princess?!” Adya exclaimed. “What does that make us?”


    used to be a princess…” Gadalik corrected his little sister. “She stopped being a princess when she was seven years old, because her parents sold their kingdom. None of us are royal.”


    everything!  A castle, and servants, and–”


    want to be here!  I want to be in a castle!”


    princess!”


    knew?!”


    I wanna be a princess, too! And I would be one if it weren''t for my dumb grandparents!”


    are dumb! They sold their own kingdom! What could possibly be worth more than a kingdom?!”


    “Your mother may be a miser, but we can afford to live comfortably because of the riches she inherited from her parents. That money will belong to you and Gadalik when we''re gone, too. And after that, it''ll go to your future kids, and their kids, for generations to come. You''re lucky–we’re all lucky–that we have this money to ensure we''ll never go without.”


    TV!”


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    now!”


    prince instead of Dad!”


    hate you!” With that, she ran out the front door.


    tell them who I am, they''ll let me stay at the castle with them!”


    were royal, I don''t think the kingdom will just welcome us into the castle.”


    own castle? Why don''t we have servants? Why can''t a prince be ‘betrothed’ to me?”


    sound like good ideas… But that kind of life requires a lot of responsibility, too. And being betrothed isn''t necessarily a good thing, either, if you and the prince don''t love each other.”


    very hurtful things to them.”


    What? You can''t ground me,” Adya cried. “You''re not my parent! You''re not even my brother!”


    Now,” Glacia snapped.