Marinda

'Justin?' I asked perplexed, stopping abruptly in the doorway to my rom. 'What are you doing here?'

'Marinda!' He shouted in a higher pitched voice than usual, jumping back from my desk where he had been sitting.

'Okay,' I answered uncertainly, not daring to enter any further into my room. Apparently, Justin was unstable.

'I know this looks bad but I had to see you,' he almost begged.

'You know this is my room, right?' I asked sceptically as Justin fiddled uncomfortably with his sleeves, I figured approaching him with the utmost caution was essential to survival.

'Yes, I need help,' he implored, his eyes pleading with me to listen.

'Why, what have you done?' I asked a little more interested. Maybe there was hope for this boy yet. He had always been so good before, but maybe he was finally seeing the light or in this case, the darkness.

'I don't know who else to talk to and I don't have any sisters or any real friends other than Nia and I know we don't talk that much but I-'

'Slow down,' I laughed, cutting off his incoherent ramble that seemed as if it might go on forever.

'Nia wants me to do something and I don't know what to do because it's not something I can do.' He answered slowly, looking at me nervously.

'What does she want you to do?' I asked dubiously and Justin shifted uncomfortably looking at the floor, then me and then the floor again, obviously trying to decide if he could trust me. Eventually, he let out a long sigh and began,

'She thinks theres another girl but there isn't another girl and I thought you could help me but maybe this was stupid,' he rambled, shuffling his feet uncertainly.

'Whoa, stop Justin. What do you mean, another girl?' This boy had lost his mind and it was all my younger sister's fault. What had she done to the poor boy?

'Nia thinks I have a girlfriend and she wants me to bring her to her birthday tomorrow,' he exhaled and I looked at him in confusion, my eyes scrunching up and my nose wrinkled trying to decipher his puzzle.

'Why does Nia think you have a girlfriend? Do you have girlfriend?' I asked skeptically.

'No!' he answered emphatically. 'That's the problem, I can't bring anyone else and if I show up alone she'll know.'

'What will she know?' Could he be anymore cryptic?

'Never mind,' he grumbled trying to backtrack.

'So if you don't bring another girl Nia will know…that you like her?' I asked, realisation hitting me before I knew what I was saying.

'What no,' he scoffed, looking anywhere but into my eyes.

'Justin,' I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against my door frame.

'Is it that obvious?' He sighed looking down at the floor in defeat.

'To everyone but my sister apparently,' I laughed pushing off the frame and walking over to him where he stood by my desk.

'What am I going to do?' He asked, looking down at me with desperation in his eyes.

'You could just tell her the truth,' I suggested, resting my hand gently on his shoulder. Despite the boy being two years younger than me he was almost a head taller and Nia was even smaller than me. Poor girl was going to get a sore neck looking up at this bean pole.

'I can't tell her the truth,' he said in alarm before his face slowly shifted, considering my words more deeply. 'Can I?'

'What's stopping you?' I shrugged, moving to my wardrobe to get the dress one of my maids picked out for me to greet the royal families today.

'She's a princess,' he answered exasperatedly.

'And?' I replied tossing the dress on my bed and digging around for the shoes.

'I'm well…me,' he stated simply and I looked back at him to see he was motioning sadly at himself.

'Yes you are you and I'm me and Michael is Michael.'

'You wouldn't understand,' he muttered, turning to walk from the room.

'You're right, I don't understand but that has nothing to do with the titles my siblings and I bear,' I sighed getting to my feet after finally locating the matching shoes.

'But, why would Nia ever like me more than a friend. I'm not a prince,' he replied in frustration turning back to look at me with a desperate look in his eyes.

'You think just because we're princess's that we need to marry a prince?' I asked, amused by his logic and he just shrugged his shoulders in reply. 'We aren't all as noble as Amberly. Most of the princes in this world are intolerable. Have you met the Australian prince? He's a nightmare,' I groaned remembering the picture of perfection prince. 'You move one thing out of its usual place and he has a meltdown. However, he did have a splendid collection of snakes. The trouble I could cause with those marvellously poison filled creatures.' I smiled schemingly to myself.

