He nodded back at me. “Of course. That is my job after all. However, I would prefer that you not work me as hard.” Getting his serious face on, I knew that he was now going to say all my limitations and restrictions. “Today and for the rest of the week you are basically on bed rest. No walking, running, and as little sitting up as possible. We want to help this injury heal as fast and well as we can.” Face falling in disappointment, I tried to think about how keeping these restrictions would help me in the long run, but it was really hard to think on the bright side. Giving my verbal agreement to him, I yawned. Hazel and Sophia jumped into action after seeing that.

“Alright. Everyone out.” Working together, they herded everyone out of the room and then turned back to me. “Go to sleep now. After you wake up, tell us and we will bring you some food.” Nodding sleepily to them I put my head back on my pillow and slipped effortlessly into a dreamless sleep. A crash several hours later jolted me awake and I shot into a sitting position. Wincing at the immediate jolt of pain that went through me I prayed that I did not rip out any more stitches. If Aeson had to redo them again, I feared that he would kill me. When Alex and Tyler burst into the room with their weapons drawn an instant later they made me jump in surprise. Putting a hand to my heart I tried to slow down its rapid beating.

“Is something wrong?” I asked them this once I had calmed down a little. Instead of responding they moved to both sides of the room and began to search every nook and cranny. Brow furrowed in confusion I wondered if they thought that the crash had some from somewhere in my room. “I am pretty sure that the crash was from outside my room. It sounded kind of muffled like there was a wall in between me and the noise.”

Tyler shook his head. “That does not make sense though. The noise on the other side of the door sounded muffled as well. That is why we came in here like madmen.” After a couple more minutes of talking about the mysterious noise, we were no closer to the answer than before. However Alex still assigned Tyler and Liam to stay inside the room with me while he and Casey kept watch from outside the door. Sighing at how overprotective he seemed, I was starting to think that he was even worse than my parents, I laid back down on my bed. Even that slow small movement caused me to gasp a little from the pain. Hearing that noise, quiet though it was, Liam told Alex that I needed Aeson. Frustrated that I could not even go a day without needing Aeson to come in and check on me, I grabbed my pillow from behind my head and screamed into it. Stifled laughter caused me to pull the pillow away from my face so I could glare at Tyler and Liam. However, knowing that they still felt responsible for me getting injured, I was glad that they could laugh about my wound now.

Aeson came into the room carrying his supplies only about a minute after he was called for. “Am I your only patient right now? Because if not then you don't have to come so quickly. You can check on them first or finish up what you are doing.”

Shaking his head at me Aeson replied, “I do have other patients, but you have the worst injury and there are other healers that can deal with their smaller wounds. Besides, I was ordered by Jonas and Valeria to make sure that you got better as soon as possible.” Grumbling under my breath a little I allowed him to look at my injury. A huge wave of relief washed over me when I saw that I had not pulled any stitches out, but the area was more swollen and bruised then it had been yesterday. “What did you do?” He looked me directly in my eyes when he said this. I reluctantly told him about hearing the crash and my body jolting up into a sitting position. Deciding not to make excuses for myself, I waited to hear what he would say next. I was stunned when he turned away from me and looked at Liam and Tyler. “Do you two know what caused that loud noise?”

They both shook their heads. “To be honest, we thought that it had come from Ari’s room, but she said that it had sounded muffled like there was a wall in between her and where the noise came from. We are confused and a bit worried about it.” Nodding his head in understanding, Aeson turned back towards me. “I will let you off easy with the lecture this time since there was an event that happened that was out of our control. Next time though, do not even sit up.” While saying that he pointed his finger at me in warning. Laughter in my eyes, I agreed to his statement. Letting him finish up applying salve to my wound and then bandaging it up, I waved goodbye to him as he walked out the door. He rolled his eyes in return. Settling back onto my pillow I resigned myself to a boring couple of days. Soon something would happen that would change my mind about that fact. Right as I was beginning to attempt to go back to sleep, the crash came again. My door burst open, however Alex and Casey stayed outside when they saw nothing unusual in my room. Happy that I had not sat up from the shock of hearing that noise for the second time, I was now very curious about what was happening. The sound was the same volume as before and seemed to originate from the same spot.

