AN: Been soooooooooooooooo long since we heard from Brady, right? So, here he goes! Oh and don't forget to tell me what you thought about it!
THE ROYAL ESCAPE
(BRADY'S POV)
"I need to go, Brady." She said trying to leave my hand.
"No, I won't let you. I've lost you once but not again, Cass." I told her, trying to pull her to me.
"It's not just about me but about our tribes, okay? It's not just about us; it's about everyone in the hidden world, okay? And, I freaking need to go!" she shouted and the part of her hand in mine, left me. I didn't know how and when, I was thrust in the darkness…
"Cassie! Don't go!" I shouted and sat upright. Ouch, it hurts now. And the realization is that I was having some stupid NIGHTMARES! I mean who told those guys I was going to kill them and weren't they supposed to listen to the princess i.e. Cassie? And why did Louis have to 'kidnap' her to here? He could've told me atleast but no, he has to freak me out as always. I mean first of all in the day, he has to say the 'three word' golden sentence to my imprint and then he has to run away with her.
I might just ask who in this freaking world won't freak out at the thought of losing his imprint?!
Oh, that reminds me, where is she right now? Some minutes ago, when they were talking about their tribe, I dozed off. Hey, it isn't that rude if you have been running around since the last eight hours (maybe more) and then what you get is to be taken as a beast in this era and the army who is holding hostage your imprint tries to kill you. Now, I get what those knights in the stories which Nana used to tell us would have felt. I mean, I even feel worse than the knight's horse because basically that knight runs less than the horse which tires it more and the fighting part goes to the knight. I was the two-in-one here!
God, focus Brady. Cassie still isn't here.
I pushed myself up. They should've given me some anesthetics. It wouldn't have hurt so much but no, they just had to use those stupid home remedies considering the fact that I will be fine in some hours. Well, in the same thoughts, I swung myself to open the door.
Okay, why on this earth do the doors in castles have to be this tight to open? Anyway, there isn't a thing on this planet that Brady Fuller can't open. Ha, take that Mr. Door. Now, I know I'm totally a lunatic because I was taking to a door. As I walked out, I saw Cassie's Grandma coming out of a room and closing the door.
"Uh, your highness?" I called. Now, it's weird talking to someone like that in America and in the present century.
"Why did you come out, Brady? You should've been sleeping." She told me in a royal voice that was full of concern.
I love being the favorite of her family. Ha, ha, ha.
"Um…Cassie?" I asked.
"She is sleeping, here." She told me.
"Uh…can…I, uh…see her?" I asked her. I walked to where she was standing. God, it was hard. I have never felt so physically weak my whole life. But you have to sacrifice for love, sometimes.
"I hope you will be a gentleman?" she asked me, uncertainly.
"Have to be." I answered. Do you think I have any power not to be a gentleman? I thought.
"Great. You might stay with her." she said and danced off. Gosh, these royals! Anyway, I walked inside and first, sat by her side. I promised myself that time, I would never ever let her go away from me. Then, I saw her smile while sleeping. The second promise was that she won't ever cry because of me. Okay, and then I too dozed off.
What? I was tired too!
(CASSIE'S POV)
As soon as the sunrays hit me in my eyes, I stretched myself before opening my eyes and turned to the other side. I realized that there was someone sleeping by my side.
"Brady?" I asked. Brady turned and covered himself, snatching my covers. "What are you doing here?"
"Whatever you were doing till some seconds ago." He sat up.
"Okay, I get it. How're…uh…the wounds?" I asked him and ruffled his hair. He smiled. Well, his hair was already out of control, so I knew he would never mind it.
"Well, almost fine." He answered.
"Okay, so, how do you think the room is?" I asked him, excited.
"Quite…large and beautiful." He replied.
"I know, huh? You should check out the wardrobe. It's like….whoa." I told him.
"You know, these guys should've given me some anesthetics. It really did hurt me." he complained.
