The next morning, once she had calmed down from the fright she woke up in, a result of the foreignness surrounding her, she opened the door to her chamber quietly, surprised to see that there were no guards outside of her room.
She missed Nora, the constant, not always cheery face she was used to seeing every morning upon waking.
Sighing, she turned back around and shut her door, sound carrying through empty hallways.
Going back to the window, she watched as the sun struggled to rise up above the clouds hanging over the castle. Being elevated on a hill meant that she was always able to see the sun, if it were out, but here it was a little different. Not even the sun was there to keep her company.
She drew her gaze from the window as she waited impatiently for the door to open after hearing the bang.
"Yes?" She squeaked out remembering that these people were not Nora, they weren't used to her.
"I beg your pardon your highness, but I was sent to help you dress and show you to breakfast," the lady, who stood a good two inches shorter than Charlie with shoulder length bright blonde hair, kept her head bowed the entire time. When her head wasn't bowed, her eyes were cast down.
Just then Charlie's stomach rumbled at the thought of breakfast, "very well, do come in, and call me Charlie."
"Yes your highness," was the immediate response she got, telling her that the women didn't hear a thing she said other than the command.
After minutes passed by slowly, Charlie gave up trying to make conversation with the woman who seemed too skittish; she could barely help Charlie to braid her hair with her shaking hands.
Every time the woman happened to glance up at her, merely by pure accident, Charlie smiled to her in assurance, hoping that a friendly face would make her less nervous. That seemed to help by the time she was dressed and following behind her towards the Great Hall.
With no intentions of getting lost, Charlie tried to develop a map inside her head so that she would know how to get back on her own, but after the third loop she gave up and just followed.
The woman, who along the way said her name was Maggie, left her at the entrance of the Great Hall, where King Sebastian and Prince Connor were already seated.
Both men smiled at her, but she could feel Sebastian's lingering gaze on her the entire way until she sat down.
"I trust you slept well Charlotte?" Just when she thought they weren't going to speak to her, she was shocked at the abrupt redirection of his previous conversation.
Dropping the fork, it clattered across the metal of the plate, she looked up at Sebastian and nodded, "yes I did, thank you."
"And are you well rested?" It sounded like innocent enough questions, but for some reason he just put her on edge and made her second-guess her response.
Once again she nodded, "yes sir, I feel quite better now that I have rested."
He nodded in contentment, "good, I'm very glad. I would hate to know your first night was unpleasant, especially since you are here alone."
It dawned on her then that Jeremy must've let it slip that she had been crying. That had to be the reason he was asking so many questions about her wellbeing, why else would he care? He didn't even know her.
Connor interrupted any further conversation to be had, "I thought that if you're well rested I could show you around today, if you'd like?"
All of the smugness seen before vanished overnight, replaced by a genuine smile on his face. He seemed to be trying, she could at least try to meet him halfway, "I would like that very much, I enjoy the outdoors," she went back to picking at her food.
Connor's face broke out into a full grin as Bass smiled lightly, "wonderful, I will have Jeremy and Tristan escort you both. I have some business to attend to, but I will send for you both later today."
With that Bass exited and Charlie watched as he walked, confidence exuding with every step he took.
She didn't know how long she had been gazing at him until Connor tried to get her attention, "I apologize…sometimes I get stuck in my own head."
Connor just laughed, not fazed by her aloofness, "that's quite alright your highness, would you like to go now or are you finished with breakfast?"
She nodded, dropping the cloth napkin on the table and standing up form the chair, "yes I'm finished, thank you, but please call me Charlie. No one calls me Charlotte, well, maybe my mother when she's cross with me."
"That would be all the time I'm assuming?"
At that Charlie couldn't help but laugh as she followed him, "and where would you get such an idea from?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "call it intuition."
With that, Charlie smiled as she followed her out of the Great Hall and around the castle. It was every bit as large and as grand as Longstead but whereas it was safe and welcoming this one had a dangerous appeal to it. The crenellated walls shot up from the ground as though the castle acted more as fortress than a home. Shadows swallowed up most of the castle, but in the parts where the sun kissed it, the shimmer of the stone reflected along the walls and twinkled. It reminded Charlie of a sword; dangerous and needed to be handled with caution, but also was a beautiful instrument that could catch a ray of sunlight and reflect it back, illuminating all around it.
The interior, decorated in dark scarlets and purples, had some of the same features as Longstead, in particular murals. She was used to seeing a lot of paintings of battles and war throughout Longstead, despite her mother's constant protests. Here in Malgrave was no different, in fact, the same mural along the bottom wall in the Great Hall at Longstead lined that same wall in the Great Hall at Malgrave. What battle it was, Charlie had no clue, they all looked the same after awhile. One thing she was starting to like about Malgrave was the amount of winding staircases, seemingly at every corner she turned, and the amount of hidden alcoves the castle had to offer. The training grounds were also very impressive, just like those at Longstead except at all hours of the day knights could be hear practicing as though war was always on the horizon.
It wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. Malgrave was still not the same as home, but it brought an air of excitement, maybe even a little bit of danger.
