by Sidney Gray
She heard voices as they arrived and entered the room to find the King busy arguing with two council members. The Queen motioned for her to take a seat and she did so quickly, curious to find out what was happening.
“It is the middle of the tournament; surely we can discuss this another time.” Councilman Atherton was saying, he was one of the oldest councilman, a grey-haired man with little patience. She had heard Alex complain about him often, he refused to listen to anything Alex said, treating him like he was still a child.
Better a child then nothing at all Sofia had thought, at least Alex was allowed to attend Council Meetings, the Queen had never been invited and neither would Sofia when she was Queen. Well not entirely, she thought. When she was younger she had found a way into the ceiling above the council chambers, she had thought it would be so exciting to hear what went on in the meetings, in reality, it was not, and she just became frustrated at the way they fought over everything. They made so little progress, all too busy with their own agenda to worry about what was happening in the city. So she had stopped listening in, there didn't seem any point, there wasn't anything she could do anyway, nobody would ever listen to what she had to say.
She studied the Queen for a second and wondered briefly how she felt about it, but she was just as impassive as ever, she never let her expression give anything away.
“I’m sorry your Majesty but I believe that this matter is getting out of hand, we need to investigate as soon as possible.” Councilman Whitby insisted, he looked nervous, he was the youngest and most inexperienced member of the council, but he wasn’t backing down, and she admired his resolve.
“It's not just isolated to a few villages; it is happening in villages all along the edge of the dark woods. If this is some kind of disease, then we need to act right away, with all the people traveling here for the tournament we could have put the whole of Arandale at risk.”
“Have there been any outbreaks near the city?” Alex asked, he at least seemed to be concerned; the King looked far more interested in the contents of this glass.
“Not that we are aware of, but we don't know how long it takes for people to present symptoms, it may be too soon to tell.”
“People have been arriving for months now, surely if it was a disease we would have seen evidence of it here by now,” the King questioned.
Councilman Atherton looked smug, “Exactly what I have been saying your Majesty, there is no reason to bother the King during the tournament. We have enough to deal with at the moment with all the nobles under the same roof, besides this is all just rumors and we know the villagers who live near the dark woods are prone to exaggeration, all those tales of strange noises and lights. I would hardly say this is cause for concern. We can decide what to do after the tournament.”
The King nodded his agreement while Councilman Whitby looked increasingly frustrated. It was clear the King had a tendency to listen to the older, more experienced Councilman more but she didn't think Councilman Whitby would have bothered the King like this if he didn't think it was important.
Alex frowned and spoke again, “well even so, perhaps it would still be a good idea to send someone to investigate, surely it can’t hurt.”
“and who are we going to send?” Councilman Atherton questioned Alex condescendingly, and Alex glared at him.
Councilman Whitby started to speak again but was interrupted by the King.
“Councilman Whitby, I’m sure it's nothing to worry about, but we will discuss this at our next meeting.” The King said, clapping him on the back. “Relax, have a drink, enjoy the evening, we will handle it all after the tournament is over.”
Councilman Whitby looked upset but left the room without protest, Alex was clearly annoyed while Councilman Atherton smiled smugly. The King held out his hand to the Queen, and they exited the room while Sofia followed behind with Alex.
Dinner was quiet, Alex was distracted and didn’t talk much. She wondered briefly what Olivia had had to say earlier, but she was still annoyed with Alex and didn’t ask. Instead, she watched the competitors, they had all been fully healed and had obviously dressed up for the evening but it in no way compared to the noble’s attire, sparkling with gems and crystals, who had been planning their outfits for the last year. She could see the Hallewells’ snickering behind their hands.
She noticed Cole kept his eyes firmly on his plate, avoiding conversation with those around him. He had been unusually quiet on the ride back to the palace as well, and she wondered if he was still worrying over his mistake that morning.
“Is Cole alright?” she asked Alex, forgetting that she was still mad at him.
“I’m not sure, ” he admitted with a sour face, “I think he’s putting too much pressure on himself.”
“Well at least it’s almost over,” she muttered.
The dinner ended, and everyone got up to mingle, Alex and Sofia spent some time talking with the other nobles before Sofia noticed Claire standing on her own holding a drink, she didn’t appear to know what to do with herself. Sofia thought her father would be with her, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She said something quietly to Alex, and they excused themselves before walking over to her, Claire seemed surprised when she noticed them approaching, but she greeted them politely.
“You've been doing well in the tournament, your father must be proud,” Alex commented.
“Thank you, your Highness, I just hope to do well tomorrow,” she replied and Sofia noticed that she had avoided the subject of her father which only made Sofia even more curious but she stopped herself from asking where he was, Claire seemed uncomfortable enough, she didn’t want to make it worse.
They only managed to get a few more words from her before they moved on, Claire wasn't at all talkative, a stark difference between her and Grace, but maybe that was a good thing, she thought, they would balance each other out. They were both currently her two top choices for guards. They were smart and talented and so far she couldn’t find any reason not to choose them.
