers up over her head.
"Go away," She muffled into the pillow. Azkadellia huffed and tried again, this time shaking harder.
"Deeeeg, wake up." She pushed her sister, trying to get her to at least open one eye. DG groaned into the pillow and carefully opened an eye. Her sister sat a mere foot away, already dressed and wide awake. She looked like she'd been up for hours, already conquering the day. "You need to spend less time with Cain at night and more time working on your beauty sleep. You look like crap." Azkadellia admitted to her sister. DG swore under her breath as she opened the other eye. She threw the covers back and pushed herself up into a sitting position, knocking over Azkadellia.
"What is so important?" DG asked as a large yawn escaped her lips. Azkadellia thrust a cream colored packet into DG's unsuspecting face, just barely missing her nose.
"This," she said with force. DG picked up the packet and flipped through it nonchalantly. "Could you care any less?" Azkadellia asked.
"What is it?" DG said, turning back to the cover.
"Toto made it for me. It's a list of all the eligible men in the kingdom." She nodded as DG raised and eye brow. "Yeah, I know, tell me about it. I'm that pathetic I need a list." She grabbed the list from DG and flipped through it carefully. "Bartholomew, Edgar, Wilmur, Thaddeus, oh just bring on the fun." Azkadellia threw the list on the bed.
"Oh come on. Those are just names. You can't judge a person by a name Az." DG reached for the list. Her face fell. "Ok, well Wilmur is 95, and Edgar is 12." She looked up at her sister. "He's a very rich 12 year old." She shrugged. Azkadellia glared over at her sister and crossed her arms. DG flipped through the packet on last time, this time more carefully. "What exactly was Toto thinking? I wonder how long he's had this."
"It's awful. It's like a shopping catalogue for men." DG started to open her mouth but Azkadellia stopped her with a raised finger. "It's not the same thing. Choosing a man from a catalogue is not the same as picking out socks or a coat." She lowered her finger and watched her sister turn through the pages. DG nodded her head and threw the packet back to her sister.
"I think you should go with Wilhelm James." DG said as she threw her legs over the side of the bed. Azkadellia watched as her sister got out of bed and headed towards her bathroom. She picked up the packet and turned to the J's.
"Wilhelm James," She started to read, "Age 31, distant cousin to the Queen of Freland, brown hair, green eyes, plays polo and drinks scotch on the rocks." She paused and scratched her head. "Toto sucks, this information is useless. I don't care about what his favorite drink is." She called over her shoulder to her sister. "What use is this?" DG stuck her head out of the bathroom, a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. She shrugged.
"Thought he sounded interesting," She mumbled as she avoided drooling on the carpet. Azkadellia watched as DG retreated to the bathroom and listened as the faucet ran. She patiently waited for DG to come back out and looked over Wilhelm's profile carefully. DG stood in the doorway watching her sister read the page, her face lost in thought. Azkadellia brought a finger to her lips and nervously bit her nail. This would be harder than she thought. DG cleared her throat and walked over towards her wardrobe, in search of something to wear. Azkadellia looked up and frowned.
"So Wilhelm? Really?" She asked. DG nodded as she slipped out of her pajamas. She grabbed a blue sweater and a pair of jeans. "What if he's weird or smelly?" DG laughed as she poured herself into her jeans.
"Welcome to the world of dating." She buttoned her jeans and reached for her sweater. She looked at Azkadellia's worried face. "Don't worry, you'll survive." She slipped the sweater over her head, her black hair sticking out in all directions. She started to reach for a brush when she heard a knock at the door. Not recognizing it as Cain's, DG's brow crossed as she walked to the door. Azkadellia looked up as DG opened the door and a worried Glitch shuffled into the room. "Yes?" DG asked. Glitch looked down at his hands as he wrung them and then muttered something.
