This chapter was edited on January 16, 2019
"You're kidding," Jenine snarled.
She had cornered Brent in another bathroom when he was looking at himself in the mirror once again. However this time they were in the palace of the Northern Kingdom.
It was several times larger than the other places they had seen on their journey; grey and white in all of its prestigious glory. They came right before dinner time and so the king and queen prepared a feast in celebration. That meant they were getting ready all night and weren't able to greet the group at their entrance.
"You heard me," Brent replied to Jenine, "I'm going to have to decline your offer. I'm not going to let you cheat on Lucas and I'm not gonna let you blackmail me."
She sucked her teeth harshly, "It wasn't an offer," she deadpanned, "It was a demand. I'll spread it on the table for you, you're going to do whatever I ask- or you'll get arrested."
She took a slow step towards him. "Besides, you might learn to love me." She reached up to stroke his face but he smacked her hand away.
"Not in your lifetime," he snapped, "I don't care what you say, you're not going to change my mind."
"You know you're making a huge mistake, right?" she lowered her tone, speaking threateningly slow.
"The only mistake I ever made was making you think you had any power over me," Brent shook his head, "I'm done with letting you have control over me."
Brent felt proud to say this, he felt powerful. Jenine, other the hand, was not impressed.
"Well, good luck with your little hero-act," she rolled her eyes and turned to exit, "Have fun with Old Lady Grimhilde!"
At the familiar name, the gears in Brent's head ticked forward. "Wait, what did you say about Lady Grimhi-" and the door was shut in his face.
Jenine seethed, strutting out of the room with anger.
"Who does he think he is? He obviously underestimated me," she growled, "I'll put him in prison, the little brat. Trying to act so cool and bad... we'll see about that," she muttered to herself as she opened the door to leave the room.
Right then, she smacked right into a tiny girl with long brown pigtails and bright smile. The girl's smile immediately dropped, however, once she saw who she bumped into.
"Princess Jenine," Gina said.
Jenine blinked a few times to regain her posture and looked the girl up and down before it clicked in her brain who she was talking to, "Ah, Princess Eugina," she said in a bored tone. She bowed slightly before slipping out of the other girl's way, "My apologies, I didn't see you."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Gina replied, "Have you seen Diana?"
Jenine raised an eyebrow boredly, "No, I haven't seen her today. I just got here," she answered and bowed again, "Well, goodbye," she said awkwardly and finally retreated.
Gina huffed, crossing her arms, "Where the heck is Diana?"
***
"Where the heck am I?" Diana asked herself.
She looked around, hoping to recognize anything about where she was but soon realized the hallway she was in looked exactly like the last four hallways she'd seen.
Unfortunately, she hadn't run into anyone yet who could guide her onto the right path and she wasn't courageous enough to check the rooms to see if there was anyone in there that was willing to help her.
She trudged forward, changing directions every ten minutes or so, hoping she was getting closer to her bedroom. It was so terribly early in the morning and her butt hurt from that day-long carriage ride. She needed to sleep in a real bed ASAP.
She gripped the sides of her dress angrily and huffed, trudging forward. It didn't help that she was already dressed for dinner in a black opera-styled dress paired with a hoop skirt underneath and grey lining, along with black pumps.
Just as she had passed what felt like the millionth door, it opened right in front of her. A skinny man wearing a white nightgown greeted her. His ginger hair was tied back in a ponytail and he had a strong jawline. Once he saw her, he fixed her with a tired grin.
"Hello, M'lady. Are you lost by any chance?" he said in a thick French accent.
Diana practically jumped out of her boots, "yes! Horribly, horribly lost!"
"Well," he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "Where do you need to go?"
"Back to my room," She answered.
He nodded, "I figured," he laughed, "Do you know which wing or hallway that is? I don't happen to know which hallway you are staying in,"
Diana's shoulders slump, "I don't, sorry,"
He shook his head, "Not to worry, M'lady, perhaps the queen or king will know. Let us go visit them. Their room is right around the corner," he said, starting off in the direction
"The queen?" Diana's eyes widened, "You mean, like, Cinderella and Prince Charming?"
"That is the one," he chuckled, "Cindy and Will are very kind people. Very humble."
"You're from France, right?" Diana asked, "I like your accent."
"Thank you," he beamed, "I was originally in the castle of Queen Belle and King Adam in France. But my friend came here to- uh... pursue his religious beliefs and I had always wanted to come to the other side of the world."
"You're a nice friend, I would never move across the world for something like that," Diana commented
They stopped in front of a door that Diana assumed was the royal couple's. It was a two-door entrance of white wood and gold lining.
"Well I wanted to come here myself as well," he replied, "Besides, my friend, Cogsworth, doesn't even live with me anymore. He is with the sacred brotherhood nowadays. I recently got out of a bad break up with my fiance and I've been looking for a new woman. I have a thing for redheads, you know?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"Are you also into lesbians? Because that's what I am," Diana rolled her eyes.
The man held his heart, looking physically hurt, "The beautiful ones all are these days," he laughed, "And on that note," he proudly knocked on the door and heard a man reply:
"Come on in!"
The ginger threw open both of the doors and waltzed into the biggest bedroom Diana had ever seen. She was a princess, so she had seen her fair share of big bedrooms. But none held up even an ounce against this room. The room was as big as a small house with dark wood flooring, a giant canopy bed over in the middle.
