Her face fell. Her chest heaved with sorrow. When she had been informed that her father wanted to meet her, it had not occurred to her that marriage would be the subject of conversation.

"I'm getting married?" She asked incredulously. It was so sudden, so unexpected that it made her want to cry. Her father nodded slowly and said, "Yes, Laura. You're getting married. You didn't expect to remain single all the days of your life, did you?". He had a tiny smile on his face and she wondered if he found this amusing, if he thought the pain in her eyes was a joke.

"Why are you saying this all of a sudden? You have picked someone out for me?" She asked. Perhaps, her father was getting too desperate. How could she make him see reason with her? How would she explain to him that this wasn't what she wanted? She did not want somebody that her father had chosen for her. She did not want to even have this conversation right now.

"Yes, you are getting married to prince Nicholas" her Father said with a tone of finality. His face was defiant as if he was challenging her to argue with him. 

"But I don't want this. I--" she began to say but her father cut in sharply. He wasn't going to have any of her whining today.

"Prince Nicholas is suitable for you. He is from the vampire kingdom and has been proven to have great abilities. You will like him" her father said. She was certain that she wouldn't like him. Why was he from the vampire kingdom of all places? Her father must be desperate after all she did not seem interested in these matters. He had finally decided to take matters into his own hands and this irritated her.

"From the vampire kingdom? Why do I have to marry someone from the vampire kingdom? You say that he has been proven to have abilities but I'm certain that there are others that are better than he is. Why does it have to be a vampire, father?" She asked. She was trying to keep the sadness and anger out of her voice. She stared out the window again and wanted to run away. She did not want to be here discussing marriage with her father, she wished she were outside doing anything else but this. "I have met with many others, Father. Was it all for waste?" She asked again. She was now staring at her father trying to figure out what he was thinking. She dared not look at Banks, she was almost certain that there was a satisfied smirk on his face and she surely didn't want to see that. The fact that her father wanted her to rule by all means possible despite her blatant disinterest frustrated her. Why couldn't he just give up on her?

"Laura, this is something you must do. If I don't help you out, you will never get down to getting married and you know it. What does it matter that he is from the vampire kingdom? He is suitable and good for you and that is all that matters" her father said. His voice was soft but did not leave any room for argument. She took the risk and looked up at Banks' face. Sure enough, he was smirking and nodding.

"I don't want to do this and I won't do it," she said. Her voice was determined and her face held the anger she felt. It was a matter of her life and she wanted to make this decision herself. She did not want to spend the rest of her life with some pompous prince that she was bound to dislike.

She rose furiously from her seat and stormed out.

Laura tried to make sense of what her Father and Banks were asking of her. Stalking down the stairs, her vexing demeanor sent a maid scurrying down the flight of stairs swiftly, a basket of linens in her arms. The white sheets draped over the baskets, sweeping the stairs clean as the trailer after her hurrying form. 

She was just turning into the hallway that led to her rooms when Mary walked out of a closed door. If she wasn't mistaken, that was the spare room where Laura sometimes kept her clothes. Or where she sometimes drew. She frowned, her brows furrowing more when she saw Mary stiffen and then plaster a fake smile on her face. 

"What are you doing here?" She frowned at Mary when she wrapped the hem of her sweater over her fingers, like she was trying to pull the threads loose. Her nervous gesture. A tell, really. 

Mary walked closer to her and she saw that her face was flushed. She bit back a sigh when she finally knew why. "Tell Adam to stop using my room for nefarious things."

There was a chuckle from behind the door and Mary blushed deeply. 

"You do know that he is not going to ever marry you, right?" Laura said, hoping to God that Mary didn't have that silly wish in her heart like all girls their age. 

Mary's face fell and Laura could see tears gather in her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that." She pulled Mary's hands into the cradle of her own.

"I just meant that you shouldn't hold out hope for it. Because you can never be disappointed or heartbroken when you don't set standards to meet." Mary looked at Laura like she wanted to agree but then she pulled her hand back and stood tall.

