The Isle (Chronicles of the Irish Princess Book 1)

I woke up the next morning tangled with Malakai. Our legs intertwined and his arms around me, my face buried in his chest. I was so warm and comfortable I didn’t want to move. There was a knock at the door. I tried to ignore it. Someone from the palace was on the other side. I didn’t wish to be bothered.

“Ma’am, ma'am, we must be going to get you ready. Your coronation. Your father is insisting we get you ready.” The maid called from the other side.

Kai nuzzled me. “Go, before they send for your father to come get you up.”

“See you soon?”

“Yes my love. I’ll be there eventually.” He kissed my head. “Go on.”

Unwillingly I got up out of the warm cozy bed and grabbed my robe. I threw it on over my nightgown and walked to the door. I opened it to see the maid ready to knock again. Huck was at her side smiling up at me.

“Lead the way.” I said closing the door softly behind me.

“Yes ma’am.” She bowed and then lead us through the castle.

When we got to the spa, at least that is what it looked like, a lady came up to me and offered me tea. I smiled and took it following the staff to my chair. The began with a pedicure and brushing out my long hair. Huck decided to sit at the door and growl at anyone he didn’t like.

Not long after they started Sarah and Aunt Emilia joined me. Both of them smiled at me and sipped from their tea. For a while we didn’t speak, then I got curious.

“Aunt Em, what will this be like?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but I think it will be like most other coronations that you’ve seen in movies. Just remember when the bishop asks you if you will, respond with an ‘I will’ and not a yes.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Not really, Sarah, what about you?”

“No, Luca was up all night.”

“Doing what,” my aunt and I asked.

“Looking through the grim war. He’s trying to learn more about Aideen and the powers of her spirit. He thinks it could be the problem.”

“If he’s right we could be in more trouble than I thought,” Aunt Em replied.

We quieted when the staff came back to start on us. Once my toes and fingers were done I was whisked away but a guy named Alex.

“So what style are we going for today?” He said in the most Irish accent I knew.

“Umm… something that can hold my crown, show my curls and not be in my face.”

“Great… lets get started. I see you have let me start from scratch. Thank you highness. So what’s it like in America? Do they all talk like you?”

“No, I have a slightly southern Midwest accent. We lived in the state of Oklahoma. Lots of fields and cows and such.”

“So it’s like Ireland but a different accent.”

“I guess. I never got to spend a lot of time on the main island. They rushed us around. Where are you from?”

“Cork.”

“Where is that?”

“Southwest side. I have a brother and two sisters also. But I haven’t talked to them since I moved here.”

“Why did you move?”

“My family is Catholic. I left with my boyfriend to find a safe place.”

“How’d you end up here on the isle?”

“He’s a shapeshifter. So we came to the isle. He said it would be a place for me to use my skills and have a place to be me.”

I smiled. “He was right.”

Alex and I chatted through most of my appointment. When he left to get the curling iron I heard Luca in my head.

Sounds like your having fun. I was listening a little bit. Kai says hurry up.

Haha. Yeah this is a little fun. More the conversing than the process but I’m gonna look like a real princess. You can tell him to wait it takes time to look this good.

Haha. Alright. See ya soon sis.

I thought at the fact that we'd have to see father again, we needed to figure out what was wrong with him. If he was sick and how to fix it.

“Right where were we Princess,” Alex came back and noticed a sight change in my mood. “What’s wrong Leah?”

“I’m not sure that me being a princess will be a good thing Alex. I don’t always like to follow the leadership of my father. There’s a lot of mixed feelings there.”

“If you don’t mind my asking miss, is everything alright with the king? When I saw him last he looked more stressed than usual and he was loosing hair. A lot of it. No one notices now because I was asked to make him a mixture to help counter it and a wig.”

I looked at him surprised. “You did?”

Alex nodded. “I am worried he maybe ill. Gravely so ma’am.”

“Alex, how much attention did you pay in biology?”

“Enough that I had the dresser who oversees him snip this for you when he was here a little bit ago getting ready. If anyone can help him it’s you Princess.”Alex handed me a lock of my father’s hair.

I took it and nodded my thanks. “Could we maybe take a small break. I could use a bathroom minute.”

He nodded without hesitation. I ran over to Aunt Em and pulled her away from the makeup stylist.

“Leah, what is it?”

“Come with me and don’t say a word.”

Once we were in the bathroom I checked for other people before locking the door.

“This is father’s hair. Can we check to see if he’s sick using it?”

“How resourceful of you. Your stylist must care about his well being. Let’s hope he can be on our side if things come to that.”

We joined hands and Aunt Em chanted. When I joined her the power of the spell increased and science and magic combined. After a few more lines of chanting there was a burst of magic then nothing. I looked up at Aunt Em.

“Well?”

“He has Leukemia it’s attacking his bones, the root of his magic source. That’s why this is all happening.”

“How do we fix it?”

“I don’t know yet. Finish today and then we will address this.”

Alex had turned me around so I couldn’t see what he or the makeup stylist were doing to me. I told her I like things simple I was hoping that she wouldn’t go too overboard and cake makeup all over me. We talked a bit more through the rest of my time there and I learned a lot about shapeshifters. The stylist doing my face was one also. I was able to recognize her energy apart from the others. There were still a few I couldn’t figure out but having one more lifted my spirits enough.

“Prince Malakai is going to faint when he sees you Princess.” Alex smiled. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

He spun me around to reveal perfect curls and a natural look to my makeup. It was absolutely perfect and just how I imagined it.

“Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! This looks wonderful.”

“One final touch,” Aunt Em said coming over. “Well two actually. Ingrid, help the princess into her gown.”

Once again I was whisked away behind a door. In the room there was a beautiful emerald green satin ball gown with off the shoulder cap sleeves and beading on the top. I quickly slipped into it and Ingrid tied it all up. When I emerged into the room my Aunt looked like she could cry and Sarah was in shock.

“You look beautiful Princess,” Alex smiled at me.

“Thank you. Well… am I ready Aunt Em?”

“Almost. Close your eyes and bend down.”

When I did I felt her slip something into my hair. It must have been a tiara.

“Wow…. Now that is my beautiful daughter.” I heard my father in the doorway. “Are you ready?”

“Yes father.”

“Come with me.”

He extended his hand and I took it. Some part of me wanted to believe that he was just sick. Standing before me was the man I knew growing up. The one who would have cried at my first prom and who would have been yelling next year at graduation. Knowing he was sick, it made me wonder how much time we had left.

I began to tear up and he noticed. “Why do you cry my child?”

“I’m sorry for the way I acted. I was just so angry and upset. I thought all those years you were dead. That I was normal. I’m sorry papa.”

“My sweet child. There is much we have to discuss. I understood that you were angry. I knew you would come to me when you were ready. I am sorry for not being there and lying to you for so long. But I did it to keep you safe. But don’t you ever think I missed a birthday or a Christmas my dear. Those extra presents you always found without any names, those were from me. I had your aunt bring them to you each year.” He smiled and stopped us as we walked to the hall. “I have one last gift for you. One that no matter what happens you will always have.”

He stepped behind me and placed a necklace around my neck. The pendant hanging from it was that of an old Irish crest. “Your family crest. May you never forget where you belong again.”

I hugged him. “Thank you father.”

He smiled and we kept walking. He talked a bit about how things would go and then he left me at the doors. As King he couldn’t walk me in but assured me that Luca wasn’t far behind.