Chapter 6 Thalia

At the entrance of the castle stood the queen and the servants, probably waiting for our arrival. I saw a man, maybe in his 40's, standing beside the queen. I'm guessing it's the king. Is that her king?

"Like it?" Prince Nate asked beside me as I marvelled at the place.

"Uh hu." I just nodded my head. "Are we gonna stay here?" I asked.

Dan got off the carriage. "Yep. Welcome to the Kingdom of Thalia." Just as he said that, Ren added. "The kingdom of magic."

Yea right. It does look magical.

I'm in love. For a brief moment, I even thought about wanting to live here. I raised a hand and slapped myself. 

No. I shouldn't be blinded by the fanciness of the place.

"Here, let me help you down." Prince Fred said and helped me down on my feet. They guided me through the stone floor and up to the door.

"So, how do you find your NEW home?" The queen asked. A smile tugging on her lips when I didn't answer and instead, surveyed the surrounding with my eyes.

"I-" I started but the queen cut me off.

"Never mind. Dinner's almost ready. We have to dress you up. Ladies," the queen snapped her finger to the servants. "Bring her to her room and dress her up for dinner."

"Yes, my queen." The servants said at the same time.

When she said dress, that's when the spell of the castle broke. "Wait," I took a step back and almost fell off the stairs if Ren hadn't caught me. He helped me set my footing again. "What do you mean by get DRESS?!?!?"

The Queen and the servants had evil looks on their faces. I gulped. I don't mind wearing shorts, but dresses are a different story.

"When you said dress, you didn't mean....." I trailed off, knowing that the queen fully understood what I was about to say.

"Oh yes." With a single motion of the queen's hand, the servants tried to grab me, but I was fast.

I hid behind Ren since he was near me and used him as a wall between the servants. Since there were at least 5 of them, they got past Ren easily. A servant grabbed my cape and pulled it. I almost choked, but I untie it and the servant fell.

"No!"

I ran to Nate next and hid behind him. "Sir Nate, you said that you were my knight in shining armor, right? Then do something and save me!!"

Nate had an amused look on his face. "As you wish, princess." He caught me off guard when he carried me bridal style. "I'll save you from the eyes of these men by giving you to these ladies to be dressed PROPERLY."

"What?!"

Instead of answering, he just winked and approached the servants.

"Oh Prince Nathaniel, thank you!" The girls sighed dreamily.

I flail wildly "Traitor!" I accused.

He pretended to be hurt by putting a hand to his heart. "My love, how you broke my heart."

"Look! A pretty lady." I pointed behind him.

"Where?!----- Umf!" When he looked behind him, I took the chance to get away but not before stomping on his foot. Serves him right.

I ran to Prince Fred next. "Prince Fred! You said that you're my Prince Charming, right? Help me!"

Prince Fred smiled. "Yes, Princess. I am your Prince Charming"

I sighed in relief.

"And Prince Charming would like to see his Princess in a dress." With that, he grabbed my arm.

I squeaked and elbowed him. "Umf!" He released his hold.

I grabbed Dan and Ren next. "As my servants, I order you to protect me!"

"What do you think Ren?" Dan asked his brother.

"I don't know. But I do want to see her in a dress." Ren said.

"You know? You're right. It might be interesting." With that said. The two took hold of my arm and pushed me to the servants. "Traitors!" I yelled as the servants took me away. When I looked behind me, I saw them waving at me with a smile on their faces.

Bastards, I'll get you guys for this. And here I thought we all formed a mutual sense of respect for one another!

The servants lead me to a room on the second floor. They brought me to a rather large room with a twin size bed with curtains falling from it. The floor was made of red carpet. There was also a door that leads to a terrace. There was a large closet on the far side of the wall facing my bed.

A vanity table was beside it.

The servants locked the door and pushed me in the bathroom and cleaned me until the dirt and the smell of horses were gone.

Once I was done, I was wrapped in a bathrobe and was asked to sit on the bed while they shuffled the bag full of dresses, probably the one that the queen bought earlier. While they were busy shuffling for dresses, I grabbed my fallen shorts and tank and folded them neatly and hid them under my pillow. In case of emergency.

They finally brought out a floor length gown.

