Princess Prima
1384 Words
17th November BETHENCOURT CASTLE
KINGDOM OF EGILSON
[Prima]
October is about to end, and the hunting season will soon end. It will be snowing soon enough. Holidays are around the corner. Father and my brothers left at the end of September for the hunting tournament in the Kingdom of Issenberg. It was an annual event for the royalties of Scotland and the nearby kingdoms.
There was a blizzard the night before, and my mother, Bernice, worries that my father and brother's carriage are held back by the thick snow in the forest on their way home. Mother sends out our steward Preston to see if there was any message sent out by my father, Erasmus, to Reginald, the Duke of Gatlinburg. He came back earlier than my father from the tournament a couple of days ago.
When our steward Preston got home, he was all smiling as he handed me an envelope that was an invitation from one of the royalties. I was expecting it’s another invitation for my brothers to attend some princess birthday celebration. But to my surprise, it is addressed to—none other than me!
I just got off from my archery lesson when I heard of my father's arrival. Surprised and full of excitement, I scampered towards my family gathered in the dining room. Oh, how I miss my ever-handsome best father in the world. I say that because I know I am his favorite child—his only princess! My father and mother must have been so in love when they were making us because they made not only me but a quintuplet.
“Father! Mother!”
I excitedly hollered, almost slipping myself on our pebble stone polished floors in our family dining room. My father and brothers just arrived from their annual tournament in Issenberg. It has been more than a month since the last time we dine together. Oh, how I missed hunting and camping with them in the woods of Egilson
“Prima Lakeisha, have you not been told to walk, talk and act like a lady? Princess, you are already sixteen. It would be best if you acted like a queen. You are the princess of this kingdom and not a peasant or commoner. Screaming aloud is not a demure way of speaking to your people or us,” said my father, Erasmus.
“How was the annual hunting competition, Father?” I asked while I sat on his lap like a child and clung to his shoulders, resting my head to his chest.
It’s one way to shush my father from a never-ending litany of how I should act like a lady. I want to do boys' things like my brothers. I am excellent in archery amongst the five of us. It’s an easy peasy thing for me. My excellence in archery is the reason Malik doesn't want me at the Issenberg tournament. Plus, it is their father and son's month-long bonding time.
“It was great! I wish I could take you with me.”
“Surely not, father! She’ll be cheating while we have a tough time catching one.” Malik protested.
Like my mother, I can command creatures. I can tell them to stop, freeze them, and disappear. My mother said the moon goddess gifted me the ability to be invisible. I hardly used it like her because the more I use my hidden power, the weaker I get.
It is something that my mother still wanted to know the reason. Aurora, the healer of the Quintas, couldn’t tell her why before she died. Fidelous was left back in Senadosa to care for the Quinta’s and Uncle Americus became the Alpha of the Quintas.
Mother wants to go back to Senadosa to find out why I am the only one who has the reverse effect whenever I use my magical ability amongst the five of us. They are leaving back to the Philippines in a month while my brothers go back to Raleigh to continue their education. . . and I? I am here to stay at Egilson with Mathilda, Selina, Preston, and the rest of the Bethencourt servants.
“Admit it, Malik! You can’t beat me,” I teasingly said. “Father! I have an invitation to the Annual Masquerade Winter Ball in Raleigh.”
“You have what?”
“Don’t pretend to be deft, father. You don’t want to hear it. Am I right?” I rolled my eyes as I tuck the loose hair on his face and giving a quick peck on his cheeks.” Father, I said I have an invitation to Raleigh.”
“Certainly, you are not attending that ball, Prima,” said my mother.
“But mother, here. Look at my invitation. Please, allow me. Promise, just this once.”
“If you promise you will not use any magic even once?” her perfectly curved brows arched to her question that sounded more of a command.
“I promise, mother. I promise. Here, look!”
I smiled from ear to ear when I handed the invitation to her, and then she passed it on to my father. Afterward, my four siblings fought to see the invitation, but I snatched it out of Malik’s hands.
“It’s mine, Malik, not yours. Let me read ‘em to you instead.
Princess Lakeisha Bethencourt del Fierro of Egilson,
You are hereby invited to join our Annual Masquerade Winter Ball on the 21st of December at the Le Conte Palace Banquet Hall.
The Umbraculum de Raleigh, therefore, offers you to stay at one of our chambers. You may choose to pursue your education at the Raleigh Academy at your pursuits.
Sincerely,
Miss Frieda Witchface
Headmistress of Le Conte Palace
Umbraculum de Raleigh
“Father, please, let me go?”
My brothers were sent to Raleigh when they turned fourteen. Princess Mathilda, my brother Teagen, soon-to-be wife, went to Raleigh. She told me how beautiful the Le Conte Palace is and how Raleigh’s curriculum is beyond exceptional. Father made me believe that princesses are only educated in the palace and not in a boarding school.
Since my brothers started studying in Raleigh, I have bothered my father, but he strongly opposes my leaving the palace. But I know my father is afraid of sending me to a place far from him.
“We have to talk about it, Prima. I can’t let you go just like that. You are too impulsive, stubborn, and you don’t listen. I am afraid you will not follow any of them and do your way. You act more of a prince than a princess. What would the headmistress tell us if you intersperse at Raleigh? It’s a shame to the Kingdom of Egilson.”
“Whatever, father! You will only miss me. Don’t you?”
“You got me there, Prima. Do you know why I named you Prima?”
“Of course, father. I am your favorite daughter.”
“You’re the only daughter, duh!” said Malik.
Father would always talk about why I was named Prima. He is just too proud of it. He must have told us the story when my mother gave birth to us a million times.
“I wanted to have a daughter just like how beautiful your mother is. I wanted to have a child I will call my princess. You are my forever princess. I named you Prima because I thought you would be my firstborn, but it turned out to be Malik, Teagan, Byron, Lucas, and I almost died when you did not come out after an hour. I might have called all the gods. I surrendered my power to the moon goddess to keep you alive, and there you came out smiling at me with your deep-set dimples on your cheeks. You opened your eyes and stared at me. You mean the world to me, Prima. I was once the bad one but the moment I laid my eyes on you. You changed me, and I fell in love with your mother even more.”
“Awwww! See Malik? Father loves me more than the four of you!”
“That’s because when you get married to Prince Demetrius, you will be leaving Egilson,” they said in unison.
- Writer
