Samantha sat on her dressing table staring right at the mirror as her mom, Queen Eve stood right behind her, wearing a smile on her face. Queen Eve loosened Samantha's already packed jet black hair and combed it again.
"Mom! I'm okay with my packed hair," Samantha protested.
"I know but I love it when you let your hair loose, it makes you more beautiful," Queen Eve replied.
"I don't want to show everyone that side of me today, I prefer to be the princess with a packed hair," Samantha protested further.
"Don't ever forget to always renew your hair dye every fortnight to hide its main color. I will pack lots of hair dye to last you a year or more," Queen Eve said.
"Yes, I will mom! I know the consequences of letting my main hair color out. You don't have to remind me,"Samantha replied.
"Alright!" Queen Eve said and packed Samantha's hair, she attached sparkling hair pins and a small silver crown on it.
"Now you look absolutely like a princess," she complimented with a satisfactory smile.
"Thank you mom! But I don't want to get married, I wish I could wait longer?" Samantha asked with a sad smile.
"You know everything you are doing is for us. I also don't want you to get married to that vampire king but we have no choice. If this is the only way to make peace between the two kingdoms then be proud of saving your people as the true princess you are. We are all looking up to you, please don't let us down," Queen Eve said.
"I won't, it is just that I'm going to miss you, dad and my siblings. I'm going to miss this place, the servants, the garden and the waterfall,"Samantha said with a sad tone.
"I heard everything is better there, the castle over there is great with a beautiful vast garden and wide ocean view. You are definitely going to love it there. I will miss you too, we will all miss you," Queen Eve said. Samantha turned around and embraced Queen Eve in a hug before she started sobbing.
"It is your day my princess, don't cry," Queen Eve said and patted Samantha's hair, also trying to fight back her own tears. "You ain't making a mistake, it is going to be okay," she assured Samantha.
Samantha nodded in agreement, unable to voice out any words.
"It is time, my princess," the head maid announced as she walked into Samantha's room. Samantha disengaged from the hug and looked at her mom, She smiled at her with assurance. Samantha walked up to the head maid who took her hand before they started heading out with Queen Eve following them.
The maid handed Samantha over to King Edwards, Samantha's father who walked her down the aisle to meet the vampire king already waiting with the priest. Samantha stood opposite the man that was now going to be her husband with tears rolling down her cheeks. She has always dreamed of marrying out of love, but she was a princess and also had no say when it involved her father and their kingdom. As Samantha studied her groom, he was still looking young and handsome even though he was over sixty. Vampires don't age like humans, she remembered. He smiled at Samantha and she looked down, Samantha was making the hardest decision of her life and anything that came out of it, She was fully going to bear it all.
She can also decide to run away but for the sake of her mom and her people whose lives are in danger, she can't do that. Samantha is the only reason that there would be peace between her people and the great vampire kingdom who has been capturing and enslaving them. The priest cleared his throat and started the marriage process. They took their vows, exchanged rings before the vampire King unveiled her face. Samantha looked away, not ready to kiss him, he understood because he didn't make any approach.
The wedding ended and Samantha was escorted to the royal carriage waiting outside, as she sat inside. Queen Eve knocked on the door, Samantha looked up at her and started crying. She gave Samantha a parcel and hurriedly left.
Samantha had the urge to follow her but it was already too late. The carriage started moving which made her nervous because she was going to a different place altogether, to live among vampires which weren't her kind. She wanted to tell the coachman to stop but couldn't as no words came out. She was fully left speechless.
Samantha was all alone throughout the ride to her new kingdom, her groom, the vampire king was inside another carriage, he knew Samantha wanted some space and respected that. Samantha continuously looked out of the window as they traveled through the wide road. Many thoughts were already running through her mind. She worried about how she was going to fit in, how the royal household would treat her, she wasn't the king's only wife as she heard. He has many older children and only chose her as an alliance because he wanted a younger wife for himself. Samantha was rumored to be the most beautiful girl in their kingdom and other neighboring kingdoms as well, that was why the vampire king didn't hesitate to tell Samantha's father that he wanted her as a wife in order to make peace and also create alliance between the two kingdoms. It was all heart breaking but Samantha had no choice, she only prayed in her heart to fit in and stay out of trouble. She didn't know when she dozed off and before she opened her eyes, they had arrived at the vampire kingdom and it was dark now.
The coachman drove into the gate of the vampire kingdom and Samantha was awed as she couldn't stop staring at how beautiful and well arranged the kingdom was from the start with lamps and fire lit up in each street. It was located in the region with the highest snowfall and less sunshine because of how much the vampire hated the sunlight as it burns their skin. Samantha couldn't stop staring and looking at the beautiful display of colorful items sampled in each stall along the road.
It looked like a normal human kingdom but the only difference was that the humans here were vampires with more white skin and red eyes. The carriage continued moving and stopped when it got to the last magnificent castle located near a vast ocean and wide forest. The door opened and she was led out by the guard that had been in the carriage with her throughout the ride. He helped her down before the vampire king took Samantha's hand and started leading her inside.
As they entered through the gate of the castle, all the servants were lined up with their heads in a bow. Samantha couldn't help smiling at the beautiful flowers that were lined up in different shades in the walkway. She also saw a beautiful waterfall near the garden with its water channeled out of the palace to the ocean.
Everything was looking magical and beautiful, she couldn't help but admire it. This was typically her dream place, Samantha had thought all along that a vampire kingdom would be looking hollow, empty and scary like the cemetery but this was totally different from all that she had had in mind. She looked up at the giant statue positioned at different parts of the castle with a glowing golden fire crown.
Each of them had fire in their hands which gave light to the environment under the night sky.
"You are welcome, your majesty," an elderly man bowed in front of Samantha, which snapped her out of her thoughts. Samantha also wanted to bow but the king tightened his grip on her hand, she understood and only smiled at the elderly man. Samantha was used to bowing to her elders in greeting as a sign of respect in their kingdom after being properly addressed as the princess, the title didn't really matter when it comes to showing respect to your elders over there.
Samantha didn't know it was different here.
"I am the palace Butler, I'm in incharge of the household activities. My name is Brent," the man introduced.
An elderly woman behind the butler stepped forward and bowed before saying.
"I'm Bella, the head maid."
"Here is our chef," she said and pointed at a short man in chef attire. "Your welcome, your majesty. I'm Edward, the palace cook," the man said.
"I hope we all cooperate, nice meeting all of you," Samantha said in reply. The king started moving forward and she followed. They stopped when we got to the vast hallway with a long stair which led to different parts of the vast castle.
"Take her to her quarter and also prepare her for the upcoming welcoming ceremony that would start soon," the king said and started leaving.
The head maid bowed and started climbing up the stairs leading to the west wing with Samantha.
"Here is your quarter," she said in a bow as they climbed down the stairs to a beautiful place. Samantha entered through the gate in front of her and couldn't believe her eyes.
Her quarter was the most beautiful place she had ever seen even if it was located at the last part of the vast castle. It had a mini garden with beautiful flowers, a clear flowing mini spring and also a swing tied to two beautiful trees.
Three different doors were lined up in a straight line.
"Here is your bedroom, the next is your study which contains a mini dinning and the next is a vacant extra room for visitors," the maid said.
"Wow!" Samantha exclaimed with excitement. She wasn't looking like the devastated princess anymore, she totally loved her new place even if the temperature was extremely cold.
At least there were pillar of fire all over the place which gave little heat to the surroundings and made inside the castle warm.
"Your majesty, we have to start preparing now, we have less time," the head maid said. Samantha nodded in agreement and the headmaid led her inside her bedroom.