Pure Imperfection

POV: Prince Nicholas Carozza

The jet comes to a land, but I'm too caught up in my thoughts to notice much between the airport and the drive to the Bercialli residence. The whole drive I just wonder what the princesses will be like...beautiful, or course. From the photo's of the 6 daughters they sent when the arrangement was made, they're all blessed with long, beautiful, full mahogany hair, that hasn't been cut since birth - excluding the eldest daughter's that have reached the age of 19 - as tradition.

I thumb through the photos of the princess one last time, glance at the names that go with each face - Samantha, Belinda, Areilla and Courtney - the twins, Zoelle, and Aurora. I study the faces, mentally trying to add an approximate age.

I was really hoping for someone closer to my age, but my father told me this marriage between our two families is importan, and I'm lucky I get to choose which of the Bercialli princesses I marry.

The car pulls up a beautiful, long drive. The driver opens the door for me. "Prince Nicholas." He calls respectfully when he sees I'm not paying attention. "We've arrived, sir."

"Oh." My head snaps up. "Thank you, you don't need to call me sir, that's my father." I smile and get out of the car.

The driver collects my bags and begins to lead me into the large estate. I glance up at the windows in time to see a small figure, grown but thin, watching from behind the curtains. Before I can do anything - smile, wave - she drops the curtain and disappears.

Inside, I'm lead upstairs and to the back of the mano, filled with long echoey halls. I'm brought to a room made up with a simple and elegant set-up, clearly for guests or visiting diplomats, high-up people.

With promises to come back for me at dinner time, my escort leaves me to unpack and change, after telling me to dress well for dinner.

I change into nice looking jeans and a loose, white button down shirt, tucking it in and rolling up the sleeves. My tanned skin is noticeable compared to the crisp white of my shirt, and I leave the top 2 buttons open.

I lounge for a while, allowing my thoughts to leave me and wander. Before I know it, my escort is back, leading the way to the dining room where he announces me and then leaves.

The King and Queen sit at either end of the table, the eldest princess, Samantha, at the King's left. Next to her, Belinda, Areilla, and Courtney are seated in order, Courtney next to her mother. On the Queen's left, sits a princess I didn't see in the photos, so I don't know her name, next to her is an empty chair - for myself, I presume - then her sisters, Zoelle and Aurora. The King sees me and gestures to the empty chair. I walk around the table and sit in the empty seat, acknowledging the King and Queen's welcomes. We eat and then the princesses disappear, to prepare for the formal introduction, and the small welcome party.

~ ♥ ~

POV: Princess Alexandrea Bercialli

My sisters are primped and prepared for the welcome party for the prince, which, I am not attending, as usual. However, I am to attend our formal introduction to the prince, so Silvia comes into my room with another one of the maids - Leila - who often helps Silvia with prepping me and my younger sister, Zoe. Aurora - or Rory, as we call her - has her own governess - who also helps dress and watch over her. Silvia's already finished with Zoe - who's gone to help Rory's governess with Rory's hair and makeup.

Leila has my dress draped carefully over her arm, a short white dress, with a hot pink sash and a tulle skirt

"Alexandrea," she says sternly, taking in my expression, "are you moping again?" She asks, frowning slightly, a motherly expression on her face.

"No." My lower lips comes out in a pout and I have to smile because she's right, I've been moping while I've been waiting for her.

"Alex, you know you don't have to keep locked up here by yourself, the Prince Nicholas is here to choose a bride. He could choose you by all rights." She comes to my side and places a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Why should he? We don't even know how long I'll live, it could very well chemo my whole life, what good would that be for a Prince who’s only come to marry our families together? And besides, if he should choose me, I shouldn’t know why, he could have any of my sisters, who are much more beautiful...much more healthy." I snap in my frustration, but I immediately regret it and apologize gently. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't snap. I'm only frustrated with myself for being sick. It isn't your fault. Though I honestly don't think I should ever find a husband without any hair, I think I feel rightly so, what man should want a wife that's on the deathbed, and hasn't any hair to make her beautiful to look at? I know what's on the inside matters most, but what I should look like should matter too, what good is it to marry someone for their personality when you can't stand the look of them?"

