Chapter Six

 

 

 

Shane

 

When I wake up, it takes me a minute to remember where I am. It’s only the second night that I’ve lived in the palace, and it’s easy to forget that I’m in this unfamiliar place, so far away from my home.

I stare through the darkness at the ceiling for a few minutes, allowing myself a little time to fully wake up, then it suddenly hits me. I’m supposed to go with Laura on another midnight hike through the forest to meet Alicia.

“Laura? Is it time to go yet?” I ask, yawning and stretching my arms.

No response.

“Oh, come on. You have got to be kidding me. Laura?” I say again.

Still no answer.

After I flip on the light, I search Laura’s room for a few minutes, but there’s no sign of her or even a note explaining her absence

I bet that she’s decided to go meet with Alicia on her own, although she surely knows that leaving me behind will be troublesome for the both of us, and that’s just if I manage to find her before someone else does.

Before I leave her room to search elsewhere in the palace, I check the time—two-thirty-seven a.m., which means her meeting with Alicia has already occurred and she’s either already back home or on her way. At least I won’t have to walk that far. First, I’ll check Eight’s room, as he likely won’t turn me in for losing track of Laura. He knows her much better than I do, so hopefully he’ll understand my little predicament. If not, I can always do my best to make up an excuse.

His room is nearby, and when I knock, it takes a few minutes for him to answer. A half-asleep Eight greets me at the door, not looking very thrilled that I’ve woken him up.

“Is this payback for me throwing socks at you? Because if so, I’m truly sorry and will never do it again if this is going to be a regular occurrence,” Eight says, rubbing his eyes.

“Actually, I was just looking for your sister, but it’s pretty apparent that she’s not here, so I’m just gonna go,” I say and attempt to hurry away.

Eight grabs the back of my shirt. “Not so fast. Where is Laura?”

“Um, I am not entirely sure.”

“You aren’t sure? How exactly do you lose a person?”

“Dude, she’s your sister. Have you ever tried to keep track of her?”

“Good point. Well, if she’s not in any sort of peril, I’m going back to bed.”

“Nah, she’s fine. I’ve got this all under control,” I say confidently.

Eight nods then shuts the door.

I actually do not have this under control in the slightest. If Laura’s not in Eight’s room, she could be with the Emperor, but knocking on his door at this time of night could cost me my head. Instead, I decide to check outside the palace gates in the hopes that Laura will be returning from her mission relatively quickly and unharmed. Instead of taking her route through the trees, I decide to walk out of the palace’s front door. Unlike the Princess, I’m technically allowed to go wherever I want, whenever I want, without any trouble.

Unfortunately, I am not that lucky tonight. Fernando, a rebel stationed as a palace guard, is watching the gate.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I hate Fernando. If he was on fire and I had a glass of water, I’d drink it. Hell, I’d give it to a squirrel, so long as Fernando didn’t get hold of it. I don’t know why the rebellion hired the dipshit, and I don’t care. I hate him.

Fernando is a cowardly ginger who would betray anyone to save his own neck. I don’t understand why the rebels trust him, but they’re certainly not going to listen to my advice about the matter. One day, he’s gonna betray them, and I’m gonna laugh and say I told you so.

Of course, I myself am not a fan of the rebels with whom I am forced to serve, but one, I make that fact very clear every time I am in their presence, and two, I’d never rat them out for the sake of my sister. They trust me because they know full well that I’d never do anything that could put her in jeopardy.

“Where do you think you’re going, Shane?” Fernando says, approaching me. His pale, freckly arms are folded, and his usual condescending smirk is present.

“Out,” I say. I’m definitely not going to tell him that I lost Laura.

“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the princess?”

“I get breaks, you know.”

“Where are you going?”

“Wherever I want to go. I don’t have time for this, Fernandork.” I sigh impatiently and push past him.

He puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me, and internally I count to ten. Can I get fired for punching another guard member?

“If you’re just going wherever you want, why are you in a hurry?”

“I’m giving you three seconds to get out of my way or I will move you myself. Three.”

“Shane, you honestly do need to tell me where you’re going.”

“Two.”

“I’m serious.”

“One,” I say, drawing my fist back and punching Fernando square in the eye.

Was it necessary? Probably not. Did I enjoy it? Hell yes.

After I hit him, Fernando leaves me alone. He opens the palace gates without any more fuss, and I resume my search for the missing princess.

I walk along the palace wall for a few minutes, hoping to find her attempting to sneak back by climbing a tree.

At first, it appears that my search is futile, but after I walk for a few minutes, I hear a faint crying sound coming from beneath a group of trees standing close to the wall. I venture closer to the noise and find a figure sitting on the ground, hugging knees to chest and a face hidden in folded arms. From the long, silky black hair, pale skin and dark clothes, I immediately determine that it’s Laura.