But the gorgeous room was put to shame at the sight of the man sitting there. He was tall and tan with jet black hair a breathtaking smile that graced the two when his eyes landed on them. He wore a white suit with gold embellishments and a red sash. He paired the outfit off with black trousers and simple black dress shoes.
"Princess Diana?" The man stood up, "Why, the last time I saw you, you were about 1 foot tall!" he chuckled and stood up, going over to shake the girl's hand.
He stood over her, shaking her limp arm as she gawked at his beauty. Dang, this man could turn her straight.
"W-we've met before?" Was all she could muster in front of his blinding smile.
"Of course we've met," William Charming grinned, "You were supposed to marry my brother, remember?"
Diana snorted before he stopped herself, "You should see the hag he has to marry now,"
To her surprise, the king laughed. He raised his eyebrows in an expression that said: 'Oh trust me, I know what you mean.'
"Is there something you needed?" he asked out loud, looking at both him and the French man who Diana had just met.
"She can't seem to find her room, Master Will," the French man spoke, "And she does not seem to know which wing she was placed in."
"That is a problem, isn't it?" William frowned, "And I'm guessing you weren't the one to show them to their rooms then, huh, Lumiere?"
"Non," The man, Lumiere, replied, "It was probably Jack. I woke up about ten minutes ago."
"Jack? The blonde guy?" Diana asked, "Blonde hair, a bit grumpy?"
"That'd be the one," William said with a short laugh.
"Yes!" Diana jumped, "He's the one that showed us to our room. He didn't say much, but he knows where we're staying."
"It just so happens that Jack is right over there," he pointed to a set of double doors to the far right, "He's talking to Cindy in her closet? Right, that way."
Diana bowed really low and then made her way over to to the door. Behind this door, she found what looked like a women's department store. There were rows upon rows of mannequins decked out head to toe in beautiful clothing. The ceiling seemed to be higher than the castle itself as it curved upwards in a dome-like shape, several feet into the air. There in the middle of the carpeted room was a small wooden desk that Queen Cinderella stood in front of and a man who looked to be in his twenties or thirties sat on top of casually.
The Queen was decked out in a long baby blue dress with long sleeves and train that seemed endless. It's mesh covering glistening in the fluorescent lights that caught the gold of her hair perfectly. The man, Jack, who sat on the desk in front of her wore simple brown trousers and a green t-shirt. His hair was actually dirty blonde and his eyes were a dull light brown, void of emotion.
They both stopped talking at the sound of the door opening and turned to Princess Diana. She clunked awkwardly toward them and smiled with another low bow.
"Your Highness, would you mind if I borrowed Mr. Jack for one second please?" She asked in the sweetest voice she could muster. She felt like a blobfish in front of the queen.
"What?" The man in question said, "You need me?" he said. His voice was slightly higher than she expected, seeing as she only heard him say but a few words.
"I don't remember how to get back to my room and I believe you were the one that showed us there a few hours ago, so I was hoping you could take me to that wing please," she gave him a bright smile.
He stared at her, face blank then turned back to Cinderella, "I'll to you later," he said and turned back to Diana, "let's go"
Instead of leading her back out the way she came, he hopped up and took another door from the closet that took them to the hallway she was just in.
He started at a brisk pace and she had a hard time keeping up. She cleared her throat, "Um, could you slow down, please? Sorry, it's just that I'm wearing heels."
He stopped abruptly, causing her to bump into his back. He spun around and looked at her for a second, "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "I'll go slower."
He said, turning around and walking a bit slower this time. He lead her down the hallway at a pace at which she was able to walk next to him finally.
"You're not much of a social person, are you?" Diana asked with a small grin.
He glanced at her before turning back to the path he was walking, "Um, I'm not good with new people. I don't like to get close to new people."
"That's understandable," she nodded, "I mean, you probably have a reason for it." She didn't expect Jack to explain his reason, but to her surprise, he started explaining softly.
"My only friend was my mother growing up," He started, "One day, I went to sell a cow and man tricked me. I trusted him with my only possession, my favorite cow. Not only did he murder my cow for food, but thing he traded me for nearly killed everyone in town. I don't trust people very much anymore."
"That..." Diana furrowed her eyebrows, "That story sound familiar."
"Does it?"
"How did you end up in the castle?" Diana asked, "You said you lived with your mother."
"I did, but she died very quickly after that whole ordeal," he said, his voice suddenly sounding tighter, "Aunt Cindy took me in shortly after that," he stared off, probably thinking about the memory.
Diana looked at the man, "Wait, what was the thing that almost killed everyone in your town?"
He continued to stare and walk. Upon noticing that Diana was no longer talking, he blinked a few times and looked to her with wide eyes, "I'm sorry, what was that? I'm sorry I think I blanked on you."
"It's fine," Suddenly everything seemed to click together. Diana suddenly stopped coincidentally at the same time that Jack had stopped walking. They began speaking at the same time.
"Hey, are you Jack the Gi-"
"Well here's your room," He said and then furrowed his brow, "Sorry, what were you just saying?"
Diana looked into Jack's hazel eyes. Perhaps, it was best not to pry anymore into his life than she had already.
"Thank you for showing me the way," she smiled, "Now that you mention it, this does look very familiar. Thank you again, Sir Jack," she bowed
He bowed as well and, to her surprise, gave her a small smile,
"Call me anytime you or your friends need help, Princess Diana."