Chapter 1

(Morrigan's P.O.V)

Present Day

Knock

Knock

Knock

"Ugh, whoever it is, it's too early for this shit please go away!" I yell at whoever has decided that knocking on my door at seven o'clock in the morning was a good idea.

I may be a Princess, but my parents have never chastised me, or my siblings, on the language we use or the behavior we exhibit within the palace walls. They raised us as a normal family and the only expectation was that we behave like the royal family that we are during events and occasions that call for "proper etiquette and protocols". My door suddenly bangs open, jolting me awake and suddenly, I'm slammed to my bed being crushed by my siblings.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BITCH!" that would be my sister, Princess Winnie for you, freaking loudmouth. You would think that being 28 would have calmed her mouth down, but alas, it has not

"Happy birthday Momo!" ugh, that stupid nickname from my eldest brother Prince Bayard. He is 30 and will be taking over the throne along with his wife, Constance when my father retires.

"Happy birthday sissy!" my twin sisters, who are 26, Princess Ilayda and Princess Adelina say together.

"Yeah, happy birthday and stuff." that would be my brother, Prince Olivier, always the enthusiastic one. He’s 25 and I don’t think he has had a single emotion cross his face in his entire life.

“Happy birthday Princess!” says my final sibling, the 24-year-old playboy of the Fae kingdom, Prince Rainier.

"Get off...of me.... you’re all.... crushing me… I’m going to die.... tell our parents...I love them..."

It was true, I was going to die with the weight of all six of my siblings crushing me. Suddenly, we hear the chuckle we all know and love, that of our father.

"Kids, get off your sister. We can't have a royal funeral before we can have her royal birthday ball." my father chuckles out. My siblings scramble to get off me and soon I can sit up and, ya know, breathe.

"Good morning and happy birthday my little Princess." my mother says, coming over to kiss me on the head.

"Yes, happy birthday my sweet pea."

According to my father, the night that they found me I smelled like the flower known as sweet pea, so he has always called me his sweet pea.

"Thanks, mom and dad."

    “Alright everyone, breakfast time! Morrigan, get yourself together.”

            I groaned in response, all I wanted to do today was sleep in and veg out! Ugh. My family turns to leave as Tabitha, my maid walks in drawing a bath for me. When I’m done bathing, she helps me get dressed for the day. I bound down the stairs, smelling my favorite breakfast wafting through the castle.

Mmmm, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs.

            With the family all seated, we begin eating while light conversations are had amongst my siblings, myself, and my parents. Soon enough breakfast is almost over, and my father clears his throat.

"Sweet pea, your mother and I need to talk to you about your ball on Saturday so could you please come up to the office before you go about your day? We should get this over with quickly."

Well, that doesn't sound good. I thought to myself.

"Sure dad, I'll be right up. I'm going to help the girls clear the table first."

I always made a habit out of helping around the palace like my siblings. We weren't the typical royal family like I said before, while we had maids and butlers and other staff to do basic chores, we still helped because it was our home. After the table is cleared of all the breakfast dishes, I make my way to my father’s office praying to the Moon Goddess that it isn’t anything too terrible. I knock before entering the room, seeing my mother sitting in a chair across from my father who is sitting at his desk.

“You wanted to see me, daddy?”

“Yes, sweet pea, your mother and I both wanted to discuss some things about your birthday ball.”

“Oooookay, so what’s up?”

“Since you will be turning 20 and your siblings already have marriage proposals or offers, the nobles of all the realms will be in attendance. I’m telling you this because they might make offers of marriage that evening.”

            I sit, stunned, not knowing how to respond. I mean, I know this is how things are done in the “upper class” but when it is happening to you, it shocks you, and honestly, it’s scary to think about. I mean, not to be shallow or anything, but what if the guy is super ugly? Or has bad BO or bad breath? What if he is super old? I mean like REALLY old. What if he’s an abuser? Or worse, what if he doesn’t like ice cream or bread or, Goddess forbid, MEAT!? Goddess Danu above, I’m going to have a panic attack.

“Morrigan, please calm down my dear.” My mother says as she starts gently rubbing my back, trying to help me calm down.