"Aw, my poor Brownie." I said pinching his cheek.
"You gotta…" Louis came in through the door. "Jeez, disturbed ya?"
"Since when did you start caring about it?" Brady said.
"Good morning." I muttered to myself.
"Okay, so Clarisse said that Cassie you needa reach down to the breakfast table, ready in twenty minutes and Brady, you come with me. I'll give you some clothes. Sybilla and her sister Willa will help you." He said and walked out and tapped his foot as if he was showing that he was waiting impatiently for Brady.
"Do I really needa go?" he asked me, frustrated.
"Play nice, puppy." I told him and he left after making a cute irritated face.
"Good morning, Princess Theodora!" two girls walked in through the door gracefully dressed in some tight dresses. The first one looked somewhat like my age who was in a parrot green colored mini dress with half-inch straps, I guess and the second one was about 12-13, who was wearing a strapless dress which was till her knee and dark blue colored with some silver embroidery.
"Uh…you guys don't need to call me that. Cassie will go well. And good morning to you too." I said politely. Look, I am a princess and I need to be polite.
Jeez, did I really admit that I am one?
"Her highness told us you might say that but you know we can't call you Cassie in front of the royal officials. So, I'm Sybilla." The one with parrot green dress was doing the talking. "And this is my little sister, Willa. She's kind of a bit…shy."
Willa giggled nervously.
"Hey, Willa." I called.
"Hey." She answered nervously.
"So, Sybilla, you did the room? Quite fantastic taste, you got." I complimented.
"I thought you might not like it. It feels nice to be praised by a royal, doesn't it?" she said.
"Well, I am new to the whole royal thing. So, you really gotta help me." I said.
"Who was that guy walking down the corridor with Louie? He was really cute, no?" she said. I somehow felt that my nose was flaring and my lips joined to form a straight line.
"Uh…that is…my boyfriend- Brady." I answered.
"Royal property, huh? Really sorry, princess. I see you got annoyed." Sybilla said. Atleast, I would forgive her decorating my room. I thought.
"It's okay. He's kind of a lethal combination." I answered and smirked. She chuckled.
"Okay, so, everything's in the bathroom. You go and get yourself a shower till Willa and I find you a dress." She said.
"What's so special about the breakfast, anyway?" I questioned.
"Nothing much. There are the two out of six Count families here. The closest one is ours. So, Clarisse asked us both to help you 'cause, you know, we're your age." Sybilla said.
"WHAT? It's not even a day since I'm here!" I shouted.
"No, don't worry. It's not that formal." She told me.
"But…but you just said that they were the royal families." I was freaking out like anything.
"Yeah, don't worry. These two are the closest. The other one is Louis' uncle and aunt. Quite nice people, I might add." Willa spoke after a long time.
"Okay, so, what are the rules?" I asked.
"Nothing much. Just don't spit in your plates and don't freak out much." She said.
"Okay, what if the food's really spicy?" I asked for fun.
"Okay, you shouldn't worry about that. Chef Ruskin's is the best chef present on this planet." Willa answered. Sybilla was staring at her shocked as if making her sister talk was really a difficult task.
"Willa, you spoke?" she was being interrogative more than being assertive.
"I don't know how!" Willa was excited.
"Wait…is your gift to project out yourself?" Sybilla asked me.
"Kind of, yeah." I answered. "That's what grandma told me."
"Well, 'cause Willa is kind of in herself till she finds someone who can get out their feelings well. But just feelings not thoughts. Are you that kind?"
Okay, let's just rewind what everyone tells me to do.
Rachel: Cassie, you need to get your thoughts out and talk what you think.
Paul: Sissy, you better talk to me properly and tell me exactly what you mean.
Mom: Honey, you need to speak it all out.
Dad: Sweetheart, you need to have some good conversations with people.
Brady: Cassie, you have to promise to me that you will talk to me whatever you feel.
Seth: Sometimes, speaking can solve problems.
…..
"No, not much. Maybe." I answered.
"Uh…okay. You are getting late, Cassie." Sybilla said. "No problem if I call you that, right? I thought you might want to kill me after what I said about your boyfriend-Brady."
"Not a problem. Told you- lethal combination." I said and winked my eye at her and went into the bathroom.
Sybilla had told me when she had gone outside with Willa and that my outfit was lying on the bed and that I needed to wear some earrings that she had left and that my hair should be left curly and loose. I followed whatever she had said. The shampoo smelled like heaven...like flowers in a forest of all kinds.
When I walked out, my sight fell straight on that dress, I saw that it was light purple one with a black lace running down from the right side to the left end (that is the knee) of the dress. It was kind of pretty. She had left me some large black hoop earrings. I was ready in a few minutes after I had dried my hair and brushed fine. I wasn't just ready to walk down alone. You know, it was kind of weird to go in front of someone you don't know. It is really strange and what if I might slip? Sybilla had left me some black wedges.
"Hey, wanted me? Whoa!" this was Louis' voice.
"God, yeah, really did need you. Did they start the breakfast?" I asked, freaked out a bit.
"Breathe in once." He told me. I filled in. "Now, out." I breathed out. "NO freaking out, got it? You look great anyway."
"Okay, fine." I said and he cued me to put my arm in his arm hoop and he walked me down.
"Princesses don't bow to anyone." Louis told me for the last time. He knew that if I saw anyone there bowing to anyone else, I would bow too.
"'Kay, got it, chief!" I said kind of saluting him. He had already made me start feeling a bit easier.
"And Brady is already sitting on the table; he is kind of really composed there." He told me.
"I hope it's not sarcastically?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow. The staircase was large and grand, so, yeah, it took us time to walk down. Anyway, when we reached down, he left me to my seat next to Brady. He was in a normal red t-shirt, the sleeves of which had been shoved up to his elbows with some dark blue jeans.
"Um…good morning, everyone." I called politely and hesitating to say that. Willa and Sybilla were sitting facing Louis' chair that was vacant right now. The other four people on the table, excluding my grandma, were dressed formally like I had watched in the movie Princess Diaries. It wasn't that weird for me now as I was one-day used to this but seriously, did they have to wear this whole day long? I would die if it's a yes.
"Ah, Theodora! Good morning, my dear." Grandma said.
"Well, good morning, princess Theodora." The four said in unison. I could actually see that Brady and Louis were kind of silent chuckling. I hated that. My nose might've been flaring because Brady's eye settled on my nose and then, he shut his mouth and even signaled Louis not to laugh. It was weird walking in heels at home, it felt as if you were somewhere official.
Quite a catch, I am in a palace.
"So, let me introduce you to- Count Leroy Bradshaw, his wife- Countess Lana Bradshaw…" she pointed towards the ones with green eyes like Louis'. You know, the pitch in her voice seemed extensively and really gracefully royal. "Count Darwin Rozet and Countess Deidra Rozet and you've already met Willa and Sybilla, their children."
I smiled at all of them as if a way to say 'hello'.
"And this is… a shape shifter from the Quileute tribe- Brady Fuller." She said as if bragging.
Brady did the same thing as me.
"Louis got my little granddaughter back. I shall be highly thankful to him all my life." My grandmother said. Okay, this was really…I don't know…weird.
It was weird how they called me Theodora but still I felt like I belonged here. The large windows at the back wall of grandma's royal chair, were quite open and so all of us could smell the mix fragrances of all the four elements. After the breakfast thingy, Louis took me and Brady to the woods because 'grandma wanted the princess to know more about her presidency.' I could see trees of almost all types in the woods and then, he led us into a narrow ravine sort of a thing and into a large orchard area that had a lot of trees. I couldn't exactly make out all of them but all of them were BLOOMING! It was kind of strange but he reminded me that this place was made by my great grandfather about 100 years ago and everything blooms in every weather. When back home, we were watching those paintings in the collection room on the first floor when I came across the photos of the royal family together with the ….royal dogs?
