Chapter 15: Awkward Encounters
Footsteps on the tiled floor echoed throughout the hall. Nervous, I went to draw my katana before remembering that it was innocence that I still didn't know how to use.
"State your name and purpose." I called angrily in Greek. A shadowed figure appeared from behind a column. They stepped out into the middle of the hall and as the light washed over him I recognised him as the Captain of the Guard. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. For a moment I was relieved to see him, but the look on his face quickly set me back on edge.
"How much did you hear?" I questioned menacingly, standing strong with my feet shoulder-width apart. There was an odd expression on his face, a mixture of happiness and guilt.
"I heard enough, princess." Princess? Damn. I cringed, dropping my guard and staring straight into his hopeful brown eyes. If all the guards eavesdropped as much as Ricardo did then my identity would be all over the castle by morning. Being given a title and treated differently was what I had been trying to avoid in the first place.
"Captain, you are forbidden to speak of this to anyone." Surprisingly it was my grandfather Alexandros who was standing up for me this time instead of my grandmother.
"But your majesty, surely this wondrous news should be at least told to Bakkhos and Gregorios. Don't they deserve to know?" I glared irritably at the man who would dare to talk back to his King.
"No-one is to know unless Jasmine tells them personally. Until the time when she chooses to disclose the information to everyone you will address her as a Phantomhive and not as a member of the royal family. Do you understand Captain Vance?" He swallowed nervously and I relaxed, certain that he wouldn't dare to disobey a direct order. My feet started moving before I even realised I wanted to leave. I was stressed out and I wanted to go find Sebastian and force him to tell me stories about his past. It was too hot to think, and he probably wouldn't be particularly willing to disclose details about his demonic past when there was such a high chance that someone might be eavesdropping. Footsteps followed after me as I left the throne room, footsteps that I now recognised as belonging to Ricardo. I could almost hear the cogs ticking in his head as he tried to process the facts and decide what he was going to do about it. Apparently he now felt the need to be my personal guide *cough* guard *cough*, which I could have done without. Ignoring his directions I went where my feet tool me, following my instinct in the hopes that it would take me to the person I sought, that person being either Sebastian or someone I knew form home such as Grell, as unlikely as it would be for him to be here.
My eyes had been wandering and I had been spacing out, so the first indication that anything had happened was when I felt something warm and hard smack into my left shoulder, throwing me back.
"Watch where you're walking servant." The man sneered obnoxiously in Greek.
"Prince Bakkhos! Please forgive us." Something about that name sparked a chord in my memory.
"Bakkhos…" Then it clicked. That was the name of my father's brother, first prince Bakkhos. I narrowed my eyes, trying not to glare at him. From what I had seen so far he seemed like an awful person, so it seemed to make perfect sense that father would have run away from the castle. Racking my brain I tried to think of a language that he wasn't likely to know. Sebastian had taught me a few, but the only language I was really good at was Greek.
Throwing together my limited knowledge of Indian I said coldly "Excuse me Uncle, I didn't mean to get in your way." I went to move past him but froze in my tracks when he replied "Uncle? What gives you the right to call me that?" All the snappy, sarcastic remarks and snarky comebacks disappeared from my mind, along with most of my language skills, leaving me reduced to speaking plain old English.
"You… how did you know what I said?" Indian definitely wasn't a mandatory language in Greek schools. He smirked at my totally clueless expression in that obnoxious way of his. I knew immediately that there was no way in hell that we were going to get along, family or not. Gripping the hilt of my katana angrily I pretended I was contemplating drawing it and threatening him, hoping that it would scare him. It was always doomed to fail. He just glanced curiously at the sword attached to my waist before meeting my irritated purple gaze and smiling amusedly down at me, staying annoyingly tight-lipped about why he knew Indian.
"Fine then. Ricardo, I'm leaving now." I shoved past the first prince and began walking aimlessly down the hallway once more.
"Wait princess, you're going the wrong way!" I froze and turned around to glare at him. I hadn't actually admitted anything to Bakkhos, and the stupid guard had just ruined any chance I had of convincing him that it had been a slip of the tongue.
"Why am I surrounded by idiotic men?" I murmured to myself as I picked a corridor and started down it. Eventually I came to a window which looked out over a training ground. It wasn't what I had been looking for, but it didn't seem like such a bad place to take a break. Opening the window I sat down on the ledge, one leg hanging outside as I stared out over the empty grounds.
