It occurred to Avery that all the paintings lining the hallway walls were of different villages in the Nightfell Kingdom.
“Through here.” General Stone told them. He was standing outside of two heavy oak doors with thick black rails. The panels of the door had the thematic wolf heads carved into them.
They were walking over to join him when Avery saw, that directly opposite the wooden doors, was a painting of Havyn.
“Check it out.” Avery told the other girls.
Sure enough, the little silver metal plaque on the bottom of the picture frame had the word, ‘Havyn’, etched into it.
The painting looked exactly like their village. It even had the stone well painted into the center of the town and the rows of long picnic tables placed off to the very far right, near the forest. The gigantic trees had little windows, and doors, and chimney stouts coming out of them. Each one of the girls found their house. It was easy for Avery; she knew hers was the first one next to the little painted stable. From what she could see in the painting, it looked vaguely the same, except the door seemed to be painted a different color. She could even see a tiny light brown and black brush stroke, meant to be the balcony outside her room. The only girl who couldn’t find their home was Bunny, who didn’t live inside the trees like the other girls. She lived in one of the farmhouses located in the fields behind the giant trees. In the painting, all that was visible were green and yellow patches of field and little wispy color spots, meant to be the farm houses.
Jade looked at the painting and snickered, “All it needs is a little sour looking Gumptin figure standing in the middle of the village and yelling, ‘You are late! Lazy Earth tainted oafs!’.”
The girls laughed, completely agreeing with Jade’s assessment and remembering back to three days ago, when Gumptin had said those exact things to them.
General Stone gave them a minute to scan over the painting, and then said to them, “Right through here.”
Before Avery let the others go anywhere, and while they were still in a tight circle around the painting, Avery said to girls, “Now, remember, we’re dealing with a King. So, we’ve got to be on our best behavior. Be professional and confident…we’re supposed to be Protectors.”
Avery and the other girls all turned their heads towards Jade.
“What!?” Jade asked, taking a step back and acting shocked, “I’m always on my best behavior!”
Avery raised her eyebrows, letting Jade know she definitely wasn’t buying that statement.
“I get along with people just fine.” Jade told each of them.
The girls scoffed, and Sasha literally stepped out of their circle and walked towards the doors, not willing to listen to Jade’s ridiculous comments anymore.
“Hey,” Jade said, shrugging her shoulders, “as long as you’re not an asshole, I like you just fine and it’s all smooth sailing. That’s why I have so many problems with Sasha…it definitely ain’t smooth sailing.”
Avery knew that’s the best she was going to get from Jade, so she walked over to join Sasha and General Stone. The General grabbed onto one of the chunky black metal handles on the door and pushed it open. He motioned for the girls to enter into the room and after they all had, he shut the door behind them, staying outside the doors himself.
The Protectors’ shoes thumped on the hard stone floors as they walked farther into the spacious room. The torches around the room were unlit, so the only light coming into the room was from the five tall arched windows along the right wall. The windows were lined with thick black curtains, which prevented as much sun as there could have been from flooding into the room. As a result, some parts or the room were brightly lit and easy to see, while other parts remained in dark shadows. The walls were covered with red and black gothic themed tapestries, effectively adding to the dark feel. In the dead center of the room was a twelve foot by twelve foot platform that had a step leading up to it on every side. On the platform, sat a grandiose throne. It looked to be made out of black marble, with a strip of silver running down the arms and curved legs. The seat and back cushions were plushy black and a black marble wolf’s head with blue jeweled eyes rested at the very top of the back of the throne.
The room was sparsely furnished, with only a row of dark chairs with crimson cushions against the back wall, a broad round black table to the left hand side of the throne’s base that had a number of papers strewn across it, a larger black chair with a crimson cushion pushed up against the left wall, and a large black writing desk with a simple dark wooden chair, also pushed up against the left wall.
A small movement out of the corner of Avery’s right eye caught her attention. When she turned her head in that direction, she saw a tall man leaning with his shoulders up against the wall, next to one of the long windows, his arms crossed over his chest. The man was shrouded by the dark shadows of the room and partially hidden by the thick black curtains surrounding the window. So Avery was unable to see anything but his lean silhouette. When the man saw Avery take notice of him, he pushed himself off of the stone wall.
“Well, well, well,” She heard a smooth deep voice say, “I never thought I’d see the day when Avery Kimball, leader of the righteous Protectors, would enter into my throne room.”
There was a definite dripping of sarcasm wrapped around his words, but any inkling of offense Avery might have taken from his comment was wiped away when she heard her name said in his silky voice.
When he walked out of the shadows and sauntered over to his throne, Avery was shocked to see, not only a young man in his early twenties, but also one of the most hauntingly handsome men her eyes had ever beheld.
The man was tall, about six foot, and lean, without being thin. He had thick midnight black hair that came down to just below his ears. His dark eyebrows and lashes were the same color black as his hair, making his bright electric blue eyes even more prominent than they would have been. His skin was pale; more like someone’s who doesn’t go out into the sun, than Avery’s naturally porcelain skin. He wore fitted black leather pants, tucked into black boots that went up to just below his knees, and a white tunic, with a black leather belt clasped around his waist. Attached to the belt was a black leather scabbard, which held a large silver-handled sword.