Sitting up slowly with help from Casey, I faced the wall that the crash had seemed to come from. The only problem was, the only thing that was supposed to be beyond that wall was air. Drawing their weapons very carefully, Liam and Tyler creeped up on that spot on the wall while Alex and Casey came by me. Their weapons were drawn and held at the ready. Reaching the wall, Liam and Tyler started running their hands over the bricks in the wall trying to see if any were fake. There was a chance that there was a secret passage behind the wall. My castle had not had any, but I knew of other kingdoms that had a lot of them. A quiet click sounded from where Liam was pressing the bricks and the wall started to slide apart. Concern flashed on all of my guards’ faces. This passage would make protecting me quite a bit harder. Peering into the dark corridor I could not see anything. "Does anyone have a torch?” Everyone shook their heads in answer to my question. Responding to the look Alex gave him, Casey ran out of the room to get one. They were going to investigate the passage and make sure that no one was in there. If someone was in there then they were in trouble.

Casey came back into the room carrying a lit torch. Handing it off to Tyler, he stationed himself by me again. Watching Liam and Tyler enter the secret passage, I wished I could go with them. I considered asking either Alex or Casey to carry me so that we could all go down it together, but I already knew what their answer would be. There was no way that they would put me in more danger than was necessary. Clenching my hands into fists, I waited anxiously for Liam and Tyler to come back. While they were gone and out of my sight I worried about their safety. Even though they were capable of taking care of themselves I still worried about them. Several long minutes passed before Tyler and Liam walked back into the room. Other than being covered in dust, they looked fine. A relieved breath escaped out of me. They had found no one in the passage which was both good and bad. It was good because I was safe for the moment, but it was bad because we had no idea who or what had caused that huge crash. Laying back on my bed I relaxed all my muscles. Hoping that the loud noise did not repeat itself, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep again.

About an hour later I woke up again. Casey and Liam were in my room guarding me this time. Straining my ears to hear what woke me up, I faintly heard the sound of whispering coming from the two of them. Their whispers sounded urgent, but I could not tell what they were saying. I was tempted to ask them what they were whispering about, however, I figured that if I gave them any indication that I was awake then they would go silent or talk about something else. Slowing and quieting my breathing I attempted to hear what they were saying. My eyes snapped shut when the room fell quiet. Muted footsteps came over to my bed and I sensed someone standing above me looking intently at my face. It was obvious that Liam and Casey did not want me to hear what they were saying. That just made me want to know about it even more. After what seemed like several hours, the person standing above me moved away.

Catching myself right before I gave a sigh of relief, I struggled to understand what they were whispering about again. A small grin appeared on my face once I finally understood what they were saying. "She will not understand. We need to keep this from her until we are sure that she is all better. Otherwise she will just freak out and try to run off and get this person that has been wandering in the secret passages throughout this castle.” Casey sounded really worried when he said this, and I wondered what he meant exactly. Why would I run after the person in the secret passages? Especially when I am as injured as I am right now?

"We will have to keep it from her, but who knows how long it will be until she is proclaimed completely healed. This may be harder than we think to keep something this big from her for that long.” My brows furrowed together. The more I listened to their conversation, the more confused and concerned I became. The temptation to reveal that I was awake was growing stronger. Along with me wanting to ask them what they meant by what they were saying. Resisting the urges, I listened even more intently to them. Liam and Casey seemed to be done talking though. They had fallen silent even though I wanted them to keep talking and to get more specific about what they were talking about. Eventually I slipped back into a troubled sleep. When I woke up the next morning I could barely even remember what had happened last night. Fragments of a muffled conversation went through my mind, but nothing distinct stood out about it. Shaking it off as just a weird dream I sat up as slowly as I could. Spotting me doing that, Alex rushed over and assisted me in sitting up the rest of the way. Tyler nodded good morning to me. Slightly out of breath, I nodded back at him. Before I could talk about the weird dream I had last night, I was interrupted by my stomach. The growl it let out caused Casey and Liam to burst into the room with their weapons drawn.