"Your mother wants to see you both. In the drawing room." He scuffed a shoe on the carpet and looked sheepishly at both girls. Both knew that if Glitch was worried, they should be too. Glitch and their mother were quite close, going back to their childhoods. Since she'd lost her powers, their mother was soft spoken and pleasant, hardly the powerful woman she once was. If Glitch was worried, it meant something bad. DG swallowed and looked at her sister. Azkadellia picked up her list and wiggled off the bed as graceful as one could. They turned to Glitch and he gave a quick nod. DG grabbed the brush really fast and ran it through her hair in a brief manner. On her way out she glanced at the mirror, it would have to do. As they walked down the hall, DG felt a hand grasp her own. She squeezed it back and smiled up at Cain.
"Where are you off to so early?" He asked. DG could smell shaving cream and after shave. He smelled clean and fresh and she knew he'd been up for hours, carefully checking the palace for security threats.
"I have a meeting with my mother." She motioned over towards Glitch. "He seems more fidgety than normal, I'm kind of worried," she whispered. Cain gave her a reassuring nudge.
"You'll be fine. I have to go out and check the perimeters of the palace; I'll see you at lunch." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and let go of her hand. As they reached the doors of the drawing room he broke away. He was a big man and usually unafraid of very little, but he had an idea of what the queen wanted from the girls that morning and he did not want to be around. DG watched helplessly as her support walked briskly up the hall. He gave her a supportive wink as he turned the corner and then he was gone. DG took a breath and turned to her sister and her sister swallowed.
"This is where I leave you." Glitch mumbled as she backed away.
"But I-where-no," DG mumbled. She suddenly become Glitchified and could hardly grasp her words. Her friend waved slowly and walked away. Azkadellia pushed open the door, taking DG's hand in her own. The two braced for the worse as they walked into the large drawing room.
The drawing room was always a heavy room to enter as children. It was off limits during certain times of the day as their mother was always working on something and couldn't be distracted. The library was where the girls had their lessons, the drawing room was where the queen had hers. Looking out over the gardens, the room as was always filled with light and it seemed fair as to why the queen spent so many hours here. The girls were brought in once a day as children to see their mother and it always seemed like a grand occasion. They were dressed up and brought in like little china dolls, all done up for the appearance with the queen. It was the one time in their day that it was pointed out how important their mother was. Now, many years later, the girls still felt the dread of entering this sacred space of their mother's. She sat at a small wooden desk that DG knew cost more than her entire home in Kansas. The fragile writing desk looked like even the smallest bump would break it into a thousand pieces. She was staring at it when her mother broke her thoughts.
"I am ashamed of you two right now." Her usually soft spoken mother uttered. The girls lifted their eyes to their mother and grasped their hands tighter. Maybe the power of the light would transport them out of this bad dream.
"Why ever so mother?" Azkadellia asked innocently, throwing in a few batted eyelashes for good measure. The queen ignored the attempt and continued.
"I don't know what to do with you two!" She looked from daughter to daughter. "I have one daughter running around and sleeping around with her fiancé." DG felt her face turn a bright shade of red. The Queen turned to Azkadellia. "And I have another daughter avoiding lessons and injuring potential husbands." The queen rose from her desk in a slow manner, almost stately. She kept her eyes on her daughters. "I don't know if you both realize, but you are princesses. A certain level of decorum is required, I don't care if you are in your home, and you are expected to uphold this level." Her voice was tense and upsetting.
"Mother-"DG began. The queen held up a hand.
"Your father and I leave the palace for just one evening and the palace is all a buzz with rumors," She slowly backed away from the desk. "I don't know what to do, really girls." They watched as their mother place a hand over her heart. They knew she wanted to yell, to get whatever was on her chest out, but they knew she lacked the strength. They knew they'd crossed the line with her and it was hard for them to deal with. "We had rules for a reason and you both disobeyed them."
"Are we being punished?" DG asked slowly. Her mother looked carefully at her daughter and sighed. She was never able to stay mad at those wide, blue eyes.
"I can't keep you from Cain. That would be enough punishment, but seeing as he is in charge of looking out for you, I can't keep you two from seeing each other. With the wedding approaching it seems silly." She looked at daughter to daughter again.
