The two weeks have gone by annoyingly fast. I put in my two week notice at my job the morning after my grandmother showed up. Luckily, just like Gemma, I don’t have any family near me. My aunt still lives in the city I grew up in, and a simple phone call was all it took to explain what was going on. She was surprisingly okay with hearing that I was a princess, even overnight shipping me a photo album of my parents saying she always knew there was something special about me.

Gemma is still gung-ho about the entire thing, having basically moved in with me the last two weeks. She spends most of her day researching supernatural creatures, even though I try to tell her that the internet probably isn’t the most reliable source of information.

“So you have absolutely no idea who this future husband of yours is? Is he a vampire? Werewolf? Maybe he’s a Centaur. Oh what if--”

“Gemma please.” I groan. I don’t get why she’s so excited for me to get married. Out of the two of us, she’s been in a lot more relationships than I have. Not that I have anything against dating, it’s just working overnight shifts and sleeping most of the day doesn’t lend much time for socializing.

“It’s just exciting, Love Dove. Weddings have always been fun for me.”

“Why don’t you marry him?”

“I’m not the Chosen One, princess.”

“Ugh!” I fall dramatically onto my back, covering my face with a pillow. The bed dips, and Gemma is plucking the pillow from my face, laughing at my frown.

“Hey, it’s been two weeks, right?”

“Yeah, give or take a few hours, why?”

She hugs the pillow to her chest, shrugging. “I was just wondering when your grandmother is supposed to show--woah!”

As she’s talking my grandmother suddenly appears in my room, looking exactly the way she did two weeks ago. I quickly stand from the bed, Gemma following my action.

“Who is this?” My grandmother asks, gesturing to Gemma.

“Uh, my best friend, Gemma. She wants to come with me.”

Grandmother looks as if she wants to protest, but after taking a moment to look Gemma over, shakes her head instead. “Alright, fine.” Without warning she touches a hand to each of our shoulders, and then we are no longer in my bedroom.

What looks to be a town greets us. The very first thing I notice is the huge palace directly across from where we’re standing. I assume that is where we’ll be staying. There is a magnificently huge body of water between us and the palace, and a bridge connecting the two. Then a large stretch of lawn and the same wildflowers from my dream. The palace itself is surrounded by a gate.

To the left of the palace is another building that looks to be a greenhouse of sorts, considering it’s glass ceiling and the large windows all around it.

“So what is this town called?” I question, looking over to see my grandmother smiling at me.

“This is not a town at all. This is your palace.”

“That building right?”

“No, dear. The entire structure is the palace.”

“What?” I squeak, turning back to the palace. There are at least three other buildings not including the big palace and the greenhouse. And there is no telling how many more are behind everything else. “This whole thing is my home?”

“Welcome to Sedalia. Follow me.”

As grandmother begins leading us across the bridge Gemma asks, “So...what’s your name?”

“I am Rosedriah. You may call me Rose.”

I can’t believe I hadn’t thought to ask my own grandmother what her name is. Rosedriah. It is a pretty name, and somehow fits her perfectly. But that leads me to wonder if I should call her Grandma Rose, or just Rose? Or grandmother? I haven’t had one of those before, and I am unsure what the rules are since I’m an adult meeting her for the first time.

I make a mental note to ask her later, since we’ve just made it across the bridge.

“This is Aikyam Palace. It is where the heir and their spouse stays. You will get a formal tour later, for now I’m sure you are famished. We will eat dinner and then you can retire for the night.

Dinner is thankfully uneventful, and then Rose shows us to my room, telling Gemma that because she is an unexpected add-on she will have a room prepared for her by tomorrow.

Finally Gemma and I are alone again. I immediately flop onto the bed. It is huge, and much softer than the bed in my apartment.

Gemma is roaming around my room, marveling at how big it is and how she hopes her wardrobe is the same cherrywood that mine is.

“So...grandma Rose seems nice.”

I roll over onto my side, looking to see Gemma is pulling open the door to my balcony. It lets a gust of cool air in and I take a deep breath. The outdoors usually helped to calm my nerves, but it wasn’t doing nearly enough right now. “Yeah...I’m freaking out though, Gem. This is too much.”

“You’ll be fine, Love Dove. Besides, we’re here now. No point in stressing about it.”

Despite Gemma telling me not to worry about it, I can’t help but do precisely that. Sleep did not come easy to me last night, between thinking about the role Rosedriah expects me to play, and the fact that I am to meet and marry a stranger. By the time morning came, I’d managed to sleep a total of two hours.

