@asundrop continued from here
Adora shifted beneath the woman’s gaze. By now she’d perfected the art of fooling foreign rulers. Most adults didn’t want to know her anyway, content to see her as the helpless, fragile little girl she pretended to be. Fragile she certainly was- a little girl whose blood did not clot faced a lot more danger than a typical one- but she was far from helpless. She’d learned to use their pity to her advantage, mainly for avoiding suspicion and getting her own way. Betrothals were hard to plan when no one was sure if she’d grow up, even harder when she did her best to aggravate the little princes she was forced to meet. So to have an adult besides her parents ask about her dreams? It was something new.
“I want to live,” the words were soft, amber colored eyes briefly meeting Rapunzel’s, then lowering again. “I want to know things, and do things, like other children. And I don’t want to be betrothed either. Boys are mean!” Nevermind the fact that it was she who usually began things. Truthfully Adora didn’t really understand what being betrothed meant, only that it was something to be avoided at all costs. There was a lot that was out of her control, her family ensured she was the most protected of princesses, this was something she could do something about, unlike her constant ailments. “I wanna help people, like Papa does.”
