The Queen.

It wasn’t like in all of her years Ainsley had ever had to deal with, well brats. But she was pretty positive her newest guest was going to be quite the brat when she arrived. Though, the Queen supposed she couldn’t blame her, but at the same time, arranged marriages were basically how the world they lived in worked, especially in the hierarchy, and truly if anyone was going to take the Princess away from her dreadful father, well why not her? After all she had a kingdom of loyal subjects  (even if the majority of them currently feared her), an entire palace all to herself and given that she had magic, she truly wanted for nothing. 

So if accepting a brat into her castle for the rest of the Princesses’ days was something she had to do to stop this war and finally bring the girl’s father to his knees, well she’d do it.

“Your Majesty...Apologises for the intrusion but the serving girls are just wondering if you’d like the Princess’s things in your chambers as well.”

Slowly arching a perfectly shaped brow the Queen took a few slow steps closer to the obviously nervous subject. “Why would she share my Chambers with me? Even when my Husband was alive we had separate Chambers-”

“I...We just thought because she-”

“Because she is also a woman? The Princess will have her own Chambers while she is here. And I expect you all to treat her with the same respect you treat any of our guests, that’s what she is after all. Until she agrees to be mine, though truly her opinion isn’t needed on the matter. But I believe you have a job to finish doing before she arrives and bothering me with such useless questions is just wasting both of our time.”

Watching with a highly amused smirk as the Servant bowed then scrambled away the Queen rolled her eyes to herself. Perhaps her own staff would be more of an issue than the Princess.

***

Making her way to the front steps of her castle the Queen was a gracious host, though her arrogance over winning this little war was obvious. And she knew no one from the offending kingdom would dare to say anything, after all they had their orders and the moment the ‘transaction’ of sorts was finished the Queen’s confidence was rising and her head seemed to be held up even higher.

She’d arranged for her staff to show the Princess to her chambers as she knew the last thing the girl probably wanted was to see her, but formal introductions could only be held off for so long. 

So with a confident nod to herself the Queen made her way down the hallway, giving a nod to the guards outside the door who instantly opened the door to the Princess’ chambers, promptly shutting them the moment the Queen was inside.

“I do hope everything is to your liking, a few small changes could be made here and there. But this is now your space, to do as you please. Everywhere else in the Castle you will be expected to be on your best behaviour and uphold your title. You are still a Princess until the big day, and I expect you to continue to act like one.”