After the shock of the initial first sight of him, Avery collected herself and played back his comment in her mind. She really didn’t know how to respond to it. So, instead, she decided to get straight down to the reason they had come.
“Gumptin sent us.” Avery told him, trying to maintain a polished looking calm as she stared into his eyes. No one should have eyes that blue, she told herself, it’s just not fair. Then, realizing her mind was drifting from the topic at hand, she gave herself a mental slap.
The man walked over to the black throne and leaned his arm up over the top of it, “Yes, I know.” The man said to Avery, fixing her with a crooked side smile, “Your little magician sent me word early this morning, telling me to expect the honor of your presence.”
Again, his words were twinged with sarcasm, and this time Avery couldn’t find it quite so easy to ignore.
“Is that all he told you?” Avery asked, wondering if Gumptin had mentioned the reason for their visit.
“Should he have told me something else?” He asked quickly, staring at Avery intently and not answering her question.
Avery hated it when people answered a question with another question. It was one of her pet peeves. She reminded herself to stay professional, just as she had instructed Jade to do.
She opened her mouth to simply tell him, no, when, from behind her, Sasha blurted out, “I’m Sasha, by the way, Sasha Seraphina. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Avery slowly turned her head towards Sasha, giving her a ‘what the hell are you doing’ look. When Avery turn her head back towards the man, he was smiling broadly at her, flashing a row of straight white teeth. He clearly enjoyed Avery’s displeasure with Sasha’s comment. Avery found it amazing how qui
ckly his good looks had gone from mesmerizing to irritating.
The man moved his eyes from Avery, over to Sasha, “And it is a pleasure to meet you.” He told Sasha, smiling his side smile at her, “I’m King Draven Night, but you can call me Draven.”
Avery could almost hear Sasha smiling from ear to ear behind her. It made Avery want to gag.
“Anyway,” Avery said, putting an end to that little interlude, “we came here to ask you for the use of your army.”
Draven stared fixedly at Avery for a moment, and then burst into a slow deep laughter.
“You,” Draven said, through his dying laugher, “came here to ask me for the use of my army?”
Avery failed to grasp the humor in her last statement.
“Well, it’s not like we’d need you to give us the army right now.” Avery said, only making Draven laugh harder.
That was it; Avery was officially completely over his good looks.
“Look,” Jade said, standing next to Avery, “we don’t have a lot of time to waste. So, if you could just listen to her,” Jade pointed towards Avery, “it would be really helpful.” Jade must have listened to Avery; because that was the most polite she had ever been to anyone who had even slightly annoyed her.
Draven stopped laughing just as quickly as he had started, which led Avery to suspect that his laughter might have been just for show.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” He said to Jade, “I wouldn’t want to keep you from running off and getting yourself killed again.”
Avery felt Jade’s body stiffen next to her. Jade took a deep breath before telling Draven, “We were thinking about keeping that off of our ‘to do’ list.”
A serious look came over Draven’s face, darkening his blue eyes, “I’m not sure that would be a very safe bet.”
“Who do you think…” Jade had started to take a step towards Draven, but Avery grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back, stopping Jade not only in her tracks, but also mid-sentence.
Draven smirked, watching Avery take control of Jade, “I believe Havyn’s missing five little girls.” Draven told them, wiggling his fingers, signaling them to leave, “You should run on home now.”
Avery had had enough. She wasn’t going to go back to Gumptin and tell him that they had failed miserably. She could already see the horrible look of disappointment in Gumptin’s eyes. So far, in the matter of a few minutes, Draven had mocked her, laughed at her, and called her a little girl. Taking all of that into account, Avery was going to make damn sure he at least heard what she had to say before being dismissed.
“No.” Avery said sternly.
She stepped up onto the platform and walked up to stand in front of the throne. When she approached, Draven flinched back slightly, not expecting her to get so close to him. He took his arm off of the back of the throne and crossed his arms, as if he was creating an invisible shield to block her with.
Avery could tell she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Draven by being overly aggressive. She also knew that if she was too passive, he would just walk all over her. Avery came to the conclusion to take Gumptin’s advice and just be herself.
“I know that I didn’t…” Avery tried to think of the right way to say what she wanted to, “think to highly of you in the past, but I don’t remember any of that. Who I am now doesn’t think of you that way at all.”
Draven broke eye contact with Avery for a brief second, looking down, but then immediately looked back up at Avery. Avery saw his throat move up and down as he swallowed hard. It was the first time Avery had seen his cocky façade crack, even just slightly, and she was thankful for it. It meant that she just might be able to get through to him.
“I’d really like for us to start out with a clean slate.” Avery stuck out her hand in front of her, “I’m Avery Kimball.”
It took Draven a moment to pull his eyes away from Avery’s and glance down at her hand. He hesitated for a few seconds, then stuck out his hand and took hers in his own. They shook hands longer than necessary. Avery’s delicate hand fit comfortably in Draven’s bigger, slightly rough hand.
