Serendipity

skepticism

Naida's pov

Two weeks had passed since the chandelier incident and everything had been a little odd. When fixing the chandelier Skeppy said it looked like it had been tampered with. Eret and his guards would never fail to fall silent whenever one of us entered the room with them. Eret himself had been slightly awkward but otherwise great, he only really got weird with his guards, maybe they had said something about his dress.

The amount of guards my dad had around the castle had increased, maybe it was because of the festival and having Eret here or maybe it was incase I needed to be tackled away from another chandelier. I felt really bad about it whenever I saw Ant struggling to get around on his cruches.

Eret and I were sat in my room, deciding on outfits for the festival today while Sam stood in the doorway watching us.

"Should I wear a dress?" Eret asked.

"You'd look super pretty in one but maybe save the dress for the ball tomorrow. Then it can swoosh around while you dance." I said.

Eret nodded.

"I have a formal suit I'm always made to pack incase of situations like this. That'll just have to do." Eret said.

"Do you want to help me pick out a dress? You probably have better taste than me." I said.

"That purple one there, it'll go with my tie." Eret said.

"Welp, that was quick. The purple one it is." I said grabbing the dress from where it was hanging up on my clothes rack. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be back."

I disappeared into my bathroom to change into the dress Eret picked for me, leaving him alone in my room with Sam. When I can back out Eret pulled me to sit on my bed, a hairbrush I hand. He sat me down in between his legs and began working on my hair.

"For someone who isn't allowed to do stuff like this you seem to know what you're doing." I said.

"I used to do my friend Giavanna's hair growing up. She's the daughter of my father's best friend so I was expected to get along with her and make her happy, I'm sure I'll be expected to marry her at some point." Eret explained.

"You say that like you don't like her." I said.

"I have nothing against her, I just don't see her getting along with Eret. It's Prince Eret that's her friend." Eret said with an Almost sad tone as his fingers ran through my hair.

"I guess we must be opposites then, I doubt I could be friends with Prince Eret but the real Eret is a close friend." I said.

Eret hummed in agreement as he finished tying back my hair.

"Are we ready to go now? You still need to get changed before we head out for the festival." I said, getting up so that Eret could move as well.

"Almost." Eret said as he got up and grabbed a tiara from my dresser. He put it on my hair and adjusted it slightly before smiling. "There, pretty as a princess."

"Now hurry up and get changed too!" I said, ushering him out of my room and making him chuckle.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." Eret said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender as he left the room.

I went to follow him but was stopped by Sam putting a hand out.

"Be careful Naida." Sam said.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Giving your heart to the wrong person will do more than just break it, I don't want to watch your all get shatter by someone who isn't even putting in half of what they are." Sam said before allowing me to leave.

I let his words replay in my mind as I left my room to continue following Eret. Sam was always right, he was smart, logical and observant, he knew what he was talking about. Whatever he had spotted, whatever he was trying to prevent, it was a real issue that had to be taken seriously. Sam's job was to have my best interest af heart, he knew what was best.

Sam and I stood in silence outside of Eret's room door as he got changed. When eret came out he was dressed in a black suit with a purple tie and purple accents on his suit. He grinned at me as he offered me his arm.

"M'lady." Eret said.

I hesitated to take his arm and he frowned.

"Is everything okay?" Eret asked.

"It's fine, just lost in though. You're rocking the purple by the way." I said, taking his arm.

"If you say so." Eret said.

The two of us walked Arm in arm with Sam close behind as we went downstairs. We earned many smiles, waves and whispers from the Palace staff as we passed. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw I heard my father gasp.

"Awwww, look at you muffin! You're so beautiful and grown up looking." Dad cooed.

"That's what you're excited about?" Ant asked. "She dresses up in fancy clothes for every major celebration Bad."

"You should be more excited about seeing her on the arm of a Prince. The future is looking bright." A staff member said.

My Dad gasped once more before quickly picking me up and placing me down next to Ant and away from Eret.

"No!" He exclaimed making Eret and I laugh.

"Over protective Bad mode activate! Now let's go party!" Skeepy cheered.

"Yeah!" Ant agreed, punching a fist into the air and almost falling because of his cruches.

"You're going to end up faceplanting Ant." Sam said.

"I'll be fine, catlike reflexes, remember." Ant said.

"Sureeeeee." Skeppy, Dad and myself said in sync before we all burst out laughing.