Gothic Desires

“My father paid to have me here this soon. I demand to meet him.” A rude, snobbish woman about the age of twenty-three stood outside the palace doors.

The doorman refused to let her enter, despite her proof that she was on the show. She glared at the doorman. He tried to explain things to her. She would not listen to the doorman for anything. There was a representative from the show trying to talk to her as well, but she still did not listen.

“Ma’am, Please.” The doorman held his hands up. “Your arrival was unexpected.”

“You really need to calm down Ms. Carte.” The assistant producer sighed.

“That is Venessa Carte? “ Starfyre raised a brow. “I am not rooming with her.”

“Do you KNOW who I am?” The Tacky brown haired woman didn’t see the carriage pulling up. “I am of the Carte family! My father is a multi millionaire. I demand to see him so he can end this contest right now. I am his future wife, the prince just hasn’t chosen me yet.”

“Snob much?” Stephanie shook her head. “And ego much.”

“No kidding.” Starfyre chuckled.

Stefan pulled the horses to a halt. It wasn’t until they stopped that Venessa turned around. She stood arrogantly with hands on her hips and scoffed at the girls. Starfyre was lifted down by Stefan, who did his best to not even look at the belligerent Venessa.

“Oh, Look. Pig Tails and black make up.” Venessa smirked. “How childish.”

“Okay.” Starfyre shrugged. “If you wish to think that.”

“Hey, I am Stephanie and this is Starfyre Renwal. She is the girl you should be expecting.” She looked right at the rep. “Right?”

“Yes, yes.” The representative smiled. “As I tried to tell Ms. Carte here, I am Lucas Devinshire. I am the executive producer of the show.”

“Don’t ignore me you goth freaks.”Venessa snapped.

“Pardon?” Starfyre glanced at Venessa. “I must be tired from the long flight. I do apologize and I will certainly talk to you later. Right now, I would like to ask Mr. Devinshire for a private moment of his time.”

“You are Starfyre? I am NOT rooming with her.” Venessa hmphd and turned her head. “I demand my own room.”

“Hey great! I’ll room with Starfyre, Mr. Devinshire.” Stephanie spoke up.

“You are her guest that she chose to bring along, correct?” Lucas smiled. “That would work out fine, since Ms. Carte has a problem with Ms. Renwal. Even though,” He raised his voice and looked right at Venessa, “Ms. Renwal has been nothing but polite.”

“I am not Rooming with a goth freak. I demand my own room, as I said.” Venessa smirked. “Or I’ll leave the show.”

“Be happy to drive her back to the air port sir.” Stefan quipped.

“How..dare you.” Venessa gasped.

“Since you won’t have your own room, feel free to leave or accept the rooming assignments we give you. Now if you will excuse me, I have two polite, lovely young ladies to show to their room.” Lucas nodded to Venessa. “Good day, Ms. Carte.” He chuckled and motioned Starfyre and Stephanie to follow him inside.

“Thank you for driving us here.” Starfyre turned and gave Stefan a smile. “I appreciate it.”

“Ohhh, playing ms. Sweet pants now.” Venessa hmphd again. “What ever.” She moved to the carriage. “Lets go.”

“After I get their luggage unloaded, I’ll be more than happy to drive you to the air port.” Stefan and the two footman began unloading. The two girls were walking off with Mr. Devinshire. “Have a pleasant evening, ladies.”

“Thank you Stefan.” Starfyre waved to him.

“Thanks! Come talk to us again okay?” Stephanie grinned. “We need a tour of the town.”

“You bet.” Stefan chuckled.

“I will not be ignored like this! I am a future princess!” Venessa stomped her foot.

“Looks like you just got ignored like that.” Stefan placed the last of the bags to the ground. “And if you want to keep being a rude, obnoxious little child, you can walk back to the air port.”

“Are you just going to let him talk to me like this! He is the help!” She called after Lucas and the girls.

“Yes!” Lucan nodded to the doorman, who then closed the doors. “Good riddance.” he sighed.

“Here,” Starfyre held a peppermint out to Lucas. “It helps. Peppermint is a soothing tool.”

