A/N: Weeeellll the response to my last chapter wasn't nearly as enthusiastic. Lol, I'll let that slide, since I love you all so much. Special thanks to all who subscribed, favorited, and reviewed. You guys rock my socks!
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Meanwhile, back in the castle several hours earlier, Sarah nearly dropped the ice she was holding against her mouth at the servant boy's revelation. The king's study had been raided? Her thoughts immediately flew to the Fae-... King Jareth- and she wondered if instead of flying back to the war camps by sea, he had taken time to spy. Had she damned the elves with her act of kindness? Had she given herself a chance to be free of the elves' sexist social norms? Had it even been a Fae who had raided the study in the first place?
All these thoughts flew through her mind in a matter of seconds, leaving her dazed, and the first thing to come out of her mouth was a muffled, "Huh?"
"His majesty's files have been looted," one of the servants supplied, "Though no one is certain anything has been taken yet."
"We can only hope nothing was," another one added, "Taken, that is." The servants seemed eager to gossip about what had transpired, and Sarah knew it would be only a matter of minutes before they all began talking at once with their theories on what happened.
"I should speak with Agemos about this," She said quickly, handing her ice pack to the boy who made the first announcement. She could tell that tensions were rising in the kitchen, and Sarah felt she could do most good far away from it. Perhaps Agemos would have genuine information on what had happened. Hopping off stool, she gently pushed her way through the gathering and swiftly left the kitchen before anyone could protest.
She had made it halfway to the king's study when she nearly ran smack into Prince Arden, who looked as though he was in some hurry. When he realized who he bumped into however, his eyes lit up and he stopped his brisk pace.
"Princess," he greeted in a tone Sarah couldn't quite place, "What are the odds that I would bump into just the person I was looking for?" He flashed her a smile, but it was one that gave Sarah little comfort. "My father requests your presence in his study. Apparently he has need of your Fae-loving skills to discern whether or not it was a Fae that raided his private files."
Ignoring the prince's jab, Sarah simply nodded, not wanted to get into an argument with him. "I take it he is already in his study then?" she asked for clarification, wincing as her words aggravated her lip.
Arden smirked and swept an arm in the study's direction. "Indeed, and he is most impatient to have you investigate. I suggest you hurry."
Sarah nodded and made to continue walking, but Arden caught her tightly by the arm. "Princess, what happened to your face?" he asked, though his tone revealed little compassion.
"I tripped and tumbled down the stairs," Sarah answered briskly, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and exposed in her night-robe, "Please let go of my arm, Arden."
The elf prince obliged, letting her arm drop. "Go on then," he said, making a shooing motion in the direction of King Priam's study, "Don't keep my father waiting." He turned on his heel, leaving Sarah alone in the hall to ponder his odd behavior. He had never manhandled, for that was exactly what it felt like, her before. She hoped it wasn't a habit he would get into as she rubbed her arm where he had grabbed it.
Shaking the unpleasant thoughts from her head, Sarah quickly made her way to King Priam's study. As she entered, she could see that Agemos as well as Priam's advisor Riminir were already there alongside the king. Slipping up beside her friend, she tugged on his long sleeve, making him aware of her arrival. Agemos greeted her with a small smile before turning his attention back to what Riminir was saying.
"The Fae are easily traced, majesty," the advisor pressed, "They leave a distinctive magical glitter signature. Being such flashy creatures, they leave very obvious evidence."
Sarah rolled her eyes. She was sure Riminir meant well, but he often spoke as though he knew such facts when in fact he didn't. Catching Sarah's skeptical look, Agemos asked, "Is this true, Sarah?"
Riminir and King Priam immediately turned their full attention to the girl and she shrugged. "Yes and no," she answered, choosing her words carefully. Offending the advisor by pointing out his lack of knowledge would get her absolutely nowhere. "The Fae are able to mask their signatures. While they are fond of making big, glitter-filled entrances, they are also masters of stealth."
Riminir shot her a glare and Sarah averted her eyes. Now was not the time to antagonize the advisor any further. King Priam frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose in thought.
"Are you saying that we can never be fully certain a Fae was the one who broke in?" He asked at length.
"It all depends on how careless the intruder was," Sarah replied, "Was anything taken tonight? If anything relating to the war was stolen, it would give us more of an idea of who broke in."
All three of the men shook their heads. "So far, nothing has been found missing," Agemos spoke up, "But we cannot be sure. There are countless important files stored in this room, each one full of even more important documents. It could take weeks to discover if anything was taken."
Priam groaned. "Until we can be certain, we must double the guard around this study. We cannot risk another break in. Sarah, have you any advice on what measures to take, in the event a Fae did indeed take something of value?"
Racking her brain for a useful piece of information, Sarah opened her mouth and then shut it awkwardly. "Your best option would simply be to keep a watchful eye on Fae activity in general," she finally said, "If they display a rapid turnabout in battle tactics, you can be sure they've found something to exploit."
Riminir nodded. "I agree," he spoke up, eager to move the spotlight back to himself, "Perhaps we should increase our intelligence forces-"
"Bad idea," Sarah cut in, before realizing she was speaking out loud. Way to go. "What I mean to say is," she mumbled, trying to recover, "That we can't be too conspicuous. The Fae will notice more spies, thus realizing that we know that they know something."
