Chapter 3.

Chapter 2.

”You wanna take a drink of that promise land

You gotta wipe the dirt off of your hands

Careful son, you got dreamer's plans

But it gets hard to stand…” Soldier - Fleurie

February, 2137

Eveline

I spent most of the morning in the garden looking at the flowers and reading my report until one of the guards called to tell me that the meeting was about to start, so I packed my things and went back inside the palace and walked towards the council meeting room while I straightened my clothes and fix my hair.

As I approached I heard my father's voice above the others and the guards at the door greeted me and allowed me to enter which silenced the voices in the room, and as soon as I entered they all rose and bowed and I greeted them and I took my place next to Counselor Gwen.

“Finally Eveline, where are you since you arrived late?” He asked grumpily, trying to make me smaller in front of the other members present in the room.

I saw that some smiled and others were silent so I decided to respond accordingly.

“In the garden studying my proposal which I insist that it be read today!” I said as I sat down and he just waved me away, dismissing my speech and gestures to Gwen to start talking about the latest news in the country since she works in the press department.

And nothing new was said and some uprisings were mentioned but my father ignored them and just told one of the soldiers to talk to the head of the mentioned provinces and fix the rebels, I saw General Scott rub his temples nervously but my father gave voice to the too many advisers instead of him and I mentally organized what I was supposed to say when I got the chance.

When the twins finished talking about some ongoing proposals it was Scott's turn to challenge the idea of talking to the provincial chiefs of guards mentioned by Gwen, my father disagreed saying the rebels had to be contained but the general was reluctant and my father as he always had the last word ignored him and then we got to the budgets, the twins spoke again and to my surprise Gregory, Morgan's twin, passed the word to me.

I then stood up and looked at everyone present seriously and clasped my hands behind my back so they wouldn't see my nervousness, so I started talking about the lack of funds used in the housing, health, food and work sectors at the city in the last five years and how this was impacting the quality of life of the population, since the companies and stores in the country wanted qualified people and those who couldn't were thrown to the city's margins without pity.

I continued to talk about the money and when I tracked it I realized that a good amount was diverted to the monarchy's propaganda and marketing, but if my father was trying to alienate the people he was being completely passed over in this regard, the counselors listened to me carefully but I was cut off when my father abruptly rose from his chair at the head of the table and slapped his hands against it.

“Don't give me nonsense kid, you know that it is extremely necessary to promote the monarchy!” He said and I agreed but that wasn't the point after all.

“I agree with you dad, oddly enough, but one thing is to promote the monarchy fairly other is the advertisements you have been presenting to the people of a country without hunger and without difficulties is a complete lie, things out there are not going well, mainly in the furthest country’s of the kingdom, and you didn't pay attention to Gwen but in CassCross there were conflicts and in De’Ath there are also protesters and this is not new, will you wait for all this to get out of control or will take action?” I asked, staring at him seriously and clenching my hands into fists behind my back feeling my nails hurt my skin and my jaw clenching at the end of my speech.

“I don't have to take action with anything child, there have always been rebels and people who don't support the monarchy and I've always dealt with them in the same way, my soldiers are spread across the country’s under my jurisdiction to take care of this and in MacQuoid they are dealing with the rebels in their way, and I take and put the resources wherever I want, and I say we don't need to move the money from the propaganda’s department!” He said and I saw the anger in his blue eyes as he stared at me and clenched his hands into fists and pointed a finger with the Royal ring in my direction.

I tightened my grip on my hands and felt the skin break, but I ignored the pain and took a deep breath before rebutting his argument under the eyes of the counselors.

“You didn't even give a chance to the measures I'm suggesting to be analyzed further by the council, and in recent meetings not only I but the others here have suggested similar things, you're sinking the country daddy and you're not even realizing it, with the way you manage the money and invest it we are getting nowhere and if this continues only God knows where we will end up!” I said and sighed tiredly, I saw the twins rub their temples quickly and look at General Scott who ripped his cap off his head and ruffled his blond hair while Gwen just sighed, I then decided to continue with the king's murderous gaze “No count the number of enlistments we've been having lately, you know very well that these guys come from poor provinces like De’Ath and MacQuoid or are the only men in the house who can bring in money and what's being paid isn't enough as many of the women don't can work for being single, and that's not the last of our problems do you want me to continue?” I challenged him and smiled evilly and saw the twins smile as well as the other counselors, few stayed by my father's side, and I missed my mom at the meeting, she certainly chose not to come, and when I turned my attention to my dad figured he was going to run out of line soon.

The room was silent as everyone assimilated the information I had just thrown on the table, my dad was breathing heavily and I was clasping my hands behind my back trying to stay calm until Morgan took the speech.

“The princess is not wrong, Your Majesty,” the redhead said and looked at my father seriously as well as his brother who nodded, I saw other members agree and my father rolled his eyes irritated with his advisors.

I was more than happy with everyone's reaction as I expected to be ignored again, but after Gwen's speech and the general's concern I deduced that there was a lot more going on out there than we had any idea of and we needed to try to remedy it before it was too late.

