Born to Rule

one had the nerve to try it. It consisted of squished snails mixed with salt and applied directly to the skin. They were also given instruction in the proper placement of beauty marks.
    “Not on the end of your nose, Princess Kristen!” the duchess roared. The princess simply smiled at her sweetly and said, “Look, Duchess, no hands!” She crossed her eyes and tried to take the beauty mark off with the tip of her tongue. The Duchess of Bagglesnort was not amused.
    “Look!” said Princess Kinna, pointing to the window. “It’s stopped raining and it’s summer again!”
    The golden leaves of autumn had once more turned the lush green of deep summer. Sunlight streamed into the room, and two butterflies with gold wings sported in spiraling flights outside a window. Carpets of wildflowers spread their gay colors across the grass.
    “Swimming!” someone cried out.
    The good news for Alicia was that makeup was over. The bad news was that it was time for the swim test. Some choice she had, Alicia thought—the Duchess of Bagglesnort or drowning!
    As they headed back from the Salon de Beauté, which Kristen had already renamed the Snorty’s Snotty Saloon, Alicia said, “I can’t bear that woman!”
    “Who, Snorty?” Kristen replied.
    “ Acht , Snorty!” Gundersnap giggled. “I like that!”
    Alicia stopped on the landing and said, “I think the duchess is so mean.”
    “Me too,” said Kristen. “I don’t care if I am a flame child, or whatever she called me.”
    Alicia looked at her turretmates. “You both look vonderful!” she cried gleefully.
    “Vonderful! Vonderful!” the three princesses yelled as they ran down the steps and across a small balcony to the winding staircase that led to their rooms.

Chapter 10
    TESTING ONE, TWO, THREE—GLUB!

    Inside the main salon of the South Turret, they found Lady Merry in a state of excitement.
    “My water wings!” exclaimed Lady Merry as Gilly and the other maids entered with baskets of beach towels, bathing garments, and bathing tiaras.
    “You shall all be taking your swim tests now. These are your bathing tunics,” Gilly said to the princesses. Each of the maids held up an official Camp Princess bathing costume. They were the oddest-looking garments the three princesses had ever seen. Made from cloth of gold, they were neither gown nor trousers.
    “Why in the name of Neptune do we have to wear bathing tiaras?” Kristen asked.
    “Camp rule,” Gilly replied crisply. “Rule eighteen, section six, article two, under Sports and Athletics, says, ‘All princesses must wear the regulation bathing tiaras. These are conveniently attached to a cap to protect the hair and they do have some flotation built in as well.’”
    Then Gilly added, “One must always appear royal, wet or dry. No exceptions—except with Frankie, the riding counselor. You’ll meet her next session. She’s out on a pony trek with some of the Third Years.”
    “Swimming should be an exception too. How are we supposed to swim with this contraption on our heads?” Kristen was absolutely fuming.
    “Now, now, Kristen.” Lady Merry was shaking a finger at Kristen, who was truly a bright-red flame child at the moment. “Let’s not make a royal stink out of this. Just be the royal good sport that I know you are and show us your mettle, dear. I hear that you are perfection itself in the water—fast and powerful.”
    “You can bet your water wings on that, Lady Merry!” Kristen said as she slammed the bathing tiara on her head and began to strip down right in the salon to put on her tunic. The maids turned white. Lady Merry rose out of her reinforced rocker in a near fit. Alicia and Gundersnap feared she might be having a stroke or heart attack!
    “Kristen, Kristen! Not here in our salon. Please, child, into your chamber to change!”
    “Oh, all right.” Kristen stomped off to her chamber with her dress half on and half off.
     
    “Come! Come quickly, Princesses,” Lady Merry said when the three girls emerged from their chambers dressed for their swim tests. “We must be off.”
    To “be off” was never a simple matter with a person of the amplitude of Lady Merry. A whiskered gentleman arrived with several young assistants. With their help, the generously proportioned lady climbed into an ornate sedan chair with curtains and a fringed canopy on top to provide shade.
    “Now I’m just going to slip into something more comfortable,” Lady Merry said as she lowered the