"You sound as if you have years of experience and knowledge, and you're still only 17! Are you sure you weren't born middle aged? Or have you been reading too many classics that your mind has gained so many years that your body hasn't yet? Alex, you've locked yourself up here for too long, your next assignment is to get some influence from your generation, from this modern world, you sound as if you were born in Britain at least 50 years ago! And as for the beauty you think you lack - that's what Leila and I are here for, to make you just as good as your sisters, even though you have substantially less hair." Silvia laughs at me affectionately. She's right, I have been reading a lot of classics, but there isn't much else to do up here. "As for the Prince, at least give him the chance you know you as the amazing young princess you are. He ought to know a good thing if it's bit him in the nose."

Leila and Silvia bring me into my bathroom, where they proceed to get me ready for introduction. I allow them and don't make a fuss as they paint my nails white with pink to match my dress and do my makeup. Silvia hands me a pair of pink heels that are - at least - a style I like well enough. I put them on without complaining and am declared ready, and sent out to my sisters, where they all tell me I look pretty, and I, in turn, reciprocate.

Zoe comes to my side and grins at me, twirling around for me to see her dress - just like Rory, Areila, and Courtney's dresses, only a different color. She leans in confidentially, "did you know," she begins, glancing around to make sure no one else is listening, "that you're the closest in age to Prince Nicholas? He's 18! Both the twins and I are 2 years away, you're only 1!" She exclaims quietly, honestly excited on my behalf. "That could put some odds in your favor, Alex." She tells me.

I smile back, but for a different reason - that Zoe is such a good sister to be excited that I have some chance - or in her opinion, a greater chance. The others might have been disappointed to see that I, their sickly sister, am closer in age than any of them. "Thanks, Zoe." I hug her and all 7 of us are led down to where our parents and Prince Nicholas are waiting.

We line up in birth order and our father comes to stand by Samantha.

"My eldest, Samantha," he introduces, Samantha dips her head gracefully in acknowledgement and then he moves on to Belinda. "Belinda," Belinda follows Sam's lead before, again, our father moves on to the next sister, "the twins, Areilla--" Areilla curtsies sweetly, "--and Courtney," Courtney follows her twin's lead, "Alexandrea," he gestures to me and I follow Samantha's lead and nod in acknowledgement, "Zoelle," Zoe follows my example, "and my youngest, Aurora." Rory, like the twins, curtsies, but glances at me as she does so. "Girls," our father addresses us before turning back to the Prince, gesturing grandly, "Prince Nicholas Carozza. He will be spending time with each of you, getting to know you, and will choose one of you for a bride, to marry the families together. I expect you'll do your best to bring pride to your heritage." And with that, his mighty highness, the King, leaves the room with the Queen.

Prince Nicholas stands and bows slightly in respect of the present company - my elder sisters who are superior merely because of age, since we all stand at the same title: Prince and Princesses. Then he addresses us, smiling amiably. "You can call me Nick or Nicholas, I don't mind either. Can you tell me your names again? I'm not good with remembering names." He grins.

"We all have nicknames that will be easier to remember." Sam replies smoothly, smiling and looking at us expectantly. "Samantha, but the others call me Sam." She tells Nicholas, and he nods, putting that into his memory.

Belinda speaks next, "Belinda, or Lindie."

Areilla and Courtney follow, "Aria, short for Areilla, and Court or Cory for Courtney."

Nicholas nods and speaks up, "how do I tell you two apart?" He asks curiously.

Courtney answers, "Areilla has green eyes, mine are blue."

He nods again, mentally jotting it down, then looks to me, his expression seems not to change but his eyes look slightly sadder when he pays closer attention to me.

"Alexandrea, Alex is fine." I reply, ignoring his eyes.

"Zoe, short for Zoelle." Zoe comes to stand next to me, speaking to take the attention away from me - seeing how uncomfortable I am. Good ol' Zoe.

"Rory's good, short for Aurora." Rory chimes quietly.

"How old is everyone?" He asks conversationally.

Zoe speaks up, "Rory's 15, I'm 16, Alex's 17, the twins just turned 20 days ago, Lindie's 22, and Sam's 23." She rattles off, always having been more aware of what's going on in the other's lives than any of the rest of us.

"And I'm 18, looks like we're to make our appearance at the party soon, don't you think they'll be missing the good princesses?" He waits at the door for everyone to file out and show him the way to the ballroom. I follow, last, walking with Zoe.

"Are you coming?" She asks me hopefully.

"No, I'm going upstairs, it's best I'm not there anyways, Zo, what good would it do?" I reply, careful not to hurt her occasionally delicate feelings. Nicholas falls into step just behind us.

