Lowered inhibitions and underhanded tricks

Chapter 9

I know I shouldn't be shocked by the turn of events. He was the ONLY one to act as expected. But I guess I am shocked that he would disregard his daughter's feeling like that. I'm standing here watching the door that the King and then the Queen walked out of, listening to Princess Amber and Sofia talk. While I recount everything.

We were finally summoned to see The King. But we were sent to the family room as opposed to the throne room, which I would have found more appropriate. Before we go in Sofia stops me. Pulls my face close

"Keep it short and simple. Don't be too anxious." She gives me a quick peck on the lips. I open the door and allow Sofia to enter before I. I can see her beam with pride at my gentlemanly act. All but Prince James are present. The Queen and Princess Amber are talking about some fashion this and that, while The King is reading something. Princess Amber and King Roland pay us no mind. But I do get an appreciated smile from Queen Miranda on my cleaned up appearance. I felt somewhat uncomfortable without my robe. But I recalled the very heart racing make out session we had after I had dress, and it did make up for feeling a little exposed. We walked more into the room until The King finally acknowledged our presence, by putting down his paperwork.

"Sofia, your mother tells me you wish to speak with me."

She fidgets a bit "well not me..." pauses and looks at me "but Mr Cedric." He finally acknowledges me and waves his hand as to tell me to go on. I take a deep breath to steel my nerves. Reminding myself to be confident, not to stutter and as she eloquently put it 'keep it short and simple'.

"Your majesty I would like to ask your permission to properly court your daughter..." I was about to ramble on but I noticed The Queen put her hand up slightly signaling me not to continue. We wait a pregnant moment for him to react. I get anxious thinking maybe he didn't hear me. But then most unexpectedly he starts to laugh out loud. It was the most heart wrenching sound and I tensed at it. I begin to feel my anger rise, Sofia must have noticed and puts her hand on my arm to calm me. Then he finally replies

"You are kidding. Yes, that's it, right?" Not hearing anyone else laugh he surveys the room. Seeing a mixture of anger (me), upset (Sofia) and disappointment (The Queen) staring back at him. "Sofia, you can't be serious? This is absurd." She doesn't answer him but hides her face against my side. I feel her begin to sob, I move my hand to caress her head. Trying to calm her. My anger rising steadily. He looks over at his wife "and you approve of this?"

"Roland I have carefully watched their relationship grow for years. There was no surprise when they came to me. And they came to me because before we moved here I sat my sweet little girl down and told her that I wanted her to keep vivacious spirit forever. And if that meant that this new journey as a princess, didn't lead her there. That with my support she could follow her own path. However I know what social norm dictates and encouraged them to come speak to you and we ALL could discuss it." He looked utter appalled at his wife's confession.

"But he's not royal."

"And neither was I when you asked me to marry you." Her words were calm but sharp, cutting straight to the point. His expression changing to almost furious, when Amber, whom had been sitting there watching the events turn in silent awe. Stands up, walks over to us and brings Sofia in for a hug while sofia continues to cry. Amber's voice disguising her sister's sobs "Daddy, we are in a resurgence of strong minded princess choosing non princes for their husbands. First with Princess Jasmine with Aladdin then Princess Rapunzel with Eugene and most recently Princess Anna with..." her eyes seemed to glitter and she wistfully says "Kristoff, whom by the way is absolutely gorgeous." She shakes her head a little and continues " and all but Anna are set to rule their lands.

What more do you set to gain? With me already betrothed to Zandar and James about to marry Clio, gaining two powerful new allies in Tangu and Corinthia. Sofia isn't even in contention for the thrown, so why not let her have her sorcerer?" Sofia looks up at her sister and even though I can't see her expression I'm sure it's filled with gratitude.

"You have all lost leave of your senses and I won't discuss this further." With that he storms out. The Queen gets up from her seat and comes straight to me, puts a hand on my shoulder

"You did very well. And for the moment it is all YOU can do."As if to warn me not do something drastic. She grabs Sofia's shoulder and turns her to face her. "I warned you this would not be easily accepted. You should expect that him and I WILL be discussing this further. But for now I will be in charge of planning your outings and I will find you a suitable chaperone." She gives Sofia a peck on the forehead and turns off in the same direction the king stormed off in. I almost felt pity for the king, by the determined way she walked out of the room. But he deserved it for being a prick and laughing in his daughter's face like that.

But I'm still stupefied by the events that I haven't turned away from the door. I was angry and upset. And knew that I was all but castrated because there was truly nothing I could do to restore the humor in

my princess. I hear behind me Amber trying to soothe her sister with a growl. "I can't believe how he acted. It was so rude. I'm sure mom will straighten him out."

"Mom warned me he would be difficult. I never expected him to be so cruel."

"Happiness is subjected, Sof. He needs to learn that not everyone fits so nicely in to mold they are expected to fit into. It's a very old fashion way of thinking, especially for him." She paused for a moment then. "I will volunteer my time as a chaperone whenever I'm not busy with something with Zandar. And I'm sure I can convince James as well." Sofia speaks sounding meek from the crying

"Thank you for standing up for me, for us." She hiccups a little.

"Anything for you, little sister. You do realize we are going to have to work on him A LOT, right?"

"I plan on doing as much as I can so he won't have such a hard time. We've already been to see Madame Collete." Amber beams

"Well that's a very good start." Then she turns to me and points a finger at me "and you! Are you ready for the cutthroat experience that is the royal dating scene?" I shrug

"Probably not. But let's not forget, I am a sorcerer." The sound of my princess' sniffling and giggle reaches my ears as I see Amber rolling her eyes. Then she does a exaggerated stretch and yawns.

"Well I'm going to take a nap. And seeing as mom didn't leave you in anyone's charge yet. I think I will forget to mention that you two are here all alone." The way she said it sounded rather scandalous. And she sauntered out. Sofia let out a staggered breath and sits on the couch her mother and sister once inhabited. She signals me to come sit with her. I move forward, but dropped down to my knees and took her hands.

"Are you alright?" She at first she nods. But then shakes her head.

"There isn't any point in lying. I am not." She looked so defeated.

"I warned you, your mother warned you. This is not going to be easily accepted." I have never had to be the positive one. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. "But you need to hold on to your sunny optimism, just need to let out your fierce competitive side. We are going to go into war against your father. We need to be a united front." She perks up a bit.

"Your right. We won't let him win. But for right now can you just hold me?" I get up and scoop her up and have her sit in my lap. She leans her head on my shoulder and I thought for sure she was going to pass out. But instead she pulls my face close and starts to kiss me. It's not needy or wanton. But sweet and passion filled. I wished I could erase this awful experience from her memory. But she needs this to grow, to be prepared for the tough fight for our relationship, because it will be difficult. Right now she is using our connect for strength and I will let her.

But in the recesses of my mind, the villainous part, starts to concoct a plan. If he doesn't accept us, if he can't see past his pretentiousness or outside the social norms. Then I say fuck him, she is already mine, and I will do the absolutely most villainous I can think of. I will steal this princess... And live happily ever after

~END

A/N: This wild ride has finally ended. I'm actually really proud of this. Seeing as this is my first multi chapter story I've completed in over a year, after suffering a severe case of writers block. There may be an epilogue if I can be convinced to write it. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading