Maddie and Annie looked at each other, clearly telling each other with their eyes that they both already knew what the answer was to that offer that Albert had gave them.
Now it was only a matter of gently expressing their answer to his offer in a polite manner that would not cause them to be thrown out drastically after such a nice meeting that went in the opposite way that they had expected.
"Thank you for your very nice offer your Majesty, but I am afraid that we will have to turn you down on that one, we would rather go home first, but thank you for offering" said Annie as she smiled sheepishly and spoke in the most polite way, even though she was beyond shocked that he had asked them to stay for breakfast.
He was being awfully nice, and she did not know whether to be suspicious of that, or if he had just decided to be naturally nicer to her than before.
"I can understand that, you do not have to thank me" replied Albert with a plain smile.
"And how about you Maddie, what do you say?" asked Albert as he looked at Maddie, and Maddie was even more shocked that he seemed to be asking her opinion, wasn't it already clear that Annie had spoken for the both of them?
"Your Majesty, thank you for your questionable generosity" said Maddie as Annie kicked her leg under the table, was she trying to make him angry, why add the word questionable??
"But Annie already spoke for the both of us, I would rather return home, it is much better to be comfortable, but thanks for the offer regardless" replied Maddie as politely as she could put it, ignoring the fact that Annie had just kicked her.
Maddie could not lie, she was actually very hungry, and starting to regret skipping breakfast back at the Palace, and the option of eating before they left was tempting.
But considering the very 'warm welcome' she had received from just one of the Castle staff earlier, she would rather return back than face more unfriendly judgmental stares.
"I see, but that is perfectly fine" replied Albert as he smiled politely and Annie smiled politely at him, it was clear to see that Maddie did not trust his kindness at all and he doubted his reasons, which he did not blame her for, it was only smart to think that way.
"Yes" replied Annie and Maddie in a chorus as there was a silence that followed after that.
"Thank you both for honouring my invitation, you are more than welcome to come to the Castle any time you want, you are all welcome here, including Matt, I am sure that Oliver would be happy if you spend some time over here for a change" said Albert as he smiled.
"Thank you your Majesty, thank you for your invitation" said Annie as she smiled.
Maddie on the other hand wanted to make a comment about his son, but she decided to keep it to herself, however, one thing was sure, there was no way they would be coming over here to spend some time, the Palace was way better than the depressing Castle.
"I have arranged a carriage to take you both back to the Palace" said Albert.
"I have a meeting now, so please excuse me, you are free to leave whenever you want to" said Albert as he smiled and he stood up.
"Thank you your Majesty" said Annie as she smiled and Albert smiled at her and glanced at Maddie before leaving his office as the door closed behind him.
"That was...unexpected..." said Maddie as Annie breathed a sigh of relief.
"I know right..." said Annie.
"I didn't expect him to be nice, much more less apologize... I thought I was dreaming" said Annie as she shook her head in disbelief.
"As for me I didn't think it was a dream, let's be honest Annie, he hasn't really been a nice guy to you, and you did save the entire Realm from destinated ruin, because let's face it, if Azazel were to kill you, he would have gained more power and ruled the entire Witch Realm as sole dictator, we both know that, because Selene was power hungry and she would push him to do it, which would mean he would kill the current Royal family" said Maddie leisurely.
"So the least he could do is apologize to you and be nice to you, because without you, he wouldn't remain King that's for sure" said Maddie.
"I hear you but... still it's weird, this is totally unnecessary, it still feels unreal like a dream" said Annie.
"You know what really feels like a dream? It was when he offered that we stay and have breakfast before we leave first, now that was unreal, I wasn't even sure that we were speaking to the right person" said Maddie as she shook her head and shivered as Annie gasped.
"Maddie, I just realized that we are still in his office and we are talking about him like this... what if he's listening wherever he is?" asked Annie as she whispered the last part.
"Well that would be totally not nice for him to do, besides, I'm not hiding from him, that's really how I feel, anyway, let's go now, we need to tell Matt what happened" said Maddie as she stood up and Annie nodded and stood up as they left his office.
...
"Oh goodness we are going to have to return in a carriage" said Maddie in a whining tone as Annie looked at her while they were in the garden, as the carriage pulled up in front of them.
"I can't deal with this right now, this is too much, I need to learn how to convey!!!" said Maddie as she pretended to cry and Annie rolled her eyes as they entered the carriage and it started to move.
"I blame the blondie for this, he brought us here and he should have stayed to take us back, I am not prepared to endure hours in a carriage, no, not since I have learnt about the sweet, sweet art of conveying" said Maddie as she whined and Annie laughed.