Zoe pouts. "I'll be stuck with silly Rory, you know she's not as good as you." She mutters in frustration, but she immediately takes it back, being one of the nicest of the 7 of us, not wanting to say anything to hurt anyone else's feelings. "Oh, I don't mean that, it's just I was hoping you were going to come with, you're so much fun at parties...well, you were before you stopped going, I don't see how you could be any fun at parties if you never go." She doesn't mean this as a jab, she's only trying to verbally straighten her confusing thoughts.

"We're still having the pool party tonight. Just the small group." I remind her gently, "I'll be there if it means so much to you." I offer.

"Yes! You're coming!" She exclaims, jumping a little before regaining control of herself.

Nicholas looks interested and gives in to his curiosity. Zoe and I pause at the stairs where I'm about to exit. "Pool party? You girls have something planned?" He asks, stopping next to Zoe.

Zoe nods, "this is the official welcome party for you, but the princesses are having a small pool party with some of our friends for you, you absolutely must come!" She tells him excitedly.

He laughs, "count me in."

"Good." She turns back to me. "I'll come get you later, we'll get ready together. And Sam put us in charge of bringing Nicholas." She informs us before waving goodbye to me.

I go up to my room and change out of my dress and heels, leaving the makeup and curling back on the window seat with a book to await the end of the party.

~ * ~

When Zoe comes in, she's carrying two bikinis - both a similar style, ruffle-y strapless top with a simple bottom - one has a plain bottom, the other a more stringy bottom, like Zoe usually wears. One is a pristine white, the one with the plain bottom, the other a bright orangey pink - the one with the stringy bottom. She hands me the white one then starts putting on the orangey pink one.

I pull on the white bikini then disappear into my closet for a moment to pull on a pair of faded jean shorts. I grab a pair of simple flip flops and rub off my bright lipstick to replace with a more subdued, pale pink. Dressed, I look out one of my windows to the pool below to see my other sisters - all in pretty bikinis - and small a group of their friends. Zoe drags me down the hall to a nearby room - Nicholas' room. She knocks on the door and he answers it, already in swim trunks, pulling on a thin white tshirt.

"Ready?" She asks excitedly.

"Ready." He confirms and follows us down the hall and out the glass door that overlooks the pool.

Sam sees us and comes over, with her group of friends. "Everyone, this is Nicholas." She introduces, "Nick, this is--" and rattles off all the names of her friends.

All of them are practically bursting wit excitement.

We make our rounds with Lindie's friends too, the girls of which practically faint. Zoe brings Nicholas around to meet everyone then goes to find Rory, and attempt to push her in the pool.

Nicholas turns to me. "So I've gotten a chance to talk to all of your sisters but you, tonight." He tells me, sitting next to the lounge chair I've made myself comfortable on.

"Yeah?" I ask conversationally.

"Yeah."

"And what do you think of them? Any potential fiancees?"

"I do feel kinda weird, being sent here to pick out a wife. Especially when your father practically told you all to impress me. I don't want to be impressed by acts and words, I want to actually find someone I like." He tells me confidentially.

"Too many girls vying for your attention?" I guess, laughing gently.

He grins and nods.

"Well, shall we narrow your choices?" I offer, sitting up and swinging to the side to face him, leaning closer to talk over the music.

"You'll help me?" He asks, honestly pleased, I can see it in his eyes.

"Sure. Tell me what you think of Samantha."

"She's 5 years older than me, I really do want someone closer to my age, I feel like a child being looked down on around her. She's really nice and welcoming and everything, but much too serious and matured for my liking."

I nod, mulling this over for a moment. "Samantha is reasonable, she expects you'll choose one of the younger girls but she doesn't blame you, besides, she would rather her marriage not be arranged but she'll do what's expected of her, and that's to give you the choice of choosing her and to be pleasant about it. Honestly, she wouldn't mind not being chosen." I tell him before moving on to the next sister. "Belinda."

"She's a little too pushy...I don't know, it's like she's trying so hard to be mature and modern that she's just coming off as...shallow. And she's also a little too old." He says, watching the moon reflect off the pool water.

I nod, having expected something of the sort, and move on, "Areilla."

"She's nice, and so is Courtney, but they have such a strong bond and are so strongly tied at the hip that I really wouldn't be able to be the one to try and separate them, taking one and not the other."

I smile at him. "Most considerate, Prince."

"You're too kind, Princess." He teases back.

"Zoe."

Nicholas nods thoughtfully. "She's nice, a little young for my taste, but a nice girl..."

