#Marie-Christine D’Aubigne

[incorrectunrulyprincesses]

Underland’s Unruly Princesses: Boarding School Dropouts (chapter 3)

“Princess Emberess will be sleeping in the redhead room. It’s the first door in there.” said Madame Graciella. “Your luggage has been brought any moment.” She opened the door to reveal a grey room with six twin beds with gilded wood headboards, and grey bedding, and a wooden chest at the foot of each bed. The windows were boarded shut with nails and there a gilded grandfather clock stood in the corner. There were four other girls sitting on beds.

The girl sitting on the bed closest to the door was a tiny little thing who couldn’t be more than four. She had a twelve inch fishtail braid in a fiery red hue, though slightly less vivid than Ember’s own. Her left eye was blue, and her right eye was green. She had a dusting of freckles across her nose, and wore a rosy pink velvet dress trimmed with flowers and bows with a silver pendant with a teardrop shaped rose quartz, and a large pink bow in her hair, tying off her braid.

On the second bed was a tall and willowy girl of eleven with a rather vacant expression caribbean blue eyes and short ginger hair that grazed her shoulders, clad in an orange taffeta gown with a silk honeysuckle pinned to her bodice, citrine stud earrings, and a black headband.

Next to her was a tall, thin, brittle looking girl of ten with eyes so brown they were nearly black and coppery curls piled elaborately atop her head. She wore a cyan silk gown with delicate sea green embroidery, a pearl choker with a jade cameo, and two peacock feathers in her hair.

Beside her was a kind looking girl who looked to be about ten with periwinkle eyes and hair in loose ringlets the color of new bronze flowing down her back. She wore a turquoise satin gown with intricate gold damask embroidery and hot pink tulle trim and cuffs and hot pink gems adorning it, a necklace with a gold braided chain and teardrop shaped gems, and a sea green ribbon woven into a waterfall braid among her wavy hair.

The final girl in the bed next to Ember’s was a short, chubby girl of ten with ocean blue eyes, and frizzy hair somewhere between strawberry blonde and auburn worn half up, half down. She wore an airy butter yellow silk a-line gown with blush, peach, and tangerine daisies embroidered on it, a magenta belt, a three-strand necklace of pink diamonds on a silver chain and a white daisy pinned in her hair.

“Ladies, I’ve brought a new friend for you. Meet Princess Emberess of Crims. Your highness, may I present your new roommates Lady Marie-Christine D’Aubigne of Voyagea, Lady Portia of Snudworth, Lady Suzette Atkinson of Ruby, Lady Kathleen Carter of Crimson, and Lady Francesca Lambert of Scarlet. Report to the dining room for lunch and your manners lesson with Mistress Emanuelle in ten minutes. Your highness, I must go to escort your sister to the blonde room, two doors down.” announced Madame Graciella, escorting Rosalind out by one arm.

“But madame, my mother told me I was to stay with my sister! I promised our mother to look out for her!” Ember protested, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her. She’s only two doors down.” Madame Graciella reassured. “Ladies, why don’t you get better acquainted with the princess, while you get ready?” Madame Graciella was much nicer than her sister, but she was incredibly intimidated by her.

“Are you really the princess?” asked little Marie-Christine, an awestruck look in her eyes.

“I am. My friends call me Ember, at least they would if they had any friends.” Ember smiled. This little girl reminded her of Ros.

“I’m Marie-Christine, but you can call me Chrissie.” said Marie-Christine.

“How old are you?” asked Ember.

“I’m four. I’m the youngest in the school by seven minutes. My twin sister Marie-Anne is in the blonde room with your sister. This is our first year. But our older sisters Marie-Louise and Marie-Therese are in the brunette room between us.

“If your sister’s in the blonde room, she’d better watch her back.” Suzette Atkinson piped up.

“You might be princesses, but the real queen around here is Cressida Cowper, and she’s there too. She eats new girls for lunch.”

“Cressida is my best friend.” Portia Keen mused in a deadpan voice, her nose to the sky. “You’re all just jealous of her beauty and brains!”

“Cressida and Portia share a brain. That and they’re both from Snud, and knew each other before coming here.” Suzette spat.

“Sukey, I’m sure Ember’s sister can handle herself.” rationalized Kathleen Carter. “I mean Cressida’s awful, but the other girls are all really cool.” she held her hand out for Ember to shake. “I’m Kitty. Your sister will be okay, Cressida’s horrid, but the other girls are all nice. Besides, Chrissie isn’t the only one with a sister there. My sister Lacey will be there too, and she’ll look out for your sister. How old is your sister?”

“She’s seven. Our mother just stopped breastfeeding her.” Ember accepted Kitty’s hand.

“Why would she do it herself? That’s what we have wetnurses for!” asked a bewildered Portia.

“Shut up, Portia.” snapped Sukey, glowering at the ditzy girl. “But seriously, your mother stopped at seven?”

”Mum’s always cosseted Ros up like a baby. We’ve had a pretty isolated upbringing with no friends our age. Mum always said we were lucky to have each other. My sister’s an incredibly vulnerable person. She’s never left the castle grounds until two days ago when we left for school. She cried herself to sleep at the inn, and I had to calm her down because her father’s a deadbeat who’s ignored her her whole life, but Mum’s utterly enamored with him.”

“That’s rotten.” Francesca Lambert narrowed her eyes.

“So you have no friends your own age?” Asked Kitty.

“Unfortunately not. Nobody at court but my mother has children.”

“Our parents may not live at court, but some of us are in your mother’s house of progress. My older brother Stefan is the knave’s squire. Harriet Lennox from the Brunette room, her father is Count Marcus of Odyssey, your mother’s master of coin. There’s three other girls in the brunette room who are high up in your mother’s queensguard. Chrissie’s father Baron Leonard of Voyagea is her master of spies. Some of us are in your aunt’s court or house of progress as well.”

“Cressida’s grandfather is Queen Mirana’s master of justice.” Portia chimed in. “Her father’s lord commander of her queensguard. My brothers are in her queensguard too. My mother and Queen Mirana are close, personal friends.”

“Stop calling my aunt ‘Queen Mirana!’” Snapped Ember. “She hasn’t been queen for nine years. As far as I’m concerned, the only queen I recognize is my mother!”

“Portia didn’t mean any harm.” Kitty said, stepping between the two girls. “She just parrots what her mother, Cressida’s mother and Cressida say.”

“That’s because Portia has a single digit IQ. She needs Cressida to do all the thinking for her.” Sukey snarked. Francesca giggled at Sukey’s blunt remark.

“That’s right! Wait, what were we talking about?” Portia inquired.

“We ought to go down for lunch with the others. Maybe you can snag a seat next to your sister.” Francesca suggested helpfully.

“And maybe you won’t hog all the rolls this time, Fanny. They’ll go right to your hips.” Portia jeered.

“Shut up Portia!” Fanny, Kitty, and Sukey shouted in unison. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad here after all. Most of the girls seemed really nice, with the exception of Portia, but she obviously wasn’t smart enough to do any real harm. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how her baby sister was faring in the blonde room.