I'm not sure how long I sat there for. I may even have fallen asleep at one stage due to the heat. When I opened my eyes again something, or should I say someone, was casting a shadow over me. There were only about four people it could have been, since Bookman was too short and grandfather had duties to attend to. At first I automatically assumed it was Sebastian, but the shadow wasn't long enough, so I turned to face whoever it was who was standing over me.
"So, what happened in the throne room?" I rolled my eyes at the overly energetic eighteen year old.
"Like you can't guess." He was a bright guy, he'd probably figured out what was going to happen before I did. After all, he did hack into my Gmail account and read the email I had received from my grandmother. Which reminded me, I should still be angry at him for that blatant invasion of privacy. But it was too hot for being angry and holding grudges. It was a good thing we would only be there for a week, otherwise I would probably melt. I liked the New Zealand climate way better. It's what I was built for, so I really hoped the next mission I went on would be closer to home.
"Hey, by any chance do you know where my room is?" Lavi's green eye watched me as I rearranged myself on the window sill.
"Didn't that guard guy show you?" I frowned down at my knees.
"We sort of had a fight, so I ditched him." My frown deepened when Lavi started laughing. It made me want to steal his bandana. Don't ask me why, I just wanted to see if his hair could resist gravity like that without it.
"If you don't want to help me then I'll just go and find Sebastian instead." I swung my legs back inside and planted my feet on the floor only to find myself being pulled to my feet.
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" His fingers were wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me down the corridor. The heat had sapped my strength, so I couldn't be bothered fighting back. I just let him lead me through the hallways, trying not to think too much about the fact that he was practically holding my hand.
After an unknown amount of twists and turns we finally stopped in front of a non-descript white door. I glanced over at Lavi from under my fringe, wondering how on earth he had already memorised the way to our rooms. It was just a plain white door, the same as a dozen others we had passed on the way. He opened the door and his expression darkened when he saw Sebastian sitting on my window seat. The same thing that made Lavi angry gave me a sense of relief, knowing for sure that it was my room.
Stepping inside I sat down on the edge of the massive canopy bed, staring at the view at the window. It was of a training ground, but it was a different one. It made me wonder just how many separate training grounds there were at the palace. Considering the amount of guards I concluded that there had to be quite a few.
"So…" Lavi looked over at me from where he was standing in the doorway. "There's a week, seven whole days, until we're needed. What on earth are we going to do to pass all that time?" Lavi grinned cheekily.
"Well, you could always go to school." His eye was sparkling in amusement and I narrowed my eyes, throwing a pillow at him and cringing when the tape around my torso pulled against my skin. The cut had appeared to be healing well, and I had almost completely forgotten about it. It really put a damper on my good mood, and I lay back on the bed, eyes trained on the ceiling. As fate would have it I seemed to have developed a habit of staring at ceilings, when they weren't even particularly interesting.
"Sebastian," I started suddenly, propping myself up on one elbow. "You better not be sleeping in my room," Lavi tensed up and closed the door behind him, "because servant or not it's still creepy for someone as old as you to be sleeping in a fifteen year old girl's room." Sebastian smirked, his eyes flicking to Lavi for half a second before they landed on me.
"I will have you know that I'm not THAT old." I raised an eyebrow at the immortal demon protesting his age. "I also have no intention of staying here." My eyebrows knit together in a frown as I tried to decipher the underlying message in his statement. As far as I knew he barely ever slept, so he had to be doing something.
There was one sharp knock on the door before it was yanked open, sending Lavi tumbling to the ground since he had been leaning on it. Bookman gave him a tired glare as he waited for Lavi to get back up.
"What the hell panda?" Lavi complained, rubbing the back of his head as he sat defiantly on the floor of my new temporary bedroom. Another glare from Bookman quickly had him back on his feet, although he was still thoroughly annoyed, that was plain to see in his expression. Pushing myself up until I was sitting properly again I smiled cheekily over at Lavi, more than ready to get back at him for that jibe about school.
"Looks like duty calls huh? Bye bye then." I wiggled my fingers in a small shooing direction, violet eyes full of amusement as I took my revenge. He glared at me and I cracked up laughing clutching my side as my struggle to stop sent short jabs of pain through my healing cut.
"I don't think you should be laughing Jasmine." Bookman's short statement made me freeze up, a small chill running up my spine.
"Why's that?" My voice cracked slightly and it was barely more than a whisper, but the old guy had scary good hearing.
"Because you're coming with us."
A/N: Okay guys, I'm sort of sad that no-one has any name ideas for me, plus no-one has given me any reviews… :( ANYWAY exams are coming up next week, which means I'll be on study leave but it also means that updates may be few and far between since I should actually try and devote some time to studying