Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 16

Thanks to Wendy and her sky dragon slaying magic, all the burn marks on Artemis's body were healed with ease. One of the maids brought her one of Grandeeney's old dresses that have ceased to fit her so that the brunette had a fresh set of clothes instead of wearing tarnished ones. Happy had came into her room just a few minutes prior to the current time to tell her that he needed to be heading off to inform Natsu that she was ok. The brunette had no other things to occupy her time at the moment so she found herself roaming the castle not having a clue on where she was going or where she wasn't even allowed to be. It was always like Artemis to let her curiosity get the best of her in new places, she got into a lot of trouble when she was younger for it that was for sure.

With her bare feet gliding along the royal blue carpets in the castle Artemis began to open doors randomly, obviously knocking beforehand just in case. Each room she opened was beautifully decorated with different shades of blue and white furniture. The brunette assumed that Grandeeney and Wendy had a thing for the color blue since the whole palace had blue decorations spread throughout the whole structure. She came up to another white marbled door and knocked on it lightly before waiting for a response on the other side just in case the room was occupied. When no one answered her Artemis reached her hand out for the gold door handle but the door opened from the other side before her fingers even touched it. There before her stood the young bluenette that the people of this kingdom called their princess smiling up at Artemis.

"Artemis-San! You need something?" The young girl asked her while pushing the door open even more.

"Oh no I was just roaming around. Sorry to disturb you Wendy." The older teen replied.

"I wasn't doing anything anyway so it's alright, why don't you come in? It's awkward talking in a doorway don't you think?"

Artemis nodded in agreement and stepped past Wendy into her bedroom. Of course it was more elegant than any of the other rooms that had been previously visited but the brunette really didn't expect anything else. Wendy's bed was definitely a lot larger than necessary for a girl her size and dark blue curtains hung about the four posts that sat at each corner of the bed and almost touch the ceiling. A vanity set sat a crossed the room from her bed and there was a chair set of the left of the bed next to the large windows which was probably good if Wendy didn't feel like standing as she watched outside. Artemis decided to take up that vacant chair so that she wasn't standing awkwardly in front of Wendy who rested upon her oversized bed.

"I see my mom's dress works well for you." Wendy smiled eyeing the beautiful white dress that reached to Artemis's ankles.

"Ah yeah, tell her thank you." Artemis said and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's not really a big deal. You really didn't deserve to be walking around in the ruined clothes you were wearing earlier and that doesn't fit my mom anymore anyway so I don't think it matters much." Wendy shrugged and tilted her head some.

"Yeah . . . but still. . ."

The teen's emerald orbs trailed from Wendy's face down to her bare feet. She wrung her hands together while the corners of her lips pulled down. She felt bad at this point to have another royal family treating her this way, what didn't Wendy's family make the fourth royal family that has helped her now. First Gajeel when he tried to get her to meet Celestine who was the only extended family that she knew of, then Sting who helped her get out of Phantom's castle, Natsu's family came next when they kept her within their palace and treated her so well and out of that they get a burnt down and trashed kingdom, and now Wendy and her mother are keeping her safe inside their home which could be burned down tomorrow for all the brunette knew. Sometimes she couldn't help but wish that Sting didn't show up in that execution room the moment he did because everything wouldn't have escalated into what it has. That blonde, Artemis just hoped he wouldn't have to get involved anymore than he already has. She didn't want him and his family hurt as much as Natsu's has been.

"What is it? Something wrong Artemis-San?" Wendy asked.

". . . Nothing I guess. . ." The said girl sighed and turned her head to look out the window.

"You can tell me, you know get things off your chest."

Artemis hesitated at first and took a deep breath before speaking and saying, "Well. . . I just feel bad. Four of the royal families have gone out of their way to help me, a commoner who lives in a small house on the poorer end of Magnolia. Out of all of this I feel like I should be repaying all of you and I wish and didn't have to bring as many of you into this as I did and some of you I hope don't get more involved than you are. . . like Sting for example."

"I get what you're saying but in all honesty we're all glad we're helping you. Phantom has been a real pain to all of us lately ever since Gajeel-San's father disappeared without telling anyone where he was going and because Gajeel-San was too young at the time to take over so Jose took his spot and is going to hold it until the rightful heir gets married. In truth all of the princes are looking for that special one at this time because it's time that all of them have taken over their parent's spots but for me I'm still too young of course. I hear Gajeel-San may have already found someone but I know how stubborn he can be so it might take a while for him to say anything to the girl and I hear that both Natsu-San and Sting-San have found someone as well." Wendy beamed while throwing all of this information at the brunette.

Artemis froze in her chair at the mention of Natsu finding someone, that someone being her herself. She just hoped that Wendy didn't know that but by the way Wendy was looking at her she bet she did. What confused her thought was that Wendy had said Sting found someone too but if he did wouldn't Artemis have seen that someone with Sting the times that she had seen him, well if not at PhantomLord than at least at the ball right? For some reason the thought of that . . . ate at the brunette's heart painfully.

"You know . . . who those girls are don't you?" Artemis asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah I do and I know that you're the one that Natsu and Sting have fallen for." Wendy answered.

Artemis's eyes darted from outside back to Wendy in a heartbeat. Did she really just say that Natsu and sting liked her? Just great, something more to add to her problems. Feeling the stress overwhelm her Artemis rubbed her face and tried to calm herself down as she counted out her current problems. First PhantomLord is chasing her, then she had guilt eating at her for what happened to Natsu's kingdom, now she's stuck in some crazy love triangle with two of the princes who helped in keeping her protected, was there anything else that would love to pop up now while she was still running things over in her mind?

"Maybe I shouldn't have overwhelmed you with that; I'm sorry Artemis-San." Wendy apologized.

"No. . . It's fine, it's just . . . I don't think I feel the way they do. Something made me reject Natsu before and I barely even know Sting so I don't believe that I can return their feelings and even if so I wouldn't know which one to choose." The brunette sighed and stood from the chair making her way to Wendy's door, "I think I'm going to go get some air and think things over."

With that Artemis left the princess alone in her room once more. On the way down the hallway Wendy's final words that she spoke before the door closed played through her mind making the stress even a little worse than it already was.

"Natsu-san and Sting-san are stubborn and they won't stop until they get what they want, please be careful Artemis-San."