Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
Chapter 10
Twilight was the time of day when the pink haired male sitting next to Artemis announced that they had arrived in his home kingdom. The sunlight was scattered throughout the upper art of the sky yet the sun itself was just below the horizon to where it couldn't be seen yet it illuminated everything in the lower parts of the atmosphere. Both carriages had managed to slip past PhantomLord's gates on the way out; Natsu's father had muttered something about Sting's father probably lying to the guards about why they needed to leave so quickly so they could do so. Artemis was just happy to be far away from that place and if she remembered correctly Natsu had said that Pyre was north of Magnolia and PhantomLord was south of Magnolia since it lay on the coast of the continent so that meant she was far from the terrible abusive kingdom.
"Oh! I can take you there to eat Artemis! It's one of my top five favorite restaurants!" Natsu exclaimed pointing out the carriage's window to a nice building, a sign hung above it that read "8-Island" on it, "The owner, Yajima, is good friends with me and I'm sure you'll like him too! You'll really like the Ruby Parfaits he makes there!"
"I don't really get to eat out much and there aren't many restaurants in my part of town." Artemis mumbled thinking that it might be embarrassing to say something like that out loud.
"Oh that's ok! Then this'll be my treat and I'll show you around parts of the kingdom afterwards. Sound good?" He asked with that ear to ear grin upon his face once more.
"Relax my son, I'm sure you'll get time to do as you please with our guest but for now it's getting late so it'd be best to save all of that for tomorrow." Igneel chuckled raising a hand up to his son as if to tell him to slow down.
"Aww! But I don't want to wait until morning!" The charcoaled orbed boy complained and formed a pout like a five-year-old.
"Natsu." His father said sternly.
"Fine." The teen muttered slumping down in his seat and turning his head to face the window.
Artemis let out a soft giggle at his childish behavior, Natsu's father letting out a smile and Natsu's cheeks becoming what she thought to be a tone of pink. The brunette was finally feeling comfortable around Natsu and his father, she didn't feel as awkward or the need to be as quiet as she was anymore which was pleasing for Igneel to see. He knew about Jose's harsh ways and was glad he could help the young girl out of such a situation and it also happened to help that his son had already bumped into her, though he wasn't quite sure how that happened.
Though it was beginning to get dark out there was still enough light out for Artemis to see the castle in which Natsu and his father lived. It definitely had a more welcoming vibe to it than the castle back at PhantomLord. A garden that was being tended to as they past was set in front of the castle. Artemis spotted a group of kids, all girls, roaming around an area in the garden. All of them held bundles of flowers, one had a bundle of begonias, and another girl held a few gardenias, the third one flailed some lilies through the air, and the last little girl was still picking a few larkspurs from the bush all of them were standing by. They were laughing, every single one of them as they played with their bundles of flowers. It was heartwarming and honestly it was something that Artemis was glad to see after what she had been through.
"I told you before that I wasn't like Jose. Everyone in my kingdom is welcome to come and go in my castle as they please whether it is because they have a concern or even if it's a group of young girls wanting to play around in the castle gardens. I welcome everyone here as if it's their own home." Natsu's father explained when he noticed what she had been staring at.
". . . You're very kind you know." Artemis whispered, her eyes slowly moving away from the group of girls as they finished passing by them.
"That goes for you to Miss. Elise. You're a guest here now so you may roam the castle as you please and I know it is big so if ever need any help with directions you may ask one of the maids or one of our butlers to assist you." He told her, a genuine smile lighting his face.
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you your highness." The female replied.
"Please, you can call me Igneel." He chuckled waving a hand in front of him.
"Ok . . . Igneel."
It took only a few seconds before they reached the castle's main entrance. One of the butlers was there to open the carriage door and greet them when they stopped. He seemed pleased that Igneel and Natsu were finally home from their trip and he assisted each one as they exited. Artemis sat there unsure of what to do as she watched the butler turn to her last and hold a hand out to her to help her out. She took it hesitantly and climbed from the carriage. Her bare feet hit the cobble-stoned walkway, her small leather boots she remembered had been left behind back in her cell at PhantomLord. The castle was beautiful compared to PhantomLord's or even Magnolia's back where she lived. The windows were lined in a gold pattern, some had balconies that jutted out but those one were mostly towards the front of the huge structure. Two guards sat in front of the beautiful double doors of the castle entrance, one to the far left and the other to the far right. Their features were a lot more personable and welcoming than the guards she had to deal with since two nights ago. They smiled at Artemis as she made her way up the small set of stairs following Natsu and his father and she faintly smiled back.