Connor too was much different than when she first arrived. He was easy to talk to, sort of like Danny, but she wasn't supposed to be thinking of them in the same terms. This was the man she was going to marry and the only feelings she could rally for him were that of friends. There was something off about him at times, Charlie could feel uneasiness coursing in her bones, but she shrugged off those feelings, attributing them to unfamiliarity.
Coming full circle, they passed by the throne room where Jeremy said King Sebastian was hearing grievances from nearby villages.
Charlie never had much of an interest in politics, but it was good to observe a king in his natural element. One could tell a lot about a person by how they ruled over their people. She had witnessed her father conduct many of these meetings and was always proud of the decisions he made and the manner in which he held himself.
Connor could see the spark in her eyes as he walked on and she stood looking at the door, "would you like to go in and listen?"
She hesitated before answering, "only if it wouldn't cause a disturbance and be a bother?"
"Nonsense, my father always encourages me to listen in, I just personally never feel the need to sit for hours listening to people gripe and complain."
Brushing off that comment, she followed after him when the doors opened before them and Connor headed towards the front, nodding his head at the bowing people as he passed.
There were three chairs, a spot occupied by King Sebastian, one that Connor made himself at home in, and another beside of Connor, no doubt intended for Charlie's use.
Hesitantly she sat rigidly down on the throne, placing her hands awkwardly in her lap as she watched Sebastian out of the corner of her eye, consulting with another man in hushed tones.
At first glance, upon her late arrival in the night, she hadn't given much thought to his appearance. Not even at breakfast did she observe him thoroughly. But looking at him now as he sat poised and collected upon his throne as though born a king, she had to admit that he very much embodied what it meant to be a king.
While he was wearing less than formal attire, he still looked regal. The white tunic hung loosely off his body and remained untied, exposing part of his chest. Charlie couldn't help but allow her eyes to travel down his body. Covering that was a deep scarlet cloak, open at the chest and draping to the floor, lined with ermine fur. Fastening the ebony colored breeches to his hips was a massive belt, mostly composed of gold and other precious jewels. The purple cap upon his head did little to tame his unmanageable curls, poking out around the base of the cap.
Averting her eyes when he caught her staring, she looked straight ahead as though nothing happened while the next person. To Charlie's surprise a young boy was shoved forward, by the collar of his blouse, at the hand of a cantankerous older man.
"What are the charges being brought forth against the boy?"
The man gruffly spat out, "I caught 'em stealing bread."
"Is that true?" Sebastian directed the question at the boy who was so scared all he could do was solemnly nod his head as his lip quivered.
Sighing, Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose, "you know the punishment for stealing."
He turned to the executioner who was chomping at the bit to slice the boy's hand off, "make it fast," then again he directed his words towards the boy, "maybe next time you'll think twice about stealing."
Trying to wrestle away from the old man, the boy cried out as a flood of tears released from his eyes. Charlie couldn't believe what she was about to see. She was so shocked that she couldn't say anything, praying that it was a scare tactic, until she saw the blade go up in the air.
The executioner, with the help of the other guards already had the boy's hand flattened against a wooden bench. Without thinking about it, she leapt from her seat, dodging the hands of Jeremy as she ran to the boy.
There was no time to rationally think about what she was doing, so she did the only thing she could think of, and that was to forcefully shove the man out of the way and grab the boy, in the process, the blade came swiftly down and made contact with her arm drawing blood immediately.
Charlie didn't notice, all she could focus on was the boy's safety until she heard King Sebastian's voice bellowing out, "what do you think you're doing Charlotte? You have no right to intervene on behalf of the boy. He committed a crime and the law states he must pay for that crime."
"As you said, he's a boy, did you ask him why he stole the bread? Maybe he was starving, or his family was starving."
Striding towards her, he remained calm, "that may be so, but that does not warrant stealing."
Pushing the boy behind her, she appeared to not be backing down, "fine then I'll pay for the bread," she turned to the old man who was astounded, "how much do I owe you sir?"
The man went to open his mouth but Bass' terse voice cut him off, "that's not how this works, the payment is in the form of a hand so unless you're offering that, step aside Charlotte."
Not missing a beat she responded, "alright then I'll pay that price."
Forgetting the boy she stepped forward on her own accord and placed her right hand, still bleeding, on the wooden bench. She was not testing him in the least bit; she was honestly ready to give up her own hand for the boy.
Even though Bass was rather amazed by her display, he was also infuriated that she was undermining his rule. That may have worked with Miles, but that not here, not with Bass.
Grabbing her arm roughly, he yanked her up, his control snapping, "Enough. You are in my kingdom, I am the King, and I will not have you set the tone. I have made a decision, and it will be carried out. Either take your place at up there," he pointed to where she was previously sitting, "or Jeremy can escort you to the dungeon for your foolish act of bravery."
She sneered as she jerked her away out of his grip, "I won't sit here and watch this."
Gritting his teeth and locking his jaw, his head snapped to meet Jeremy's, "take her to the dungeon until the rest of the day and I am done here."