When Alex and Tyler burst out laughing and they saw the amused and embarrassed look on my face, they shook their heads and left the room once more. A couple minutes later Liam came back into the room carrying a tray full of delicious looking food. Just the sight of it made me start to drool and my stomach growled again. Grabbing the food closest to me, I filled up my plate and started to eat. The delectable food soon made me forget about telling Alex and Tyler about my weird dream last night. Only once I had eaten about three plates full of food did I finally lean back on my pillow, stuffed. My guards were all looking at the food with desire in their eyes. "When was the last time you guys ate?” Suspicion was clear in my voice. None of them would look me in the eyes or answer me. Rolling my eyes at them I gestured for them to dig in. They did not even hesitate. They each grabbed a fork and ate straight out of the dishes. The food was soon only a pile of crumbs and each of them now looked content and happy. Casey grabbed the tray and carried it out of the room to take it to the kitchen. My smile disappeared as I realized that I would not be allowed to do anything like that for at least four more days. Not sure how I was going to survive, I threw off my blankets and made as if to get out of bed.

Tyler was onto me however, and he stopped me in my tracks. Folding his arms, he looked down at me with determination. Undaunted, I turned to leave my bed on the other side, but Alex was there. “I know that you want to get out of bed and work out or just walk around, but you heard Aeson. If you can last about four more days then you should be totally healed and you can do whatever you want to do after that.” Folding my arms, I began to whine and pout like a little kid. It was the only thing I could think of doing other than crying that might sway them to my side of the argument. Neither of them budged an inch. Giving in, I refused to cry about something as trivial as this, I leaned back on my pillows and cast my mind about for something to do. After nothing came to mind I grabbed another pillow from behind my head and screamed into it again. That seemed to be the one thing I could do other than sleeping, eating, or going slowly insane. A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. Nodding my permission for Tyler to open the door, I beamed when I saw who was standing there. Darius.

“Hey Ari. Sorry I have not come by before now, but I have been kept busy doing things around the palace like telling everyone what Thacaea is like, and training with everyone who wants to learn my moves. I keep telling them that they will never beat me, however they just won’t believe me.” Darius raised his arms in resignation. The small smile that crept over his face showed how much he enjoyed fighting the easterns. His voice was colored with concern now. “How have you been doing? Is the injury getting any better? How much longer are you going to be stuck in bed?”

My shoulders slumped and tears started to form in my eyes. Nothing undid me more than when he became all concerned about me. “I am okay. Whenever I think I am making progress though, something will happen to set me back again. Hopefully I will only be in bed for four more days, but that is only if I stay at my current progression rate and don’t get set back anymore. Other than that and slowly being driven insane, I am doing pretty well.” Reaching my bed, he sat down next to me and gently pulled me into his arms.

Pressing a kiss to my forehead, he replied. “No matter what happens I will be here for you and make sure that you do not reach the point of complete insanity.” Pulling back a little he gazed into my eyes. “What has been setting you back?”

Unable to look him in the eyes when I answered his question, I gazed down at my lap. “Well you see, I had a nightmare that caused me to thrash around in my sleep which put me back a day or two. Then I shot up into a sitting position earlier today when a crash sounded right outside my room. Thankfully I did not do that when the crash sounded a second time only a couple of minutes later.” With a frown furrowing his brow, Darius looked to my guards for an explanation.

Alex decided to speak up since he was the head of my security team. “We are not quite sure who or what is making the crashing noise. The good news is that we finally found out where it was coming from after it sounded the second time.” Tyler walked over and opened the secret passage following him seeing the look Alex gave him. A press on the right brick had the wall sliding open to reveal the secret passage behind it. Darius’s mouth dropped open in shock at the sight.

“Does everyone’s rooms have this?” All of us shrugged. “Well my guards will certainly want to know about this when I meet them in the kitchen later today for dinner.”

“Why are your guards not with you now Darius?” Casey’s voice came from behind us.

