In Love With The Ebony Queen

Adventurous

"Alright, Princess Serena. That is all for today." Ms. Dana, the princess's tutor wraps up the day with her. "You have been doing so well. I am very proud of you." she said. Serena beamed. "Thank you so much, Ms. Dana said as both ladies packed up their things for the day.

"So how did you like the story I recommended to you? Have you started reading it yet?" Ms. Dana asked the princess. "Yes! I have barely been able to put it down since I started! It's an amazing read." The princess gushed.

As they began discussing the book, King Alexander walked into the room. "Hello Ms. Dana. How is Serena doing in her studies." Dana gave the king a curtsey. "She is doing wonderfully as always, your highness." Dana turned to wink at the princess.

"Excellent, excellent. Well if you ladies are finished with your studies, I would like to speak to my daughter." Ms. Dana nodded. "We were just packing up for the day. Princess Serena, I will see you on Monday." The princess smiled and nodded before walking out of the tutor room with her father.

"Yes, daddy? What is it you wanted to talk about?" The king grabbed her bag and they walked side by side. "I have been giving a lot of thought to this visit to into town thing, and after speaking with my mother, I have made my decision."

She looked up at him. "You talked to grandma about it? What did she have to say about it?" Serena asked. "Well, she thinks it would be good for you. Your mother did it...before you were born, of course. Like you, she had a good friend who was a commoner and she insisted on spending some time with her and among the common folk."

The princess swooned. "Mother was an amazing woman, wasn't she?" she gushed. "Yes, she really was. And you are so much like her. I feel like you could grow to resent me if I do not let you be who you are. Now of course there will be limits in what I will allow, but I suppose it could not hurt to let you spend sometime outside the castle walls."

Serena's eyes grew wide with surprise. She just knew that her father was going to say no. "Daddy- are you saying..." He smiled at her. "You may spend one weekend outside of the castle. But there are some conditions.

First, you are to stay with Dimitri at all times. He knows the town and you do not. I do not need you getting lost all by yourself. Second, there will be a few guards with you at all times. I will have them stay several feet away, but keep you in their sight.

And lastly, this is only for the weekend. If you are not back on time, I will send the entire army to bring you home." Serena rolled her eyes. "That's not necessary father. I will be back on time. I promise." she smiled.

"One more thing, Serena. I will be taking you there myself. I wish to see exactly where you will be." Princess Serena raised an eyebrow. "Alright, daddy. Fine. Just promise me that the guards will stay away. They always intimidate people."

The king nodded at his daughter. "You can go this weekend. That way neither one of you misses your studies during the week. You may go tomorrow, and I want you back here Sunday evening. Understand?"

Serena jumped into his arms. "Thank you, daddy! Thank you! Thank you!" He smiled, and squeezed her tight. "Now, I will be having a conversation with Dimitri and his father about your visit."

Her eyebrow furrowed once more. "Please don't scare them or anything like that." He laughed. "No such thing. I am simply letting them know that I will have guards posted around the house while you are there."

She smiled again and gave her father another hug. "I love you daddy!" the young princess cooed. "I love you too, sweetheart."

*SERENA POV*

The day after my father told me he was allowing me to spend a day in town, I woke up extremely early. I couldn't contain my excitement, and I barely slept the entire night. I packed a small bag the night before, and spent most of the night reading because I simply could not sleep.

I got out of bed to get dressed and did my hair. I wanted to make sure I was ready to leave as early as possible. I was so anxious that I decided to go see if my father was awake.

I grabbed my small, pink bag and headed out of my room across the hall. I softly knocked on his door. "Daddy? Daddy are you awake?" I pressed my ear to the door and could hear him stirring inside.

"Come in, princess." he said with a groggy morning voice. I opened the door slowly. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in his long robe. "Hey daddy. You feeling alright?"

He gave me a half smile. "Yes, my dear. I am fine. Just tired. I didn't have an easy time sleeping. All I could think about is you going to town today." I shrieked. "I am so excited! I couldn't sleep either. I stayed up most of the night reading the book Ms. Dana gave me."