"I just want an understanding that you will both behave yourselves from now own. Act your ages and remember who you are." She softly closed her eyes and opened them again. She wanted to open them and see her little girls as little girls again. She wanted the chance to see them grow up into young ladies meant to rule a kingdom. However, after sending DG away to another world and Azkadellia becoming possessed, it was hardly the ending she thought it would be. She sighed.
"DG you will spend the morning in your room wedding planning. Azkadellia you will spend the day in the library with your tutor catching up on lost lessons." Azkadellia started to open her mouth. "No word from you young lady. You have far too much to learn in the next few months and avoiding lessons only makes it worse." Her face softened and she walked over to the girls, pulling them to her in a hug.
"I don't want to get mad at you, but it's hard when you don't listen." She pulled away and looked each daughter in the eye. "Promise me you'll behave."
"Promise," Each girl said. Their mother smiled and backed away, returning to her desk. She nodded. Each girl stayed frozen, awaiting their next orders.
"You girls can leave." Their mother looked up and waved them away. The girls bowed their heads and slowly turned to leave. They couldn't get out of the room fast enough, eager to do anything but stand in that awkward position.
DG sat at her writing desk in her room, tapping her pen impatiently on the desk. She was trying to come up with the perfect way to write her announcements, but was coming up short. John, the event planner, paced behind her slowly, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. The soft thuds of his feet on the carpet distracted her.
"How about: 'We're getting hitched, everybody come!'?" She looked up, a grin on her face. With a heavy groan John shook his head. DG's face fell and her head thumped onto the desk. "I give up." She groaned into the thick, expensive writing paper. She heard John's feet approach and she felt his heavy hand on her shoulder. She raised her head and looked up at him. He looked down on her with understanding eyes. She felt her shoulders slump as he removed his hand, knowing he crossed a line. The help should never touch the princess without being asked first . . . unless you were Cain. DG watched as he backed away and stood facing her. This was the first time she'd ever really looked at the man.
John Dullridge was quite an attractive man. At around his mid to late thirties, the man still looked young and spry. Tall, with dark hair and even darker eyes, he was the embodiment of the expression 'tall, dark and handsome'. Part of his attractiveness seemed to be the assertiveness that had frightened DG as a small girl. He had started at the palace as a teenager, an apprentice to the event planner chosen by the queen as a young girl. He soon retired and John took his place around the time that DG was born. He was the youngest in his field, and it never showed in his work. Now, as he planned the big event, she could see he was nervous. She decided to start taking this stuff serious. She turned to the blank page and poised the pen over it.
"How do I even begin writing this?" She asked. John frowned and crossed his arms, his expensive suit made a crinkling sound. "Don't they have pre-made ones, with the words already written?" She wrinkled her nose and tapped her pen. John smiled.
"Hardly, everything is custom made for princesses. I thought this would be a nice way for you to be involved. This way you are personally inviting the guests yourself. No generic, hokey greetings here." He paused. "Let's brainstorm, what is it you want your guests to know? What is it about Cain that you love?" DG raised an eyebrow.
"You can put that on a wedding announcement?" She laughed as John groaned. "I'm kidding." She paused and thought for a moment. Her thoughts were interrupted as the door shot open. 'I need to deadbolt it' she thought to herself.
"DG it's lun-" Azkadellia stopped as she walked in the room. She eyed John and frowned. "So you're the stuffy shirt man that's locked up my sister all morning." She huffed. "I hate you by principle." DG rolled her eyes and sat down her pen. She looked up at John, and for once he looked impressed. She watched him as he looked her sister up and down, carefully sizing her up.
"Do you think I could take a break? We've been at this all morning." DG stood up from her desk. John nodded. "Thanks. I'll be back after lunch." She slid by the man and linked her arm with her sister's. As the girls walked out the door DG nudged her sister.
"Rude much?" she asked. Azkadellia grinned. "You really are evil." DG poked her sister's arm. Azkadellia let out a wicked cackle and the two girls laughed all the way to the dining room.
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