“I’m Draven.” Draven told Avery, his face soft, although he wasn’t smiling.
Standing there having her hand held in Draven’s, Avery almost forgot why she come to the castle in the first place; she almost forgot about the other girls standing there watching them, and she had definitely almost forgotten that less than a minute ago she had thought of Draven as an arrogant jerk.
Of course, all of those things came rushing back to her when Draven, seeming to realize they were still holding hands after more than a few seconds, cleared his throat and dropped Avery’s hand back down to her side. He stepped down off the platform and away from Avery
“Well…um,” Draven was uncharacteristically searching for words, “just because you don’t hate me anymore, doesn’t mean I’m going to hand over my army for you to play with.”
It hit Avery again why she had thought him an arrogant jerk.
Avery rolled her eyes, “It’s not like we’re gonna go play, storm the castle. We do actually have a plan, and you…”
“I’ll have to think about it.” Draven said shortly, cutting off Avery.
Avery bit her tongue, keeping all the insults she wanted to throw at him to herself.
“Fine,” Avery said, knowing it was probably the closest thing to an answer she was going to get, “you think about it, but before we go we need to see the records you keep on your army.” Avery didn’t ask if she could see them, she demanded it. She didn’t want to be turned down again, so she thought it best not to give Draven that option.
“Why?” Draven asked.
Avery shrugged, she really wasn’t sure. It was just something Gumptin had told her to get. He wanted the army records. He wanted to know how many men and regiments the King had and where they were all positioned throughout Orcatia.
“Gumptin wants to see them.” Avery told Draven, “When we return them, you can give us your answer.” Avery added the last part to let Draven know that she fully intended on getting an answer from him.
By the way Draven was looking at her, Avery thought he may try to argue, but instead he strode over to the throne room doors and pulled them open. He stepped outside and Avery heard him saying something to General Stone, who was waiting outside the door. When Draven walked back inside, General Stone was following him.
Draven pointed to General Stone, “Ferris will take you to the records room and make sure you get what you need.”
As the girls began to follow Ferris out of the room, Draven asked, “Avery, could you stay behind for a moment?”
Avery and the others stopped in their tracks. She stood completely still, just staring at Draven for a moment, wondering if she actually heard him say what she thought he had said.
After a moment, without Draven correcting or elaborating on his statement, Avery hesitantly said, “Alright.”
The rest of the girls turned and followed Ferris, all except for Jade, who stayed by Avery’s side, not moving.
“Alone.” Draven said to Jade.
Jade still refused to move, “Whatever you want to discuss with Avery, you can talk about it with me here.”
Draven smiled at Jade, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Run along little watchdog.” He told her, motioning with his hand for her to leave, “I promise I won’t hurt her.”
“Watchdog?!” Jade hollered
Before Jade could say something that Avery would regret, Avery grabbed Jade around the waist and pulled her to the door, where Ferris was waiting.
Avery whispered into Jade’s ear, “He’s a king, he’s a king, he’s a king, let it go.”
Without bothering to free herself from Avery’s grasp, Jade turned to her and whispered back, “Well, the King just called me a dog.”
“Remember what I said about being professional.” Avery told Jade.
To which Jade responded, “Remember what I said about assholes.”
Avery had
to literally push Jade outside the throne room doors, “Just go.” Avery said, pointing down the hall to where the other girls were waiting, “I need you to go to make sure we get the right records anyway. Bunny will forget the information Gumptin wanted, Sasha won’t care, and Skylar will get distracted by the first hot guy or sparkly object she sees!”
That seemed to strike some sense into Jade, which Avery knew it would. Jade may at times try to appear apathetic and indifferent, but she hated not getting a job done properly.
“Dammit!” Jade said through clenched teeth, then pointed at Avery, “Fine, but don’t take long.”
After Jade and the others disappeared down the hall, Avery slowly turned back around towards Draven.
Avery smiled nervously, “She’ll be fine.” She told Draven, hoping Jade’s almost outburst wouldn’t affect his decision about letting them use his army.
“I’m surprised you get anything done with that one safeguarding you all the time.” Draven told Avery, walking over and closing the throne room doors back up.
It was one thing for Draven to give Avery a hard time, which she really didn’t appreciate, but it was a whole other thing for him to talk about Jade. It was something Avery wouldn’t tolerate from people who didn’t even know her.
“She’s my family. We protect each other.” Avery said to Draven. Making sure her voice was stern enough for him to get the point to leave that subject alone.
He got the point. Draven shook his head, looking at Avery from out of the side of his eyes, “I’ve offended you.” He said.
Avery wasn’t sure if he was asking a question or making a statement.
“It wouldn’t be the first time today.” Avery said, laughing slightly, so Draven wouldn’t think she was too upset by it.
Draven smiled, “I’m sorry.” He said, and sounded more sincere than Avery thought him capable of, “I don’t have a lot of contact with people. So, I can sometimes come off a bit…abrupt.”
The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga Page 26