Princess Lily

Chapter 13

"Prince James!" exclaimed a very pretty girl with long black hair and beautiful blue eyes.

Prince James had been walking down the halls of his palace, eager to get this impending meeting with his mother out of the way.  

The girl finally caught up to him, wearing a yellow dress that flared out from the waist down. The bows at the end of her sleeves were made of a gauzy lighter shade of yellow and she was wearing long gloves. Her hair had a gold hair band in it to keep her hair back.

James turned around. "Yes Sasha?" he asked impatiently.

"Do you like my new dress?" she asked taking out a small gold fan and fanning herself. "I had it imported from Spain."

James looked at the dress and smiled, he couldn’t help but think how beautiful his Lily would look in it.  

Sasha looked at Prince James with a gleam of satisfaction in her eye. Finally, he was noticing her.

“I wonder if you’d be so kind as to help me place an order for one exactly like this for a lady friend of mine?” Prince James inquired politely.

Sasha was flabbergasted. “Are you trying to place an order through me for one of your mistresses?” she blurted out indignantly.

Prince James winced. That had definitely not been what he’d been trying to do.

“It’s for a girl I care deeply about,” James insisted, trying to rectify the situation. “For Lily.” He said in a softer voice.

Sasha caught the name and couldn’t help but contort her face into a scowl as the Prince walked away, remembering he couldn’t be late for the meeting with his mother. She’d heard Sir Georg and Sir Edisson teasing Prince James about this ‘Lily’ girl multiple times. Apparently, she was some wild hellion he’d become enamored with. At least according to the Empress, it was a passing fancy which would soon dissipate. But that didn’t keep Sasha from her outburst of anger as she threw her fan on the floor in anger, a dainty red heel coming to crush it under her foot. She’d worked too hard to get into the good graces of everyone to let some wild country girl ruin everything for her.

“I will be Empress of Fortius, make no mistake,” Sasha whispered fiercely.

*    *    *

"Someone's in there," squeaked Kyle looking through the cabin’s window.

He’d been out with Gertrude’s sons, playing by the lake. They’d heard low moans and groans from the abandoned cabin and had come to investigate.

“What are you children doing over there?” huffed Helaine,

She’d come out for a leisurely walk, hoping to try writing a letter to her fiance’ in peace. She’d seen Lily writing letters and hadn’t missed who they were addressed too. In a bid to copy her, Helaine had decided to try her hand at writing letters too.

“There’s a ghost in the cabin,” Kyle stated, his lips white from fear.

"Don't try to scare me," said Helaine disdainfully. “That cabin’s been abandoned since I can remember.”

 She opened the door and all she needed to see was a lump in the bed and she was screaming.

 She shut the door with a bang and all four ran away screaming,

"Ghost!"

Helaine, ahead of the group ran into Lily who was taking a bowl of cold water to try and soothe her horse’s fever. Lily dropped the bowl, splashing water all over herself and her older sister.

"What is it?" Lily queried fearfully, remembering Prince James warnings before he left about the danger of Pacem criminals trying to cross into Leal. 

She’d never seen everyone so afraid.

"Lily a monster! A monster! We saw it in the cabin! That old abandoned one!" Helaine exclaimed.

Lily laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"GHOST!" Kyle screamed and ran on ignoring them, his two friends trailing after him. Lily caught Kyle by reaching behind her. She grabbed him by the collar and brought him to stand in front of her.

"What's going on?”

"Lily thank goodness it's you. Lily there's a ghost in the cabin!" Kyle exclaimed, coming face to face with his older sister.

Helaine sniffed over the unintentional snub that she wasn’t able to protect them from a ghost. But to be honest, she was just as terrified as the rest of the children.

Lily shook her head and muttered something about children and vivid imaginations.

"We didn't imagine it!" said Kyle defensively, his friends coming to his aid.

Duke Max came out holding a bag of bread and some strips of chicken.

"What's going on?" he asked, taking in the pale stricken faces of the children all claiming to have seen a ghost.

"Papa they are saying that there's a ghost in that old cabin. The one we use to store firewood in," said Lily.

Duke Max paled.

"It's true Papa!" exclaimed Helaine. "I saw it!"

Then she promptly burst into tears. Lily awkwardly reached over to her older sister, trying to pay her back in a comforting manner. It was the first time Helaine didn’t try to move away from Lily and actually accepted her comfort.

"There, there don't cry," said Lily.

"I didn't mean to scare anyone," said Duke Max apologetically, realizing he should have come clean with his family.

"Papa what do you mean?" asked Lily.

"I think you should all follow me," said Duke Max.

A confused Lily and four terrified people followed Duke Max to the old cabin. Duke Max opened the door to reveal a man whose leg was slowly healing, and his arm was broken.

"May I introduce Colonel Novikov," said Duke Max.

Lily almost fainted from shock.

 "You-you're that Pacem outlaw!" she exclaimed.

"I'd prefer to be called freedom fighter," he said weakly and winced while trying to sit up.

"Alexei sit," said Duke Max.

“Father, how could you? He’s a wanted man!” Lily accused.

"Lily this is for a good cause. The Pacem’s are fighting for their freedom. Their government has been suppressed and the citizens are heavily taxed by Fortius. It’s not fair to them!"

Lily looked between her father and the injured Colonel undecidedly, not sure what to make of this. She then spotted that Alexei’s leg was bleeding.

"Let me," said Lily taking a bowl from her father and cleaning the wound.

"Thank you," Alexei whispered quietly.

"I'm not doing this for you," said Lily sharply. She still resented him being an outlaw. Especially a Pacem outlaw who was a threat to Fortius. "I'm doing this for my father."

Alexei laughed. "So you're Lily," he said looking at her with admiration in his gaze.

"What's it to you?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's just that Max talks an awful lot about you. Lily can do this, Lily can do that, Lily is such an angel, Lily is the sweetest daughter a man could ask for, Lily this, Lily that. The way your father talks, I'd expect you to be a goddess."

In spite of herself, Lily smiled. "Do I really make Papa proud?" she asked eagerly.

"Ms. Lily I quote his words. "I wish every father had a daughter like Lily. She's a bit stubborn but that makes her all the more determined to reach her goal."

"I am not stubborn," she said defensively.

"Oh?" he asked amused.

"I am not!" she exclaimed.

"You're just proving yourself wrong you know."

"Oh you!" Lily exclaimed while still smiling. She dipped her fingers into the bowl of water and flicked a few water droplets in his face.

Alexei laughed.

"See you are stubborn," he said. "With a redhead temper as well."

"You just...oh you're stubborn to!" Lily stated.

She threw her cloth in the bowl and thought for a moment.

"No actually your problem is that you do things without thinking and let your temper get the best of you," she added as an afterthought.

"How would you know?" he asked snorting.

"Who's sitting here with a bullet in their leg, a broken arm and is wanted by all of Fortius. Me or you?"

"That doesn't mean I let my temper get the best of me."

"Yes well I also know the reason you're an outlaw is because you attacked Marshal Zhukov because he said that Pacem citizens were below those of Fortius. Then YOU were the one who started those riots. You should've talked to him first."

Alexei snorted again. "That old prig is so set in his ways, he’d never listen to anyone with an opposing view. It’s a common problem among the nobles and high-ranking officials, they always think they are right. The common man is all but ignored because he’s poor or less influential than the rest of them."

Lily agreed whole-heartedly. The afternoon turned into evening as the two sat talking while Lily helped care for him. She knew she'd made new friend.

By the time the sun had set and it was night time, Lily insisted on Alexei staying with them in her father’s home.