They were golden retrievers! And their mark on the paw was exactly the same like Marley has. Just that second, my grandma appeared.
"Ah, those are our royal family of retrievers." She told me. "You know, they are different from the others. Your father never got along with the dogs but your grandfather loved them. Unfortunately, the family died protecting me with the army. One was left and Rhys put him in a basket and straight into the waters. I think he is still alive. May he have found a good family to take care of him?"
"Whoa, wait a second. That's like Marley." Brady spoke assessing that paw mark.
"Yeah, I too was thinking the same." Louis said.
"Wait…I remember, the shop keeper was saying that he found 'the cute little thing' in a basket in the waters. I thought she meant it as a joke." He muttered.
"So, he found you?" grandma asked us.
"Yeah, sort of like it." I answered.
TWO DAYS LATER, IN THE MORNING…
"Cassie, it's your debutante ball TONIGHT!" Sybilla screamed in my ear and shoved me out of the bed.
"Seriously, are you a cock?" I asked her.
"No, I am excited about it! It's your debutante ball! I mean that comes once in life, okay?! It's like your birth ball." She said excited.
"Okay, what's it about?" I asked her.
"Everyone over the tribe is coming to see the princess, my dear!" she told me.
"Wait, WHAT?!" I freaked out. "No, this can't be happening. It's not even two days since I'm here and you guys are getting me into public? That is going to be a perfect drama, okay? You know I'm not a royal! I barely know how to walk in heels and you guys are talking about ball gowns!"
"Okay, stop screwing up that much." She said, annoyed. "It's just a ball. You have to keep up a smile and dance and walk gracefully, that is it."
"You know that I can barely walk with balance, let alone gracefully." I complained, screwing up more than needed.
"Urgh! You're so stubborn now! Okay, just behave as if you know all of 'em."
"BUT, duh, I do not know everyone." I said.
"Oh god, she's a hard nut." She told Willa.
"Well, um…what we can least do is call Louie to stop you from freaking out." Willa said and that second, the door of my room flung open and it was Louis.
"Uh…Faith, I needa talk." He said, acting a bit nervous and I could tell that he was a bit worried about something.
"Yep?" I asked, popping out the 'p'.
"Alone, maybe?" he cued Willa and Sybilla to leave.
"But we got a lot to teach her before the ball, Louie!" Willa complained. Louis gave her a long look and then his face dropped. I knew this look. It was somewhat like Brady gives me when he is trying to say that something is really important and I need to quit acting like a kid.
"Please, it's important." He said.
"Okay, we'll leave." Sybilla groaned and asked Willa to follow her out. As soon as they were out, where Louis followed them and maybe his gaze followed them till they were at the end of the corridor till he shut the door and bolted it.
"Okay, you don't need to freak out about this one." He told me. Whenever he tells he specially not to do something, as in you don't need to think about it, is when I need to think about a task the most. You don't need to freak out means that I need to freak out about this one. I totally do whatever about this is.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked him.
"Um…your dad…the imprints and your mom…and Brady and…" he was kind of babbling.
"Okay, don't babble. Tell me precisely what happened." I could have shouted. I couldn't realize it until I felt that he was kind of trying to focus on me to make me feel okay but some shield ran through me and his gift didn't work at all.
"He kidnapped the imprints and your mom along with them." this sentence was so fast that it took me almost three seconds to figure out what he meant. "Brady isn't letting you come because of all this and the last time. He fears that it would be just like it was the last time. He says I need to keep you here, if we want you safe."
All of this together could mean…
OH
MY
GOD!
Theo did kidnap all my friends and my mother. But why would he do that?