“Princess? Is that you?” I whisper, hoping not to startle her as I approach her.

Immediately, she raises her head, wiping tears from eyes, and furrows her eyebrows at the sight of me. “Don’t call me that,” she sighs, laying her head back down atop her knees.

I take a seat next to her. “Okay, Princess. Are you all right?”

“Not particularly,” she says. “You’re not seeing this. I’m not crying. Again.”

“Seeing what?” I say, smiling softly.

“Thanks. You know, you’ve been around the past two nights, and the past two nights mark the first time I’ve cried in three years. I think you’re bad luck.”

“On the contrary, I’m good luck. Storing three years’ worth of tears in you certainly can’t be good. You were probably about to explode. I actually saved your life.”

She laughs. “You know, I really hate the fact that you’re my bodyguard, but I wouldn’t mind at all if you were just my friend.”

“I can do that. In fact, I won’t guard you at all. I’ll just follow you around and provide companionship. But we’ll have to pretend that I’m still your bodyguard so that I don’t get beheaded.”

“I guess I can live with that.” She smiles.

It’s silent for a few minutes, and I can tell that she’s still really hurting about something, probably something Alicia caused. My dislike for the Emperor’s elder daughter grows more with each passing day. Fernando is annoying, but Alicia is evil.

“Can I ask what’s wrong?”

“I just don’t know what to believe. I found out that Alicia’s with the rebellion. I don’t know why it surprises me. But she claims that they’re only trying to put a stop to the war.”

“That isn’t true,” I say without thinking.

“How would you know?” she asks, suspicion plain in her eyes.

Good going, Shane. I’ve gone and almost blown my cover and it’s only day two. Sooner or later I’m going to get myself killed. This is such a drag.

“I’ve seen a rebel attack before, once when I was a kid,” I say, biting the inside of my lip. It’s technically true. I’ve seen the kind of damage that the rebels can do, and none of it seems to be for anything helpful.

“Oh, Shane. I’m sorry. Did they attack your town?”

“Yeah. It’s how my mother was killed,” I say. This is technically not a lie either. My mom did die in a rebel attack. She was just doing the attacking. “So much blood was spilled that it stained the streets for weeks.”

Memories of the many rebel attacks that I have witnessed come flooding back, sending chills down my spine. They killed men, women and children, the young and the elderly—anyone who dared oppose their cause.

And all for what? They clearly want the throne, but no attack on civilians has brought them closer to gaining it. It is just senseless, evil killing. I hate being tied to them.

“That sounds horrible… Like the attack on the palace,” Laura says.

“Yeah. It was. Your sister’s crazy if she thinks the rebels are just in this to stop the war. They want the crown.”

“Do you think they might lie to her? Tell her things that aren’t true about my dad to get her to join them?”

“I mean, I’m not sure. It’s probably possible, though. Where’s this coming from?”

“She told me… She said that my mother’s death wasn’t from giving birth to me. She said my dad poisoned her,” she says, her eyes filling with tears again.

I’ve heard this rumor before. Some of Peter’s servants joined the rebellion after the supposed killing. Every leader took them at their word, automatically assuming that Peter truly did kill his wife. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s true. The Emperor is mad and capable of any cruelty, but he seems to love his family dearly.

“Does your dad strike you as the kind of person who could murder his own wife?”

“No. Of course not,” she says, wiping her tears away again.

“Then I wouldn’t give what your sister says much thought. She’s probably just looking for a reason to hate him. It can’t be easy to betray your family,” I say.

Laura’s shoulders shake as she quits crying, and she leans into my arm. “You’re probably right.”

“I’m always right. I’m kind of a genius.”

“Sure you are,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“You ready to go back in now?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m tired. I gotta stop by and tell my dad what happened, but then I’m going straight to bed,” she says, yawning as she begins climbing the tree she was sitting under. Not this again. At least she’s tired, though. Maybe she’ll finally get some rest tonight.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again.” I sigh, attempting to follow her up the tree. It’s not nearly as easy as she makes it look.

“Why not?”

“Um, you kind of snuck off alone in the middle of the night. I don’t particularly want to lose my job…or my life.”

She looks down at me and grins. “Sorry about that.”

“No you aren’t.”

“That’s true.”

Finally, we’re on top of the wall, and I stand atop the thick stone for a moment before I follow Laura as she climbs down the next set of trees.

Looking up into the night sky from here, far away from any kind of light pollution, I notice that the stars are perfectly clear, shining brightly.

It’s beautiful.

Breathtaking.

I miss my sister and my home, but this place isn’t as bad as it seems. From the outside, the ominous stone wall and heavily guarded gates are terrifying. But if you look hard enough, there is plenty of beauty and goodness to be found.