The Taming

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews I got on the last chapter, it's so exciting to see you all responding and making lovely comments! Sorry for such the long wait. I had no time to write thanks to school and cheerleading and social life. Hope I didn't lose too many of you. Merry Christmas!

Chapter Three: His Knowledge

"Ah," she says as I close the door behind me, the wine in my hand. "Thank you."

I hand her the goblet and watch her drink it. She's done with it in less than a few seconds, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. There comes a knock at the door.

"My lady, your guests have arrived." A maid says. "They await you at the doors with their coach."

Emiline jumps up and opens the doors. Then she looks back at me. "Do stay out of trouble, Bella," she utters before rushing down the hall. She leaves me there in her room without a thing to do.

So I sit in her room and explore. I go through her jewelry and read the parchments that sit upon her white polished desk about the legends of the Canavarian people and their shapeshifting skills.

Apparently they'd been shapeshifting since the beginning of time, and some lucky few were able to shapeshift into more than one creature. Legend told of a man named Eirik Gornodl that was able to shift into a lion, wolf, bear, eagle, and even a giant serpent. Gornodl dominated the lands west of Bravos and Canavar and eventually died when stabbed through the heart by a common man's white iron sword.

I roll up the parchment and place it back onto the desk where it was found. Emiline wouldn't know I had been snooping though I was most confident that she wouldn't mind. I dared not to steal a single thing for I knew if I developed enough guts to do so, the king would probably mount my head on a wooden post.

I sit on the red velvet chair by the blazing fire and stare into the flames as they lick the wooden logs there. I find an extra goblet beside Emiline's and pour myself a goblet from the pitcher.

I'd not poisoned the wine. The sour memory of the encounter between No Promises and I was still pungent in the back of my mind. That man—he was so rude and so proud yet so painstakingly beautiful and enchanting.

I'm not going to fall for his charm. I don't know his name and I didn't care to ask when we'd talked because he didn't care to mention it. If his name was so important, then he would have said it.

I'm almost positive that he's a member of the kingsguard. He's one of the powerful shapeshifters that protect the kingdom from immortals and attacking humans. That's why he's so big and huge and intimidating; he's probably used to having people cower in fear in his presence, and women drop their knees at first sight of him.

I'm not going to be either of those people—I refuse to be afraid of him. Fear is not real, I try to tell myself. It's just a choice.

I rest my head up against the backboard of my chair and shut my eyes for a moment.

0o0o0o0o

Apparently I'd fallen asleep for a couple of hours. I nearly have a heart attack when someone raps on the princess's door rather loudly. "Emiline!" a male voice yells. "Open the door." The pounding doesn't stop. Startled, I get up from my seat and rush to the door.

No Promises stands there, his irked expression fading away into a smug smile. "She's not here right now," I tell him and begin to shut the door in his face. His foot darts out and he stops the door from closing.

"Not so fast," he whispers, prying the door out of my fingers with ease. I'd never been a strong girl but this made me feel incredibly weak. I pull back from him and inch back into Emiline's room a little. "Long time no see." His sarcastic tone rings in my ears.

I sigh and shake my head in mock disbelief. "Do you wish to forfeit our game? Have you come to ask Emiline of my name?"

"No," he murmurs. "I have not. I wish to discuss a different matter with her. But I shall stay now."

I place my hand on the curve of my hip. "Then why have you come?" I ask him. "What do you want?"

"You," he replies, a little too quickly. My eyes bug out of my head. I do not know if he means it like he says it, but it seems so. "I want you. I wish to speak with you."

"Why?" I ask quickly. "I've done nothing wrong. I don't need another lecture about Emiline; I won't poison anybody—"

"Quiet yourself," he whispers. "You just interest me. That's all."

I gasp softly at his words. I interest him? What about me could possibly interest him? I am just a maid, and that's all I've ever been.

A young servant girl is running down the hallway, holding her white head-cloth to her hair. She curtseys before him. "Princess Emiline is in the grand hall waiting to speak with you."

He turns his burning black eyes off of me and down to her. He studies her face and watches it go from pale white to bright red. Then he smirks and nods his head, strands of silky black hair falling from where it is tied back into a bun. "Thank you, Ella." Then turns those intimidating eyes upon me. "We shall continue this later."

She looks like she is about to faint when he brushes past her and walks down the hall. Ella then looks at me. "Alice told me to come and get you," she says, much more informally as compared to the way she spoke to Jacob. "I do not know what she wants, only that she wants you."