“You’re a very sweet girl. Thank you so much.” Lucas took the offered mint. “And since we have an opening, would you like to participate, young lady?” He looked at Stephanie.

“Me? Oh, no way. I am way too immature to even consider being married. Plus, I would never go against my girl here.” Stephanie smiled. “But thank you anyways.”

“It was nothing.” Lucas stepped into the main room of the castle. “Welcome to Tovia palace, Ladies.”

“Oh, wow.” Starfyre gasped. “This is absolutely beautiful.”

“Oh man, wow and double wow.” Stephanie turned around completely. “Look at all of the paintings and tapestries. Is this the throne room?”

“Yes it is.” Lucas pointed to two thick purple velvet curtains. “The thrones are behind those.”

“We can explore later, right?” Starfyre asked hopeful. “I want to see more.”

“Definitely. I can arrange for Stefan to show you around. He knows this palace better than any one.” Lucas tilted his head to the side. “But, you two look like you could use a bit of freshening up.”

“Thank you again.” Starfyre smiled still. “Should we be carrying our luggage though?”

“Oh, no, no. The footman will bring it up. I will go tell them what room you are in, after I show you two to it.” Lucas started up a spiral stair case. “You will be housed in the east wing of the palace. You are free to explore the grounds, the North and south wings. The West wing is the royal families so that is off limits, for now.”

“Mr. Devinshire?” Starfyre caught up to him. “May I ask you why Venessa wasn’t being shown in?”

“She was demanding to go see the prince immediately. Plus, she broke one of the rules by coming here in privately acquired transportation. She felt her self better than the others. We told her that we could show her to a room but she could not meet Prince Vandrake. She refused this offer.” Lucas sighed. “Some of these rich girls tend to be spoiled rotten. Even on normal shows, they are a problem.”

“Normal shows?” Stephanie blinked. “How is this not a normal show?”

“Well, as I am sure you both know, the ones that are aired like ‘the bachelor’ and ‘who wants to be a princess’ are generally set up. My fellow producers would kill me for admitting such things. This is not rigged or set up. There will be an honest to god wedding at the end of all of this. One of the lucky ladies here, will become a genuine princess and maybe even find real love.” Lucas stopped at a silver trimmed, oaken door.

“That is way wow.” Stephanie glanced at Starfyre’s grimaced expression. She knew that her friend had thought opposite of what he said. “Thank you so much for explaining that to me.”

“Not a problem and here is your room. You two will be the only two in it. I assume that will be fine since you are friends.” Lucas pushed the door open. “It is suite A for future reference.”

“This is..”Starfyre was almost speechless as she stepped inside.

There was a living room area and separated bedrooms to the sides. There was even a small dining room area, complete with table and chair. The room was decorated in a classic styling. Purple and silver seemed to be the theme coloring for the room.

“I don’t think I have ever been in a room this nice.” Stephanie was in awe. “This is just for two people?”

“Yes,” Lucas chuckled. “We decided it best to keep the rooms in two’s. The royal family also didn’t want you feeling crowded or uncomfortable while you were here.”

“Could you tell them thank you for us?” Starfyre took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “And that this is amazing. I complement them.”

“Amazing,” Lucas blinked.

“What?” Stephanie asked. “That she said thank you?”

“Kind of. In all my years of doing this, I do not think that I have ever heard one girl say that word so much. You two are real gems. I am going to love working with you.” Devinshire nodded. “And I will tell them for you.”

“Appreciate it.” Starfyre smoothed her skirting. “Aside from the three days. When are we going to meet the others? At the same time?”

“Ah yes! Thank you for reminding me. The queen has a luncheon planned for the ladies that arrive today. I think one more flight was planned to arrive but it is running late. It appears that you two will be attending alone.” Lucas pulled a packet from his coat. “This is for you,” he handed it to Starfyre. “It is a small gift of appreciation from the Vandrake’s for showing.”

“Thank you again.” Starfyre seemed surprised. “I do not know what to say.” She held the elaborately wrapped box. It was a long, thin shape. A gold ribbon shone brightly on the top of it.

