The third and final day we ran into trouble. While traveling a particularly bumpy stretch of road the carriage lurched and then came crashing down on one side as one of the wheels broke. Luckily, there was a spare wheel under the carriage that my stepfather had the foresight to attach before our journey. The driver jumped down from his perch and calmed the horses before checking on us in the carriage. We had slid to the corners of the seats and all the boxes and bags that had been piled in around us had dumped their contents everywhere. It was a challenge getting out of the carriage because with every move I made it seemed one of my stepsisters would scream that I was stepping on one of their new things. Eventually though, we managed to pull ourselves out with the help of the driver. Victoria and Giselle were frantic worrying about how much of a delay there would be and their luggage.

I was trying to help the driver get the wheel out and right the carriage while they were inspecting the mess of new clothes in the carriage. Once we got the wheel out it turned out that we didn't have enough manpower to right the carriage enough to put the wheel on. While the driver and I were on the opposite side of the carriage we heard Giselle and Victoria making a commotion on the other side. They were shouting at another carriage that was coming down the road escorted by four soldiers on horseback. The carriage was exquisitely designed and must have held someone of great significance. The carriage and soldiers stopped and I could hear my stepsisters cooing at them about what an unfortunate situation had befallen us. I left the driver and went to the other side of the carriage to see who had stopped. Three of the four soldiers had dismounted their horses and were listening to Victoria and Giselle tell the story of what had happened. The younger soldier was entranced by the two but the other three were much older and less susceptible to the sister's womanly wiles.

The grand carriage door opened and three men and a woman stepped out. My hand flew to my mouth and I gasped when I recognized who it was. Giselle and Victoria were more mannerly than I was. They promptly bowed and greeted Prince Hector, Princess Joslynn and her fiancé Prince Reginald of Tarahan, and Prince Christian. The royal carriage had happened across ours. While I was still dumbstruck by this surprising turn of events, Giselle and Victoria were already making friends with the royal family.

"Oh, you poor dears, you have been through quite an ordeal. Geoffrey, Thaddeus, Patrick, and Adam will help you right your carriage." Princess Joslynn said kindly.

The princess was very beautiful with a thick golden braid hanging down over one shoulder and large brown eyes. She and Prince Reginald had linked arms when they had gotten out of their carriage. Her two brothers stood on either side of the couple. The eldest, Hector, was tall and broad with a strong jaw and short cropped hair. The younger brother, Christian, was shorter than his brother and less broad but he was still quite sturdy looking with strong arms and legs. Only Christian shared his sister's glossy golden hair while Hector's hair was dark. I thought it was time to introduce myself instead of standing to the side like a fool. I stepped forward to stand by my stepsisters. The four guards had already begun helping our driver with righting the carriage and putting the wheel on.

The seven of us talked while the soldiers fixed out carriage. Giselle and Victoria were getting along very well with the princess and her fiancé. They were also coyly flirting with the princes as well. They were definitely making a good impression. I, on the other hand, was finding it hard to come up with anything witty to say and barely contributed to conversation. Nevertheless, I noticed that the young Prince Christian kept glancing in my direction.

"We are excited to attend the festivities in a few months," Victoria began.

"Oh yes, my sisters and I saw the announcement and we decided to set off as soon as possible to arrive in time." Giselle said in turn.

Victoria continued after her sister, "We want to wish you our sincerest congratulations on your engagement. I hope you will have a long and happy marriage."

"That is very kind of you, thank you." Prince Reginald said. "I am hoping the same thing. I love Joslynn and could think of no one I want to spend my life with more."

Prince Hector had excused himself to see how the soldiers were progressing with the carriage wheel. It seemed that weddings and balls were not a point of interest for him. Christian, on the other hand, was nearly as demure as I was and hardly spoke. He would only speak when asked a direct question by one of my sisters. As much as Giselle tried to incorporate him into their conversation, he remained quiet. It was understandable that the two men would not want to discuss the details of a wedding as the others were doing; I wasn't too keen on the subject either.

Christian seemed to notice, "Miss Ebony, perhaps you would like to see the horses?"

I was taken aback by such a proposition from the prince. I hesitated when answering. It seemed as if he just wanted to escape the current conversation and wanted me to escape with him. "I would like that very much." I said at last.

We walked a few yards away from the others. I knew Giselle would be sensationally jealous and surely berate me for it later. Prince Christian was destined for her after all, according to mother. The horses that pulled the royal carriage were much larger and grander than ours. Their coats were a mixture of black and white with long hair falling over their hooves. I had never seen horses such as these before. I ran my hand along one of the velvet noses. "They are horses from Tarahan. We are returning from Reginald's kingdom." Christian explained.

I continued to pet the horse. "They are beautiful." I was not sure of what to make of Prince Christian. "Are you excited for your sister's wedding and the celebrations?"