I nod my head and close the door behind me as I follow Ella down the hallway. She points me to an old wooden door at the very end of the corridor. "That's her room," Ella says to me before turning her back on me and walking away in a cold fashion. I can tell that she doesn't like me.

I pick up my brown skirts and walk across the hallway to where Alice's room is. I can hear humming floating outwards from the inside, and a sweet lilac smell. I give a small knock, and instantly the humming stops. I can hear dainty feet scattering across the floor to the door. The knob turns and I'm face to face with the pixie-like woman who'd been the most friendly towards me when I'd first come.

"Isabella," Alice says. Her short hair is pushed behind her ears and she has a dirty apron tied around her small body. She grabs my arm and tugs me inside. "Welcome to my little heaven!"

The first thing I notice is the color of the room. It's painted a shade of dark green and decorated with plants hanging from the ceiling in little woven baskets. Around her chandelier are thick, twisting vines that ran across the walls and down towards a bright green plant in a giant red pot beside her bed.

Her bed is plain and her covers look like they were poorly sewn by hand, but Alice doesn't look like she minds it at all. She has a table with various flower plants on it and spices and herbs, and diagonal to the table across the room is a triple stacked shelf with vegetables growing there in little clay pots.

Alice whizzes by me with a watering can made out of a dried squash and begins to water the tall peach tree standing in the corner beside the giant window that filtered the sunlight into the little room. "I know what you're thinking," Alice whispers. "I'm crazy. But ever since I was little, I loved nature. The royals pretty much let you do whatever you wish with your room, so I figured that if I was going to be in her a lot, I'd personalize it."

I sit on her bed and look at the little strawberry plant growing on her bedside table. I pluck one and put it into my mouth. "It's a lovely room," I whisper. "It feels like I'm right in the forest."

Alice takes off her dirty cloth gloves and claps her hand, jumping on the balls of her feet. "Good! That's exactly what I was going for." Then she goes to her vegetable shelves and inspects the leaves of a ripe tomato. "Sometimes they forget to feed us, so I found it useful to grow some produce in here."

My eyes widen a little. I was used to being forgotten when it came time to eat, so it made me feel better knowing that Alice always had a little something in her personal room-garden. "What was it that you wanted me for?" I ask.

"My goodness, I almost forgot about that." Alice says, wiping her hands on her apron. "I wanted to tell you about some more things. I know that Emiline's a nice person to be around, but she won't tell you everything. 'Course she wouldn't, that'd make her look bad…"

She looks at the uneven floor boards down at our feet. "Are you okay?" I ask.

Alice's head snaps up and she gives me a cheesy smile. "Of course I am, silly!" She giggles a little. "Sometimes I get distracted—like I always do. You know, they never did fix my floor boards."

I look down to where she's looking and see a sleek black spider crawling up from a crack in the floor. I shrink back a little, for I'd remembered the time that Maud was bitten by one and her face swelled up like a rotten tomato. Alice bends down and allows the spider to crawl up onto her hand before putting it onto one of her plants.

She comes back to sit next to me a moment later. I look at her like she's just grown a second head, but she doesn't seem to care about anything. "Anyways, Isabella…I wanted to warn you about the guards."

I sit forwards a little. No Promises is a guard. "Okay," I say. "What about the guards?"

She lies down against her pillows and crosses her legs. "Well I heard some talk going around in the castle. They all think you're attractive, and I thought you should know that."

I turn and look at her. "They think me attractive?"

"Yes," Alice replies. "Very bad."

I wrinkle my nose a little. "Why is it very bad?" I'd never been deemed attractive before in my entire life and it felt good to be admired. Now Alice was saying that it was bad that they thought me attractive.

Alice turns her head to look at me, her brown eyes sympathetic. "You obviously don't know Canavar very well," she laughs softly. "When a guard thinks a maiden attractive he's given permission to take her."

My eyes widen. "Take…take her?"

"Yes, yes, take. Do you not know what that means?" I say nothing, and Alice shakes her head. "Oh darling girl, I pray you are not ruined here."

I shake my head, my hair fanning out around me. "No, Alice. I shan't be taken. I won't let anyone touch me!"

I am young, but Alice is not much older than I am. She looks about twenty one summers. "I spoke the same way when I was your age. My mother said to me: 'Alice you must be careful. The guards are looking at you in ways not of a gentleman.' I told her that everything would be alright, until I was alone in the hallway with one of them. His name was Paul."

I gasp a little. "Lahote?"