“So, I assume there will be nobles from the shifter, vampire, spell caster, sea dweller, and the elven kingdoms?”

“That’s correct, now these are all individuals that we have had personal dealings with in the past and have a relatively good relationship with who give us the utmost respect.”

“I’m not ready to be married though,” I say softly.

            I mean, who is ready to be married at twenty? I have my whole life ahead of me and there’s so much that I still want to do and experience before that happens. I’m happy that my sisters all made such wonderful matches with their fiancés but there’s no guarantee that I will be as lucky as them.

“We understand sweet pea, which is why you would have a long engagement. We would ask for at least two years, particularly if the man is from another realm because we will want to set up some type of treaty with that royal family.” My father says.

“Okay, I understand. Well, if that’s all, father, I need to get to training with Thaddeaus.”

“Of course, darling, you can go.”

            I quickly give both him and mother a kiss on the cheek before heading back to my room to change for my training session with Thaddeaus. The one thing my parents wanted us to have growing up, other than a normal sibling/familial relationship, was to be able to defend ourselves when needed. Now with my siblings being Fae, they could use their magic to help them when needed but they also learned how to fight hand-to-hand. Since I’m not Fae, Thaddeaus trains me both in hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons. After changing into leggings and a sports bra, I pulled my hair into a high ponytail then braid it so that it would be out of my way as we spar. I made it to the training room where Thaddeaus was setting up for today’s session.

“Hello Princess Morrigan, are you ready to train with weapons today?”

“Umm, duh! Are you going to blunt their edges again? Honestly, I would rather have cuts than the bruises you left last time.” I whined.

“If that’s what you would like Princess, then I will not blunt the weapons, but we’ll need a healer to make sure that when we are done you don’t end up with scars at your ball or the Queen and King will kill me.” He says with a chuckle.

            We’ve now been fighting for the last hour and a half and so far, I have sustained a hell of a lot of injuries. My mother is NOT going to be happy.

“Keep your focus, Princess!” Thaddeaus yells as he lunges for my rib cage again.

            I deflect his blow in the nick of time, so I don’t sustain any more injuries to that side, though Thaddeaus is also covered in blood and injuries, so we are on equal footing. I ready myself to land a blow on Thaddeaus when suddenly, I’m flat on my back, he had hooked his foot around my ankle and made me fall.

“See, you should always keep your focus. Your enemy may have a weapon, but they may not always use it.” He says, pulling me up from the ground.

“Yeah yeah yeah, just get a healer in here will ya? I don’t want my mom to see this.”

“You don’t want your mom to see what?”

Well shit, there goes my master plan of my mother NOT seeing the fact that Thaddeaus didn’t blunt the weapons. She’s followed in by my sisters and my aunt, who are all trying to stifle their laughter. Thaddeaus’s face pales when he sees my mother entering the training room.

“MORRIGAN!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” She thunders.

“What makes you think I did anything!?” I feign hurt at her accusation.

“Because I know for a fact that Thaddeaus would have blunted all of your weapons UNLESS you told him not to.”

“Well, I was tired of the bruises! They hurt worse than a cut mother. I don’t want to see a healer just for a bruise, that’s just ridiculous.”

“You will be the death of me child. Thaddeaus, please go fetch a healer for the two of you.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He bows as he scurries off to the hospital to get one of the royal healers.

            After a few minutes with the healers, I’m as good as new and so is Thaddeaus with no scars to even show for our “battle”.  I make my way upstairs to my bedroom to bathe and change into proper clothes for the rest of the day, which I plan on doing nothing but relaxing with my sisters watching movies, and eating junk food. My sisters are all betrothed to nobles and will all be getting married at the same time shortly after my birthday, thank the Goddess above that I won’t have to stand in three separate weddings like I was originally thinking. Adelina is engaged to William who is in line to succeed his father’s dukedom when he retires here in the Fae realm. Winnie is engaged to Prince Lysander, who is the son of the King and Queen of the spell caster’s kingdom of Khisfire. Finally, Ilayda is engaged to Viscount Vladimir who will take over for his father’s earldom in the vampire kingdom of Alynthi.

“Morrigan, what are we watching tonight?” Ilayda asks.

“I’m not sure. What are you all in the mood for?”