Darius turned to face him. “I convinced them that I would be safe here with Ari since all of you are here. I will tell you though, it took a lot of convincing until they let me leave without them. Also, I had to promise that I would be in the kitchen in two hours.” My guards all nodded in understanding. They understood now and they would have done the same thing if they had let me go alone at all. Tyler shut the secret passage and they all stepped back to give us at least a semblance of privacy. As royals we were used to not having privacy, so them being there did not bother us in the least. Tenderly pulling me onto his lap and leaning me against him, I relaxed into him. This is the way we stayed for the next two hours. Once our two hours were up however, Alex cleared his throat and we reluctantly separated. Placing me back on my bed, Darius left the room and promised me he would be back tomorrow. Alone with my guards again, I leaned back on my pillows. This time however, I was more content and happy since Darius had come to visit me and I knew that I had not been forgotten.

The next three and a half days passed quickly especially since Darius came to see me often. Aeson was called for after my four days were up and he took out my stitches and proclaimed me healed. There was barely even a scar anymore where I had been wounded. Getting out of bed I stretched gingerly and was relieved when there was no pain. Squealing with delight I changed into some comfortable exercise clothes, hugged Aeson, and ran out the door with my guards right on my heels. They were as excited as me to get out and get moving again. Behind me I could practically feel Aeson rolling his eyes at me, but I ignored it and headed to where I thought the training room was. My guards corrected me several times, nonetheless, I eventually found it. Stepping into the training room felt like a dream come true after being cooped up in my room since I arrived here. Looking around there were tons of men and women working out. It was strange to see women other than my mother training and fighting. The first thing I decided to do was run. I had not run in so long that my goal was only to run a mile and not puke.

Setting off on a slow pace I went around the field twice to do a mile. By the end of it I was a little out of breath, but it was definitely easier then I thought it would be. I ran another mile just to prove to myself that I could. Stretching out after I finished my run, I headed over to where the weights were. Selecting twenties I began to lift and build my muscle back up. A little frustrated when I was not able to lift as much as I used to, I picked up a wooden sword afterwards and began swinging it around a little. Knowing that I was not ready to train against another person yet, I slipped into a ready stance and fought against an imaginary opponent. The moves and combos came back to me pretty easily and I soon fell into a rhythm. Near the end of my workout, another wooden sword clattered into mine and almost knocked the sword out of my hands. Whipping around to see who had attacked me I relaxed when I saw Milo.

"Hey Milo. How has it been being back in your own kingdom and room?”

He laughed. “It has felt really good and comfortable. However I am not allowed to do as much here as I was allowed to when we were out on the road.” I nodded. That was exactly how I had been feeling lately. “I see that you are fully recovered now. Is this the first time you have been out of your room since you arrived here?”

I shook my head. “I went down to the kitchen one day, however that was the only time that I have left my room until now. After this I was planning to go and explore your palace. Want to go with me and be like a tour guide?”

A smile in his eyes, Milo's reply was, “I thought you would never ask. Of course I want to be your tour guide around my home! Are you almost done? When can we start?” With all the eagerness in his voice he sounded almost like a little kid. One whose party was about to start and all of his friends were arriving.

Amusement shining in my eyes I answered, “Just let me put away my equipment and then we can start. I have already finished other than a cooldown, but I can just count walking around the palace as my cooldown.” Milo immediately began to help me put things away and called out to my guards that we were leaving. Letting out a sigh after he called for them, I realized that I should have told him earlier that I did not want them to come. I wanted a little bit of freedom for the first time since I had come here. Instead Milo had been a good friend and summoned my guards. Giving my guards a sheepish look when they came over, they all soon knew that I had tried to leave without them. Alex thanked Milo for calling them over even though I had not wanted them along.

Milo shrugged. “I didn't even know that Ari did not want you along, so there is not really anything you should be thanking me for. If I had known that she did not want you along then I probably would have left silently with her.” Spotting the look that Casey threw his way, Milo shrugged again. “Sometimes I feel smothered by my guards too. Why do you think I am not with them right now?” Quickly covering his mouth, his head drooped forward. “Please tell me you are not going to do what I think you are going to do.” Patting his shoulder in a consoling gesture, I waited while Tyler went to go find Milo’s guards. All six of them came back to us very fast. Apparently Milo’s five guards had been scouring the whole palace for him. They had looked here first, but Milo had waited until they had left to search another area before actually entering the training grounds. He had thought he was so clever and I secretly agreed with him. When I ran away from my guards I would have to remember that trick. However I was unsure if it would work now since everyone knew about it now.

