Original Work of amanda.faith. A short story.

Status: Incomplete





... The moment his lips touched hers, the flame that burned in her engulfed her. And she knew, that she had found true love...

"M'Lady Teresa, Princess Teresa!" A young, child like voice interupted her reading. Startled, she looked up from yet another of her romance novels and turned to look at the form that was scrambling up the hill towards the pavilion she had been reading in.

The sun, by now, had already risen one third of the way up into the sky and its glaring light was in the princess's eye. Sheilding her dark brown eyes with a hand, Terri squinted her eyes as she tried to recognise the shape that was approaching her.

"Your... serine... highness... m'dam..." The feminin voice greeted with half pants as the figure attempted a curtsy.

"Elanor?" Said Terri questioningly. With the person now in the shade of the pavilion, her face was now easier to see. "Elanor!" She exclaimed. Running to hug the girl.

"Please... your royal highness..."

"Hush! How many times must I tell you to call me Terri? Or Teresa if you have to but never, ever, call me by my title... you know I hate it." The princess held Elanor at at arms length and held the girl's gaze.

Elanor had been Terri's close friend for years, ever since they were children. She had been rescued by an uncle of Teresa's on one of his hunting trips when he had heard the cries of a baby abandoned in an old wood cutter's hut. Since Teresa had few females to interact with, her Uncle - The Grand Duke - decided that Elanor would make a good companion since Teresa had no real play mate she could identify with and neither did her have a daughter and so Adopted the child and the two had not been seperated since. Elanor, though of no obvious royal lineage, had been treated as if she were the Grand Duke's daughter. And like most royalty, lived in the lap of luxury. Like the princess, Elanor detested the countless monotonous ceremonies that had to be carried out everyday. However, where she defered from her playmate was she never voiced out her displeasure and went along with all formilarities without grinding her teeth and carried out whatever she was oblidged to as the daughter of a grand duke.

"But Your highness... err.. Teresa..." Elanor began. "The obligations..."

"Forget the obligations!" Terri interupted as she gave her friend another hug. "It's been ages since I saw you! And besides, it's just you and me now... no one's here to bark at us for not addressing each other formally. And I know you hate it as much as I do." she added with a twinkle in her eyes.

Hesitantly, Elanor took a brief look around to be sure. Seeing no one in the vicinity, she relaxed.

"You know me well Terri." Elanor smiled.

"Of course I do, that's why we get along so well. We have so much in common." The princess grinned.

"Ah but that is believed to be the reason for the failure of many friendships." Elanor said matter-of-factly.

"Well in life there are always exceptions." Terri teased. She loved a good argument when she could have one. And the only time she could was when her mother was not around.

The Queen did not approve of her daughter's 'unruly' behavior or for her love of sparing with words with the statesmen or any other royalties. When she was younger, her father the King, easily dismissed them as the curiosity of childhood and the Queen had accepted it grudgingly. But now that Terri was older, the same reason no longer held water. Unknown to her mother, Terri and her father had made a pack that she would not display any behavior that might upset her mother when the Queen was about.

"As long as you abide by my conditions, your mother won't know." The king had said.

"It's your secret and mine Papa." The twelve year old princess had grinned. "Mama won't know about it then."

A pretended solemn handshake had been made over it before the two were overwhelmed by laughter. A pack that still applied today, three years later. Only now, it was harder for her to hide away from the Queen for Her Royal Highness was beginning to look at her daughter not as a child, but a woman. One she was determined to marry off.