Tragically Beautiful

She rests her elbows gently on the cobble stone windowsill that came up to her ribs, leaning into the breezy spring afternoon. Backbones positioned perfectly straight as she stood in her extravagantly large and ancient room. Her gently curling golden blonde locks hit her waist. A few strands were swaying with the wind as she gazed out at the courtyard below filled with gardeners busying themselves with all the newly blooming flowers in the garden. The green eyed beauty spent most of her time here at her window, trying to imagine what it would be like to be one of her hundreds of servants that made sure she never lifted a finger. "Dear, why don't you come with me? I need to re-measure you for the dress you requested," Denise called from her door. Denise was like a second mother to her. She was very kind and always had a caring state of mind. And never felt the need to lash out at the young princess for simply being born into royalty like some servants did. It wasn't like the princess flaunts her unbelievable luck and wealth.

"Yes, of course. But I can't understand why you need to measure me today as well. You took the final measurements just the other day if I'm not mistaken," she mentioned, while making her way across the great room gracefully. Even for such a young age, 15 and ½ to be exact, Lillianna acted extremely mature. Growing up with no children around had forced her to grow up socially rather quickly. Her only friends as of recently consisted of Denise, her personal seamstress, Sage, her body guard, and of course her parents, King Alexander and Queen Ryanne. "Oh, Dear, you are a growing girl. I just want to make sure it's a perfect fit," she answered chuckling, probably at some inside joke. "Anyways, do you want to see the fabric? I just received it yesterday."

They had arrived at the door to the sewing room which was just a bit down the hall from Lillianna's room. "Yes, I would love to see it, thank you."

Normally she doesn't let Lillianna look at the fabric until she has the finished product of whatever she wanted Denise to make. But, Denise wanted to make sure the color matched her green eyes perfectly. She walked toward her desk with sketches of different dresses strewn about on top.

"Now, where did I put it…" she asked herself while she bent down to be eye level with the drawers of the sewing desk. Denise searched through every drawer and even looked behind the desk but just couldn't seem to find the swatch of fabric she wanted to show Lillianna. "I'm terribly sorry, Dear. It seems I have left it in my room."
Before Lillianna could even respond, someone threw the door open and walked into the room. "Mom, you left this. Aren't you glad I was actually listening at dinner last night?"

Denise smiled wide at her youngest son. "Thank you so very much, Nicholas! I knew at least one of you was listening."

Lillianna sat still in shock. She had never known there were other children living in the castle. The next thing she knew, the boy had walked up to her. "Good evening, Miss Lillianna." And with that, he fell to one knee, and kissed her hand gently.

"Why, Denise you never told me you had a son," Lillianna managed to speak at last. She was still gazing at Nicholas, who was still down on one knee with her hand placed in his. "Do you mind standing up? There is really no need for you to kneel, Nicholas." Lillianna didn't know what it was, but she didn't want this boy to treat her like royalty. She wanted him to treat her like any other girl her age, but she knew that probably wasn't even possible.
Many people just couldn't get over the fact that she was entitled to the throne.

Nicholas jumped up right away and brushed his hands off on his jeans. "Sorry. Mom told me to do it. And do you mind calling me Nick? There is really no need for you to call me Nicholas." She cracked a grin at him, something she hasn't done in a while. "It's ok, and sure."

Maybe there was hope…

Denise cleared her throat. Apparently they were looking at each other longer than necessary. Nicholas turned to his mother, "Well, I guess I should get going. Bye, mom. Good bye, Lillianna." Gazing at her one last time, he shut the door behind him. Lillianna couldn't stop looking at the door once he closed it, secretly hoping he would come back through the big redwood door.

"Come here, Dear. Don't you want to see the fabric?" Lillianna made her way towards Denise reluctantly who was holding the perfect colored satin for Lillianna's dress.

Holding the piece of fabric delicately in her hands, Lillianna looked satisfied. "I absolutely love it, Denise. It's perfect."

"Glad I could please you, Dear." Denise sat down on the chair in front of the desk and shifted through some of her sketches. Choosing one, she held it up to examine it. "This is what you wanted, correct?"

"Yes, please." Lillianna and Denise fell into a comfortable silence only for it to be broken by Denise. "My room is the third down on the left past the front door."

The castle was more like a modern mansion than anything. No big motes or huge walls to keep people out. But her parents like to call it a castle because it was made entirely out of stone. "What?"

"Go on. I don't want to see you day dreaming about my son. Now go talk to him before I call him back in here," Denise commanded in a stern but joking tone.

The corners of her lips lifted as Lillianna rushed from the room while calling back a thank you. It was all going great wondering the halls until she actually made it to Denise's door. She stood there like an idiot for a good two minutes mostly thinking: What am I going to say? I'll probably look like an imbecile knocking on his door. Finally she sucked it up and knocked on the door. Her stomach was jumping into her chest as someone opened the
door. Reveling… a man she didn't recognized. "Can I help you, miss Lillianna?"

Stuttering she took a step back, "I- uh, no thanks. I must have the wrong room, sorry." The man simply nodded and closed the door. Turning to go back to the sewing room defeated, she ran into someone. "Oomph, oh I'm so sorry. Excuse me."

"It's my bad, sorry." She looked up into those chocolate eyes slowly upon hearing his soft as velvet voice.

"Oh, Nick. Hello, I was looking for you."

Looking surprised he tilted his head to the side and smiled, "Were you?"

"Ha." She blushed and answered, "Yes I was, actually."

"Good."

Smiling she turned attention to the sound of footsteps down the hall. "Good?"

He was still smiling and started to stare down at her. "You know it's not polite to stare, Nicholas."

Shaking his head, he laughed. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Sure."

They walked down the hall, the way Lillianna came, but turned left and led her into the kitchen.

"Where exactly are you taking me? Do I need Sage?"

Chuckling slightly, he turned to her. "Don't you trust me, Princess?"

She quickly realized he purposefully worded that in a way that made her not want to trust him. He was but the son of a seamstress taking the princess of Orebro, Sweden somewhere. Not just somewhere, but anywhere. For all she knew, he could take her from her loving home and never take her back. For all she knew, he could take her to some deserted alley to be assassinated by God knows who. But that all seems very farfetched now doesn't it? "Of course I do."

"Good, then let's go." He said as he pulled her out the kitchen door to the garden.

And that was the beginning of the beautiful yet tragic relationship between Lillianna and Nicholas.