'Um Marinda?' He prompted nervously.

'Right, sorry, continue with your ludicrous reasons for why you could never be with my little sister.' I instructed shaking all thoughts of poisonous snakes from my mind.

'What if there is a prince out there for Nia? What if he's a better person for her than I could ever be? What if she falls in love with him instead of me? What if your parents don't approve?'

'Whoa, hold on there horse boy, thats too many questions,' I laughed crossing over to where he stood by my door. 'You haven't even allowed Nia to decide what she wants because you haven't given her the option to choose you and trust me, she will choose you, she just doesn't know it yet.'

'Really?' he asked hopefully.

'Really,' I smiled and I saw a tension roll out of the gangly boy's shoulders. 'Besides, she hasn't reached marriageable age yet, you have years to convince her otherwise.'

The colour quickly drained from his face, his smile slipping from his lips and I may have revelled in his discomfort just a little bit.

'I'm kidding Justin,' I laughed, pushing him away lightly. 'Now get out, I apparently need to get ready for the royals arrivals. Seriously, why do I need to change so many times a day? If I was a guy all I would need to do was change my tie or my jacket.' I grumbled as Justin stood stiffly in front of me.

'Thank you Marinda,' he said softly, a small smile spreading across his lips.

'Don't tell anyone about this okay? It would ruin my reputation. Lucky for you I like my little sister and I think the two of you would make a really cute couple.' I replied with a wink, sending all the blood rushing back to his cheeks and lighting them up with a rosy glow. 'Now move it horse boy.' He quickly ducked out of my room and I laughed at his discomfort. This was going to be a very interesting ball, but not nearly as interesting as Nicoletta and Tony's entrance. I had beautifully nefarious plans for when they arrived at the palace within the hour. I smiled to myself as I quickly changed out of my dress. This was going to be a very entertaining few days indeed.

Adam

'Michael, have you seen Marinda recently?' I asked nervously, glancing over at the selected who had arranged themselves in a perfectly straight line by my side. As per Anne's orders, who was staring them down making sure none of them stepped out of line. Unfortunately for Aisling, she had already fallen out of line three times and Anne scolded her each time. She had never been good at standing still and I was sure Alice wasn't helping her stay in line either.

'I'm not her keeper,' Michael grumbled beside me pulling my attention back to him.

'I never said-you know what never mind,' I sighed, looking back to Aisling but instead my eyes landed on Medea who stood closest to me, tall and regal. Dressed immaculately in a pale green dress that fell just bellow her knees and modest jewellery adorning her neck and ears. Her hands rested delicately in front of her, clasped just as instructed, I was sure by the meticulous Anne. Medea was the image of royalty and I couldn't help but compare her to my beautiful little dreamer who struggled to even keep her hands at her sides.

Before I could think too long on their differences I heard my parents enter the room and quickly turned to see them walking in with an exuberant Harmonia between them. She held both their hands tightly in her own and was almost bouncing with excitement for the impending arrival of all the party guests. The selected's families would arrive later that evening, after the royal arrivals and I felt nerves flutter in my chest just thinking about meeting them all.

'Adam, where is your sister?' My father asked, shifting Harmonia to one side and holding my mother's hand with the other.

'She's right beside you, are you going blind in your old age dad?' I asked innocently, earning me an impatient but amused look from my father.

After our discussion the other day I knew I couldn't stay mad at him forever because I couldn't find it in me to blame him for everything that had happened so long ago. I just wanted my father back, I needed him back.

'Your other, more troublesome sister,' he clarified. 'The one who may have the means to ruin all the alliances we have formed over the years with one move. The one who if given the opportunity could bring the world to its knees and then declare that all she wanted was one more scoop of ice-cream.' He deadpanned.

'Oh that sister, no idea,' I answered, causing dad to groan and my mother to smother her smirk. It was obvious to all of us that Marinda had something planned and unfortunately for us at that moment the doors opened, announcing the arrival of the first royal family and Marinda was no where in sight.