“Nothing romantic. I’m tired of wedding planning and I don’t want to see it on TV.” Adelina says.

“Hmmm, how about Harry Potter?” Winnie asks.

            Yes, we know about all the human movies, and we like to watch them, especially Winnie who has a concerning obsession with the Harry Potter movies and books.

“Winn, you ALWAYS want to watch Harry Potter.” I roll my eyes.

“Oh! I know! We should watch Twilight!” Ilayda says.

“What part of ‘no romance’ didn’t you get Illy?” Adelina retorts.

“Well, I don’t consider it a romance.”

“Yes, it is. It’s about a sparkly fucking vampire that wants to mate with a human girl! Of course, it’s a romance!”

            I rub my temples, trying to head off the headache I knew was coming with Ilayda and Adelina’s bickering. I swear they are like water and oil when you get them together in the same room.

“Will you people shut the hell up with your bickering?! I’m going to pick the movie!” I yell.

“Oh man, please don’t let it be a horror movie, I’ll have nightmares!” Winnie says.

I roll my eyes and say, “hush you big baby.”

            I tap my finger to my lips, debating on whether to take pity on my sister’s and NOT put on a horror movie. I decide that, because of their bickering, a horror movie is called for. I ring for Tabitha to bring us some popcorn and other movie night snacks while I pick out the perfect movie.

“What are you putting on Mo?” Winnie asks, warily.

“Oh, nothing special, you’ll LOVE it trust me, Winn,” I say with feigned innocence.

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I can shift into a bear. Which will be NEVER!”

            I pop the movie in and turn off the lights as Tabitha enters the room with our snacks and drinks.

“Oh, hell MoMo! Why did you have to pick this movie!?” Adelina yells.

“Well, you guys were arguing and annoying me, so I got to pick,” I say with a grin.

            If you want to know I chose the movie Antichrist because ya know, gotta make everyone uncomfortable to teach them a lesson about arguing. A lot of jumping, screaming and throwing of popcorn and candy, and the movie is finally over.

“I am NOT, I repeat, NOT sleeping by myself tonight,” Winnie yells out.

“Well, we are going to turn this into a sleepover in Mo’s room because she’s a bitch and scared us to death,” Ilayda states in a huff.

“Ugh, you guys are a bunch of babies I swear. Fine, you all can sleep in here, but you guys get to make your beds on the floor. Don’t make Tabitha do it!”

            So, with tons of grumbling, Winnie, Adelina, and Ilayda all covered the floor with pillows and blankets. I look longingly back at my bed as I remove my pillows and comforter from it, whispering that I will miss the cloud-like quality of my mattress for the evening.

“Are you ready for your ball this weekend?” Winnie asks.

“Not really, I’m not ready to be betrothed to someone I don’t know. I honestly don’t know how you all are so okay with just being married off like you are having to be.” I say quietly.

“Well, we are lucky that the men we are betrothed to are good and kind. They genuinely love us and have made us feel comfortable in our relationships.” Adelina says.

            Winnie and Ilayda nod in agreement, and I do have to admit, their fiancés are very sweet not just to them but to me as well. They treat me like a sister already.

“I guess I always just thought that this wouldn’t be something to happen to me. I mean I’m not even Fae, let alone Fae royalty by blood so I’m not even special. I don’t even know WHAT I am.”

            The moment those words are out of my mouth, my sisters begin to shout me down.

“You ARE our sister, and everyone views you as Fae royalty BECAUSE you are our sister,” Ilayda says.

“Anyone who tells you that you are not Fae royalty then they will have to deal with Thaddeaus as well as our brothers and father.” Winnie states.

“Not just them but for us and mother as well. You may not be blood, but you ARE our sister. You complete our family MoMo.” Adelina states as she hugs me.

            Winn and Illy surround me and Addie for a big sister group hug, making me feel so much better about everything.

“Alright scaredy cats, we need to get to sleep because knowing mom, you all have more wedding planning first thing in the morning.” I sigh.

            All I hear in response to my statement are groans of annoyance and mumbled threats to my life if they must do any more wedding planning tomorrow. I let out a slight giggle and settled in for the night, snuggled between my sisters like we did when we were kids.