It was sky blue with ruffles on the neck. It was long sleeved which made me hate it even more since I know that it'll be hot.

"No." I said.

"Princess you have to wear this." said the servant who was holding the dress.

I ignored the Princess title. "Make me!" I challenge myself.

She sighed. "Girls, you know what to do." The servants approached me and suddenly I was cornered on my bed.

"Mommy?" I whimpered

***

They won this time. They had managed to make me wear the dress. But I swear if they didn't gang up on me, I could have taken them. They also made me wear heels, but I don't mind though. The heels were only an inch or two tall.

"Time for your hair and makeup!"

"What?! Look, I agreed-" I started but was cut off.

"-forced" corrected the servant.

"-to wear this dress and these shoes, but don't make me wear those make up!"

"Princess, you have to. Every princess should be presentable every time!"

"I said no!"

The door swung open and the queen came in and closed the door behind her. "What's going on here?"

"My Lady, she-"

"I'm not wearing it!" I pointed to the table where the make up was set.

The queen sighed. "It's just make up, dear." She approached the table and grabbed the face powder and brush. "Come here."

"Get. Away. From. Me" I warned. Either she didn't hear it or she was stubborn.

"It'll be quick" she promised and took another step closer. I grabbed one of my shoes and raised it in the air like a sword. "You have to get through me first."

"Fine." She pointed her finger at a chair and a ribbon. They began to float in the air and tied me to the chair. "What the hell was that!? What is happening!?"

Things floated in the air!

"You didn't say that I couldn't use magic, right?"

"Girl, who cares!? Do it again?" I was being silly right now for being attracted to her magic show. If I could clap then I would have already.

"No. We need to get ready."

5 minutes later, there was make up on my face. They were kind enough to make it light. Now, there was a rosy blush on my cheek, brown eyeshadow was applied, and a nude pink lipstick. My hair was in a neat bun with loose curls to the side.

"There, now don't you look CIVILIZE?" The queen teased.

I glared at her and forgot the fact that I just saw things floating. I did not have the energy to do anything else. My mind is becoming a mess. I bit my lips unconsciously.

"Don't do that. You'll eat your lip stick." She grabbed my arm and hauled me up. "Enough, we have wasted a good 5 minutes. We should go. Now"

"It was your fault for wasting those five minutes. If only you didn't busied yourself with applying make up on me then we could have gotten there earlier." I grumbled. "Stupid other world, stupid makeups, stupid castle, and stupid dresses."

"Well, if only you'd cooperate then we could have gotten there earlier, no?"

"Whatever." I let it slide since I was hungry. Seriously, princesses need to look like this everyday? What a pain.

As we were going down the stairs. I saw that the princes were also dressed nicely. The twins were wearing blue long sleeved shirts and pants. There are some kinds of gold patches on their shoulders. Nate was well suited with his maroon colored tuxedo with a white shirt underneath. At the back, his red tux formed a 'W'. Ace was dressed in black, which made me wonder if he took my advice. It was buttoned down with gold lines going down vertically. Fred was dressed opposite of Ace. He looked good with white. It made his hair even lighter. There were also gold lines that designed his long sleeved button down attire. He looks good. Their eyes were focused on us once we were half way down the stairs. The four of them smiled while Ace just stared at me with a blank expression.

Once we reached the end of the stairs, Nate approached and nodded at the queen. "Wow!" He exclaimed while looking at me. "This is not good for my heart."

"Why?" I wondered. A little worried that he may have heart problems.

"You're too cute." he winked at me.

"I feel like my hand might slip and I'll punch someone." I said sweetly.

The twins got in between us and glared at Nate. "You've been taking advantage of our princess now, Nate."

I gapped at them. Our princess!?

Ren on the other hand faces me. A soft smile on his lips. "You look beautiful today, Princess. I was glad that we handed you over to the servants." He winked just like Nate. Are they all a flirt?

I snapped my fingers. "Which reminds me." I said and pulled Ren's ear. "This is your punishment for handing me to the enemy earlier!"

"Ow! Why am I the only one punished?!" Ren whined.

"Cause you're the one who reminded me." I said with a deadpan expression.

"Sorry. Remind me to never remind you again. Okay?"