She spotted Kyla not far away and quickly pulled Alex towards her, she was eager to meet her and Alyssa as well, although she hadn’t seen Alyssa at all since dinner, she hoped she hadn’t left already.
“You are very talented, I’m curious to know who trained you,” Sofia asked Kyla after they had exchanged greetings.
“Thank you,” Kyla started to say before she was interrupted by Kyla’s mother. Well, she assumed it was her mother, they looked so much alike.
“Kyla has had many teachers over the years, she is very dedicated. She has already been approached by two Lords offering jobs.” her mother gushed beside her. She was even smaller than Kyla, but she didn't lack confidence.
“Really, that is great news,” Alex commented sincerely.
“Yes, her family is very proud of her, she has done well. We knew, even at a young age that she had great talent and she would go on to do great things one day.”
“and she has, making it this far is a tremendous achievement,” Alex replied.
“Of course your Highness and tomorrow she will do even better,” she smiled at Kyla, who looked uncomfortable with all the attention.
Alex jumped in quickly as Kyla’s mother looked like she was going to keep talking, “I'm sure she will, we should move on, there are so many people to greet, excuse us.”
“Well that was interesting,” Alex said to her quietly as they walked away and Sofia nodded in agreement.
The met a few more competitors, although unfortunately, Alyssa wasn't among them, so Sofia excused herself to use the bathroom. She walked into the room to find a young noble girl in hysterics over a tear in her dress while her servant tried frantically to fix it. She quietly backed out of the room before they saw her and stopped a nearby servant, asking her to get someone to help the girl. The palace had plenty of servants who could fix it easily.
Unfortunately, as she made her way to another bathroom further away, she almost ran straight into Olivia, who was walk
ing with Councilman Atherton. She greeted them politely before hurrying on, she did not want to be drawn into a conversation with either of them. She entered another bathroom and was surprised to find it wasn’t empty. Jennifer jumped back from the sink in shock when Sofia entered the room.
“What you doing back here?” Sofia asked.
“Hiding,” Jennifer replied honestly, surprising Sofia, “what about you?”
“Someone is having a meltdown in the other bathroom. What are you hiding from?
“My future, as you are probably aware, I’m not exactly thrilled at my mother’s choice of husband or having a husband at all.”
“Oh, what do you want?” Sofia asked curiously.
“I want to be an ambassador, I want to travel to other countries, but the best I can probably hope for is to be an ambassadors’ wife, although that’s unlikely as my mother would see that as marrying down.” She finished bitterly, she suddenly straightened and shrugged, “I guess neither of us is going to get what we want.”
She left abruptly without waiting for a reply. Sofia stared at the door as it closed behind Jennifer, surprised by the conversation, she had had no idea Jennifer felt that way about marriage. Had she not been paying attention or was Jennifer as good at pretending as she was she wondered. Although she couldn’t be as good at pretending as she thought as Jennifer had obviously seen through her facade.
Finally on the way back from the bathroom she found the person she had been most wanting to meet. Alyssa Lindsay was standing alone in a corner, eyes darting around observing everyone.
“My Lady,” she said acknowledging Sofia with a nod of her head when she approached her, apart from that she didn't move from her position, casually leaning against the wall, she didn't seem at all bothered by the fact she was in a room with the Royal family. All of the other competitors they had met that night had been nervous or uncomfortable or both.
“Please, call me Sofia.”
Alyssa just nodded, watching Sofia expectantly.
“You were very impressive today. Where did you earn to fight like that?” She asked, curious to find out more about the girl.
“Well, it’s quite a long story actually.”
“I have time,” she said, “of course if you don’t feel comfortable telling me that fine.” She added uncertainly.
“No, I don’t mind,” Alyssa said with a shrug, “Well, the village I come from is by the sea, so sailors often wind up washed up on our beaches. The rocks are very dangerous, and it can be difficult for ships to navigate around them.”
“Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?” Sofia interrupted concerned. “Surely sailors they know to give the area a wide berth.”
“Yes but some choose to take the risk anyway if they are behind schedule.”
“Oh,”
“Anyway, our village is quite used to opening its doors to injured sailors. Usually, they only stay a couple of days, weeks at most but when I was younger my mother took in a sailor who was very badly injured and allowed him to stay with us for as long as he needed while he recovered. About a year after he washed up on our beach there was a nasty storm that hit our village, a couple of villagers lost their lives, my mother was one of them. The sailor stayed and looked after me until I was old enough to take care of myself, he also happened to be a highly trained swordsman, and he taught me everything he knew.”
She spoke so calmly of her mother’s death, but Sofia guessed she had gotten used to putting on a brave face, she would have had to to survive on her own. She was tough, exactly the type of person Sofia needed as a guard.
“That wasn't that long of a story,” Sofia commented, not sure what else to say.
“No, I guess not,” Alyssa replied chuckling.
“Have you chosen your guard yet?” Alyssa suddenly asked.
“No, I’m still deciding.”
“I heard you have a list of acceptable girls you have to choose from,” Alyssa said watching her closely.