Agemos gave Sarah a subtle nudge. Time to shut up now, she thought wryly. King Priam nodded vaguely at her advice.
"Thank you, Princess," he said distractedly, "That is all the time I am in need of from you."
With a silent curtsey, Sarah turned and left the room quickly. She was glad the king hadn't reacted negatively to her interrupting of Riminir. Honestly, she hadn't meant to speak her thoughts out loud. It was just that he was so big-headed, thinking his intelligence was superior to all others, when he didn't know what he was talking about at all.
Walking back down the hall, Sarah felt her stomach give out a large growl. With a small groan, she remembered that she skipped dinner when she decided to help the Goblin King. Now she was regretting not eating much the entire day, and she made her way back to the kitchen for the fourth time in twenty-four hours.
As she had anticipated, Sarah found the kitchen abuzz with gossiping servants. Each one seemed to double the amount of things they usually said, and the racket was deafening. Sarah had to actually shout to get one of the chef's attention, and he was standing right next to her! Finally, however, she got her point across, and the chef promised to send up a tray of food to her room as soon as possible.
Content with the fact that food would soon be within her grasp, Sarah made her way back to her room. However, as she entered the hallway, she walked past her bedroom door and continued till she came to her sister's quarters. Karen would no doubt be completely oblivious to the fact that King Priam's study had been broken into, and Sarah decided it would be wiser to fill her in on the situation, if only to keep her from making a fool of herself.
Raising a fist to knock on the door, Sarah paused, hearing raised voices behind the intricately carved wood. It sounded like Arden was in the room, and he and Karen were in an argument of some sort.
"You cannot tell me this is the only way," one voice- Karen- protested. She sounded upset. "I have always supported you and your decisions, but I draw the line here!"
"My love, it is the only way," Arden retorted, "Do you want this to end or not? You will comply with my wishes if you want to end this."
Karen was crying; Sarah could hear her sniffs and barely suppressed sobs. What were they talking about that could make her so upset? She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but it seemed like Sarah was glued to the door.
"Enough. This will happen and you will follow through with what is expected of you." Sarah could hear Arden's footsteps approaching the door, and she frantically pushed herself away. Running silently back to her door, she breathed a prayer of thanks that her ankle was fully healed. Sarah had just stepped inside her own room and quietly pushed the door shut when she heard Karen's door open.
Sarah could still hear muffled voices, but she didn't try to make out anything. She already felt guilty about eavesdropping in the first place. Instead, she slowly twisted the lock on her door and sat down at her desk to wait for her dinner. Turning her attention to the desk littered with papers, she absently rubbed her fingers over the part of her arm where Arden and grabbed her earlier that evening. His grip had been tight, and it made Sarah very nervous. She decided right then to make sure she was never alone with him, just in case he acted strangely again.
What had he and her sister been talking about? Sarah had no clue, but if it made Karen cry, it couldn't be anything good. Why was Karen so reluctant? Perhaps they were talking about marriage. Did Karen not want to marry Arden anymore? If only Sarah knew.
Stacking papers on top of one another, she rubbed her eyes sleepily. Her day had been a long one, and she wanted to sleep more than anything else. Hopefully the chef would be quick in preparing her meal, because Sarah wasn't sure she would be able to stay awake much longer. Laying her head down on the desk, Sarah allowed herself to drift off into a state of half consciousness.
She was almost asleep when a knock on her door had her head flying up off the desk. "Coming!" she called, stumbling out and around from her seat. With a shake of her head to wake up, she clumsily unlocked the door to find a little servant boy struggling under the weight of a large tray.
"You dinner, m'lady," the boy squeaked. Sarah smiled and quickly took the tray out of his hands.
"Thank you," Sarah beamed, turning to set the tray down, "You must be very strong to carry this all the way here."
The little boy gave Sarah a shy grin. "Maybe just a little," he mumbled, dragging a toe along the floor. He was such an adorable little boy, though Sarah was surprised she had never seen him before. The castle staff wasn't extremely large.
"Have you been working at the castle very long?" Sarah asked, bending down to the boy's level. He couldn't have been more than seven years old. The boy shook his head.
"I've only been here-" he counted on her fingers, and held up six, "Six days."
Sarah smiled and gave him a small hug. The boy seemed slightly shocked, but Sarah pulled back before he could respond. "Well I hope you like it here," she declared, "Will you do something for me?" The boy nodded enthusiastically.
"When you get back to the kitchen, tell Madelin that I said you did a fantastic job and deserve a sweet. If she gives you any trouble, just tell me, all right?"
The little boy's eyes grew huge, and a large smile nearly split his face in two. "Thank you, your highness!" Sarah smiled and stood up from her kneeling position.
"You're welcome," she replied warmly, "Now go on! It must be around your bedtime."
The boy gave a tiny bow, and Sarah expected him to run off, but instead he did something surprising. Stooping low, he took Sarah's hand and gave it a light butterfly kiss.
"I don't care what anyone says about you," he declared shyly, "I wish you would be queen. You're nice, not like the other queen or the princess."
Sarah's jaw dropped at his revelation, but before she could say anything at all, the boy straightened up and scurried out of the room. Blinking, Sarah took a deep breath and turned to the food that had been brought to her. She would ponder the boy's words in the morning, after a full night of sleep.
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