"Okay, take her proposal to the budget committee for approval and adjust the soldiers' salary as she suggested," He said resignedly and I handed my proposal to the twins and a great weight seemed to come off the shoulders of everyone in the room, I saw Gwen smile at the general, but my father continued to talk “but cut medical aid from lower rank soldiers, as they would have a raise they managed to pay a good doctor!” He said and I saw the devilish smile on his face and I noticed the guards who were leaning against the walls looking at each other worriedly.

Just as my father gave things away, he could take them out just as easily.

I saw him sit down again looking serene and calm as I was about to want to throw something at him with the fury that was bubbling up inside of me, contradicting my usual calm temper, but I close my eyes and take deep breath’s and when I open them again I saw him pointed to the door and yelled "GO" to everyone who got up in a hurry but I couldn't let it go pass.

“Stop there!” I called them all and they stopped and stared at me and my father frowned “Just do what is written and nothing else, I make myself clear?” I said calmly and looked at the general who waved and whispered to the twins who agreed.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” My father yelled and came towards me with his hands in fists and I instinctively backed away, but the general ran and grabbed my father by the back of his jacket and Gwen brought me to her and threw her arms around my waist and hugged me.

I let go of my hands and rubbed them against the fabric of my coat and she rubbed my back to calm me down.

“She’s the princess of Waybrook and you have to be grateful, Your Majesty, because she did what I, the ministers, councilors and other officials asked, and if you don't listen to your daughter, your reign will end soon!” Scott warned him with a finger pointed in the direction of my fathers face, the eyes of the general cold as the winter with evident disgust and after that he released my father who took a furious step back as he straightened his jacket, the general just limited himself to putting on his cap and making a reverence to me before leaving the room.

So it was me, Gwen, the soldiers, my father and his fury.

“You insolent girl, insults me in front of my employees and thinks you'll get to where? Did you forget that to take my place you need to get married?” He spoke maliciously and laughed out loud, Gwen beside me mumbled something incomprehensible and I took a deep breath before answering him.

“Unfortunately I haven't forgotten, but what good is it for you to keep the crown when the people hate you, your employees too, even Mom can't stand your tantrums and I'm gladly here to learn and succeed you and help the people of in the best possible way, but the way you've been running your reign is terrible and only you can't see Dad, the impression I get is that you hate your people, you hate the guards, you hate everyone below our social class, and why? I don't see a plausible reason since we're all the same, we're people, and I've always been trying to open your eyes but it's practically impossible!” I said distressed as I put my hands on my head and walked to the window behind the table to see the garden, I saw that behind the table the newspaper was untouched in the trash as usual, I picked it up and threw it on the table in front of him “READ!”

My dad took the papers in his hand and flipped through them disinterestedly before stopping at one of the pages, I saw when he frowned and looked up at me as he gripped the papers tightly, his golden rings gleaming in the light of the room.

I smiled.

“They hate me but you still need a husband, without that there's not much you can do,” He said and my smile died and my hands started to sweat, and I remembered the screams at breakfast time and a chill went up my spine and I looked at Gwen who had the same nervous expression on her delicate face, her light brown eyes worried about the mining that followed “I see you already understand where I am going, the twins are taking care of everything and soon we will have a candidate selected to be the king, I hope you appreciate my decision dear, I am sure that I will choose my son-in-law well and that he will be more sensible than you when it comes to making decisions!” He said and I froze with his words my eyes widening with the realization that hits me like a punch in the face.

I would love to get married and raise a family, I would like to do this with someone I love but I was fully aware that maybe this would never happen, but hearing my father's words the idea seemed horrifying as if my husband were poisoned by his guidelines I would have to accept not only my husband's orders but indirectly my father would still be in charge and I would continue to be a puppet to him.

“Your son-in-law will only be the Prince Regent, there is no greater authority than the Queen, and don't think I'll follow his orders, when I take the Title I will make a rule of not letting you sign a single paper!” I said angrily with his poor demeanour and sigh deeply before I continued to speak “Choose the candidate you want but know that I'm not taking orders from him or anyone else, and if you'll excuse me dad I have other things to worry about!” I said and waved goodbye to him and walked to the door with Gwen behind me feeling my hands shaking furiously.

And for not alarming her I said goodbye to her briefly and excuse myself quickly realizing that my tremors were even worse when I was close to the stairs. I climbed the steps promptly and hurried up to my room and locked myself inside and ran towards the shower, threw my clothes along the way and undid my hairdo with absurd speed and went under the icy water and closed my eyes to try to calm down.

I knew that nothing was going to be easy, that I would have a bad marriage to a strange man, and I would have to fight even harder to be heard, as many before me had, but I was willing to do anything to bring out the best for everyone.

I scrubbed my body and hair with my favorite plum shampoo which made my hair even darker than usual and moisturized my skin after a shower, took care of the cuts on my hands and changed into a nightgown and robe before sitting down at my bed desk to write to Nick.

If I wanted my choices to work out I had to start choosing my allies and now without my guard I need another trusted person to help me in whatever I needed just like he did.

For my people I gave my blood just as my grandfather had done, and my great-grandfather before him, and my only hope was that one day we could all be at peace, something rare in recent centuries.