"And Rory?"

"That's probably not going to happen, she's still a child."

"So, you haven't really found someone you think is right."

"Yeah...I'd hate for the rest of my life to be a giant awkward moment..." He looks up at me.

"Which leaves you with me." I guess at his thoughts. He nods and looks back at the water.

One of Lindie's friends comes up and sits next to him - so close she's practically in his lap.

"Hey, so you're the prince, right?" She asks in a forced silky voice. Nicholas nods. "Nick, right?"

He looks a little rigid, as if highly annoyed. "Nicholas, actually." He says, forcing a half smile so as not to be too rude.

She smiles a big, lipstick caked, smile, trying to ease him. "Nicholas." She amends hurriedly. "You want to come dance with me? We're at a party!" She flirts, as if, adorably, he's forgotten this very fact.

"Actually, I'm kinda tired, you know, jetlag and such...thanks, but I think I'll just hang here. You go on, I wouldn't want to spoil the party for the rest of you, Lexi here is keeping me enough company." He grins at me, daring me to object to the new nickname.

"Oh..." Her face falls in visible disappointment. "Well, I could show you around the city, tomorrow." She offers, her eyes shining with hope again, pouting her lips out in what she hopes is a seductive look.

Seeing Nick's discomfort, I jump in. "Thanks for offering, Trixie, but I've already promised Nicky here,--" I raise an eyebrow at Nicholas, silently daring him to object to the pet name, but he only suppresses a laugh with a look that clearly says 'i deserved that', "--that I'd show him around tomorrow, and take him shopping."

Trixie frowns. "Why does he need to go shopping?"

"Because I'll be here for a while and I didn't want to ship my whole closet, so, I need to go get clothes." Nick cuts in, before laying back and closing his eyes with a finality to the topic.

Trixie huffs in disappointment and walks away, swishing her hips back and forth.

"She's gone, coast is clear." I tell him and he sits up, his eyes grateful.

"Thanks." He grins. "So...did you really mean it? Taking me tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." I nod.

He grins and lies back on the lounge chair.

~ ♥ ~

POV: Prince Nicholas Carozza

So far, of all 7 of the Bercialli Princesses, I like Alex best. She's pretty understanding, seeing straight through all the BS and pretenses of everything. She says what she thinks...in a nice enough way...but she knows when the time is to speak her mind, and when to go along with pretenses to save face for everyone involved, rather than straight out insulting the people.

After we've stayed long enough to have officially made our appearances at the party, Alex and I sneak back upstairs, between admirers wanting to be 'friendly' and give a bighearted welcome to the visiting prince - that would be me. I suppose they don't all know very well that I am indeed here to choose one of the Princesses for a bride. Oh well. This could get fun...or messy.

After saying goodnight to Alex, I walk back down to my room, mentally remembering where hers is. Pulling on a pair of pajama pants, I leave my shirt off, it being too hot for it, and flop onto the big bed, starting to drift to sleep.

~ ♥ ~

POV: Princess Alexandrea Bercialli

I wake up, more excited than usual. Today will have purpose, meaning, an event other than locking myself up here and reading or studying endlessly.

I hear a knock at the door and Nick peeks his head in. He looks around, trying to find me, and sees me sitting up in bed, rubbing my eyes and reaching for nail polish remover to scrub my nails clean.

"Oh, hey you're awake." He grins and steps in, closing the door behind him. "I was worried I'd have nothing to do for a while, some people don't wake up at this time in the morning, you know."

I laugh. "Those people would be my sisters. Come here." I sit up fully and cross my legs, patting the space across from me as I wipe my nails bare and then reach for the color Silvia had set out last night.

I finish my left hand easily then look awkwardly to my right.

Nick reaches out his hand to take my right, his other taking the nail polish. "Here. I can help. What's the point of redoing it every day anyways? You'll just have to take it off again?" He asks, easily filling in the nails without getting it on my skin.

"I know, but apparently I'm supposed to look my best all the time, and having matching nails is part of that. Although, it is pretty cool doing designs and things."

He nods agreeably and then sets my hand down gently, having finished. Looking around, he starts to get up, "I should probably shower and get dressed since we ought to be able to leave soon." He walks to the door then turns back with an after thought. "We don't have to wait for the others to wake up for breakfast, do we?"

I shake my head, "they won't miss me much, I don't usually eat with them."

He nods and ducks out of the room, leaving my to get dressed.