'Oooph,' I quickly looked over at Michael as he stubbled forward from the impact of his twin sister who had skidded into him. She quickly righted herself and used Michael to balance as she slipped her shoes back on and neatened her hair all before Nicoletta and Tony walked inside. Michael however, was still recovering and earned a pointed look from our mother and father. I heard him mutter angrily about irresponsible twin sisters and how he should have been an only child but he quickly quietened when Marinda nudged him in the side and obnoxiously placed her fingers on her lips to remind him to be quiet. If it were possible I was certain steam would have been coming out of my brother's ears. However, his face did nearly turn the same colour as his red hair, making it almost impossible for me to hide my growing smirk.

'Nicoletta,' my mother beamed at one of her closest friends, rushing forward and wrapping her in a tight embrace as my father and Tony shared an amicable handshake.

We had always been very close with the Italian royal family. They had been at all our celebrations over the years. I often found Nicoletta looking at my siblings and I longingly. I knew she tried to hide it but her inability to have children caused her great pain and it had nothing to do with the royal bloodlines continuance.

'America, I have missed you so much,' Nicoletta gushed but my eyes were pulled away from the exchange when I saw something down the line of selected girls out of the corner of my eye, Aisling.

I looked over at her and saw she had stepped right out of the line and was looking at the king and queen of Italy with awe. Her mouth was ajar and her arms hung limply at her sides. I saw Anne trying to get her attention and Piper tried to pull her back in line but she easily shrugged the other girl off and moved closer to the two visiting royals. It was as if she had no control over her body, she simply gravitated from her spot in line to the objects of her wonderment.

'Adam, what's she doing?' Michael hissed beside me as our parents continued to chat brightly, Nicoletta and Tony gushing over our youngest sister and how old she was getting.

'It's Aisling,' I shrugged as justification and Michael shook his head but I could tell from the small smile on his lips that he was equally amused by her display.

'Adam,' my eyes quickly darted away from Aisling to Tony trying desperately to remember if he asked me anything. 'How are you handling all these beautiful girls being around all the time? I imagine it must be hard to be surrounded by such beauty everyday,' he consoled, looking down at the line of girls and his eyes immediately locked on Aisling who had frozen on the spot, slightly ahead of the rest, still trying to get a closer view of the visiting Italian royals.

'And who is this stunning young lady?' He smiled walking over to her with a warm smile on his face.

I could see a mix of excitement and terror in her eyes and I desperately tried to hold back my laughter, my siblings weren't faring as well as I was. Marinda and Michael were using each other for support and almost lost it all together when Aisling squeaked her reply. However, I did notice a lot of the selected girls were watching her with unreserved shock and some even anger but I ignored them in favour of watching my green eyed beauty.

'Aisling, your majesty,' she curtseyed deeply.

'Well, mia cara that is a beautiful name,' he smiled brightly before bending down to place a kiss on both of her flaming cheeks.

'Thank you King Tony,' she squeaked again, setting my siblings off on a new round of laughter.

'So you know him, but the first time we met you had no idea who I was?' I asked amused by the idol status she was giving the Italian royals.

'My Tony always has been the charmer,' Nicoletta laughed walking over to her husband and I noticed Aisling's eyes go wide with renewed excitement.'Never could keep the girls away from you,' she smiled linking her arm with his, both royals equal in their beauty with dark hair, bronze skin and warm brown eyes. Tony of course was slightly taller than Nicoletta but you knew from the way he looked at her that she was the centre of his universe.

'You were the only girl for me.' He smiled, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek and murmuring something to her in their native tongue.

'Queen Nicoletta,' Aisling breathed, dipping into an even lower curtsey than the one she gave the king only moments before.

'Oh,' Nicoletta said in surprise, looking down at the small girl.

'Lady Aisling has a slight…fascination with you country,' I laughed walking over to the startled queen and the smiling king.

'Adoration, more like it,' Michael mumbled as he joined me beside Tony.

'You like our home country, Lady Aisling?' Nicoletta asked with her warm, melodic accent ringing out in every word.

'I love Italy,' Aisling gushed and I felt my smile widen at her exuberance. 'Everything about your country is so magical.'

'Oh she is beautiful,' Nicoletta enthused stepping forward and startling Aisling by wrapping her up in a warm hug. Her beautiful green eyes going wide in surprise before she gingerly wrapped her arms around the queen.