A glance to my guards showed me that they knew exactly what I was thinking and their expressions told me that it would not work on them. Glaring at them, I tuned back into Jet. He had been practically scolding Milo for leaving them behind. Very similar to how a parent would scold a small child when they had been naughty. It made a small smile come to my face since now I knew I was not the only one whose guards did that to them. Stepping in between the two of them I asked Jet if it was okay if we started the tour as he continued to rant at Milo. With a small smile on his face, Jet agreed to my terms. Relief filled Milo’s face and he abruptly started walking and talking about his palace. Biting my lip to contain my laughter, I matched his pace and listened to all the facts he recited about his palace. The more he talked, the more animated he sounded. It was apparent that he loved his home. My expression grew a little sorrowful as I thought of my own home.

Noticing that Rik was looking at me, I forced a smile and gave him a little wave. Spotting the barely noticeable shake of his head, I knew that I had not fooled him at all. Gazing back in front of me I forced myself into the present. If I wanted to then I could go home one day. I did not know when they would let me go back, but I knew it would be a while. I was still trying to decide if that was a good thing or not. Although I loved the adventure and all the friends I had made along this trek, I missed my family, my home, my servants and staff, and the innocence that I had left behind. No matter what happened I would never be the same girl again. Since I had left I had killed some people, been in grave danger, lost a friend, and seen people who don’t care about others lives. Taking a deep breath I pushed all those thoughts away and centered my attention back on Milo. He was describing all the people in the portraits that we were passing. One of them caught my gaze and my jaw dropped open. Stopping suddenly I could only stare at the painting.

Tyler stopped too late and ran into me. It sent me stumbling a step or two, nonetheless, my eyes never left the painting. Milo and his guards looked at me with confused looks, whereas my guards all peered at the painting that held me so captivated. Gasps came from each of them when they recognized the person in the portrait. “Do you all know this person?” Leander was the first to ask the question that must have been on all of their minds.

I turned to them in a dazed state. “Is the person in that portrait…” My voice trailed off and I looked to my guards in frustration.

Casey spoke up in a solemn voice. “Einar Surn.”

Shocked, Anders was the first one to respond. “Yes. That is his name. How do you know it though? He was not even really that famous among our people?” There was no way that I would be able to respond to that question. At that moment I was sucked back into the past. The day that he attacked my home. It was a sudden attack that we had never anticipated happening. Even though Tristan was only six, Carter was only five, and I was only three, we all remembered it vividly. Even thirteen years later I still could recall it like it was yesterday. All three of us had been outside playing when shouts had been heard. One of my guards at that time had run into the palace to find out what was happening. I had been too busy playing with my brothers to even pay attention to what was happening. When the guard had run back outside and talked urgently to all three sets of guards that were out there for my brothers and I, the danger had been made very clear.

The guard that had gone inside had seen the first of the intruders enter the palace and they were heading in our direction. Rushing over to us, each one of us was picked up and everyone ran into the cover of the woods that surrounded the palace. Too young to understand what was happening, I started to cry. All the people around me seemed so scared and serious. Clutching me tighter to him, the guard holding me tried to comfort me, but it was not long before all three of us young royals were crying. Scared that our crying would tell the enemy of our location, hands covered our mouths to stifle our cries. That of course just made us cry even louder. Fighting against our guards, we all struggled to get free. Soon we realized that we were not strong enough to break away from our guards so we settled down and waited to be released. The tears stopped flowing down my cheeks and I felt the guard holding me relax and let go of my mouth. Following my example, my brothers calmed down as well.

About an hour passed before we could finally leave our hiding spots and go back to the palace. Squirming out of my guard’s arms, I ran in front of him to meet my parents who were running towards us. When they picked us up, they made sure to hold us in such a way that we could not see the blood or bodies that littered our palace. Blinking my eyes, I forced myself back into the present. Alex and Tyler were switching off telling everyone the story of what Einar Surn had done to my family. Yes none of my family had been injured, however it had scared us all and made my brothers have nightmares about it for weeks afterwards. Everyone was fully invested in listening to the story. Even Casey and Liam because they had never actually heard the entire story before. Just the basics to know what to do if something like that ever happened again. “So how do you two know the entire story? I mean it was way before you two were made guards.” A small giggle slipped out of me when I heard Gareth ask that question.

