I breathed rapidly, trying to calm down my nerves. A servant had lead us into an enormous room. It was where Father welcomed all of his guest, Kara had told me. And I knew exactly why. The room looked beautiful, it almost felt like I was dreaming.

Never in my life did I recall seeing something so beautiful. The ornaments on the walls seemed oddly familiar, like I had seen them before, but couldn't remember. I twirled around a few times to take everything in, the giant windows that lightened the whole room, the marbled floor in which I could almost see my reflection.

My face hurt because of the big smile I had been wearing ever since I had entered the castle. I still couldn't believe that all of this belonged to none other than my father. Pride overcame me as I thought about how good of a king he must be. And today I was finally going to meet him.

"Adelaide, stop twirling around," Aunt Kara said. "You will get dizzy."

I came to a halt and almost fell over, everything seemed to keep moving around. After a moment everything went back to normal and I let out a shaking breath.

"Oh, Aunt Kara," I said, my eyes still wandering around the room. "This feels so unreal. Am I really awake? Is this not just a dream?"

"Darling, trust me, this is as real as it can be," Aunt Melody murmured.

I let out a sigh and walked back to my aunts who, unlike me, hadn't moved since they had entered the room. Standing beside them, I swung back and forth on my feet, not able to stand still.

"Dela, stop," Aunt Iris said. "You are making me all nervous."

"Sorry," I apologized and stood up straight. I waited for a moment, trying not to show how excited I was.

"Do you think he will show up soon?" The words blurted out of me before I could hold them back.

"He's a very busy man, Dela," Aunt Iris said. "I am sure he will come soon."

I nodded and went back to being silent. "Do you think-"

My voice broke off as the doors opened. Holding back my breath, I suddenly froze. This was it. I was finally going to meet my father. All of a sudden, I became insecure. What if he didn't like me? I probably looked terrible. What was I thinking meeting my father dressed like this? After all, he was the king, and I? I was no one.

"Relax, Adelaide," Aunt Kara said, petting my back. "He will love you."

I shot her a grateful smile. I didn't want to know what I would do without my three aunts.

Once the doors were fully opened, a tall man with chin- length brown hair, that had a few gray strains in them, appeared. A beard covered his pointed chin, his green eyes observing me closely as he walked closer.

It took me a moment to realize that the man was none other than King Eduard of Gilion, my father. I inhaled sharply, waiting for a reaction from his side.

The man came to a halt in front of us, so far he hadn't said a word. All of us stayed silent, unsure of what to do. The silence started to became uncomfortable, when suddenly, the man's face lightened up, his mouth stretching into a smile as he stared at me.

"You look just like your mother, Briar Rose," he said.

It was only a sentence, but that's all it took for my intercurrence to disappear. My body moved on its own as I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around my father for the first time. He seemed surprised at first, but then hugged me back. Inhaling his scent, I let out a shaking laugh.

"I can't believe I am finally meeting you," I almost whispered, not wanting to let go.

When we finally let go, I could feel the tears coming up. "Oh, I have so much to tell you, Father. I haven't written you in almost four months."

"I am sure we have a lot to talk about, Briar Rose," he said, a smile on his face. "Don't you want to get settled down first? How about I show you your chambers?"

"I would love that," I exclaimed happily.

"Kara, Iris, Melody, we will talk later, a servant will show you to your rooms."

My aunts nodded and followed the servant out of the room. "Shall we?" Father asked, holding out his hand.

"Why, yes, we shall," I answered with a smile and took his head. Father lead me out of the room and upstairs. We walked along a few corridors, turning right or left a few times. I tried my best to remember the way to my own room, but I probably would end up lost somewhere in the castle if I tried finding the way back to the room on my own.

After passing through another corridor, Father finally stopped in front of a pair of golden doors.

"Here we are," he said.

"May I?" I asked breathless while pointing towards the doors.

"Of course, go ahead."

A smile appeared on my face as I walked closer and put my hands on the door handles. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the doors open.

"Is this really mine?" I said, awestruck. Compared to the room we had waited in earlier, my chambers looked even more beautiful. In the middle of the room was a giant bed, twice the size than the one I had back in the forest. Two windows on each side of it lightened up the whole room.

The walls were covered in white, rose ornaments covering the ceiling. On my left side I noticed shelfs full of books and something to sit on. My mouth hanged slightly open as I took a look at them.