After a quick breakfast, Rosedriah tells us that we are going into town to get us each a new wardrobe, and it reminds me that we came here with literally nothing but the clothes on my back.

Gemma is of course, excited the entire trip and normally I would be as well but I can’t help but think about the fact that Rosedriah expects me to be Queen. To just jump into this role like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“Dove!”

“Huh?”

Rosedriah and Gemma are looking at me and I think I must have missed something.

“Grandma Rose was asking if you liked this dress to wear for tomorrow.” Gemma says, pointing to a dusty rose dress hanging in a shop window. It looked off the shoulder, form fitting up top and then ball gown from the hips down. The bottom had white roses with gold glitter dusted on climbing part of the way up.

I nod absentmindedly, before turning to the two again. “What’s happening tomorrow?”

“You’re meeting your fiance tomorrow, dear.” Rosedriah answers. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I lace and unlace my fingers together, over and over, a bad habit I have whenever my nerves get the best of me. Gemma notices, patting my arm comfortingly.

“Because you were raised human, there is some training you will have to do before we can hold your commencement ceremony.”

“Commencement?”

Rosedriah nods, touching a light blue dress. She seems to mull over it for a moment before signaling for the employee. “Traditionally the commencement is held on the heir’s 25th birthday. By then they would have learned what they need to rule the kingdom well. Unfortunately, you were not afforded the same opportunity. Though your birthday is a mere two months away, that will not be enough time for you to learn all there is to ruling the kingdom.” She holds the dress up to Gemma before clicking her tongue and shaking her head. “There is much you need to learn and less time for you to learn it in.”

We finish shopping not too long after, both Gemma and I several dresses and shoes heavier. When we return to the palace, we are taken to Gemma’s new room. It is similar to mine, if not a bit smaller, and thankfully only a few doors down from me.

Despite her room being so close Gemma still chooses to stay with me tonight, which I am glad for. My stomach is a mess knowing what is to come tomorrow.

I lay in bed while Gemma pulls open the balcony doors again. She looks at me, humming. “You look terrible.”

“Thank you.” I roll my eyes.

She grins, going over to the door and peeking her head out the door to my room. A moment later I hear her asking one of the maids to bring us some tea and snacks, most likely because I barely touched my food at dinner.

“I know I keep saying this but I swear it’s you who was meant to be the princess and Grandma Rose got us mixed up.”

Gemma snorts, closing the door and turning to me. “Are you kidding me? You and her are practically twins. She looks like your older sister at most.”

“That’s probably because she’s a witch, Gem.”

“She’s a what?”

I sit up, blinking. Gemma is going on about how she can’t believe Rosedriah is a witch while I can’t believe I forgot to mention that part.

“So the lessons she was talking about is to teach you magic?”

I shrug. “I guess so.”

A knock on the door claims Gemma’s attention, and a moment later she walks over to me with a tray of cookies and tea. She sets it on the little table in my room and I roll off the bed, sitting in one of the chairs and pour myself a cup of tea.

“So…” Gemma starts after taking a bite of a cookie. “Oh my lord these are good.”

“Are they? Oh!” I take a bite as well, agreeing with her instantly. The cookie is so soft, and the chocolate is the best I’ve ever tasted. “These are good.”

“Your future husband is probably some kind of royalty, huh?”

“Mhm.” I hum, taking a sip of tea. I don’t understand why she’s so fixated on my marriage, but at this point I suppose it’s better to appease her curiosity.

“So I think we should do some princess training!”

The regret from letting her talk is instant. I set my cup down, frowning at her. About to say something I would regret even more. “What are you talking about, Gemma?”

Five minutes later and I am attempting to walk with books stacked on my head.

“You’ve watched too many movies, Gem.”

“Less talking more walking! Keep your head up!” Gemma calls from the comfort of my bed.

I groan, sticking my arms out in an attempt to steady myself. The attempt lasted for approximately twelve seconds before the books came tumbling down, most of them hitting me on the shoulder. I hiss, rubbing the offended body part while Gemma laughs. After gathering the fallen books and placing them on the bookshelf I sit at the table, stuffing another cookie in my mouth.

“This is stupid. I’m sure my new husband knows how I was raised and won’t be expecting an actual princess.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Gemma huffs. “You are an actual princess.”