Ember's P.O.V

I woke up in my king size bed to the sound of my annoying alarm clock. I reached for my phone, and snoozed it before resting my head back on the pillow to go back to sleep. 

"Good Morning Princess Ember, the staff in the kitchen prepared you breakfast as we do have a long day ahead of us," my maid, Dorothy, winked at me while emphasizing on long day. She walked into my bedroom with a giant tray of food to lay on my bed. 

I smiled into my pillow and sat up to look at her. She was an old woman, in her late fifties. She practically raised me since my mother was on business trips for most of my childhood and my father died of illness when I was only four. So, she was the only parental figure I looked up to while growing up.

"Ahh, thank you so much Dorothy, c'mon sit down, eat with me," I said while patting a place on bed for her to sit and grabbed a croissant to hand to her. She chuckled and waved to the guards at my bedroom door, to shut the doors. 

The moment the doors shut, Dorothy's face became serious, almost anxious even. She reached for my left hand that I wasn't using and said, "how are you feeling my dear? Are you scared? Do we need to go over the plan again?" 

I harshly swallowed the bite of croissant I was eating and gulped down all of my orange juice. I looked up at her and nervously smiled, " I feel confident about this Dorothy. The plan is flawless thanks to your sly ways and Benson's planning. However, I am scared to leave all of this behind," I said gesturing to the massive room surrounding me.  

"It's not everyday a princess escapes a palace full of guards unnoticed," I said with a chuckle at the end.  

"It's okay sweetie. You are an adult now! Speaking of-" she paused grabbing a small necklace from her dress pocket, "happy eighteenth birthday my dear."

She pulled out a beautiful charm necklace from her pocket. Simple yet elegant. I put one hand on my heart and held the necklace with the other hand, "oh, Dorothy you really didn't have to, it's beautiful, I love it! Thank you so much..." I gasped. 

She chuckled, "oh it was really nothing! You're like the daughter I never had," she said smiling. 

"Tell me Dorothy, how did I get so lucky to have you in my life? Now,I have to ask, is mother here?" I asked hope laced in my voice, even though, I barely know the woman.

Her facial expression immediately changed into disappointment and I felt my heart become heavy. Of course, she's not here. Why would I even expect her to be? She missed every single one of my birthdays for as long as I remember. I just thought that maybe she'd be here for the one birthday where I become an adult.

"She really wanted to be here I swear, she even to-" I interrupted Dorothy, "If she really wanted to be here then she would have been." I snapped at her. 

I immediately felt bad for snapping at her like that, but by looking at her face I can tell that she's not affected by it. She knows I don't mean it. 

"I know, but she has duties as queen of such an important country in Euro- Oh Ember, don't cry," she said while hugging me and laying my head on her shoulder. 

Why does she always do this? I've been alone my whole life and on every single birthday the same thing happens. Dorothy comes in with a small yet meaningful present, tells me my mom is not here and then says that she wanted to gi-

"She left me this to give to you," Dorothy said handing me keys to a car. I flipped the keys and saw that it read Bentley. Ah, of course. Such an expensive gift to buy my love. 

I chuckled, not because I didn't want the car. Of course I did, anyone in their right mind would. I just chuckled on how every single year, it was always Dorothy who gave me the already meaningless present from my mother and not my mother herself. 

"You see Dorothy, that is exactly why I plan on leaving today and never coming back. You know you are still free to come with right?" I said raising an eyebrow at her with a glint of hope.

I already know the answer to that. She can't leave the palace, she has duties. She is the head of all servants here. She is like the glue holding the place together.  

And I admire her for that. Even with all of this going on and all those people that rely on her, she still has time for me. Why can't my mother be like that?

She gave me a small smile and whispered, "you know I can't do that. I wish I could, but I can't." I nodded understandingly at her and groaned. "I wish you could come! I'm going to miss you so much," I exclaimed at her. 

She immediately hugged me and now it was her turn to cry on my shoulder. Aaand her crying made me cry, and we were just a hot mess. 

I heard a knock on the door and then the door handle opened, "excuse me ladies I hope I am not interrupting anything, Ember, are you decent?" I heard a voice that I recognize all too well trying to hide a laugh walk into my room. 

It was Prince James, also known as my boyfriend and known to the public as my soon to be husband, even though, we're not even engaged yet. He had his right hand to cover his emerald green eyes pushing his brown hair back and he held a present in the other hand. 

I chuckled and playfully rolled my eyes at him, "Yes James, I am DECENT," I let go of Dorothy and grabbed a strawberry from the tray to eat. 

He let his hand down to his side and gasped jokingly, "oh dear god the sight looked better when I had my eyes closed under my hands. What is up with the both of you?" He said looking at me smiling, but also questioning why I was crying. 

I motioned for him to come sit on the bed as well, so he walked over and hugged Dorothy in the process. "Hello Dorothy, how are you feeling on this fine morning?" he asked her. 

"I'm good my dear, how are you?" she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. James spent most of his life in Gandovia, his father sent him over when he was five years so that he could spend time with me in hopes that one day we'll be married and rule Gandovia and Ashmus in Unity. 