He chuckled. "Alright well let me get dressed and grab some breakfast. We will leave within the next 2 hours." I nodded with a giant grin on my face, before stepping out of his room and closing the door.

After about 20 or 30 minutes, he came to my room to get me. "Alright sweetheart, let's go get breakfast. You grandmother had the kitchen make your favorite this morning." My eyes grew wide. "Cinnamon rolls with extra cream cheese frosting?"

He laughed. "Yes. Let's go grab one while they're hot." My father took my bag from me and we walked downstairs to the small dining room for breakfast. We have a total of 3 dining rooms in this castle. The one used the least is the largest one. It is full of round tables that we only use on special gatherings.

We use the smaller one for breakfast since we almost never have breakfast together, and the second largest one is always used at dinner time. Even though it is usually just myself, my father, my grandmother, and on occasions, Dimitri, the table has always been ridiculously large to me.

We walked into the dining room and my lungs are filled with the amazing smell of cinnamon. Some servants come over with a couple of small trays and open them. One contained a batch of big, freshly baked cinnamon rolls smothered in cream cheese frosting.

The other had buttery croissants and biscuits with different jams, and the last one had various drinks. There was orange juice, black coffee and ice cold milk. I grabbed the milk and one cinnamon roll.

"Would you slow down? There is no need to inhale your food, Serena. The town isn't going anywhere." My grandmother says as she joins us at the table. She sits beside me and grabs the orange juice and a croissant.

"Well the longer it takes to get out of here, the less time I will have to spend out there." I said with a mouth full of cinnamon roll. "Serena, please. At least try to act like a princess." My father rolls his eyes.

I scarf down the remainder of my roll and wash it down with the milk before calling one of the servants over to the table. "Could you please wrap up two of these cinnamon rolls to go please?" The servant smiled at me and bowed.

"Of course, your highness." She took the platter of rolls into the kitchen, and quickly returned with two of them in a small container. "Thank you!"

"Serena, why don't you hurry up and get dressed so we can get this over with." My father said. I looked down at my outfit then back at him. "I am dressed, daddy." I sighed.

I was dressed the way I liked to dress. He would prefer I stay in large puffy ballgowns all day like a proper princess should. Problem is, I am not a proper princess.

I am wearing some dark blue faded skinny jeans, a black crew neck t-shirt, and some black and white sneakers. I was comfortable, and would blend in. I didn't want to bring much attention to myself. I just wanted to be normal.

He looked me up and down, and sighed. "Alright, well I suppose it's time to go. Grab your bag. I will meet you out front. I must go pick a couple guards to go with you." he said.

I got up quickly, grabbing my bag and the container of cinnamon rolls. "Bye, grandma! I will see you tomorrow night!" I gave her a kiss on the forehead before skipping out of the dining room towards the front doors of the castle.

After a few minutes of standing outside waiting for my father, a limousine pulled up in front. The window rolled down and my father called for me. "Come now, Serena." I stared at him. "Really? A limo? Is this necessary daddy? I was hoping to stay under the radar a little. Couldn't we take something else? Anything else?"

My father threw his head back and sighed. "Lionel, please swing back to the garage. We are going to take the jeep instead."

I hopped into the limo to ride back with them. After we switched vehicles, we headed for the large gate. I couldn't contain the excitement that bubbled inside of me. I was twisting and pulling the strap of my bag, shaking my leg and biting my lip.

"Relax, Serena. You are making me nervous." My father laughed at me. "I'm sorry, daddy. I am just so incredibly excited. To be among the people without the tight-wad guards scaring people off- no offense." I I looked over at the guards that would be accompanying me.

The drive was not very long. We arrived in the town in about 15 minutes. We arrived at Dimitri's house about 10 minutes after that. As we pulled up, we could see Dimitri and his father, David standing outside. I smiled and waved out the window.

We came to a stop and I jumped out of the jeep as fast as I could. David bowed to me. "Your highness. Welcome." I gave him a hug, then hugged Dimitri. "This house is adorable!" I said as I took a step toward it.