"If I do that then I am basically reminding myself."

Prince Fred approached me next. "You look more beautiful than this morning. The dress suits you well." He complimented me.

Am I seeing things? Or is he beginning to sparkle? Very lightly, I waved at the air around us to shoo the pesky sparkles away. Nope. Still there.

"Aw, come on, Fred. Stop using your charms on her." Dan pouted.

"Enough with the chit chat. Let's eat." The queen walked to the table and sat on the seat beside the King. Prince Ren pulled my seat for me, which was really sweet.

I sat between Ren and Dan while the beast(Ace) sat in front of me. So it was a glaring contest between us. Nate sat beside Ren while Fred sat beside Ace. The food was served. It seemed that our menu for today is mash potato and chicken with tons of gravy and ribs.

After saying a silent prayer I was about to dig in when I had a little problem. A pile of spoons of all sizes were lined up beside me. Great, which utensil should I use now?

I peeked at Prince Fred and saw him using the fork in the middle of the set of eating utensils.

Just as I was about to reach it. Ren stopped me and took a table napkin that I didn't notice right beside my plate and placed it on my lap.

"You should always place it there in case you'll drop something and ruin your dress." He said politely.

"Thank you" I said and started to cut the meat but it was too hard. When I tried to force it to tear, a piece of meat went flying and onto Ace's plate. He was surprised by the magical meat and searched for the culprit.

Oops

I gently placed the knife and fork down and pretended to be interested in my surroundings. Beside me, I heard Prince Dan chuckle softly. Glad to see him amused.

"Here, let me help." He grabbed my knife and fork and he cut the meat into smaller pieces.

After finishing to cut the meat, he proceeded to eat his dinner. "Thanks" I whispered to him. It was embarrassing how I seem to be the only one with poor table manners. 

Ren though, decided to tease me by getting my spoon and feeding me a spoon full of mashed potato. "Here baby, say ahhh."

"Knock it off." Even though I was offended by that gesture, I chuckled. "I'm not a child."

"She's right, Ren." Nate added. "She's not a baby, she's a BABE" he added with a wink.

Hang on my dear sweet fist. Please do not punch him.

"Rose dear," the queen called. I snap my attention to her. She was beaming when she gestured to the King. "This here is your 'uncle' Luke." The king smiled at me. "Well, it's so nice to finally meet you my dear." He said and dab the napkin through his stubble.

"'Sup, 'uncle'." Was all I said. So the King is also a part of this...

"My, you need a lot of work Rose." The queen clicked her tongue and eyed my messy plate. I frowned and formed a protective circle around my plate.

"Dan could help you with the proper table etiquette, but I prefer Nate to help you with that." She looked at Nate for his approval.

Nate nodded his head. "I'd be happy to."

"As for your dance lessons, I would like to ask this favor of you, Prince Fred."

"Of course, your Grace."

"Say what?!" I exclaimed. "Why do I need dance lessons for?!" I asked and shoved another slice of meat into my mouth. This is delicious!

"Every princess must know how to dance." she said.

"Nu uh!" I said stubbornly.

She tsked again "Oh we better do something about that language of yours. Ren, Dan, I would like you to teach her how to behave like one, okay?"

"Yes, your highness" the twins said at the same time. I was uncertain by the queen's choice. I mean, the twins? Teaching me about behavior??

Even though my mouth was full of meat, I still laughed. Really? The twins? If I know better, we're like the three stooges.

The queen must have noticed my uneasiness. "Don't worry, Rose. Even though they don't behave well in front of us, they are well mannered when it comes to guessing." She assured me.

"As for the history and the background of this kingdom, I would like to ask this of you, Ace."

No....

"Yes, your grace." From the way he said it, he wasn't as happy about it as me.

"Well, now that it's settled," the queen grabbed her fork and knife. "Let's eat!!"

After dinner we all went in our separate ways. The servants guided me to my room. The princes could have escorted me, but the queen told(ORDERED) them to rest.

I was too happy for the day to be over that I didn't even think about changing. I yawned loudly before I lay down on the bed. As I fell asleep, I dreamed of another castle.

A castle that was smaller and different from this one. One where the people were walking alongside with animals.