Princess Isabelle of Scotland was now 16 and a beautiful young maiden. The tales of her beauty known far and wide. She was the pride and joy of her parents, and they loved her dearly, and she, them.

Like the two kings had agreed 16 years ago, Isabelle was unaware of her union to the Prince of France, while he was well aware of his engagement to her, and displeased by the arrangement.

The Prince, now being 20, was far then ready to take over the throne, but he wasn't going to be crowned king until he had the Scottish Princess by his side. The two royals had never met until the Scottish Royal family was threatened by the Englishmen.

"Don't worry my dear. The French are good allies of Scotland, and the Royal family will protect you." Queen Mary of Scotts assured her nervous daughter, who was pacing the length of her, now empty, chambers.

"But mother, can't I remain in Scotland?" The princess inquired.

"No, my dear, you can't. War is upon us, and we can't risk your safety." The queen explained as she stroked Isabelle's hair.

"You'll have company there. Princess Natalia is your age, 16, and there is another younger princess, around 12 years of age..." The queen continued as Isabelle sighed in exasperation.

"I'll miss home, and you, and father." She admitted as she hugged her mother farewell.

"We'll miss you too. Take care of yourself, and write to us when you arrive in France." The king aforesaid as he kissed his daughter's forehead.

"I will." The princess nodded as she boarded her carriage. As it started moving, she let a tear slip down her cheek, before she hastily wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"France." The princess sighed, not being aware that she was engaged to the future king, Prince Alexander.

***

Two people were engrossed in a sword duel. It was an impassioned match. Backing up, slashing, dodging, jabbing, trying to land a blow on the other, but both the contenders being equally skilled. Just as it seemed that one of the contenders had an upper hand, a young lady with light brown hair and corresponding eyes, stalked into the arena.

"Alex! Nate! Princess Isabelle is arriving!" She yelled at the two, causing them to lose focus.

"Natalia! I was about to win!" A man with light brown hair and misty green eyes retorted.

"Doesn't matter Nathan! Get dressed you two, father expects the both you to be there to greet her. Also, I heard that the Princess of Scotts is a real beauty." Natalia informed with a wink, as she turned and strode out of the arena.

"Come on, Alexander. Once the princess arrives, we greet her and then we complete our practice. She can't be that beautiful." Nathan said to his partner, Alexander who stood with his back towards him.

"You go on brother, I'll be a moment," Alexander said over his shoulder.

"As you wish brother." Nathan responded as he left the arena, leaving his brother to stand alone.

***

The princess arrived in the early evening at the French court. She was nervous about confronting the French royal family, but she was a princess, and she had practice how to mask her unease. Once the carriage came to a halt, Isabelle took in a few deep breaths just before the door opened for her. She dismounted the carriage wearing a red gown under a black cloak, that hid her face in a shadow.

Isabelle confidently strode towards the royal family, stopping in front of them, she lowered her hood as she maintained eye contact with the King. Once the hood was completely lowered, she heard collective gasps from the people behind the royals.

"Your Majesties." She greeted with a courtesy, the others doing the same.

"Princess Isabelle. A pleasure having you at the French Court." The King greeted with a curt nod.

"This is my wife, Queen Clarisse." The king introduced her to the queen who had dark brown hair with corresponding warm hazel eyes that made Isabelle feel like she was looking into her own mother's eyes, making a lump form in her throat.

"Your Majesty." Isabelle courtesied, as the queen offered a kind smiled in return.

"My first born and heir, Prince Alexander," The King stated proudly as he gestured to a man, who seemed to be 20, with dark brown hair and his eyes were a peculiar shade of brown and grey combined, his eyes that were entrancing, yet glaring at her with malice, slightly surprising the princess. The prince was tall and good looking with a stubble beard around his jaw that complimented his looks.

"Prince Alexander." Isabelle courtesied with a sickly sweet smile, surprising the Prince before he regained his composer.

"Princess Isabelle. A pleasure having you here." The prince nodded stiffly in a deep baritone.

'Oh please, you don't want me here.' The princess scoffed internally as she continued to smile.

"This is my mistress's son, Nathan." The king gestured towards a man with light brown hair and warm hazel brown eyes, that were staring at Isabelle in awe. He seemed to be 18, and he seems to be quite the charmer by his looks.

"Nathan."

"Princess Isabelle," Nathan said in a daze as he stepped forward and took hold of her hand as he placed a kiss on the back of it while looking into Isabelle's intriguing eyes.

"This is Princess Natalia and Princess Claire," The King stated gesturing towards the two princesses. One of which was 16, wearing a dark yellow gown with her light brown hair pulled up into a neat bun and her eyes glinting with excitement. The other, Princess Claire, wore a pastel green gown with her dark brown hair in a braid, and her eyes glinting with interest.

Suddenly Natalia took hold of Isabelle's hands, startling her at her suddenness.