“Sorry that just slipped out.” Knowing that I might as well answer Gareth’s question since everyone’s eyes were already on me, I continued. “Alex and Tyler have been friends of my family ever since I can remember. Their parents were both trusted members of our staff. In fact, before they both passed away, both of their fathers were members of my dad’s guards. Their mothers were some of my mother’s maids. Of course their dads’ told them all about the attack.”

Anders asked the next question. “How did your fathers’ die? It sounds like they survived the attack.”

Nodding, Tyler responded. “My dad died from a heart attack around 6 years ago. It was very sudden and my mom died of a broken heart soon after.” Pointing to Alex, Tyler replied for him as well. “His dad died from a sickness that struck Kuli only around 4 years ago. Alex’s mom died from that same sickness only a week later.” Sympathy was clear on everyone’s faces other than mine. I knew that they did not want or need sympathy. Clearing my throat to take the attention back onto myself, I saw gratitude on Alex and Tyler’s faces. After sending them both small smiles, I asked what they had thought Einar Surn had died from if they had not even known of the attack. From the way everyone had reacted it was clear they had no idea that Einar had even been in the kingdom of Kuli. Let alone that he had attacked it.

Shrugs came from Milo and his guards. “Like we said earlier. He was not very well known even by us. The only reason his painting is hanging here is because he gave a large amount of money to my grandfather. Before that we had never even seen him before. After he gave us all that money he disappeared never to be seen again. Never have I ever heard of a more mysterious man. No one knows why he gave us all that money or how he acquired it. Well I guess now we know he got it by doing jobs for other kingdoms as a mercenary type person.”

Deciding to change the subject and move on now, I said, “Can we continue the tour? There is no need to keep talking about a dead man.” Understanding my reasons behind saying this, Milo nodded. He then started talking about the more important pictures like those of his ancestors and of famous people who did something remarkable for Raetis. Or just for the east overall. My thoughts did not wander from the present for the rest of the tour. The palace was huge and gorgeous. Intricate patterns lined dozens of pillars, the floors sparkled, the ceilings were super high, and sunlight streamed in through countless windows. By the end of the tour, it had lasted for around two hours, my guards and I headed back to my room. Reaching it I was startled when someone called my name. Alex and Casey moved in front of me and drew their weapons. As they entered the room warily, I was held back by Tyler and Liam even though I was pretty sure that I already knew who was in the room. Moments later I was gestured in by Casey. Spotting who I had thought it was in the room I beamed. “Hey Darius! I did not expect to see you today! Sorry I was not here to greet you when you first arrived, I was taking a tour of the palace finally. Were you waiting long?”

Darius shook his head. “I was only here for a couple of minutes.” Getting up from his position on my bed, he walked over to me. “My intention was to take you on the tour of the palace myself, but seeing as you have already done that…” After thinking for a couple of seconds I knew what we could do.

“You know, the tour I was taken on did not include the grounds…” My arms raised into the air helplessly. Smiling at me, Darius grabbed my hand and pulled me back out of my room. Laughing, I allowed him to lead me to the palace grounds. Once outside however, I sped up a little so I was walking right beside him. Hand in hand we explored the beautiful palace grounds. Flowers bloomed all over leaving their intoxicating scents all over the place. Every color I could have ever imagined was all around me while fountains of pure, cold water bubbled all over. It seemed like the most romantic spot in the world. Resting my head on Darius’s shoulder while we walked leisurely around, I felt so much peace and happiness that I felt like I could stay like this forever. Unfortunately nothing lasts forever. A guard rushed up to us and told us that Valeria and Jonas would like to meet with both of us. Turning around we headed back to the palace with our guards behind us.

Letting the guard in front of us lead us to where Jonas and Valeria were awaiting us, I took my head off Darius’s shoulder and thanked him for showing me the gardens. Kissing me softly on the lips he whispered, “It was my pleasure.” With a faint blush on my cheeks we reached our destination. Standing when we entered, Jonas and Valeria greeted us warmly with hugs. It was kind of weird to have them hug me, but I went with it and hugged them back. Following their lead and sitting down, Darius and I waited for them to speak up first.

