Once Upon a Time
… the princess found that her world had become so routine she thought she might die of boredom.
But being bored meant being safe. She refused to sneak down to the pool with Stefan for their secret swimming lessons.
She stayed in her room, doing schoolwork supervised by one of the maids, who she suspected was keeping barely one lesson ahead of her.
She took her meals in her room. She only ventured out when accompanied by her maid, on the request of her uncle, when she was required to be ‘seen’ at dinners with a parade of dull old men she didn’t know.
She was told in no uncertain terms these people were ‘very important’ and that she ‘must be on her best behaviour’ and ‘uphold her father’s memory’.
Her mother was never in attendance. Her cousin Stefan was, and he always tried to draw her into some hijinks or another.
She ignored him, always aware of the cold, watchful eye of her uncle on her.
She tried not to look at him, her mind replaying the sounds he’d made while he rutted over her mother’s prone form.
She desperately wanted to be invisible to him. So she played the part of a dutiful little princess: well behaved, well dressed and silent unless spoken to.
She hated it. But the thought of what might happen to her if she let herself be the semi-wild girl she’d been before her father died … before they’d tried to drown her in the river …
No. Boredom meant safety. Safety was more important than fun.