"Mother, Father? Can I please show her around the palace?" She asked the King and Queen who chuckled at her eagerness.

"Yes, you may," The King said with a nod. Natalia squealed and started to drag Isabelle towards the palace while telling her that they will be really good friends and that if Isabelle ever needed anything she should come to her.

"I think I'm in love," Nathan said with a dazed look as he slowly made his way after the two princesses. The King and Queen gave each other troubled glances, then they looked at Alexander who was glaring at the backs of the princesses and the love-struck prince.

"So, what do you think? She is quite beautiful." The Queen stated as she stood beside her son.

"So?" Alexander shrugged and walked in the opposite direction of Princess Isabelle, not giving his mother a proper response nor the chance to stop him.

***

"Come, Belle! I'll show you around the palace! You'll love it here and we will be really great friends!" Natalia said eagerly. Isabelle laughed at the princess.

"Yes, Talia, I would love for you to show me the palace, and we are already good friends, have you forgotten already?" Isabelle teased.

"No Belle, of course, I didn't forget. It's been so long since we last saw each other!" Talia stated in exasperation.

"Come, I'll take you to my chambers. You'll be staying there tonight. Your chambers aren't quite ready, so you'll be with me. I hope that's alright." Talia continued.

"Of course it's alright with me. Now, show me my temporary quarters." Belle said in a fake accent causing both of the princess to laugh.

"Oh! How much I missed you!" Natalia sighed as she pulled Isabelle in for a hug, while she hugged back.

"Let's make my time here memorable!" Isabelle announced.

"Are your chambers the same since last time?" Isabelle asked Natalia.

"Still the same."

"Okay, so if my memory serves me correct, we will take a right from the end of the hall, then the second left, then straight and then the third door to the left. Correct?" Isabelle asked as she wracked her brain to remember the location of the princess's chambers.

"I'm impressed. You're correct. You always were good at memorizing." Talia said with an appreciative nod, causing Belle to chuckle.

"Okay," Isabelle said as she lifted her gown a little and removed her shoes.

"What are you doing?" Natalia asked curiously.

"Take your shoes off," Isabelle stated with a knowing smile. Natalia realized what she was doing and took her shoes off as well as she also took hold of the gown so that it wouldn't come in their feet. They stood in the middle of the hallway, looking straight ahead.

"1..." Isabelle started.

"2..." Natalia continued.

"3!" Both of them yelled together as they ran down the hall in the direction of the Princess's chambers. Laughing and racing one another, they ran through the vacant halls. Just as they were about to reach the turn, Natalia bumped into the pedestal that stood at the corner, making it wobble, and the antique vase that rested atop it to fall over and onto the marble floor below, shattering it on impact.

Both the princesses gasped in horror, then they looked back at each other with terrified glances.

"Oh no! That was mother's favorite vase!" Natalia exclaimed silently.

"What broke!" They heard Queen Clarisse's voice bellow in outrage from down the hall.

"We'll have to face the consequences of our actions." Isabelle gulped as the queen neared them.

Suddenly when she came into view, the two princes were with her. Queen Clarisse gasped when she saw the shattered vase.

"My favorite vase." The queen whispered as she picked up one of the pieces of the broken tapestry.

"What happened?!" She asked the two Princess, who stood in front of her with their heads hung low, and their hands folded in front of them.

"We were running to see who could reach Natalia's chambers first, when she bumped into the pedestal, causing the vase to fall," Isabelle explained.

"Who's idea was this?" The queen asked with her hands on her hips while the two men stood behind her, one with a smirk and the other with a look of awe.

'She is so confident, she answered the queen while she is angry.' Nathan thought in awe of Princess Isabelle.

'Such immature actions. A befitting punishment to face mother's wrath.' Prince Alexander thought with a smile.

"The idea was mine, your highness," Isabelle confessed.

"Please forgive us. We won't run in the foyer anymore. You have my word." Isabelle continued as she looked up at the queen.

"We both were just so excited to see each other again, that I thought it would be a good idea to relive our childhood habits. You remember don't you? Talia and I would often have pillow fights, ending them being torn and feathers flying everywhere in the room." Isabelle explained with a small smile. Queen Clarisse chuckled at the memory.

"Yes, I remember. It would take days to remove the feathers from Natalia's hair!" The queen laughed and was soon joined in by the two girls.

"Once again. We apologize for our ill behavior, I hope you can forgive us this one time?" Isabelle asked with a hopeful look.

"Of course. Have I ever held a grudge against the two of you?" The queen laughed, leaving the two boys stunned.

"Thank you, your Majesty." Isabelle appreciated with a courtesy.

"Now go, run along!" The queen said making a shooing gesture. The princesses chuckled and turned around to leave when suddenly Natalia stopped, causing Isabelle to stop as well.

"We're forgetting our shoes." She said sheepishly as the two picked up their shoes from beside the pedestal.

"This is not the way a Princess should act," Alexander spoke up, his words directed to his sister who stood with her head hung low.