'She's trouble,' I mumbled to the king beside me.

'All the best women are,' the king winked beside me, chuckling lightly before being cut off by a loud screeching voice.

'Who did this?' Marinda demanded angrily from the front of the palace doors causing everyone to look at her in a mix of alarm and confusion.

'What now Marinda?' Michael groaned, reluctantly looking over at the other half of his duo.

'My gelato trap, someone's touched it,' she explained outraged.

'Marinda May Schreave,' our mother shouted causing my sister to cringe. 'What do you mean gelato trap?'

'Nothing mother,' she replied innocently. 'It didn't work anyway,' she muttered under her breath so our mother couldn't hear.

'Oh Marinda, I saw you fiddling with the door before the king and queen arrived,' Aisling announced, walking over to where Marinda stood. 'I know why it didn't work,' she continued devilishly, a familiar glint in her eye and I knew Marinda was in trouble, she just hadn't realised it yet. If I had to guess, it was probably too late to save her now anyway.

'What do you mean?' Marinda asked dubiously.

'You see, I took out this piece and I believe if I slot it back in just like this,' Aisling quickly slipped something back inside the mechanism Marinda was playing with and before anyone could react a tidal wave of gelato rained down on my sister, her shrieks filling the entrance hall as Aisling looked on smugly.

'Why did you do that?' Marinda squealed, looking angrily at Aisling.

'I really like the king and queen,' Aisling shrugged, looking over at me and then the king and queen with a proud look.

'You stopped them from being covered in gelato, why did you have to trick me?' Marinda demanded trying not to slip over in the slop of multicoloured half melted Italian dessert.

'That was for everyone else's entertainment,' Aisling giggled motioning to the room of people who were laughing heartily at Marinda's expense.

'Oh, she is my favourite America,' Nicoletta gasped moving to stand beside my mother who was laughing at her middle daughter's misfortune.

'Anyone who can outsmart that devious Marinda is a winner in my book,' king Tony beamed turning to look at me. 'You would be very smart to choose this one Adam.'

'I know,' I smiled, watching as Michael wrapped Aisling up in a tight hug, sweeping her feet off the ground and Marinda tried desperately to get over to the two of them without much success. It would always amaze me how a girl who was treated with such darkness and cruelty always managed to project light onto those around her, until they could do nothing but fall in love with her.

Oops, sorry Marinda, better luck next time I guess :) So I have zero skills in Italian which is unfortunate because I always wanted to be multilingual, all I got for my four years of French was a headache and I still can't speak it fluently. It's rather depression, so what I was trying to say with mia cara was, my dear, if it is wrong I apologise for the internet's mistake because it gave me that answer ;) Antherly next chapter I promise, however, it may not be the Antherly you want or expect. Also plan on having you meet Alice's family and possibly a cute scene between Aisling and Nicoletta, but who knows where the creative muses will take me :)

Sam :) Well this was more of a Marinda/Justin scene because he may have been having a nervous breakdown. Poor horse boy. These scenes usually hit me in the middle of the night which can be really frustrating because I'm like, 'That's a really good idea but I can't get up and write it down right now because I've been thinking for hours now and I NEED to sleep otherwise there is no way I will be able to get up in four hours from now.' (Like right now, oops I guess it's going to be a long tiring day tomorrow) I spend hours lost in stories, not writing anything down, just thinking, planning, dreaming. I swear the time just disappears, never to be seen again. Oh and crazy is definitely the best way to be. At least when people say it to me I take it as a compliment and thank them happily. Probably, too happily...hmm maybe after that they upgrade me to insane, oh well. Hope you enjoyed Aisling's mild fangirl moment when meeting the Italian royals, I'm finally getting back on track :) Thank you for your review, I love hearing from you whenever you can :)

Lola5147, I'm glad to hear that you actually liked that chapter and hope you like this one too, theres a little bit of funny in there because sometimes pranksters need to be put in their place, or in this case in their gelato :)

As always, thank you to all my wonderful readers and I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter, if not please feel free to let me know why :) Anyway, happy reading beautiful people :)