David and Dimitri bowed to my father as he walked towards them, two guards on both sides of him. My father is a very tall, intimidating man. He towered over David. Dimitri is about his height though. There's no telling how much taller he will get.

"Your majesty, it is an absolute honor to have you here." David said. "So this is the house we built for you, huh? It looks cozy." my father said.

Dimitri got a lot of perks being my friend. A long time ago, David and Dimitri's home was destroyed in a really bad fire. Luckily neither of them were hurt, but they lost their home. My father was generous enough to step in and have this home built for them, although he never bothered to visit it.

"Alright gentlemen. Here is what will be happening. These are two of my best guards. They will be patrolling the perimeter of your house at all times. When Serena leaves, they will be following close behind her.

Dimitri, anytime she leaves, you are to escort her. Do not let her go anywhere without you. Understood?" Dimitri bowed his head. "Yes, of course your highness." I walked over to my father.

"Okay daddy. That's enough. I will be fine. See you tomorrow night. Byyyyyye." I nudged him towards the jeep. He looked down at me with a serious look. "My love, be safe. I will see you tomorrow." He kissed me on the forehead before getting back into the jeep.

I turned to David and Dimitri. "Okay so what do we do first?" I said with a big grin on my face. They both laughed at me. "You are just too excited to go slumming, aren't you?" I frowned.

"Why would being with you be considered slumming? I think you two are great!" David smiled at me. "Well princess, I must head to the castle to begin working on the gardens. I will be back later tonight for dinner. I will see you children then."

Dimitri and I waved his father off as he got into his old truck and drove away. I turned to him. "Okay so let's go somewhere." I insisted. Dimitri laughed again. "Like where?" I shrugged. "I don't know. You live around here. Show me something. All I've ever seen is the elementary school, the park and the rec center."

"Let's take your bag inside first. And what is that smell?" He sniffed the air. "Oh, I almost forgot. I got these for your and your dad." I pulled the container of cinnamon rolls out of my bag and handed it to him. "Oh my god I love these! Thanks!"

He opened the container and took a big bite out of one as we walked into the house. I looked around at the small kitchen. I had never been in someone else's house before, let alone one this small.

It was small, but homey. It was much different than the castle. Everything is so large and spaced so far apart. "So where do I sleep?" Dimitri cleaned his hands from the sticky cinnamon roll and pointed to the next room.

"This way, princess." I rolled my eyes and followed him. In the next room was a couch and an overstuffed chair. There was a tv and a small book self next to it. "You have a tv! My father has never let me watch tv. He won't even bring one into the castle."

"That's quite possibly the only thing in that place that you don't have." he snickered. He lead me to a small hallway that had a flight of stairs. Before we went up, he pointed to the doors near it. "That's my father's room right there and that is the first floor bathroom."

He lead me up the stairs and pointed out more doors. "This is the second bathroom, this is the guest room we have set up for you, and this is my room." He pulled on a rope that revealed a secret set of stairs going up even higher.

We went up and my eyes grew wide with wonder. "Wow, this is interesting." I said as I looked around. There was a small bed near the window with a side table next to it. There was a television across from a small couch and a bookshelf built into the wall full of books.

It was painted mostly dark with grey walls, and a dark blue, almost black ceiling. It was decorated with what looked like outer space. "That's amazing!" I gushed. "It's cool, I guess. It glows at night. I will show you later."

We made our way back down to the second floor and he walked me into what would be my room. "It isn't much, but I hope you'll be comfortable." The room was far smaller than I was used to. The bed was too. There was only one window near the bed, two side tables with a small light and clock.

There was an empty closet and not much else. I sat down on the bed. "This will be fine. Thank you." Dimitri gave me a grin, then sat next to me. "You really are a remarkable girl. No other princess or noblewoman would ever accept sleeping in a place like this."

I blushed. "I think this place is homey. I like it, a lot. Now-" I hopped to my feet and stretched a little. "Take me somewhere." He smiled and nodded. "As you wish, your highness." He bowed to me and I took the pillow off the bed and threw it at him. "Come on, let's go!"