"Oh yes! Please do tell us how a princess should act, considering that you should know, Prince Alexander." Isabelle defended Natalia while she put extra emphasis on the word 'Prince' causing Nathan to snicker. Alexander remained quiet at the princess's retort.

"Hmm...Thought so." Isabelle stated as she turned around and started to walk away with Natalia, who was trying hard to hold back her laughter.

"She is quite something," Nathan commented.

"I don't like her demeanor," Alex grumbled.

"Alex, you were just like her at her age, always talking back, never taking no for an answer, well that hasn't changed, but you were stubborn as a mule, still are," Queen Clarisse informed causing Alexander to remain silent while Nathan chuckled.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be joining the two Princesses. They made the palace lively with laughter." Nathan excused himself as he walked in the direction of the princesses. The queen looked at her son curiously, while he was glaring at his brother's back.

"It was unnecessary of you to tell Natalia how to act. Isabelle will always stand up for her, no matter whom she is up against." Clarisse sighed.

"I'll be in my study," Alexander informed as he turned in the direction of his study.

"Alexander, stop trying to run away." The queen called after him as he continued to walk away.

***

Prince Alexander sat behind his desk with a page in front of him and a fountain pen in hand as he was writing away on the page. Suddenly he stopped writing as he could hear laughter coming from the open window that led to his balcony. With his jaw clenched tightly he stood from his place and walked out to the balcony in order to investigate the cause of the commotion.

As he stepped out, he was greeted by the crisp Autumn air that blew his hair back. He had a clear view of their courtyard below, and the scene he saw, made him clench his jaw tighter. All three princess, Nathan, and a few of the servants were playing a game, in which one person was blindfolded and had to catch the others.

But the thing that made him angry was that it was Nathan's turn and he was hugging Isabelle from behind while laughing into her ear. With a huff, Alexander walked back into his study, closing the balcony doors.

"My turn." Isabelle laughed as Natalia tied the ribbon around her eyes. She was spun around a little, then she stopped and heard the scattering of feet and laughter resonating through the clearing, causing Isabelle to smile. She stumbled around blindly with her hands outstretched in front of her, trying to grasp onto something.

She heard laughter behind her causing her to spin in the direction. Cautiously she walked around as she knew that there was a fountain somewhere nearby. Suddenly her hands landed on something.

"Got you, now for your name," Isabelle mumbled as her hands traveled up the muscular chest. Suddenly a frown formed on her face, as the person in front of her didn't smell like Nathan.

'Could be one of the servants.' She thought as her hand traveled up the neck.

She touched the person's face and felt slight prickling on her palm.

'A beard?' She thought.

"Alexander!" She gasped as she stumbled back, her heel hitting something causing her to lose balance and fall into ice cold water. She let out a shriek as she came in contact with the water and she was soaked to the bone within seconds. She felt someone strong grab her arm and pull her out. Suddenly she was blinded by the sunlight as the blindfold was taken off her eyes.

Once her vision cleared she found Alexander hovering over her with a look of concern in his eyes. She blinked a few times when a cold breeze blew by, making her shiver and wrap her arms around her herself. Suddenly a towel was wrapped around her and she was pushed towards someone.

"Are you alright?" Natalia asked in panic as she started to lead her friend back towards the castle. Isabelle managed a weak nod in Natalia's direction. She was led inside and into Natalia's chambers. Before even realizing what happened, Isabelle was submerged in a tub full of warm water.

She remained soaked in the tub as she narrated everything to Natalia.

"Talia, I'm confused. Your brother was glaring at me when I arrived, but now he got me out of the fountain and he looked concerned." Isabelle explained as she dried herself. She got into her white nightgown and sat down in bed with the duvet pulled up till her torso.

"I'll never understand my brother, and you shouldn't bother yourself with him. I'll get our dinner to be brought up here and you can sleep early tonight, considering that I dragged you away the moment you arrived, giving you no chance of rest after your long travel." Talia said a little sheepishly, causing Isabelle to chuckle.

The two princesses had dinner up in their chamber, and once they had their fill, they fell asleep.

***

Alexander was pacing his chambers when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," Alexander said and his little sister Claire entered.

"How is she?" Alexander asked hurriedly.

"Isabelle is alright, and they both are sleeping at the moment. You can ask her in the morning at breakfast." Claire said through her half-lidded eyes.

"Thank you, Claire. You can go to bed." Alexander said to his sister who nodded numbly and went out his chambers.

'Why does everything have to be so complicated? My brain tells me to hate her while my heart tells me to love her. What am I supposed to do? Listen to my heart or my mind? She is my fiancee, so I shouldn't hate her, but she is the reason I'm not king. I want to love her and hate her. She is so beautiful, and that rebellious spark in her is like a magnet, pulling me towards her. She is the exact opposite of me. Maybe I should be neutral, maybe I should just.....listen to my heart.' Alexander thought to himself silently.