Alice nods her head. "Yes, that's the one. He took me against my will but there was nothing I could really do about it. He was so much stronger than I was, and struggling only earned me pain."

I suddenly begin to feel sorry for her as her story goes on. "Oh Alice, I'm sorry…what makes the guards think they can take maidens?"

"They're shapeshifters," Alice said. "They're the most respected men in all of Canavar. Only a special few can shift and protect us all from immortals. Of course the king would let them have their way with any maiden in return for their hard work."

"It's unfair," I say to her. "Can't anything be done?"

"No," Alice replies sternly. "I've tried, believe me I have. The only thing I can do for you is to tell you to watch your back. Try not to be alone with the guards. I know that might be hard since you're personal caretaker to Princess Emiline, but take notice of their actions while around you."

I nod my head. "I promise I will," I tell her. "I'll stand up for myself."

She turns to look at me and smiles slightly. "I know that I don't know you very well, but I feel very strongly that I should be the one to look out for you when there's nobody else. You're like a sister to me and I don't want for you what happened to me."

I smile at her. "It's greatly appreciated," I reply.

There comes a knock at the door. Alice pops up off of the bed to open it. Ella stands at the doorway with her hair ragged looking. "Emiline requests Isabella."

"The time!" Alice squeals. "Oh gods. Go, Isabella. You mustn't keep her long."

I roll off of the bed and race out of the door into the cold hallways, my brown dress, flying around me. Emiline's room isn't far away at all, but I'm still afraid since I'd left her room when I wasn't instructed to.

I rush into her room, my heart pounding so loud that I'm afraid that she'll be able to hear it. Emiline turns around, her hair still in the long braid from before. She gives me a reassuring smile and I begin to calm down a little. The scars on her face stretch at the corners as she turns towards me, the smile still plastered onto her face. "I was beginning to wonder where you were," she says. "Where did you run off to?"

My eyes are still wide, like I am a deer before a hunter. "Ella told me that Alice wished to speak to me, so I just left for a few minutes. Oh, I planned to come back within the minute, but I…I lost track of time—"

"Hush Bella," Emiline says. "I am not angry with you."

I look at her, my chest still heaving. I bow my head a little in thanks. I close the door behind me, making the red room darker. It must be a little after seven o' clock. I must have missed dinner since Emiline was away, and no one needed me.

"Come, help me undress." Emiline says. "I must bathe."

0o0o0o0o

I lift the sponge out of the water and gently touch it to her back. She leans forward so I can get the whole area clean. I'd never bathed anyone but Elise and Maud, let alone a princess.

"May I ask how your day was?" I whisper tentatively. I don't want to be reprimanded for asking questions, but I am nevertheless curious.

"Hmm," Emiline says. "It was a lovely day. You see, our cousins came to town and invited the ladies of the house to a picnic. The youngest cousin, though, stayed with my brother and the guards here. One day he will be a shapeshifter."

I place the sponge back in the water, the water licking at the sides of the wooden tub. "How might one know if he or she is destined to become a shapeshifter?"

"Bloodlines," Emiline replies, looking at me through her peripherals. "There was an ancient family, from which all shapeshifters are descended."

As she shifts in the tub to face me, the water sloshes onto the ground. Her thick black hair flows down her body, covering her breasts and her stomach. "I believe I am in love with one," she whispers, biting her lip shyly. "He is a wonderful man."

She gives me her arm to wash. I use the bar of soap to lather with the sponge. "Do I know who this man is, my lady?"

"Yes," she nods her head. "I believe so."

I smile slightly as she blushes bright red in mere thought of this man. "Tell me of him," I say to her. "Tell me how he treats you."

"He treats me like a goddess. He thinks me the most beautiful woman in the world. He says that I am the epitome of everything he's ever wanted, and that he cannot wait to ask my father for my hand in marriage." Emiline says. "You will not know true happiness until a man speaks those same words to you."

I give her a bucket of hot water so she's able to wash her hair. She stands and pours it upon herself, water splattering everywhere. I wince, because I know that I will be the one to clean it up. She drops the bucket, and rubs her hands over her face. Her nudity is of little concern before me. I turn my head to give her meager privacy.

She finally sits back down after a minute of admiring her body in the mirror behind me. "His name is Samuel."

I nod my head slightly. "I thought so."

She leans her head back against the lip of the tub and tilts her chin to the ceiling. "Have any men caught your eye, Bella?"

"No," I say. It's a somewhat lie, since No Promises still lingers in my mind, refusing to leave. "Not yet."

