Chapter 10

I woke up in a hospital bed covered in blue sheets. I had a splitting headache and let out a groan as I sat up. “Immy!” Someone yelled at the bedside. My vision was starting to clear up and I could see my brother and sister sitting next to my dad by my bedside. “What happened?” I moaned. It was my father that spoke, “Immyria, I’m so proud of you! You and Celia tied for first place in the tournament! You both went down at the same time and you both passed out so the round never really finished but I was more than happy to end the round with two winners instead of one.” He finished and I remembered Celia.

“Celia! Is she okay? Is she still really mad at me?” I let out without thinking. Just then Trey walked in with Celia and a nurse. Celia looked fine, and happy. Happy? The nurse cut into my thoughts “Well princess you should be good to go by the end of the hour. Try not to get so badly injured again. You had an accumulated 3 broken bones, a cranial rupture, and an internal bleeding that we healed for you.” I it that she walked out of the room. I looked back to Celia and she was smiling at me. “Are you still mad at me?” I asked absently. “No princess. Actually I was quite impressed with your performance today and I understood why you didn’t tell me your real name. I’m just glad you’re okay now!” She said quickly and grabbed my hand. “How badly did I hurt you?” I asked her. She giggled and said, “pretty bad actually. My body is more used to this than yours so I was faster to heal and come to. I got a pretty bad concussion from your kick but then at the end it was even worse. I didn’t teach you that trick though. I’m amazed you learned it from just experiencing it. I’m sorry I hurt you so badly though.”

I smiled and said, “So we’re still friends?” She stared at me with a serious look, “Of course we are!” She said then laughed and sat in the bed with me. “Does this also mean you want to come to the rest of my birthday party?” I asked her. She jumped up and yelled “YES!!!!” And Trey had to calm her down. I felt good. And really happy! I still have my best friend and she knew who I really was. We were talking about the party for the rest of the hour I was there. When I was discharged we all went back to the palace and Celia came with me to my room to change. She didn’t have any dresses so I told her she could borrow one of mine.

She chose a free flowing light blue dress and I let her borrow some jewelry that went with it although she wanted to keep her shoes. I really couldn’t blame her on that one. Heels always hurt my feet. I went and grabbed a clean dress from my closet and I picked the first one I saw. It was a free flowing golden dress with black embroidery on it. It was one of my favorites. Although because it was a long length dress I stayed in flat shoes too. “It’ll be our secret Imm” Celia said from sitting on my bed. I laughed and looked at her. She looked beautiful too. She kept her hair down and brushed it until it looked soft.

“Hey Celia? Did you mean anything you said in the arena?” I had to ask. She looked at me with a playful grin. “No, but I figured it would rile you up enough to where you would fight as hard as you could so I could see what you could really do. I’m sorry if I hurt you with it.” She finished looking a little sad. I grabbed her hand and said, “thank you. You got me to push myself harder than ever before. And thanks for not taking it easy on me.” She smiles and hugged me, “Your mom is definitely not happy with you though.” She said with a straight face.

“Yeah, I know. She never is. I told her I was going to dancing lessons when I was really going to training.” I said. I was kind of dreading seeing her again after all this. “She scares me.” Celia said with a straight face. I laughed and pulled her through the door and we started walking back to the ballroom where everyone was gathering for the results and to continue the celebration for my birthday.

We got to the ballroom and we were giggling when we walked in. When the trumpets again sounded for my entrance my father met us at the top of the stairs. “You both look wonderful,” he whispered to us and then addressed the entire room. “As you know our Princess Immyria set up the tournament for her birthday and had been attending training for a short time. When she wanted to be in the tournament I gave her my full blessing and to not disappoint me in the results. Well,” he looked back to me and I walked over to his side. Then he continued, “I think we were all very surprised by how far she made it and how impressive her skills have become. But as I’m sure you are all aware we have a winner to address for the tournament. Or should I say winners!” My father and I gestured for her to stand by us and she did then my fathered continued again. “Due to the circumstances and skill of both these girls we have awarded them both first place in the tournament! After today they will both join our royal army!” As he finished the room erupted into cheers and screams.

I looked over to Celia and she looked as surprised and happy as I felt. “We did it, we really did it!” she said. We cheered with the rest, hugged, and walked down to the crowd. Celia and I held hands so we wouldn’t be separated, we got so many congratulatory remarks we were definitely occupied for a couple hours after the announcement. As people started to settle down we got the chance to finally make it to the food table and started scarfing food down with how hungry we’ve been.

We heard someone clear their throat and we looked up to see my mother. Celia immediately stood so she could bow but she forgot she had been sitting and bumped the table hard enough to spill her food. She looked at the ground embarrassed. “Hello mother, have you enjoyed the celebrations today?” I asked her. She scowled and I gave Celia the motion to sit back down so she could keep eating. Then my mother started talking, “I don’t see why you had to lie to me. Or why you had to do any of this. It seems you just can’t be a lady or have any manners.” She huffed and I interrupted her before she could continue. “Mom, when have you ever asked me what I want? And when I have told you when have you ever listed? I belong in the royal army. There’s nothing for me since Tiberius is the heir to the throne. This is what I’m good at. And I did really well.” I finished and she stared at my blankly for a minute. Then said “well you weren’t terrible at it. You were certainly better at it than your manners. Look, I’ll overlook the lie if you at least try to get to know prince garret. Do we have a deal?” She asked me. I thought about it for a minute. I couldn’t go anywhere because I was part of the royal army now so what could be the harm? “Alright. Deal.” I agreed and my mother sighed heavily. “He’s out on the balcony talking to your father. You should meet him out there.” She said then walked away to mingle with the guests.

Celia and I both laughed, “I guess I better save the dear young prince from my father” I said starting to stand up. Celia laughed and said she would be here waiting for me, I walked over to the balcony they were both at and started talking, “good evening father, prince garret. Did you like the entertainment today?” I asked them both. My dad gave me a bright smile and laughed, he kissed my head and whispered “play nice” then walked back into the ballroom. “You were pretty good in that tournament today. I definitely didn’t expect you to be a part of it, but you were amazing!” He said. I looked at him and said “thank you. It’s all I’ve wanted for quite a while now.” I was honest with him. We had small talk for a while before the dancing began and got to know each other. He didn’t seem so bad, we actually had a bit in common.

My father came over and interrupted us, “Are you ready for the first dance?” He asked me. I looked at him and nodded. “Prince Garret would you be so kind as to have the first dance with the princess?” He asked. “I would be honored” he replied then looked at me. “Well,” I said then continued “ready to dance with the queen of two left feet?” He laughed and we danced. After that the night went smoothly and I had a lot of fun. At the end of the night when people were about to start leaving my father made one last announcement for everyone, “Thank you all for joining us today! Before you all part ways I have spoken with Prince Garret, and he has accepted our engagement offer to our dear Princess Immyria!” He finished the announcement and everyone cheered. Celia and I looked at each other and she seemed just as shocked as I was. After everything I did. After everything I just accomplished. I didn’t even know an engagement was in the talks. No one told me. I was speechless and trying not to panic. “Well princess, I hope to see you again soon” prince garret came up and grabbed my hand kissing the top of it. I was still in so much shock that my hand fell to my side when he let go. When my mom and dad came up to me I couldn’t look at them. I immediately ran to my room and locked the door behind me.