I could tell he was trying not to sigh or roll his eyes; he wanted to get away from the wedding talk. "I am happy that Joslynn found love and I am sure they will be very happy together. As for the celebrations, it is going to be extravagant to say the least. All manner of decorations and foods and entertainment have been pouring into Pharyss for a while now. I am excited to see it all come together."

"This is my first trip to the king's city. This will be my first trip anywhere almost. My family doesn't travel very far very often."

Christian nodded. "It is a wonderful city. Your sisters are both quite charming; my sister is quite taken with them. Where are you three coming from?"

The horse shook its head, apparently tired of being petted. I stopped and turned to face the prince. "We come from Lyscos. It's quite small, but it's where I have lived my whole life."

He nodded again. It was a moment before he spoke again, as if he was choosing his words carefully. "You and your sisters are very different."

That much was obvious, they were beautiful, but I didn't think that was what he was referring to though. "How do you mean?"

"They seem to be very decorous and outgoing. They are proper ladies." He said slowly. He must have seen the change in my face because he quickly amended his last statement. "Not to say that you are not a proper lady. I have just never seen a woman stoop down to help a servant repair a carriage as you did. Such things are normally a man's work."

I shrugged. I was embarrassed that he had seen me helping with the broken wheel. He was right; most women would not have even considered helping a servant. "There were no men present to assist and the driver needed the help."

Christian smiled. I noted that he had a nice smile, it was kind. "It is refreshing to see someone who is not so vapid as to ignore someone who needs help."

I could not be sure, but I was pretty sure he had just called Giselle and Victoria vapid. Hector announced that the carriage was fixed and Christian turned so he missed the lovely shade of red my face was fast turning, to my great relief. While Christian and I were talking, my stepsisters and Joslynn had decided that our two carriages would travel together to Pharyss as that was the mutual destination. Giselle and Victoria where thrilled with the arrangement and eagerly agreed. They would surely be included in all of the royal parties now and not just the ones in the town. Before I climbed back into our carriage, I turned to look at Christian. I was surprised; he had turned too and winked at me. I smiled as I got into the carriage.

The wink was not missed by Giselle who immediately began questioning me as the carriages began moving again. "What did the prince say? Why did he want to talk to you and not me? Did he say anything about me?"

I shrugged and looked out the window. This was the first time that a man had favored me over her and I wanted to savor it. "We just talked about things - the wedding, Pharyss…"

Giselle crossed her arms and pouted. "That's what we were talking about. He didn't have to leave and why did he wink at you. I mean men don't even like you, you're not very pretty or smart."

"I don't think you should talk to him anymore." Victoria said. "We can't have you bothering the royal family. Maybe you should just keep away."

Giselle nodded. I could see that she was nearly in tears. I could not muster any pity for her though. She always had men falling at her feet; she couldn't be upset just because there was one that didn't. "I don't have to stay away from the prince. I wasn't bothering him; he wanted to talk to me."

Victoria made a dismissive noise. "Of course he didn't want to talk to you. You're deluding yourself. I think he was just overwhelmed by how beautiful and charming Elle is and he needed to escape for decorum's sake before he did something rash."

Now it was my turn to scoff. Giselle, however, looked up from the tears she was wiping with a handkerchief. "You really think so?"

Victoria nodded. "Of course, why would anyone choose Ebony over you? He was probably so overcome with a sudden rush of affection for you that he had to resist the urge to take you in his arms and never let you go. To be proper, he distracted himself for a time with the plainness of Ebony to keep his feelings for you in check."

Giselle was nodding in agreement now. She had put down her handkerchief. "You are probably right."

I tried not to laugh in their faces. Victoria's explanation was the most absurd thing I had ever heard. Not every man had to fall in love with the beautiful Giselle. She even thanked me for saving the prince from his strong feelings for her, but to not distract him the next time and let him sweep her off her feet. I held back my outburst at that ridiculous order because I did not want to spend the rest of the trip under the close and potentially cruel thumbs of my stepsisters. The situation had never occurred where a man they wanted did not want them, but I did not want to find out what they were capable of if pushed. They were so self involved that they would not care what they did in pursuit of what they wanted. I had once seen Victoria nearly maim a shop girl who wouldn't let her buy a bracelet. Marrying a prince was much more important to them than a bracelet.

So that was chapter two, what did you think? Unfortunately, the computer that had this file saved on it crashed and kind of stopped my writing it. Luckily, I had most of it saved on here and after the crashing of the computer proceeded to save the file to a flash drive so it would not go the way of many, many other stories and be lost forever. So whenever I get my good computer up and running again I will continue on with Pharyss. Until then I will write my ideas for this story down on paper (not computer like before) so I have plenty to write when I can.