Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 22

Artemis gazed out the window of the carriage she sat in, Sting sitting a crossed from her doing the same though his eyes occasionally drifted from the window to her just to see her reaction to certain things. The brunette found that people here dressed slight more formal than those in the previous kingdoms she had been to. To her it was like there weren't many people of her class here in Sabertooth, that or they were just in their own little area that they weren't going to be passing through. Even the few amounts of children she saw them pass were dressed nicely, little girls in dresses of mostly pastel colors and small boys running after each other in a nice undershirt and an occasional vest on one or two of them.

"It seems like it's just as peaceful here as it is back home and in Pyre and Cait Shelter." Artemis stated.

"Of course, every kingdom tries to be like that, err, well almost every kingdom." Sting sighed and pulled his gaze back to the window from her, "A few of them seem a little hyper though but that's only because there was a festival here while I was away."

"Why didn't you stay to enjoy it then?" Artemis asked while looking at him from the corner of her eye.

"I had more important matters to attend to like getting to that meeting back at Cait Shelter and checking up on something. Just because I'm royalty doesn't mean I can lounge around all day doing nothing or going out on my merry way having fun." The blonde answered smiling a little because he knew that she was probably thinking that from the start of her question.

"Check up on something?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about really; look we're almost at the castle."

Artemis bit the inside of her cheek not wanting to press into the matter much farther just in case it would tick him off but she was definitely blaming him for arousing her curiosity. Dropping that topic she peered out of the window once more to catch a glimpse of the castle. It was larger than Cait Shelter's castle that was for sure, probably as big as the one that is was in Pyre. The structure was made up of a beautiful dark colored marble though she noticed that the color became lighter as the carriage round to the back of the castle.

"Why are we going in through the back?" The female asked confused as her body jerked forward slightly from the carriage coming to a stop.

"Don't you remember what I told you when we first met? My kingdom is split, and run by two rulers. The castle was also split in half in a sense so we have two throne rooms. My father's happens to be in the back of the castle so when I become king I inherit the whole back part of it and half the kingdom, though of course I can't just make decisions on my own without the other king's input just like he can't go around making rules for his half without mine." Sting explained while stepping out of the carriage while one of the guards held open the door for him, "Thanks Orga!"

"Well that seems confusing." Artemis sighed as she was helped from the carriage by the guard, Orga, "Thank you."

"It's easier to understand if I sit down and explain it to you better in detail but we can push that to a later date, right now I need to show you to your room."

She watched as Sting went around to the back of the carriage and undid the straps that held her case of clothes to the back. Orga went to go take it from him but Sting just waved him off and continued to carry it to the castle doors. The brunette sighed as she followed after him and saw the luggage bag shift positions on Sting's shoulder. She didn't understand why Wendy had insisted on giving her so many outfits to come here with when she was probably going to be offered more by the maids here in the castle anyway.

"It certainly feels good to be home!"

Artemis smiled at the simpering look on the blonde's face. Again she couldn't help but realize that there was something about him that she seemed to always catch on to and like about him so much. Up ahead down the hall there was someone standing there, his hands nicely placed behind his back as he stood there proudly smiling very faintly at Sting. Unlike all the other guards Artemis had seen so far that served in all of the castles and even this one he wasn't dressed in something that seemed suitable enough to be called armor and he also wore a mask over his face with a furry hat that covered the roots of his blonde locks.

"You seem glad to be home Prince Sting." The man said before locking his dark green eyes with Artemis's lighter green toned ones, "Seems like Prince Rogue isn't the only one with a guest anymore either."

"Oh yeah sorry for not warning you guys first I guess. This is Artemis Elise, Artemis meet Rogue's right hand man in a way, Rufus." Sting told her gesturing to the man who bowed slightly out of respect.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. Elise."

"Just Artemis will do." The brunette sighed not wanting to go back into that topic like back in Pyre.

"I'm gonna go finish taking her to her room. If you wouldn't mind alerting my father that I've come home I'd appreciate it because I want to go see Rogue after I'm done escorting Artemis to talk with him about, well you know."

"As you wish Prince Sting."

With that Rufus made his way down the hall in long strides. Sting nudged her shoulder gently to get her attention so that she knew where he was going and she could follow him. She quickly obeyed and pulled her eyes away from the man they had just been talking to. The thought of Rogue came back as she remembered meeting him back at the ball in Magnolia. He seemed like a rather quiet person, not very sociable but she wasn't going to underestimate him any further than that knowing he'd probably make a great ruler once taking over his own father's spot as king. This thought also made her think to ask if the two were related in anyway even though they didn't look it and had different last names.

"Hey do you happen to actually be related to Rogue?" She asked tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Me? Nah, we just grew up together and were so close that we consider each other in that sense is all." The blonde replied bluntly.

She simply nodded her head to his answer as she was brought to a nice white door that sat between two black ones. She wasn't sure if the colors of the doors seemed to switch colors in that pattern all over the castle but for some reason she found it quite amusing, almost as if the white doors resembled Sting and the black one's Rogue. Beyond the white door was if course another fancied bedroom that Artemis was really starting to adapt to, the thought of going back to her small bed at home was going to be a pain. Sting dropped her luggage down onto the white covered bed started to rub his shoulder.

"You know you didn't have to carry that." Artemis softly told him and walked over to him, the heel of her hand pressing against his shoulder.

"Ah, what are you a professional masseuse? Man I could use someone like you more often." He chuckled while soaking up the pleasure of his shoulder being relaxed.

"Um no, I've worked at a clinic for the past three years." The brunette replied.

"Oh well it doesn't seem that way." The blonde shrugged before walking away from her and towards her room's door, "I'm going to meet up with Rogue and let him know I'm home, maybe talk about a few things. My bedroom is rather far from here since your room is basically in the middle of the castle so if you get lost trying to find it just ask one of the workers here. I want to see you down in the garden in about a half hour to see if we can work on your magic some more so you can settle in until then."

'Well that explains the alternating door colors. The doors must be white on his side and then black on Rogue's.', the teen thought as she watched him leave. She kicked off her heels that were slightly beginning to make her feet ache before making her way a crossed to the room to crack the window and let some fresh air into the room. As she did she caught sight of two girls standing and giggling next to a fountain. It wasn't hard to catch on with what they were saying since it was so quiet but it also triggered the brunette's interest.

"Yep! This is the fountain that makes wishes come true!"

"Really prove it."

"I heard someone had wished for more money once here at this very fountain and got exactly that in a mere three days after making that wish."

"Oh really?"

"It's true! Go ahead and try it!"

'A wishing fountain huh?', Artemis thought as she propped her elbows on the window ledge and rested her head in her hands, 'Maybe that's just the kind of thing I need right now.'