"How did you know that I like to read?" I asked him astonished.

"Kara mentioned it in her last letter."

I turned around surprised. "I didn't know that you wrote each other."

"She sometimes writes me to tell me how you're doing, that's all," he explained.

"Oh," I answered absentmindedly, I was already busy looking around again.

On the right side of the room I noticed another door. "What's in there?"

"Look for yourself."

Curiously, I walked closer and opened the door. I had to look twice to figure out what it was. "Are these all for me?"

"Yes."

I walked inside the room, looking over all the dresses. The whole room was filled with dresses and shoes and everything else a girl's heart longed for.

"But I don't need that many, Father," I said, astonished by the amount of dresses that hung there.

"As the princess of Gilion you will need to look your best every time."

I only nodded, even if I wore every day another dress, I wouldn't be able to wear all of those in one year. That's how many dresses there were, and they had all different colors.

"I will give you some time to settle down," Father said after a while. "There are somethings that I need to discuss with you later. And there is also someone I would like you to meet."

I nodded, not really listening to what he was saying, my mind still focused on my wardrobe. "Can I go look around the castle?"

"Of course, you should get used to your new home. I will see you at dinner."

When I turned around, he was already gone. Letting out a sigh, I walked back into my room and let myself fall onto my new bed. Its softness felt like a dream, I wanted nothing more but to cuddle into the blankets and fall asleep. But then I remembered that Father wanted to eat dinner with me.

Standing up, I left the room. I stopped a girl who walked by and asked her if she knew when dinner would be ready. She quickly answered my question and curtsied before hurrying off.

It would be a while before I would have dinner with Father. Not knowing what else to do, I walked around the castle. As I passed several corridors, I found myself in front of an impasse. Feeling tired from all the walking I sat down for a while, leaning against the cold walls.

After a while, I decided that it would be best to get back to my room. Standing up, I somehow stumbled over my own foot. My arms reached out for something to prevent me from falling. That something turned out to be torch.

As I hold on to it, I felt it slightly move down. Surprised, I let go of it. A strange sound appeared to my right as the torch went back up again. A frown appeared on my forehead. I looked over to the wall that slowly started to move. Not knowing what to do, I stood there, staring at the moving wall with wide eyes until it stopped.

A small gap appeared, big enough for a person to squeeze through. Curious as to what was on the other side of the wall, I took the torch out of its halter and stepped through the gap. Looking around, I realized that it was an old passageway. The walls were cobwebbed, the floors covered in dust.

Curiosity got the better of me once more and without thinking I started to walk down the passageway until I stood in front of a door. Without thinking I opened it and stepped forward. But instead of a solid ground, I felt nothing but air surrounding me as I fell into a hole.

I let out a high pitched scream as the torch went out, I couldn't see anything. All of a sudden my body collided with something soft, not the hard ground I had expected. Opening my eyes, I tried to figure out where I was.

Somehow I had landed on a huge pill of hay. Getting up, I looked around. It was almost pitch dark in here, everything looked so abandoned, like no one had been here for ages. A small window high up in the room, provided just enough light to not stumble over your own feet.

I slowly stepped forward and looked around. Spotting a door, I hesitantly opened it and made sure that there was actually something to step on before entering the room.

At the other end of the room I noticed bars separating the room into two. There was a small bed and a pill of hay on the other side.

Slowly stepping forward, I looked around curiously. What was this place?

"Well, hello there."

I jumped away from the bars and let out a surprised scream. Something in the corner started to moved. Not knowing what to do, I stood there frozen, my eyes wide open as I waited for the person in the corner to step forward.

An elderly man with brown hair that reached his shoulders stepped forward. He looked as though he hadn't seen the daylight for the past few years. His skin looked pale, almost white. As he stood up, I heard the sound of moving chains. Looking down to his feet, I realized that the man was tied to the wall with chains as big as my fist.

Pity overcame me as I took in the picture of the man in front of me.

"Hello," I greeted him back, my lips stretching into a small smile.

"What's your name?"

"Briar Rose," I hesitantly answered. "But my family calls me Adelaide."

"That's a lovely name you have there, Adelaide."

"Thank you," I said, the smile on my face growing larger. "What's your name, sir?"

The man looked at me surprised. He hesitated for a moment before answering my question. "You can call me... Lorie."

Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter. What do you think of Adelaide's father? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote! Thank you!