"And Wayne told me that he wants you in exchange of…"
"He wants me…he can have me. Now, that's that Louis. We're leaving. I don't care about a stupid debutante ball more than my friends and my mother. Where the hell is Brady?" I gave an ultimatum.
"Okay, look, this ball is really important and the thing is…"
"We need to go there, 'kay?" I practically shouted.
"Okay, no, we can't do that because we need Clarisse's opinion about this on leaving." He answered me.
"SHE IS NOT HER MOTHER, SHE IS MINE! SO THAT MEANS I NEED TO GET TO HER ANY SINGLE WAY! GOT IT?" I yelled.
"Okay, I get it but we need to be sure that you are safe if whatever we take as a step against this. You know we need you safe, got it?" he tried to explain.
"Where's Brady?" I asked him, calming a bit.
"He…is in the woods…kind of trying to talk to the wolves." He said.
"Then, wait for the ball. It is going to be without the princess." I said, my voice finally was royal and now, this showed my determination.
X-X-X-X
I didn't get how but Louis just got Sybilla and Willa to help us. They both got me ready and it a freaking pretty dress. I was wearing a pink strapless ball gown and it was a lot of net here and there. It had a crisscross design at the back and to say, it was a bit uncomfortable at first. The pink stilettos were kind of so formal that I had to train myself in them for some time. She had put some hair glitter in my hair and the body glitter on my bare shoulders. I barely got why it was needed. I hadn't seen my tiara yet and it was supposed to be a surprise till the party ended. They had made me wear white gold hoop earrings and the necklace I was wearing was really expensive, though pretty enough. Moving ahead, Sybilla and Louis had prepared me a bag with things I would need on the run back home with Brady. Since the afternoon, he hadn't phased back. He was in his wolf form except for some minutes when he actually told Louis the whole situation.
"Sybilla, I don't know…but I don't understand…" I was in half words.
"Look, I can understand. This just isn't about our tribe and I get it. If we actually pull this off, you're grandma is going to forgive us no matter what." she answered.
"Thank you so much." I hugged her.
"Hey, hey, don't damage my master piece. I know you won't be wearing all of this for long but still." She said and I laughed. I was so freaking out. My hands were covered in sweat and somehow I knew grandma won't like the princess with sweaty hands. It was all because of the tension breaking into my head. Well, it was the time that HRH Princess Theodora made her grand entry and it was weird how the guy at the end of the staircase called me that. Louis' plan was simple. All I had to do was go downstairs and when my grandmother would be giving the speech about my life history, I had to meet him near the end of the corridor where the back door was. It pulled out quite well enough because grandma went too much in details of my freaking out and stuff.
"Okay, look, I'll be just after you with Rhys and Sybilla in a few minutes after you change. Here you go." He handed me a bag. "Everything in there, Sybilla packed it."
"You know what, Louis?" I stopped for a second and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for understanding me."
"Uh…you didn't …need t-to…do that." He stuttered. I just had the guy stuttering right then. But he got himself composed. "Okay, Brady's there at the end of the garden where the woods start."
I rushed into the empty stable and walked right into the stall. I went through the bag. There was a pair of dark blue jeans, a purple hoodie and purple sneakers. I threw down the gown. God, it was so irksome. I threw off those stilettos and wore the things they had packed. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail and then, my fingers stuck into the pendant. It was mine-my royal pendant. I hadn't ever felt a difference when I wore it but I wore it just in case I ever need it.
And there I was…All set to run.
AN: So, since I'm almost done with one of my stories (not this one yet, don't worry), I have to start another. Plz review and tell me which one I should start first...
Jinxed Cinderella: Paul/OC
OR
Eternal Flame: Jacob/ Nessie?
Special thanks to my reviewers...
XxMixer4Life6Xx: Ya, thanks for loving it!
DracoXLoveXMe1: Thanks for always being there!
Lucy (guest): Wow, I hope ur dreams don't end like her disasters and anyway thanx for reviewing!