I wake up groggy and rub my eyes. The maid who awakened me stands at me bed side, looking at me with a shrewd face.
"It's late, Your Highness." She says. Her tone is anything but nice.
I look around. "I'm sorry." I state, still a little dazed. "Do I have anywhere to be?"
"The breakfast table, miss." She sneers. She's already folding my blankets even though I'm not out of bed yet.
"Right." I mumble. I get up and make my way to the bathroom. By the time I'm done taking my bath, another maid has already come in with another dress.
She helps me put it on, and though it is pretty, it is very, very tight.
What's more, the maid pulls the ribbons of my corset underneath the dress as tight as she can, restricting my breathing to short gasps.
"Breakfast?" I ask her.
"Main hall, to the right in the main passageway."
Before I can thank her, she's already leaving.
I bite my lip and make my way down the stairs. I try to find the main hall, but end up near the kitchens.
"Lost?" Somebody taps my shoulders. It's Lucas.
I turn to look at him. His freshly washed hair is pulled back, and he looks better than I do, like he's had a decent amount of sleep. Meanwhile, all I could do was toss and turn in bed, finally falling asleep at dawn.
"Um, no." I say. "I was just heading to the main hall."
He crosses his arms. "Lead the way." He says, his tone implying that he's bored.
I turn left, and there's a fork in the hall. Which way? Right or Left?
I turn right, and behind me, Lucas sighs. "Princess?"
"Hm?"
"It's the other way."
Of course it is. My cheeks burn, and luckily, I hide it by letting my hair fall on my face, grateful that the maids didn't style it like they did yesterday.
Five minutes later, we arrive. Mostly everyone is already there, piling up their plates with all sort of delicacies sitting on the long oak table.
"Good morning." Farkle greets. He's the first cheerful person I've encountered today, and I can't help feeling a bit surprised.
"Morning." I smile.
I sit next to him, and look up to find Lucas staring at us. He looks away when he finds my gaze.
On the oposite side, the King and Queen greet us. The Duchess simply stabs her omelette with a fork and her daughter, Lilith, eyes me up and down disapprovingly.
"Where's your cousin?" I ask Farkle.
"Caroline? Probably in the marketplace or something with her friends." He shrugs. "Did Joshua leave?"
"He left before dawn." I say, praying that he's safe. I'm not worried about him though, he's one of the few people in my family good with a sword.
"Riley." The Queen smiles at me. "You'll be happy to know the situation in Mistell in under control at the moment."
Oh Thank God. Wait, did that mean I could go home now?
As much as I want to, I refrain from asking. Perhaps they would take offense.
"I have business with the general and his wife today." King Arden turns to the Queen. "Maybe you could join me?"
"Of course." She smiles. "But that would mean the kids being on their own."
Ha. Own. That word made me laugh. There were a like hundred servants and guards in this castle.
"Don't worry about the kids, darling." The Duchess looks up at her sister-in-law, plastering a huge smile. Her voice is one of those deep throaty voices and doesn't fail to creep me out. "Perhaps Lucas here, could take the princess to the old church tower."
What? Why in the world would she...?
"Excellent idea!" The Queen clasps her hands together. She turns to us. "Lucas, take Riley to go see the church."
He looks at me, then to his mother. He scowls. "No." He says.
His mother suddenly frowns. "Lucas!" She says in a stern voice.
"Fine." He sighs. He gets up. "Let's go." He says to me.
"Right now?" I ask him.
"Unless you have a royal declaration to write."
I stand up. I've barely touched the pancakes on my plate but drank the juice down to half of the glass.
"Atleast give them time to prepare the carriage!" His mother calls.
"We'll take the horses." Lucas yells back.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at the stables.
"I'm assuming you know how to ride?"
"Obviously." I snort.
I hear him mumble 'too bad' to himself and not knowing why, I shrug it off.
"Pick your horse." He says.
I look around the stable, my eyes landing on a pretty white horse that seemed to be staring back at me.
The stable boy attaches the saddle even though I tell him I can do it myself, and once he's done, I hoist myself up on the animal.
Lucas does the same, but just as we're about to leave, two guards come through the doors.
"We've been asked to accompany you." One of them says. He's tall, stick thin, and has a goatee.
Lucas furrows his brows. He looks really angry. "By the Duchess, I presume?"
He nods. Huh, strange. I didn't think she cared so much.
The guards mount their horses, and one of them leads the way whilst the other one follows, so Lucas and I are kind of stuck in the middle.
We leave the stables and travel West, following the plains.
"Why are we going to the old church?" I ask Lucas. The frigid wind is bitter to my skin, yet I can't help feeling free. If that makes sense.
"Because mother said so." He retorts.
I throw him a look. Seriously? "Why?" I ask.
"It's a sacred place. It's also the place that her and father met."
Ah. I was going to focus more on the 'sacred' part.
Lucas kept throwing both the guards glares when he thought I wasn't looking, and something in their eyes told me they knew something we didn't.
Ten minutes later, we arrive. The old church is in fact, really really old. Makes me wonder how old the king and queen are, to have met in a place like this.
It stands on a lone hill, tall and towering. It's made of cement and white stone that has partly rotted away, the paint peeling away. Now, it's mostly home to moss and ivy.
"Don't tell me a priest is actually in there."
"You'd be surprised." Lucas mumbles. He gets off his horse and holds out his hand to me impatiently.
Even though I'm surprised, I take it. His skin is warm yet rough. His fingers are calloused. I decide it suits him.
He helps me off the horse, then turns to the guards. "We don't have all day." He says.
"We're not going in." The second one announces. He has a stub nose and long hair that reach his chin. He scratches his head.
For a minute, Lucas almost looks relieved.
"Come on." He says.
If I didn't know any better, I would say he would want us to go in there. Only us. Which is weird, because, well...
Ugh, never mind.
He pushes the gate open and as soon as we're inside, he says, "Keep a look-out. I don't trust those two."
Of course. That was the reason he didn't want them to come in here. Once again, I had drowned in my own embarrassing thoughts.
The inside of the church is surprisingly well kept. I wouldn't say it was shining - it wasn't - but nothing is broken down either. Except the roof looks like it's about to fall any moment.
On one side, there is a giant statue of an angel playing a harp. In the middle across the hall, rows and rows of seats. There's a small stage in the front, with a statue of Jesus, and a little area for the priest.
"Not too bad, huh?" He asks.
I shake my head, taking a seat on one of the benches.
Lucas joins me, surprisingly close. "It used to be magnificent, atleast that's what my parents keep telling me."
I wonder if he's talking about the king and queen, or his real parents. I don't ask though.
"I miss mine." I sigh.
"It's only a couple of weeks." He says.
"I know, but..." I trail off, exhaling loudly. "Never mind." I murmur, turning to face him. "Tell me about the church."
"Well for one, it was--"
But he never gets to finish that sentence.
The next minute, the roof above us is shaking, and I look up in surprise. The statue of the angel begins to tumble over.
There's a loud shatter of glass, and suddenly, Lucas has his arms around my waist. He presses me to his chest, pushing us both down beneath the benches.
I realised he's shielding me, protecting me from danger.
In an instant, everything comes falling down on us as the church crumbles.