The inside of the castle was even more amazing to the brunette. There something like a lobby room when you walked in, a set of stairs running up the middle of the room a crossed the way with red carpeting covering them. The floors were made of smooth gray tiles, in the middle of the floor the tiles turned red and created an image, a red dragon circling the center of the floor and there were three maids were cleaning the small table stands that held flower pots and the stair railing. All three of them bowed their heads respectfully at Natsu and his father before continuing their work. Artemis stopped in the middle of the floor and stood beside Natsu as they both stood a crossed from his father.
"It is rather late. I'm sure that our cook will have dinner done shortly but for now I'll have one of our maids escort you to a guest room and I'll send another one with fresh clothing. I'm sure you're willing to take a shower at this point. I'll tend to some duties before meeting you in the dining room. Erza!" Igneel called, the maid cleaning the stair railing quickly obeyed and came over.
"Yes sir?" She questioned.
"Please take Miss. Elise to one of our guest rooms. I'll send Mira up there shortly with fresh change of clothes for her." He ordered.
"Very well." She replied with a bow before turning to Artemis," Come with me."
Artemis quickly followed after the scarlet haired maid who led her up the stairs. The floors in the halls up the stairs were covered in the same red carpeting. The walls were a cream color and paintings hung on the walls, some holding Natsu's father, others holding Natsu himself when he was younger and the way he is now. A random flower pot would sit on a small table in the middle of the halls Erza brought her down. The brown orbed girl stopped in front of a white door and opened it before gesturing that Artemis should go in first. The brunette did as so and was welcomed by a beautiful room. Two doors sat on the right wall which Erza quickly explained was a closet and a bathroom. The closet was apparently empty at the moment so that was the reason for the other maid arriving shortly with new clothes for her. A vanity was placed between those two doors and a bed was set to the left side of the room, white sheets spread out a crossed it while a good ten to fifteen white pillows rested at the head of the bed. There were four posts that were set at each corner of that bed so that red curtains could hang from them. Artemis saw that her room had a single door that looked like a large window; it led out onto one of the castle's balconies.
"Does this suit your liking?" Erza asked still standing in the doorway.
"It's nicer than my own room at home." Artemis chuckled.
"Do you not like that? I'll gladly change the room if you are not pleased Miss. Elise." The red haired female told her and bowed.
"No! No! It's fine really and you don't need to use such formality. Just call me Artemis alright?" The emerald eyed teen replied holding up her hands as if to tell the maid to relax.
"Erza are you in here?" A new voice chimed in as a new girl entered the room.
She was pretty just like Erza. She had white hair and ocean colored eyes. A bright smile lit her face and she held a few clothing articles in her arms. She made her way over to the bed and set them down before turning and bowing to Artemis.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. My name is MiraJane but you may call me Mira." She informed the brunette and propped herself up straight again.
"It's nice to meet you too Mira but like I just told Erza you don't need to call me Miss. Artemis, Artemis is just fine." The female sighed tired of repeating herself.
"Ok then Artemis! His highness told me to bring you a few different clothing choices so you could choose what you wanted to wear. While you're in the shower I am to fill your closet with the rest he had me bring." The white haired female explained while gesturing to the pile of clothes she had just recently set down on the bed.
The girl dropped her ragged cloak to the floor, Erza walking over to pick it up immediately, and scanned the bed covered in clothes. Most of it fancy dresses that didn't suit Artemis very well. Anything simple was what she liked and luckily there was something that suited her liking among the clothing articles. A plain white dress about knee length with cape-like sleeves that lined the top edge of the dress and would wrap around a person's arms stood out as the simplest dress in the whole pile. Artemis picked that one up and turned to make her way to the bathroom, the other dresses laying there unwanted.
"That dress huh? You're different from most female guests that come here. All of them usually pick the fancy ones but you picked a simple one. At least we know the prince will get along well with you. He likes those who are different." Mira stated while quickly gathering the untouched dresses to put them in the empty closet.
Artemis stopped walking and looked over her shoulder to Mira. A warm smile lit hit face even after saying something like that. Natsu liked those who were different. Was that something that was necessary for Artemis to know or was Mira just saying that for different reasons? The brunette felt her face slightly light up at that thought and she quickly turned back around to finish making her way to the bathroom, her shoulder bumping Erza's as she did.