"To be honest Dorothy, I'm irritated, extremely irritated, my father arrived here last night and he barely let me leave the palace this morning. I'm just glad we get to leave this prison soon," he said smiling while reaching for my hand to hold it. 

She laughed and stood up, "well I must excuse myself. I will let you two kids have fun. Not too much fun," she said and we all chuckled in return. 

As soon as she left the room, James moved the tray to the side and jumped over me making my back hit the mattress. He was laying on top of me with his palms on the mattress to push himself higher so that he doesn't squish me with his body weight. "Oh I missed you so much," he said kissing me all over my face.

He had such a thick accent. Ashmus is a tiny little island near northern Scotland, so they speak almost the same way as Scottish people, which was a very thick, but beautiful accent. Gandovia though, is a country connecting England and France. So we have a much smoother accent. 

"Ahhh get your gross mouth away from me," I squealed turning my head to the right and laughing. "Is that so?" He asked raising his eyebrows challengingly and I nodded with innocent eyes and bit my bottom lip in return. 

Suddenly, I was being carried on his shoulders running across the castle halls in just my pyjama set which consisted of shorts and a tank top. He carried me where my chest was to his back and my face was, well, to his ass.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked and I could hear the smirk in his voice. "Yeah very much," I replied sarcastically. 

Suddenly, a cough made James drop me to my feet. I looked up and it was the last person I expected to see today. Her blonde hair, just like mine, was tied up in a tight bun. Her pearl necklace perfectly rested on her collarbone. Her outfit just screamed pure professionalism. 

It was my mother.

"Good day your highness," said James while bowing. 

"Mother" I said in utter shock.

"Princess Ember,  your mother has arriv- Oh, I see you have already seen her. Your highness" Benson, our butler, said all at once while rushing to the scene. Bowing in the process as a sign of respect. 

"Mother what are you doing here? Dorothy said that you're not going to be able to make it," I said coolly. 

"Well I made it. What? Can't a mother visit her own daughter on her birthday," my mother asked. I couldn't believe what she was saying or that she was even here. Why now? Why all of a sudden? 

"Not you...you can't, you only come when you want something," I whispered, but just loud enough for her to hear me.  

"Oh C'mon what could I possi-" she was interrupted by the sound of my best friend entering the castle. You could spot her fiery red hair from a mile away, "What up bitches! It's my best friend's birthday today!" she exclaimed and started to look for me.

James tried to stifle his laugh and so did Benson. My mother just looked like she was in utter disbelief. Once Olivia's eyes landed on mine I gave her a look as if telling her to shut up and I discretely pointed towards my mother. 

She gasped and then tapped the guard's shoulder next to her, "Yo, is that the queen?" she asked and he nodded in return. "Fuck" she said and then both James and Benson let out a small laugh at the same time. I looked back and gave them both a stern look to shut them up. 

My mother turned to look at Olivia, "Ahh Olivia, classy as always," my mother said scanning her outfit which consisted of a pair of Jeans and a crop top that could pass as a bra. Olivia scoffed in return and bowed muttering, "your highness." 

My mother looked back at me and said, "anyway Ember, go find yourself something proper to wear." She eyed me from head to toe," this is just embarrassing." 

I rolled my eyes and waited until her and her two guards left the hallway followed by Benson. "Eeek, I missed you so much," I rushed over to Olivia and hugged her almost strangling her to death. 

"Oh my lord, I was only gone for six months don't be so dramatic," she said emphasizing on the word dramatic. I pulled out of the hug and looked at her faking being shocked.

"Auh, so you don't miss me? I see how it is then," I said dramatically walking away from her, but she grabbed me from my wrist. "Come here, OF COURSE I missed you," she stated hugging me so tightly to the point where we lost our balance and almost fell to the ground if it weren't for James catching us. 

"JAMEY," Olivia exclaimed while hugging James. He rolled his eyes and smiled hugging her back," wow almost fifteen years and you still pretend that you don't know my name. For the last time, it's James."

"What was that? John? Jeremiah? Kendall?" She asked him. "Okay, okay that's too far," he said chuckling. 

"Oh my god, look at you Ember. You're grown. You look so HOT," Olivia exclaimed. 

"Okay okay, look the other way she's mine," James said while wrapping his arms around my shoulder and kissing the top of my head. 

"Oh Jackson don't get your panties in a twist, I don't float that way. But if I did, Ember here would definitely be a catch, how you doin'?" She said kneeling on a wall as if she's flirting with me. 

I burst out laughing and James shook his head, "Jackson, that's new Olivia. Very Original, anyway let's head back to my room and start getting ready," I said grabbing both of their hands. 

"Aww, but I just got here," Olivia said. Both, me and James turned our heads at her at the same time glaring at her and she just put her hands up in defeat, "Jesus, I was just kidding. I'm just as excited as you are to finally leave this place, I feel like I have been trapped here my own life and even when we travel, we just go to another city, never crossed the borders." 

"Amen to that," Both me and James replied to her at the same time and we all chuckled while walking back to my room prepared to leave this place.

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