Eight

Mia Jayden

"Your highness, wakey wakey,"

Mia's personal maid, Isabelle said in a sing-song voice.

It was always the same routine.

Isabelle would wake her up from her slumber every morning and Mia would often take her sweet time before rousing from her sleep.

Isabelle always found it interesting and as much as she wanted to be angry at her for giving her such a hard time, she just couldn't. It was impossible to get upset with her no matter how hard anyone tried and Isabelle couldn't comprehend why it was so.

"Your highness," She called again a tad too close to the princess's ears for comfort.

Mia shifted so she was now face down; her head buried under her pillow as she groaned in frustration.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Mia's voice sounded muffled from under the pillow.

"And I told you I can't because it's protocol." Isabelle gave the same reply every time

They'd been through this a billion and one times and Mia was getting tired of having the same bicker with her maid.

"Is. Please, leave me be, I need my beauty sleep." She pleaded, her words muffled in the pillow.

"You know I can't let you do that, Miss Mia," Isabelle replied with a light chuckle.

"But I didn't sleep much last night and you know how much I like my sleep, Isa," She said cutely.

Isabelle shook her head, she definitely wouldn't fall for that trick again. The young mistress had played that card on her several times in the past and she was more than used to it.

"Mia, I don't wanna have to pull out of bed." She threatened lightly. As she said earlier, it was impossible to be mad at the princess.

"Fine," Mia said struggling to get disentangled from the sheets.

"Do you have my bath ready?" Mia asked, still struggling to get out of bed. As a princess, she slept just like a stable girl.

"Yes, ma'am." Isabelle teased.

Isabelle was always grateful to be in her presence. Isa was more than glad that she got to serve Mia instead of her mother.

"Yay!" Mia cheered like a child when she finally got to her feet and Isabelle clapped, laughing along with a very self-proud-looking Mia.

"Let's get ready, shall we?"

•••••••••••

Mia was quick to get ready and she made he way downstairs for breakfast rather reluctantly.

She hadn't still forgiven her mother for yelling at her the other day and they weren't exactly on talking terms.

She could only hope her father wasn't there as well as she could deal with her mother but not the both of them... That'd be literal hell!

Mia loved her mother, although, she could be a total pain. Mia knew her mother just wanted the best for her. She couldn't say the same about her father. He had never been much of a father to her anyways.

"Mia, you're late." Her mother, Stella, pointed out just like she did every morning. Mia resisted the roll of her eyes.

Her mother watched her like a hawk as she took her seat at the other end of the table.

"I have told you to take into consideration every time that you're the future of this Pack." Her mother reprimanded and Mia blankly stared at her, wondering when she'd get wary of always repeating the same lines.

Maybe never.

"You may be a female but you're still-"

"The future of this Pack. I get it, mom." Mia completed her mother's sentence much to her mother's frustration.

Discussions like this always ended the same way, Mia never listened.

"I'm only looking out for you,"

Her mother said with a sigh, sounding hurt as her shoulders sagged.

"Mom," Mia said in sheer frustration. "I know." She didn't. " Can we eat now?" Mia smiled. One that didn't reach her eyes.

They ate in silence for a while and all that could be heard were the sounds of their cutleries hitting their plates.

"What do you plan on doing today, Mia?" Stella attempted conversations with her child.

"What can a prisoner do except sit in her cell and wait patiently to be released?" Mia replied sarcastically, still eating her food.

Her mother heaved a sigh, saying, "No one's keeping you a prisoner."

"Yeah, right." Mia didn't want to have this conversation, not today. She knew it would amount to nothing. Her mother was just as stubborn as she was, even more.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence again and when Mia was done eating, she was glad to leave. She hated arguments generally and she knew she was bound to have one with her mom, every other day.

Mia went to check out the flowers in the garden. It had become a habit she picked up over the years, being locked up in the palace.

"Miss Mia, look." Isabelle pointed her attention to the lilies excitedly. They were doing pretty well. Mia couldn't help but smile, she loved to see flowers blossom.

As she kept examining the flowers, Perz dashed past her. Mia waved, hollering his name to get his attention but her attempts were futile.

Before she could wrap her head around what was chasing him, Theo and three other guards dashed past her.

"That was weird," She said to a perplexed isabelle who nodded in agreement.

"The palace has been quite chaotic all morning, don't you think?" Mia asked Isabelle, returning her attention to the lilies.

"I can't help but agree, my lady."

"What do you think is going on?"

She spared Isa a glance

"I have no idea,"

Isabelle said sincerely with a shrug.

"Could you find out for me?"

"Of course." Isa was quick to comply and she even seemed happy as she dashed off. It got Mia thinking she was bored of looking at flowers.

When Mia was done examining all the flowers, she turned to walk back into her cage of a room but was stopped when something flew past her into the wall beside her. She peered at the little thing which was now struggling on the floor.

"Oh, you little thing..."

She cooed, stooping to pick the tiny blue creature

The bird kept struggling to get on his feet as it cried in pain and it pulled at her heartstrings. It hurt her to see things hurt.

She held the delicate creature carefully as she used the little band around her wrist to bind its injured leg.

"Don't worry buddy, I've got you, okay?" She gently caressed his head with her index finger.

The bird suddenly stopped struggling and peered up at her like it understood what she had said and relaxed in the comfort of her palm.

"Awn, aren't you just a cutie?"

She was smiling fondly at a bird and anyone who beheld the scene was sure to think her insane. But it was Mia and there was hardly anything sane about her.

Still petting the bird, she carried it into her room contemplating what to name him.