“They feel that you all should be thanked. Their son has been fighting them on the marriage issue for some years. If it were not for you ladies, he would still be fighting them.” Lucas stepped to the door. “If you need anything, I will be outside,” he sighed, “Trying to get rid of and or calm Ms. Carte down.”

“Good luck.” Starfyre and Stephanie chuckled. “She doesn’t seem like the type that will calm.” Stephanie grinned as she spoke. “Seems more like a , well something I can’t say.”

“I agree with what you can’t say.” Lucas pushed the door open. “Luncheon is in one hour. Your baggage will be here shortly. That should be enough time to freshen up.”

“Thank you, sir.” Stephanie waved to him as he left. She closed the door after and giggled. “Will you look at this room! It is amazing!”

“Oh, yeah.”Starfyre looked a little ‘off’. “amazing .”

“Oh, come on girl. Don’t get worried about things. Like you said, we will be sent home after a month. This prince probably wants some proper lady. We are far from it. What kind of princess wears black lipstick and black dresses? No worries. Especially after seeing this place.”

“I hope you’re right, Stephanie.” Starfyre stepped away towards the bedroom doors. “Lets see our rooms, shall we?”

“Right behind you. Hey, do you want the one to the back or the one to the front?”

“Shouldn’t matter. Both are probably nice.” Starfyre pushed the door towards the back open.

She was wide eyed. The room was just as huge as the living room area. The bed must have been a double king and there was a small, private bathroom in the corner. Stephanie’s reaction was much the same when she pushed her door open. Both girls backed away slowly and looked at one another.

“I so love you for bringing me.” Stephanie grinned. “For a month, we will live like,”She paused and hmmd, “Princess’s”

“My mother would kill to be here right now.” Starfyre turned. “Who is it?” The knock at the door pulled her attention away from the room.

“We have brought your baggage.” One of the footman called.

“Oh, come in.”Stephanie walked over. “And thank you for bringing it up for us.” She said as she opened the door. “We appreciate it.”

“Yes, thank you.” Starfyre nodded.

“Our pleasure. You’re much nicer than that Carte woman. She is yelling poor Mr. Devinshire’s ear off right now.” The both came in and set the luggage down. “This was all of it that we saw.”

“That’s it.” Stephanie nodded. “You two can go hide from Venessa now, huh?” She chuckled. “We would visit more but we apparently have lunch with the queen in fifty minutes.”

“Oh! Oh yes.” The one bowed his head lightly. “We need to be going anyways. Have a good lunch.”

Both men exited from the room. Stephanie giggled and closed the door behind them. Starfyre shook her head at her friend. She was being silly.

“Lets get ready.” Starfyre grabbed her bag up. “We do not wish to be late, do we?”

“Nope.” Steph grabbed her bag. “See you in a bit.” She stopped a moment though. “Wait, what did they give you?”

“The gift?” Starfyre forgot all about it. “I guess I should open it.”

“Duh.” Stephanie laughed. “Open it.”

“Alright, fine.” She grabbed it from the table that she had sat it down on. “I was going to wait, but I’ll open it now.”

“Hurry.”

“Pushy.” Starfyre smirked and pulled the paper off, neatly. It was a black velvet colored box. “Jewelry?”

“No way!” Stephanie gasped. “Opennnn it.”

“Ohh..Ohhh.” Starfyre stared at the contents of the box. “Stephanie..”

“Show me.”

Starfyre held up a white gold bracelet with a diamond rose upon it. Her name was spelled out on a smaller crown charm. In the center of the diamond rose, rested a black gem stone. It glittered brilliantly in the light of the room.

“You so have to wear that to the lunch.” Stephanie nodded very much. “Definitely.”

“Guess we had..better..”Starfyre sighed. “Guess we better get ready, right?”

“Stop worrying. All of the other girls are getting something too.” Stephanie grinned. “Lets get ready.”

“Right.” Starfyre shook her head. She definitely needed to thank them for this gift. “Lets.”
Both girls retreated to their chosen rooms. One thing was certain, things weren’t boring here. They had just gotten here and we’re already going to have lunch with the queen. Starfyre supposed it was because the parents wanted to meet the girls before the son did. After meeting Venessa? That was probably a wise decision for most of them.