"Adam is a decent man. He won't ever do anything to hurt me." Just then, Adam walked out of the room, slinking by the walls and sheepishly avoiding my eyes. I didn't pay him any mind but instead, turned my attention back to her. 

"At least some of us have prospects. Nowadays, it feels like you're just bitter as more younger girls are being wed and you're still here."

Laura froze at that. She had never heard a rude word come out of Mary's mouth since she'd known her since birth. She was tempted to call her out and tell her that she was getting married, but she didn't.

"Why are you here?"

Mary looked like she was shocked, as Laura kept her cool and didn't shout at her. "You missed our visit this morning and I was worried."

"Well, you've seen me now. Have a good day."

She walked away from Mary and hurried to her room.

Laura walked into her room and slammed the door shut, she was boiling with anger and had thrown all decorum to the wind. She could not believe that her father made such a decision for her. How was she going to get married to someone she did not know, someone who was rumored to be an enemy of their kingdom. 

Laura paced the length of her room with fast steps, her anger was not fading. The beautiful muslin material of her gown was no longer sleek because of how hard she squeezed it, trying to control her anger. Even her beautifully styled hair was not spared from her restlessness. She began to regret talking to Mary rudely, had she been in the room, they would have talked about the whole situation. Maybe Laura would have been able to make sense of the whole situation.

She was still pacing the room when she heard a knock on the door, “what do you want this time?” she yelled, thinking it was her best friend Mary.

“It is not Mary, My Princess, it is I, Elaine, the head kitchen maid. Velma told me that you barely had anything to eat at the dining table with your father, the King” Came a voice from outside. Laura rolled her eyes at the fact that Velma told the head of the kitchen maids that she barely had anything to eat for breakfast. “I am not hungry Elaine, please take the food back, I really do not want to see anyone at the moment”

There was silence on the other side of the door for a short while before Elaine spoke up again “I got you your favorite snack my princess, but I can always take it back if you do not want it”

“N-no Elaine, I will take it, thank you very much” Laura quickly replied and proceeded to open the door and let Elaine inside the room.

Elaine was an elderly maid who had served with the royal family for a very long time. She came to the palace when she was a young maiden and was pretty close to the former queen Laura’s mother. Elaine and the Queen had a close friendship because they were close in age and Elaine was the only person the queen confided in. When the Queen passed, the King lost his wife, Laura lost her mother and Elaine lost her very good friend. But she never forgot to always look out for Laura, because she felt she owed it to the Queen to keep an eye out for her daughter Laura. So when Velma told her that Laura was unable to eat breakfast and about the heated argument she had with the King, Elaine decided to step in.

As soon as Elaine got into the room, Laura rushed to the platter containing the snacks, took them and began to shovel it into her mouth like a starved person. She only paused when Elaine cleared her throat, Laura looked up with a sheepish look on her face. “I thought you said you were not hungry, My Princess” Elaine retorted. Laura just shrugged and continued to fill her mouth with the food, she only stopped when her plate was scraped clean, then she looked at Elaine with a satisfied look on her face. “Did you prepare this yourself? None of the maids get it right” Laura asked as she cleaned her hands and mouth. 

Elaine smiled in response, placed the dirty plate on the tray and ringed for a maid to come in and get the plate. After the plate was taken away, she gestured to Laura, asking her if she could sit down. Laura nodded and patted the bed beside her, still bearing a smile that indicated she was happily fed. Elaine however was not one to beat about the bush, she jumped straight to the point. “My Princess, I heard that you had an argument with the King. I also heard that you were so angry you could not speak to your friend. I am here for you, if you want to talk about it.”

Laura sighed deeply, she knew that Elaine was a friend of her mother who had been there for her for as long as she could remember. She was already used to Elaine’s blunt nature so it was not a surprise when Elaine asked her about the argument she had with her father, the King. “Elaine, what was my mother like, did she love my father, what did marriage do to her?”