Olivia POV

"Olivia!" My best friend Jessica hugs me tightly as she greets me at the front door of her house.

"Hey," I say, struggling a bit from how tightly she's hugging me.

"Oh, sorry! It's just- I missed you!" She leads me inside and I sit down on her sofa.

"I missed you too," I smile widely.

"I can't believe you're so royal now, princess Olivia," she jokes.

She examines my outfit- a floor length dress which is quite slim, not like my usual puffier dresses. Yet, of course, it still looks overly prim and proper.

"Ugh, don't remind me," I laugh, "I'm practically already twenty-one the way Uncle Felix trains Luke and I."

Jessica, and basically everyone else in the kingdom knew the importance of our twenty-first birthday.

"Hope you're not too important for me now," she laughs, but I can tell part of her means it.

"Of course not. I know it's been a while, but you're still my best friend. Even when I wasn't a princess princess," I smile.

"I know," she smiles back.

I hadn't seen my best friend in nearly five months now, which is a long time, at least for us. I had just been so busy I had no free time anymore.

It was currently Tuesday, and on Friday of this week was the day I had been dreading. The meeting with the Daltons. Uncle Felix had explained that, in order to keep the rest of the world from turning into a complete "wasteland", they held meetings every year or two- whenever they saw fit.

There are actually two walls. One surrounding both kingdoms in what can't really be described as a shape. This cuts off the outside world from where the war was really bad. Then there's a wall that cuts right down the middle to separate our two kingdoms. Our kingdoms are much, much bigger than it would be expected. They go on for miles and miles but the villages are still all close together for practicality reasons.

Years ago, we started getting reports of really bad smells coming from outside the main wall, that surrounds both of us. It was suspected that things were rotting and the land had to be cleaned up. It's still not happened exactly- Uncle Felix said something about financial issues. He's hoping to make some progress which I think is why he's bringing us along.

Me, of course, as I am the oldest it is necessary that I learn how to deal with these situations so he decide that once I was eighteen I could come. This is the first meeting since I turned eighteen, so I should've saw it coming.

Also, two other family members from all of us "children" must be there with me to represent us. Not that there's a shortage of Maxwells. I explain to Jessica everything- including Logan Dalton.

"That's quite a situation you've got yourself into, princess," she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Tell me about it," I groan, "what should I do?"

"I'm not exactly the best person to ask about this you know," she sighs.

"Yes you are! You've been dating Zack for over four years now!" I say.

Zack knew Jess and I when we all went to the local school. There are about six or seven in total I think, since it's such a huge area.

We went to school when my family and I still lived undercover in the village. Well, not really undercover. Everyone still knew who we were but our enemies didn't. The war was just so bad we could stay in the castle. It's still really bad, but we don't have a choice now our parents are gone and we're getting older.

"Yes, but he's not a member of my family's rival family," she shrugs.

"Well, when you put it that way," I sigh.

"Just do what you think. Maybe talk to him about it?" Jessica suggests.

"Seriously? I'm too embarrassed to even look at him! I made a complete idiot of myself," I put my hands on my forehead.

"Maybe, but you can't lead him on like that," she raises her eyebrows.

"I didn't! I told him we can't be together. Sort of."

"You need to say it straight out. Tell him at that meeting thing. Just make it look like it's for professional purposes," she winks and I laugh.

We continue to talk until it gets dark outside and we hear a knock on the door. Jessica goes to answer it.

"Olivia? It's your brother!" She calls and I roll my eyes, standing up.

"Thank you, Jess, see you soon," I give her a quick hug as Luke stands there impatiently.

"Definitely," she waves us goodbye.

"Come on," Luke drags me back up the hill, surrounded by a few of our guards.

The next few days seemed to drag on, almost as if the world wanted me to suffer. I wake up on Friday to a bright light shining through the gap in my curtains. I groan and put my head under my pillow.

Not today, Satan.

I hear a knock on my door and am ushered out of bed by my beauty committee.

"I don't know! Does it matter?" I ask the woman who is trying to get me to decide on what kind of dress to wear. She insists that "first impressions matter".

"Fine," I sigh, trying not to be rude.

I, of course, don't go for any of the puffier dresses. Instead I go for a slimmer, flowing, burgundy dress that ends at my feet and flows slightly behind me.

Easy to walk in, and I can actually breathe in it!

I do a little twirl in the mirror and decide I am satisfied with my look. I am given a matching pair of heels and some subtle jewellery. My hair is curled and natural makeup is beat onto my face.

Hey, not looking terrible.

I sigh, who am I even trying to look good for?

No, I'm not trying to look good for anyone. I'm trying to look better than my enemies.  I definitely haven't kissed one or anything. Not as long as my family are concerned. No, not at all.

This is going to be a disaster.

I hear a knock on my door.

"You coming?" Luke opens the door.

"Do I have to?" I whine.

He laughs and pulls me by my arm out the room, "come on, Your Highness."

I take my brother's arm and squeeze it tightly, something I do when I'm nervous which has turned into a habit. Luke gives me a supportive smile, "you'll be fine."

I can't help my heart pounding in my chest, "I hope so."

Theo has already began his way to what we call the "centre building".

It lies directly in the middle of the wall dividing the kingdoms, hence it's name. It's a place where, without stepping into each other's territory, our families can have civilised discussions when needs be.

We walk in a nervous silence- I can sense he's anxious too. I cling to his arm for I think I'd faint if I didn't. It really has hit me what is about to happen. I almost want to turn around and run back inside the castle. My body doesn't let me, I can't do anything but walk forward.

We stop right outside the main doors.

"Luke, what if something bad happens?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know anything? What if it's our fault?" I worry.

"Olivia, we'll worry about that when it actually happens. If you really need me to I'll do the talking for you, but to be honest I don't think they'll be asking us many questions," he still looks worried, and so am I, "we're just here so Uncle Felix can show off. We look stronger in large numbers."

We stand in silence looking at the building for a bit longer. Worry when it happens. Worry when it happens.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I ask my brother.

"What? Of course it is!"

I sigh, "yeah, I know."

It was worth a try, I guess.

"Come on. We can do it," Luke finally leads us into the fairly large building. We are lead along the corridors by two guards.

"Luke, Luke I can't do this," my breathing begins to quicken.

"We can't turn back now, Liv," he tries to convince me otherwise, but I can tell he feels the same way.

"Through these doors, Your Highnesses."

I hold my breath and prepare for the worst.