Valeria spoke up for both of them. “Thank you so much for coming to see us. We wanted to talk to you two about starting to get to know some of the people in the east outside of Raetis. Even though you have not seen and talked to a lot of the people here in Raetis, Jonas and I were discussing this and we think that it would be more beneficial for everyone if you two visited people outside of this kingdom.”

Understanding filled my voice. “You want us to meet the people who are not quite as happy with us being here. Here in Raetis at least most of the people here accept us and will treat us with respect. However if we want to be able to say that we know that the people of the east are good people and they deserve to be traded with then we have to be able to meet the ones who might not be so nice to us.”

“You also want us to talk to them so that they can get to know us and like us. That would help the transition of our kingdoms trading with the east an easier switch and they can adjust better and faster to it.” Darius had obvious respect in his voice. It was clear that he agreed with the plan wholeheartedly. Knowing that my guards were outside and I would have to explain this all to them, my agreement was a little more reluctant. Seeing the concern on everyone's faces, I realized that they thought that I wouldn't do it. Rushing to reassure them, I told them my real worry. Amusement and relief appeared on Jonas's and Valeria's faces while Darius started to look as worried as me. Convincing guards to let them put you in more danger than is needed is always hard to do. Hopefully they will understand that we need to do this in order to help the people of the east the most. Heading slowly out the door to my guards, they immediately knew that I was going to ask them to let me do something that they would not like.

“Hey guys, how are you all this beautiful day?” By the looks on their faces I knew that I was not distracting any of them. Not even a little. A sigh escaped me. This might be harder than I had initially thought. “Alright, straight to the point then. Valeria and Jonas were talking to us and they had an idea. An idea that I fully support and would love to do. However I am not sure if you will approve or not.” Tyler gestured for me to just say the idea. Taking a deep breath I decided to say it as fast as possible. “They want us to leave Raetis and see some of the people who might not be happy to see us. Jonas and Valeria want us to help them see that we are good people and that trading with our kingdoms will be to everyone’s benefit.” A little breathless from saying that all in one breath, I waited anxiously for their reply. Gathering in a huddle they started discussing what to do. Pacing outside of their little huddle I wondered what their verdict would be. They were so unpredictable sometimes. Though they promised to never help me disobey my parents, they had supported me in working out without my parents’ permission, training without my mom’s permission, and helping out the servants and staff without my parents’ permission.

Other times they smothered me by following my parents’ instructions to the “t”. Like when they force me to dances and won’t let me leave early, when they won’t let me talk to certain royals, and when they won’t let me leave the palace grounds. Spotting Darius across the room watching his guards with the same stressed expression I wondered what would happen if only one of our sets of guards allowed us to go. Would the other be left behind while the other left? That thought left me more worried than before. I would go insane sitting around here while he was out there talking to the locals. As soon as my guards came out of their huddle I clasped my hands behind my back to hear what they would say. “We will allow you to go visit other people out of this palace as long as we are allowed with you, and you practice wielding a sword more. If something happens out there then we do not want you to be the only one that can not fight.” Letting out a squeal of delight at Liam’s words I went around and hugged all of them in turn. Rolling their eyes at me, they hugged me back.

My gaze now looked at Darius. He was smiling as well and clasping hands with all of his guards before pulling them into a hug. Assuming that meant that he was allowed to go as well, I celebrated harder than before. Skipping over to him, I grasped him in a hug as well. His arms went around me to hug me in return. Running back to my guards after giving Darius a goodbye kiss, I went eagerly to my room to pack. Remembering their second requirement in order for me to be able to go, I asked them where the armory was. In order to practice fighting with a sword, I needed to be able to get a real sword so that I was completely prepared. Leading the way, Alex gave me tips all the way to the armory about what qualities are good in a sword, and which ones are unnecessary. Like it needs to be balanced, sharp, and fit my grip. It does not need jewels, fancy designs, or any unneeded weight. Committing all of it to memory I reached the armory and my mouth dropped open by the amount of weapons inside.