"You blame Ollie for everything" said Annie as she laughed.
"That I do, because he's always at fault" said Maddie as Annie shook her head.
Maddie groaned as she held her stomach, she really was starving, and she hated it, she shouldn't have rushed to follow Annie here, the King could have waited longer for them.
"Are you okay Maddie?" asked Annie in concern.
"I'm not, I'm so hungry right now, I'm starting to regret rejecting the King's offer to have breakfast" said Maddie as she shook her head, she should have considered her stomach first and not her feelings.
"No one told you not to skip breakfast Maddie" said Annie as she shook her head.
"I know, but I wanted to sleep in some more" said Maddie as she groaned.
"Well hold on, we'll be at the Palace soon" said Annie.
"We better be" replied Maddie as she shook her head, she was never going to skip breakfast again.
...
"So that's it?..." asked Matt in a mix of disbelief and confusion as he looked at Maddie and Annie who had just told he and Ollie about what happened when they met with Albert.
"That's it" said Annie as she nodded her head.
"Well that's a surprise, and a good kind of surprise, I was worried that he would be angry with you or something" said Matt.
"Same here" said Annie.
"This is really a surprise... I would never expect my father to apologize to you... not to even talk about being nice... he's never shown that he liked you, no offence to you" said Ollie.
"I know right and none taken" said Annie as she smiled.
"Yeah, yeah, we all know how 'nice' your father can be blondie, but I don't buy his nice face that he's putting, don't trust him one bit" said Maddie as Lisa walked into the room with a plate of cookies that she set down on the coffee table in the lounge.
"You don't trust anyone Maddie" said Matt as he scoffed.
"Yes, and that's the right way, trust is something very delicate, you don't just give it to every, Tom, Dick and blondie" said Maddie as she took a cookie and Ollie shook his head in disbelief, but what could he say, this was Maddie after all.
"What are you all talking about?" asked Lisa as she frowned, she just walked in and they seemed to be talking about a whole lot of things, she was lost.
"Oh mom, we're talking about the King, he invited me to see him earlier, and Maddie went with me" said Annie as she looked at her mom and explained.
"He did?" asked Lisa in surprise as Annie nodded.
"And you didn't tell me anything?" asked Lisa.
"Sorry Mom, it slipped my mind" said Annie as she apologized sheepishly and Lisa smiled.
"So how did it go? What did he want to see you for?" asked Lisa.
"It went well, he wanted to see me to apologize to me... and he was very nice" said Annie as she reached out for a cookie.
"He did?" asked Lisa in surprise as both Annie and Maddie nodded.
"Well that is odd, but I'm glad as long as everything is fine" said Lisa as she smiled and they all smiled.
"Hey Mom, do you know where Curtis is? I've been trying to reach him but I can't, which is weird, because it's not like he's ignoring me and refusing to answer, I can't reach him, and that only happens when he's not present in the Realm" said Annie as she frowned.
"Oh that must be because he went to Sunset Village with your Father to get some things from the house" said Lisa as she smiled.
"He did?" asked Annie in surprise.
"Yes he did, since Azazel is gone, we don't have to stay here all the time or go with high security, so your father wanted to go over there and check on things" said Lisa.
"We haven't been back there in a really long time, I was tempted to go along as well, but maybe I will go later" said Lisa as she smiled.
"He should have told me, I want to go, it's been so long since we've been to Sunset Village, I miss it" said Annie.
"I miss it too, I would have loved to go back since now we can" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Me too" said Matt.
"And I would have like to come along since I haven't been to the human realm before" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Well no need to worry kids, we can all go some other time, after all, nothing is stopping us" said Lisa as she smiled.
"That you are right about Aunt" said Maddie as she laughed and they all laughed.
"Well I have to get home now guys before dinner, I'll see you all tomorrow" said Ollie as he stood up and smiled.
"Bye Ollie" said Annie and Lisa with a smile.
"Bye Dude, see you" replied Matt as he smiled.
"Good riddance blondie" said Maddie as Ollie smiled and shook his head before disappearing.
"Wow, you guys were right, that conveying thing is really cool" said Matt as he looked at Annie and Maddie in surprise as Lisa was very surprised by what had just happened.
"I know right, that blondie needs to teach us how to do that, he's been holding out on us" said Maddie.
"What just happened?" asked Lisa as she looked at them still in surprised.
"Conveyance" they all replied as they laughed at her shocked expression.