"Sorry Artemis. I've started the bath for you." The scarlet haired girl informed her before leaning closer to whisper in her ear, "Oh and don't mind stuff like that when Mira says it. She always loves to test her matchmaking skills on the prince."
That statement added to the fierce blush crawling over the embarrassed teen's face. Artemis rushed herself into the bathroom and basically slammed the door shut. Both maids could be heard laughing from the other side of the white door while she hung up her dress on a hook suspended on the wall. She pulled off her dirty sleeping gown she had been wearing for the past few days and slipped into the bath tub, the warm water welcoming to her aching back muscles. Artemis's spine wasn't very good since birth which caused her to develop back problems and sleeping on a stone cell floor didn't help those problems. She took her time in her soothing bath wanting to clean herself well and enjoy the warmth. She climbed out of the tub about an estimated half an hour after she had climbed in and dried herself off before pulling on her new dress. It fit around her securely and she liked that there was nothing covering the dress, no jewels or designs, just a plain white fabric.
Stepping out of the bathroom the steam that had accumulated in the small room from the water rolled out onto the floor outside. Mira was still sorting all the clothes into her closet and Erza had seemed to have left wheelie she was in the tub. After hanging up the final dress Mira closed the closet and turned to Artemis. The white haired female made her way a crossed the room and took the old nightgown from the brunette and placed it on the bed. She pulled out the chair in front of the vanity and gestured for Artemis to sit which the girl obeyed. Mira took her time to blow dry and curl the brown locks of hair that fell nicely over Artemis's shoulders after she was done. She also took her time to pick out a nice pair of shoes to match what Artemis was wearing and after a good ten minutes of looking she found a pair of open toed white heels that had straps forming an 'x' over Artemis's toes and a strap hugging her ankle. They were simple just like the dress which pleased the brunette wearing them.
"You look beautiful Artemis." The maid told her while looking the teen over.
"Thanks to you Mira. The last time I looked like this was when my mom dressed me up for a party I attended at the age of five." The green eyed girl chuckled.
The two were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't realize that they had someone new join them. It startled Artemis when she saw the black orbed teen standing behind Mira and it scared Mira herself when she turned and saw him too. The pinkette smiled and apologized for scaring the two before Mira bowed to him and took her leave which left Artemis alone with the prince.
"Dinner is waiting doing in the dining hall. My father wanted me to come get you personally and it looks like you just finished getting ready too. Well you coming?" He asked holding out his arm for the girl to take.
She nodded her head and hesitantly wrapped her hand around his arm. He led her out of the room and back the way Erza had taken her to get there. She felt a little awkward been near him compared to the other times she had been around him, the whole matchmaking statement from earlier being the reason. Natsu just carried on like everything was fine, even though for him it was, and gave her a warm smile.
"Are you ok? You're awfully quiet." He said frowning some.
"I didn't think I talked a lot around you in the first place." The brunette muttered.
"The first time we met you did. I guess you just can't think of anything to talk about huh? How about magic? Do you have any?" He questioned tilting his head to the side.
"No, I mean it runs in my family but anyone I did know or meet in my family when I was younger never had any so my parents always told me not to get my hopes up with it." She answered shrugging her shoulders as if it weren't a big deal.
"Oh well that's a shame. Did you know what kind of magic ran in your family?" He continued with his questioning.
"No my parents never told me and personally I've never asked. What about you? I know every child of the royal family is a dragon slayer but it there like something specific about yours. Sting was like, hmm how do I put it. . ."
"Glowing? White? Shining? Anything that deals with the color white or element of light?" The pinkette rambled.
"Yeah." The female chuckled, "Is yours the same or is it different?"
"I'm a fire dragon slayer. Some people say that mine and Sting's elements are similar though because of some saying that the hottest fire is white or something like that. I heard it a long time ago so I may be off." He sighed scratching the back of his head.
"No you're right. Porlyusica and I had to deal with patients back at the clinic that had burn marks and she told me that saying as well." The girl reassured him.
"Oh good! Thought I might have been telling you something false for a second there. Anyway I think you shouldn't forget that magic runs in your family. So what if your parents or anyone close to your generation doesn't have magic, as long as it's somewhere in your genes you still have a chance of getting it so don't give up on it ok?" He beamed down at her.
". . . I won't."
"Promise?"
"I promise Natsu."
Well this was definitely one of my longer chapters. Sorry if there wasn't much that was entertaining in it. I guess it was sort of like a filler and you got to learn a little more about Artemis's family. Well anyway I hope you're enjoying and thanks for the follows and favorites if you have or will.