"You will find someone of interest soon," Emiline assures me. "Canavar is known for her beautiful men."

0o0o0o0o

Finally stripping from the tight brown dress I'd worn all day, I throw it to the ground and grab my nightdress. After Emiline had told me all about the beautiful men of Canavar and courting customs and everything else she was interested in for two hours, I suspect it is somewhere around nine o' clock.

I can't help but feel liberated once I am out of those tight clothes and relieved of my duties for the night. The day was long, and not particularly great. I wind my hair up into a braid and fan myself slightly. The room was hot due to the touch of summer that the night gave. I go to the windows and push them open, letting the cool breeze float through.

The night smells like dewdrops and burning wood. I splay my palm open against the windowsill and feel the cool marble there. The moon is shining up above and the stars are twinkling as brightly as always.

I decide that I must bid Emiline a good night, since it was in fact, a good night. She'd been very kind to me today, as had she been since the day I'd arrived. Besides Alice and Angelina, I considered Emiline one of my only friends. I suppose I was pleased that she'd spoken up before her father, the king, and demanded me her personal slave.

Going to the door, I unhinge the lock and step outside. The smell of smoke and mint hits my nostrils as he passes by me. He knocks me aside accidentally and turns to see what damage he's done. I'm pressed up against the wall, a little flabbergasted.

His face instantly turns into a devilish smirk, one I'm not quite happy to see. "I must excuse myself," he drawls in his deep baritone bass. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

No Promises turns around and faces me fully. I take in a deep breath and hold it within my lungs. "It's quite alright," I say. I remember Alice's speech from the morning about the guards and her unfortunate experience with one of them. I hurriedly retreat back into my room and slam the door.

But he's faster than I am, and his big foot gets wedged in the space between the door and the frame. He pushes it open, placing his other hand on the knob. "Not so fast," he says. Those dark eyes roam over my body, my scantily dressed body. I put my hands up to cover myself through the sheer slip of fabric. "In a hurry?"

I shake my head. "Get out."

He cocks his head, his black hair falling into his eyes. "Why? Are you afraid?"

I am. I'm very afraid, but I don't want to let him see that. "No," I say. "Not afraid. Tired." I point to my bed and he looks and smirks. I know that he's thinking of having his way with me in that bed.

He looks back at me. I swallow and stand up a little straighter, my arms still wrapped over my chest. "What have you come for?"

"A name," he says. "A name is what I have come for. And I'm not leaving until I get it out of you."

I fight the strong urge to roll my eyes. It seems that we are still on the topic of names, and he still wants to know mine. I glance at the open door. He takes this meager glance as means of escape and shuts the door and locks it behind him. Now my heart pounds.

I am locked in a room, alone with a guard. 'Of course the king would let them have their way with any maiden in return for their hard work.' Alice's voice swirls around in my head. He stalks closer until we're mere inches away from each other. He reaches his hand up to push a lock of hair behind my ear, but I slap his hand away and swerve under his arm so that I'm positioned behind him.

"Alright," I say in a breathy voice. "I'll…I'll tell you."

He breaks into a slow, satisfied smile that spread over his lips like molasses and honey. Crossing those bulging muscular arms, he leans against the wall and tilts his chin up so that he's peering at me through his dark eyelashes. "Go on then."

I hate to let him win, but the words just tumble out of my mouth anyways. "Isabella," I say. "My name is Isabella."

He inhales, and then exhales. No Promises starts to walk towards the door. Was that it? Will he leave me alone now? He turns to face me one more time. "If you think I'm going to just let you be, you're strongly mistaken."

My little smile drops into a frowning sort of gape as he twists the doorknob and steps out into the dark hallway. He leaves with the door open. I sigh and go to close it, my heart pounding in my chest. Just as I place my hand on the doorknob, his face appears before mine. I freeze, unable to move.

His calloused fingertips strong the structure of my face and he darkly chuckles. "Isabella. Very beautiful name for a very beautiful maiden."

He steps away from me, backing further into the dark until the only thing I can see is the whiteness of his hauntingly handsome smile. I shut the door and press my back against it. My knees, unable to hold my weight, quiver and I slide down against the door weakly.

0o0o0o0o

Hope you guys liked it. I worked hard to get it in before Christmas Eve. Hope everyone's having a great holiday so far! Soon I'll have a new laptop to whip these babies up on. Please review, I'd love to know what you think. It's like you giving me Christmas presents (:

Courtney xx