"Come in!" she heard Anastasia grimace.
Standing before her was her mother, Queen Catarina. And she did not look happy.
"Good morning, mother," Alexandra said icily.
"Alexandra Maria-Louisa," Queen Catarina began, careful to enunciate the 'ah' middle syllable in her daughter's name, "where were you last night, you look a mess."
"None of your business," replied Alexandra.
"You are my daughter!" shouted Queen Catarina. "And as a princess and a member of this family, your safety is paramount."
"I'm a big girl," Alexandra said flippantly. "I can take care of myself."
"Fine," Queen Catarina said. "I've cut off access to your assets and your father's trust funds. You are not going to be spending any of the royal treasury on all your foolishness."
"But that is not why I'm here." Queen Catarina eyed her daughter with haughty disdain. "An instructor at the flight academy here in Hidden Springs has told me that you've enrolled."
Alexandra did not hesitate. "Yes."
"The nerve of you, Alexandra." Queen Catarina's tone remained haughty. "You've got some nerve."
Alexandra shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see the problem."
"You are a woman!" shouted Queen Catarina. "A woman, especially one of good breeding, is not supposed to do what you are doing."
"In what century, mother?" Alexandra was indignant.
"This one!"
"Last time I checked, there were women astronauts in every country."
"But that doesn't mean you should be."
"I will, and I shall. My father said so. I told him when I was a little girl that I wanted to become an astronaut, and you know what he said to me? He said I could do whatever I want."
"Well he was wrong. You are my daughter, and as a princess you cannot do whatever you please. There are certain standards we must uphold."
"My father said it again to me the other night. And I believe him. And because I believe him, I intend to continue my flight studies. I want to make him proud of me."
"Alexandra Maria-Louisa." Queen Catarina repeated herself. "You are the most defiant, disobedient girl I've ever laid eyes on in my entire life. And you've always been this way. There is no way that a young woman, let alone a princess and a member of this family, should do the things that you do. I have done everything in my power to break your willful tomboyish behavior. Your father let you get away with it but I won't! I only had one son. I didn't have two. I shall alert the academy to withdraw your registration as soon as possible."
"You can't do that!"
"Have you forgotten, Alexandra, that I am the queen?" The monarch paused and let out a deep sigh. "And the two of you, you and your sister, are restricted to the grounds. You have a strict curfew of nine pm. No exceptions."
"What was that about?" asked Anastasia as she put up her breakfast plate. "Mother went ballistic upstairs."
"She found out about me being in the army."
"Oh."
"Mother plans to withdraw my enrollment. Not going to happen. Over my dead body. This is what I want."
"Hmm, I see."
"And you haven't heard the worst part. She's given us a nine pm curfew."
"We haven't had that since we were kids!" Anastasia paused for a moment. "Say, where were you last night?"
"I went to see a movie, with AJ."
Anastasia leaned closer. "Oooh. AJ -- please do tell. I want to know EVERYTHING. Who is he?"
"He's a fellow cadet at the academy. His dad's a pro athlete, his mom's some kind of adventurer or something."
"Wow. You like him?"
Alexandra paused for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I kinda do."
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