Nethermost Realm: Prisoner of Arlunn

Chapter 8

Please note: I am updating this draft of The Prisoner of Arlunn. The most important change is that the main character's name has been changed from Philip to Rian.

8

Evening finally came and it was time for the royal dinner. Shaz had personally invited Aldena and Anya. And Anya felt that he especially wanted her to be there. Her heart fluttered thinking about it.

On Earth, she'd always felt like an outcast, a stranger. Not that she was—but her parents had abandoned her at birth, left her behind a garbage dumpster in a box the day she was born, to be exact. It shamed her to think of it—that they cared so little for her. She'd always felt like a lesser being because of it, like everyone else had a better claim to life than she had.

Now, her life was like a fairy-tale. Her foster mother, Aldena, had turned out to the a princess from another world. And that made Anya a princess too, of sorts. She lived in a palace and had a closet full of the most fantastic clothes.

Maybe boys had never interested her because before she'd never mattered to anyone. None of them gave her a second glance; they just thought of her as weird. But not Shaz. He had kissed her hand and bowed to her. She'd never known a boy that she had felt this way about. Not one that had ever known she existed, anyway.

She tried on all ten of her new outfits and then tried them on again that evening, trying to decide just which one to wear. Aldena had ruled out several, which left three favorites: a delicate cream-colored three tiered Empire waist dress, that looked a bit like a wedding dress; an airy, sleeveless chiffon that looked like a waterfall, with swaths of light green fabric and dark green fabrics tightly gathering and flowing downward to the ground. The last was a cream and salmon colored three-tiered Empire waist gown with delicately woven pink flowers that lined each tier. The bottom tier and longest, of the dress, tapered in towards the floor, the other light, transparent layers built up from her thighs and flowed outward more. She smiled at herself in the mirror. She chose the last one.

The hour arrived and Anya followed Aldena from their apartment downstairs to the family dining room. Most of the Palace was inhabited by Shaz and his family, mainly his mother, Gwindle, who had been the High Regent before Aldena had returned. Now she was only the Regent of Chuness, to which Shaz was the Heir, as Aldena had explained to her.

Shaz had a younger brother, Blaine, who also lived at the Palace. Also Gwindle's brother Sian lived here, with his two daughters Chasianna and Jaunie, both close to Anya's age. Anya hoped that she would find them to be friends, as she doubted that she'd get much chance to go outside the Palace grounds.

Huge crystal chandeliers decorated the dinning room hung above a large, beautifully carved table. People stood around chatting, all dressed up in their finest when Anya and Aldena entered. Anya also recognized Powell among them.

Shaz and his mother, Gwindle, met them at the door. "Good evening," said Gwindle.

Aldena nodded. "Good evening." Anya got the feeling that they didn't like each other much—and, of course, Gwindle had stepped down from being High Regent in favor of Aldena.

One older woman stepped to the forefront. Her face and hands were wrinkled with age. "This is Evolyn of the House of Silverham," said Gwindle. "She is the Regent of Jarlan, for her son Chlan."

She introduced another young man, who looked a lot like Shaz, but younger. "And this is my son, Blaine."

They mingled for awhile. Aldena chatted with Powell for awhile. "I'd like you to meet my daughter, Jhenandra," he said to both Aldena and Anya. "She should be about your age," he said to Anya.