“You might also have heard I’m not great at doing what I’m told.” She replied with a smile.
Alyssa smiled back, “We are very alike in that way.”
She wished Alyssa good luck for the rest of the tournament and left, meeting her had only made Sofia like her more, but there was no way her parents would approve of Alyssa as a guard, and she wasn’t sure if the Queen would either.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to come up with a plan, she was pulled into a conversation with Rebecca Hallewell. Chelsea, was busy flirting with Lord Sutton and Rebecca seemed lost without her twin, Sofia actually felt a little sorry for her. Rebecca had always been the nicer of the two, and she had always followed Chelsea’s lead. She noticed Rebecca had been glancing at Jack, who was leaning against a wall nearby, while they talked. She had always suspected Rebecca had a crush on him. Sofia quickly made an excuse to leave, and once Rebecca’s attention was on someone else, she sidled over to Jack, nudging him in the side.
“You know it doesn't look good on Alex, you sulking in a corner all night, looking bored.”
“I am bored.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Well I think you should ask Rebecca to dance,” she said, inclining her head to where Rebecca stood chatting to a couple of girls, “who knows maybe you will even have fun,” she added, although she doubted it.
“with Rebecca?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sofia laughed and shrugged, “she's actually not that bad, without her sister.” she added.
Jack gave a long exaggerated sigh before he slowly pushed himself away from the wall and approached Rebecca. Sofia smiled at the look of joy on Rebecca’s face when Jack asked her to dance.
She had hoped after she had done that good deed she might be able to hide away for the rest of the night but it wasn't long before someone found her and she was dragged out onto the dance floor as well, her feet were still aching from the last couple of nights. She wondered if she started stepping on the Lord's feet they would stop asking her to dance.
A particularly handsy Lord was thankfully interrupted by Cole before she did something she would regret or her father would make her regret.
She breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you, do you think we could go outside for a minute, I need some air.”
“Is all this dancing too much? Mal would be disappointed in your lack of stamina.” Cole chastised.
“You try dancing in these shoes!” she glowered.
He looked her down at her feet, “right, never mind,” he led her through the crowd to the balcony closest to them. On the way they passed Chelsea dancing with Lord Hunter, he looked uncomfortable. Poor man, she thought. Finally, they reached the balcony, there was a cool breeze blowing, and she took a deep breath, exhaling with a sigh as she leaned on the ledge looking out over the gardens to the city beyond, she wasn’t surprised to see the entire city was lit up.
“It looks like we aren't the only ones partying,” Cole remarked.
“I wish I could join them,” she muttered.
“Really? You look like you're having a great time,” he said sarcastically.
“What about you? Normally you would enjoy flirting with all the noble daughters.” She teased.
He didn't crack a smile but rather rubbed his hands together nervously. He was silent for a while before he finally spoke, “Did you know my father won the tournament twice?”
“Oh, no I didn't.” She replied in surprise, Cole rarely spoke of his father. It was strange seeing him vulnerable, but he must be under a lot of pressure to live up to his father's image she thought.
“It must be hard,” she said softly.
“Not as hard as growing up without a father.”
“I'm sorry Cole,” she said sincerely, “but for what it's worth, I don't think you should worry. I will deny it if anyone asks but I think you are an incredible fighter and your father would be proud.”
He gave her a rare smile before saying, “don’t worry, no-one would believe you said
it anyway.”
They stood in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before she reluctantly left Cole and went back into the party before her mother came looking for her.
It wasn’t long before her mother found her though and tried to convince her to distract Chelsea so Evelyn could dance with Lord Sutton. Evelyn looked surprisingly unhappy with the whole thing, but it wasn’t long before Chelsea was whisked away from Lord Sutton by another young Lord and their mother quickly pushed her into Lord Sutton’s line of sight. She watched on as Lord Sutton lead Evelyn onto the dance floor while Chelsea glared at her, completely ignoring the poor boy she was dancing with. It would be interesting to see how that turned out, she thought.
CHAPTER 16
The party finally ended, and Sofia was even more frustrated, meeting her possible guards hadn’t helped as much as she had hoped, she felt like she needed to know more before she could make a decision.
Luckily, the final competitors had all been given a room at the palace so they could rest up for the last day. It would be the perfect opportunity to do some spying, she thought, however, she knew she wouldn't get far with Alex’s Guards watching her, but she was hoping they might help. She changed into her dark clothes and slipped out her door silently to the servant's entrance down the hall, she quickly made her way down the stairs, out the door, and down the hall, keeping an eye out for servants and guests who might still be wandering around.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Hayden asked, as she turned a corner and almost ran into him. She jumped slightly in shock. Lex was just behind Hayden and was looking around trying to work out where she was.
“It’s about time,” she said making herself visible and putting her hands on her hips, “how far were you going to let me go?”
“Well actually, I thought we should follow you and see where you were going, but Lex insisted we stop you,” Hayden replied grinning as Lex looked on in confusion.
“Well it is our job,” Lex grumbled quietly.
“Come on then it's time to make yourselves useful,” she said smiling.