‘Just a little bit of strength and I will be there.’ Valarie pulled herself up by placing her hand on the rocky surface. She was almost inside her room. ‘I told mother to not have the window so high, only if she would listen to me for once in her life.’ She mumbled. 

‘Princess Valerie! Princess!’ The chief maiden shouted to look for the youngest of the Lunar Kingdom. 

‘In here, Daisy. Ow!’ Valerie raised her hand to wave it to her maiden but in the process almost lost her balance. 

Eye ready to pop out, Daisy ran to follow the voice of her master to the window and asked in a panic, ‘Why are you hanging by the window?!’

Valerie smiled sheepishly. ‘It was my last day today, thought I should enjoy the freedom.’

Daisy’s face fell. Her being almost the same age as the princess, she understood the lure of freedom for the young soul. ‘You’re going to be a queen. No one dares to take away your freedom.’ Empty words, both the females thought.

‘Are you going to pull me up or not?’ 

‘Oh, yes.’ 

Valarie, safe and sound inside her bedroom sat sipping the night calmness potion made especially by Daisy. ‘How does it feel?’ She asked.

‘The night is a little cold but I will get by, I feel.’

An eye roll and Valerie clarified. ‘I meant how does it feel to be the chef maiden?’

‘Oh, that.’ Daisy did a little thinking before answering. She didn’t want to come across as someone unintelligent. ‘Well, I like being around you and doing your work and everything.’ She hesitated but since it was the princess who was asking and Daisy knew she wouldn’t tell anyone else, she shared her real feelings. ‘It is exhausting. Most of the time I go by the flow of the tide but sometimes I want to float or surf, as the humans say. If I were to be a simple maiden it still would’ve been fine but being the chief one is a tad bit difficult.’ 

‘Do I make it difficult for you?’ Valarie asked knowing well she did.

Again hesitation but Daisy nodded pressing her lips together to the point they were pouting on their own. ‘Difficult it is when you run away like you did today.’

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

‘I told you I wanted to enjoy the last day of my freedom.’

‘But your freedom comes at our cost. Queen mother would’ve had me sent to earth if I wasn’t able to find you.’

This was the time Valarie proposed something to Daisy. ‘What if I solve your worry forever?’ 

Daisy raised her brow slowly and she stared at Valarie with a completely clueless expression. ‘Princess, tomorrow is your crowning ceremony! You’re going to be made the next Moon Goddess. Nothing can be ruined.’

‘Is that a challenge Daisy?’ 

Aghast, Daisy stood up from the rock crafted to look like a chair and spoke in clear words, ‘I will not let you do anything stupid!’

‘That is if you would remember this conversation.’ With a wave of a hand in front of Daisy’s eyes, she fell unconscious on the floor. 

Next Day

Fireflies lit the Lunar Palace. If this happened on earth, Genz would’ve called it organic lighting. All kinds of flowers were made to bloom from the entrance to the main hall where the ceremony was supposed to take place. The butterflies flapped their wings to disperse not only colors in the air but sweet fragrance, no wonder people were allured wherever they went. Since everyone was invited, it looked like a conference of species. Dwarfs, Fairies, Unicorns, and even the witches who lived in the Lunar kingdom were invited. But the main attraction remained the celestial gods. Wind, fire, sky, and cloud, all made sure to attend, except for the sun god, who seemed to be at odds with the Lunar Kingdom the past few days. 

The Queen mother, standing on her balcony, had her eyes on every movement in the hall. She had to make sure the ceremony goes by smoothly today. 

‘Queen mother, it is time.’ A maiden announced. 

The former moon goddess exhaled and relaxed her creased forehead. The moment had arrived, she would finally be able to pass on the crown and title of the moon goddess to her daughter. ‘Ask Valarie to be there down soon.’ 

‘Yes, Queen mother.’ The maiden bowed and slowly walked out of the room. 

‘The time has arrived fellow Lunars! Today we will get our new goddess and our kingdom will flourish only more and more.’ A loud cheer erupted from everyone as the chief priest began the ceremony with his words. Excitement, happiness, thrill, and fear all rushed through the crowd. The last one was to be seen in the eyes of only one being, the one for whom everything was organized today. 

Valarie gulped as she saw how the beings of her kingdom reacted. Was what she doing right? A pang of guilt hit her heart. She was going to crush the hopes of many to gain something for herself. The moment of doubt persisted for about only a minute for when her eyes landed on her mother she knew there was no other way. She walked quickly through the crowd and past the front gate. The attendees were still coming so it was easy for her to mix with them and cross the entrance. 

She ran the moment she’d walked a little away from the palace. For one last time she looked behind at the breathtaking view of the fireflies making the palaces shine and muttered, ‘Sorry mother, but you’ve left me with no choice.’ 

Valarie took out the object she’d stolen from her mother’s treasure and mumbled to spell. A blue light was all she remembers and then everything was devoid of color.