Born to Rule

several portraits of her family, a sister and two brothers, all of them with fiery red hair and freckles.
    A luxurious animal fur had replaced the plush velvet quilt on her bed. When Kristen noticed Gundersnap looking at it, she said, “I’m allergic to velvet and really prefer to sleep under the skin of animals I have brought down myself.”
    “What’s that one?” Alicia asked, nodding at the bed fur.
    “A bear.”
    “A bear!”
    “Yes, he ate my favorite pony.”
    Gundersnap gasped. “How horrible.”
    “Terrible!” Kristen said. Her face paled, and her freckles seemed to stand out more. But then she leaped up and slapped the fur. “But he got his!” She gave her tiara a final shove. “Come on, Princesses, let’s go!” she whooped, and sailed out of the chamber. Alicia and Gundersnap followed happily, their wide skirts rustling. The maids were left aghast and shaking their heads.
    “We have our work cut out for us with that one,” Annie said.
    “I think perhaps with all of them,” Gilly replied.
    “You do?” said Mary.
    “Yes, I do,” Gilly said mysteriously. “But don’t get me wrong. I think they are good princesses.”

Chapter 4
    THE GRAND BANQUET ROYALE

    The entire Great Hall was decked out in splendor for the grand Banquet Royale. Candles blazed on tables set with cloths woven with threads of gold and silver. The princesses sparkled like gems in a jewelry box. Their gowns had been embroidered with pounds of pearls and touches of diamonds here and there. Tiaras gleamed as the princesses made their way to the table where their team banners hung.
    “It’s beautiful!” Princess Alicia exclaimed.
    Princess Kristen was squinting and looked slightly annoyed.
    “You can hardly see through the glare of the jewels. I should have worn my sun goggles. There are enough diamonds around here to skate on.”
    “Don’t tell me you don’t like jewels!” Alicia said.
    “It’s not that I don’t like them,” Kristen said. “But it’s like eating too much candy. Instead of a tummy ache, I am getting an eye ache.”
    “But what about the ones you’re wearing yourself?” asked the tiny Princess Myrella, who sparkled with emeralds. Myrella sat across from Alicia, Gundersnap, and Kristen.
    “Sapphires remind me of the blue waters of the Realm of Rolm,” Kristen said.
    Troubadours strolled through the hall, stopping to sing at each table.
    “Oh, I hope they sing about Merlin,” Alicia said.
    “Merlin?” asked Gundersnap.
    “Merlin the magician, the one who protected King Arthur when he was a boy. You haven’t heard of him?” Alicia asked.
    “ Nocht ,” replied Gundersnap. “Magic is not practical, so I would not have heard of him.”
    “But Merlin could be very practical. Merlin could change Arthur into a fish or bird to teach him lessons for becoming a true king.”
    “Hmmph,” said the Princess of Slobodkonia. “Fish are to be fried. Did this Merlin give instruction in war craft?”
    “War craft?” Alicia looked confused. She had never thought of war as a craft.
    A troubadour with a lyre strolled up to their table and began an eerie, mournful song. Alicia felt a chill run along her spine. The song was not about Merlin or Arthur. It was about a ghost.
“A spirit floats between the shadows
From ancient times so long ago.
What does she seek? What has she lost?
This weeping ghost, this phantom crossed.”
    Could the stories about the ghost be true? Alicia wondered. She’d felt foolish thinking a ghost had caused the scream while they were getting dressed earlier. Still, why did the troubadour come right to the end of the table where the princesses of the South Turret sat? Alicia glanced at Kristen and Gundersnap, but they seemed unconcerned.
    When the troubadour had finished his song, Princess Parisiana from the Majestic Realm of Chantillip said, “Now, kind sir, enough about our ghost princess. Have you a song about a cute prince, perhaps one from Camp Burning Shield?”
    All the princesses laughed heartily. But a grand lady at the head of their table, the Duchess of Bagglesnort, who was absolutely encrusted with jewels, gave a disapproving sniff. And in a sharp voice she said, “Such laughing is coarse! Our conversation must be as fine and as sparkling as our jewels.”
    Silence immediately fell like a thick fog on the table. Alicia stole a glance at the woman and felt a twinge of dislike. She supposed that this duchess was considered beautiful, but to Alicia her face