Exiting the aging, hidden passageways that their servants used to move quickly through the palace, the girls arrived at the base of Princess Seraphina's wing. They silently ascended the porcelain marble stairs and were greeted by her guards.

Both guards pushed open the doors, unfazed by how Princess Seraphina had been dressed; they looked at her with short smiles. Both men knew she had been up to mischief again, especially with how Madison's stern features had presented.

"Bruce, Pierre, thank you both." Sera beamed her radiant smile at the guards, who then closed the doors behind her and Madison.

The enormous room blared with light, and Madison sat on her grey swivel chair, observing as Sera entered her closet.  She was searching for a new outfit for the upcoming dinner event that evening, hosted by her mother for a select group of elites from the inner circle.

Attendance was compulsory at this stage, or so she was told earlier that morning at breakfast.

Madison fidgeted with the hem of her beige dress, tapping her foot as she impatiently for Seraphina to return from her closet, where she could be heard singing.

Her rendition of a popular love song echoed throughout the room, making Madison's ears bleed with its off-key, out-of-tune performance. The once joyful ballad has now been transformed into a musical disaster that Madison wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.

"I'll need these as well, oh... shit... no... Mads, where are the Valentino shoes I love? You know, the ones with the laces and... never mind, found them! What are you doing behind my pumps, silly Valentinos... damn... Whhyyyyy is there a scratch? ...Ohhhh! That's right!"

Madison observed as Seraphina resumed her singing, pacing back and forth in the closet while collecting her clothes to pack for their trip to the planet Mein tomorrow. However, the singing was abruptly replaced by a burst of swearing, as clothes were being thrown around, shoes were being dropped and kicked, and Seraphina muttered something along the lines of the inability to find anything of what she needed.

"I need to go back to Dolce," Seraphina exclaimed, her annoyance palpable. "None of these clothes are any good. They're from last year's spring collection."

"Seraphina," Madison's voice rose over her own, echoing the room concerned.

"-I actually despise packing; who thinks it's a good idea," ignoring her cousin as she returned to choose a dress from the wardrobe.

"-Sera?"

"-you know, it would be easier just to pop back, grab what I need and keep going instead of packing. That is the one useful thing I've found with my powers. No travel time."

"-Christ almighty," Madison gave up with a groan at the woman who continued singing and ridiculously talking to herself.

If not fifteen minutes of her continued dreadful singing, Sera emerged with more dresses; and threw them on the bed for one of her handmaidens to pack for her that night, then returned to her wardrobe.

Frustrated with the repetitive task, Seraphina slowed down and began cursing louder, her irritation growing. This prompted Madison to stand up from where she was sitting and move to the bed to inspect the clothes that were laid out for packing. While Seraphina was still deciding on her clothes, Madison had discarded the ones she didn't like and thrown them onto a nearby chair to be rehung.

"Just think," Madison said, trying to plant a thought in Sera's mind. "Tomorrow at this time, you'll have already met with Zachariah and his father, Karon. What a perfect match the two of you will make."

"Have you actually seen him?" Seraphina leaned against the door frame, a few dresses in hand and two more nine-inch heel shoes she was undecided about.

"I have heard he's entirely charming and takes after the King. A true gentleman."

"So, the same thing most of the docile Princesses talk about," she smirked, really now contemplating the worth of this trip. "Mr. So-Dreamy-And-Charming-And-Amazing."

Her sickening sweet laughter mimicked and exaggerated how the other princesses acted.

The only problem was when Madison began the defensive speech, Sera's mind wandered off to someone else she found to be dreamy, charming, and unforgettable. Someone that she got to see face to face, someone who had unleashed a storm of desire within her.

"You will like him," Madison was utterly confident. "I've got a good feeling. He'll be the perfect suitor and husband to you."

Seraphina smiled briefly, having been lost in thought about the Commander instead of paying attention to Madison's conversation. She had been daydreaming about what she wanted to do to him, another conquest to add to her list.

"Then you can be married and finally live happily ever after," Madison said.

Married!?

"Wait, what?" What did she miss in that dull conversation, and how long was she daydreaming for?

"Married?"

"Married, and a June wedding would be exceptionally beautiful," Madison exclaimed, clasping her hands. "You'll make a stunning bride, and we need to start thinking about a theme. I've seen some amazing weddings with flower themes."

"Um, probably not the best time for the bloom in June, Mads, and roses are yours more so than mine," she awkwardly laughed. She had been astounded that this woman had digressed off as she had done, but she let her rant. It's better than hearing her scolding her for her sexual needs.

"Oh, what if we moved it to September? It can be in the palace gardens when the bloom has hit. Yes." Madison convinced herself, "I'm sure we can even get those roses from Isadora. They are our favourite, after all."

She laughed incredulously again, how she worried for Madison some days; she truly did.

"I'm sure there are far more important things to worry about than a wedding. Take Ezra, for example, the eastern border. Stopping her reign. List of priorities that go before a wedding."

"And you deserve to be happy," Madison's second favourite thing to do in life was to scold her as she does so well these days. "Prince Zachariah is kind and loving and is learning to take over Mein from his father shortly. An adult, a Prince – not well, the men you've been chasing."

"There's nothing wrong with the men I've been interested in," Sera responded to Madison's earlier comment.

"They're a danger to your health, literally," Madison replied flatly.

Sera grinned and shook her head as she placed a few more items on the bed, knowing deep down that she was more of a danger to the men she pursued than they were to her.

"You deserve to be showered in love. You deserve some happiness from this life, and you know that." Madison reminded her.

"Papa and Henry, they would have been here for it if it wasn't for Ezra, Mads," it was a moment of weakness only temporarily. "I would have wanted them there, you know. I want them here now."

Madison clasped Seraphina's hand, "I know, uncle was the best, so was Henry, but we can't live in the grief. They would know, wherever they are in the afterlife, that you will make an extraordinary bride cousin. Your father would be so proud of what you've done. Then, you'll make a magnificent Queen one day, and I think the Prince will help you with that."

Sera stood firm, "I don't need a man to make me a great Queen, Mads. And I'm not getting married."

"You are being childish," she quipped.

For Sera, the idea of marriage brought back memories of her loved ones being by her side on the big day. She envisioned her father walking her down the aisle and her brother celebrating with her and her husband. But reality set in as she remembered that her father and brother were no longer alive, casualties of the war.

Despite her discomfort, she nodded, a habit she learned from her mother's advice. Nodding was a way to politely move on from a conversation she didn't want to continue.

There was enough talk about her father and brother; their deaths were hard enough to deal with, especially around the anniversary of their deaths. Their butchered bodies and her mother's visceral screams were something that haunted her even today.

With a disgruntled eye roll and Madison still chirping in the background, Sera's attention narrowed to the open balcony, scrutinising the giant blue planet that was earth.

Was this what the universe held in store for her? Because she bloody hoped not; otherwise, she had a word or two when she met her maker in the afterlife about how her life went down. 

Ohhh Madison is on another plain with her thinking! 

Vote if you love her. 

Vote if she is secretly getting on your nerves! Lol