3 Back at the Palace

After quite the jog back, Maria reached the palace breathless and wreaking of dirt and leaves, only to be found by her maid, Alexandria.

"My Lady, you were supposed to be back hours ago!" she quietly yet forcefully said, as she ran to meet the princess.

Alexandria looked around frantically to make sure no one saw the princess in the current state she was in.

"I know, I know! I got distracted," Maria replied while she picked up the hem of her skirt and quickly tiptoed around the hallways until they had reached the royal sleeping quarters and eventually made it to Maria's room without being seen.

"I'm sure there were plenty of things to admire at the market my Lady, but you must have remembered what tonight is!" Alexandria exclaimed while she had rapidly closed the door behind them and rushed back to the princess's side. "Oh my goodness, you are an absolute mess!" she said, her face now turned to a deep shade of red after all the running and nervousness she felt for the princess.

Maria blushed thinking of the stranger who had distracted her for far too long as she looked in the mirror and covered her face with her hands before mumbling just loud enough for the maid to hear, "I don't know what got into me. Maybe I just really needed the escape knowing all of the men who want to be my future husband are coming and I have to be the one to entertain them for these next couple of days".

Alexandria, who had been with Maria since the day the Queen found out she was pregnant with her and was like a second mother to her, walked over and patted Maria on the head and said, "Now now my dear, it will be alright as long as we get you cleaned up and presentable within the next hour. Now come on! Let's get that wig off and get you looking like a princess again. I'll start a bath".

"Thank you," Maria mumbled, her face still buried in her hands before she took a deep breath and raised her head to meet her own brown eyes in the mirror.

She took off the blonde wig and let her long, brown curls tumble down her back before taking the dress and shoes she borrowed from Alexandria off and making it over to the bath.

She eased herself into the rather large, marble tub that looked more like a personal pool, and played with the bubbles before scrubbing all of the outdoor smells off of her body, while Alexandria cleaned up the used clothes and pulled a gorgeous, light blue gown out for Maria to wear that night.

When Maria was sure that every inch of her was clean, and the fact that she was at the market could not be detected on her any longer, she walked up the stairs from her pool-like bathtub and wrapped herself in a towel.

Before she walked into her bedroom where Alexandria was waiting with what Maria was sure was a stunning dress, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered affirmations to herself, "You can do this. You were born for this. You will be ok." She opened her eyes and met her maid.

"Come dear we must get you ready. It's almost time," the maid said while she pulled out the chair at the vanity for Maria to sit.

Maria, still clad in her towel but too overwhelmed to care, sat down and stared into the distance while her loyal maid pulled the finest oils through her curly hair to prevent it from tangling.

After a couple minutes of silence, Maria blinked a few times and came out of her somber state to start applying lavender lotion to herself to make her skin shine, but also as a way to calm herself for what was about to come.

She always knew that one day she would be married off as she was the first in line to the throne, she just had hoped that she would have more of a say in when it would happen.

About a month ago, her father, King Nicos, casually announced between his bites of lamb and potatoes at dinner that the palace would be prepared to host five eligible bachelors from different countries in hopes to join royal bloodlines and alliances with Greece.

"We are already the strongest nation, but with the help of another we can become indestructible and unwavering, my dear child. I have been working with the royal advisors and we have hand-picked five princes who have the ability to elevate Greece to a level of power that is greater than anything we could have ever hoped for," he said as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"But father, can't I be Queen on my own without marrying a random prince? I've been preparing for this my whole life; surely you know I can handle it on my own," Maria had responded.

"Oh honey, everyone knows you will be a great ruler, that was never the reasoning behind this decision. We just want to ensure the safety of Greece's prosperity, and the best way to do that is to join alliances with another like-minded kingdom," her mother, Queen Kalli, had tried to assure her.

Maria knew the unspoken reason too-- as much as the people of Greece loved their rulers, other kingdoms were frightened of Greece because of the rumors of their nation's royal bloodline.

The Olympios family had been ruling over Greece since the time of the gods, and for that reason, it was rumored that they were direct descendants of one of them, as everyone knew that the gods lusted after humans and frequented their beds.

Many suspected that the members of the royal family were not only demigods who possessed god-like abilities, but that the gods themselves ensured that they remained the rulers of Greece; and in their eyes, that made the Greek royals dangerous.

Maria had always thought the rumors were silly as no one in her family had special powers or anything even remotely close to it, but she had also understood the power of suggestion and how rumors could spread like wildfire, which these rumors definitely had.

She could not have brought it up though, as mention of the rumors typically filled her father with a rage that she never could understand.

Instead she had looked down at her plate of food, suddenly not hungry, trying to breathe so that she did not cry.

"Well does that mean there will be gorgeous princesses here for me too then?" Jason had asked his parents with a smirk and challenging eyes.

The King had tried to hide his smile, to no avail, before his belly laugh had filled every inch of the room. "My boy as much as I would love for you to settle down one day, you aren't the next ruler of Greece so your future wife is not my priority right now. Maybe after your sister finds a husband," he had replied with another big laugh before returning to his food.

"Who said anything about a wife?" Jason had said quietly so only Maria could hear because he knew his sister well enough to know that she needed some cheering up at that moment.

It had worked for a split second as she huffed out a quick laugh and smile before she had returned to the thought that she only had a month before her freedom was gone and she was shackled by the bonds of marriage to someone she was yet to meet.

"Should we get you in your dress?" Alexandria asked, snapping Maria back to the present.

"Yes, I suppose we should," she replied, eyeing the light blue dress that her maid had laid out for her on her bed.

Maria put on the dress that went over one of her shoulders, leaving the other bare, cinching at her waist before dropping elegantly to the floor.

She looked at herself in the full-length mirror in front of her, thinking she looked beautiful enough to be impressive to any suitor, but wishing that she could just run away and be free from her responsibilities as the future Queen.

Alexandria, who stood behind her, clasped her hands over her mouth as a gasp escaped her lips and shook her head before saying, "You have grown to be the most strikingly beautiful young woman. Not only that but you are so kind and loving. Any one of those men out there will be lucky to get to call himself your husband. I'm so proud of you, my Lady!"

Maria turned and gave her loyal maid a hug while she tried to ignore the butterflies that had started to fly around her stomach.

She pulled away and thanked Alexandria who cupped her face and asked, "Well, are you ready?"

'No,' Maria wanted to respond, but instead she put on the best smile she could manage and said, "As I'll ever be" before walking towards her bedroom door and her future.