The Assassin Princess

A Courtly Visit

"Why do the women glare at you?" Zarek questioned as he sat next to Calira in the library. Wesley stood at the door and frowned at some of the nosier servants. Zarek was brought in under the guise that he was a tutor for the princess. So for several hours, almost every day, the assassin trio hid away in the library.

"Which women?" Calira responded although she could already guess which women her mentor was referring to. She continued to sharpen the dagger in her hand.

"Your ladies in waiting," Zarek replied as he carelessly flipped the page in the book he held in his hands. Wesley scoffed as he finally grew tired of standing watch and shut the door of the library. Calira sighed.

"They are nothing more than spoiled children who have had one of their toys stolen away," she explained. She didn't even look up from her lap. Zarek frowned deeply.

"Then why did you choose them?"

"She didn't. Alaric did." Wesley growled as he moved to sit in the high back chair next to Calira. Zarek put down his book and turned his attention fully on his protégé. Calira ignored him.

"You allowed Alaric to pick your entourage?"

"I didn't allow Alaric to do anything. He did it on his own without my say so. Zarek, this is an old battle that has long been fought." Calira replied with shrug of her shoulders. Zarek was silent for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"And you lost this battle?"

"I forfeited this battle because it has no real impact on the war." Calira responded unconcerned with the anger that swept through her male compatriots.

"Your marriage shouldn't be a war that you have to strategize each encounter," Zarek remarked angrily as he slammed his hand against the couch arm at his side. Wesley muttered a noise of agreement as Calira sighed and stopped with her task before she turned to her mentor. Zarek waited for her rebuttal.

"We have spent years hating one another, Zarek. From the moment his mother died, Alaric has been a difficult person to deal with. You nor Triscan should expect our sudden engagement and marriage to be anything other than rocky." She spoke calmly and softly. Her words were spoken with absolute conviction. What she spoke was the truth. Wesley frowned and he grumbled about Alaric being vindictive. Zarek stared at his protégé. In the time that they had been separated, she had changed. She had softened and gained compassion, but he knew that beneath that softness lie the steel-like resolution he had grown to know and adore about the blonde.

"Perhaps he should be open to compromise." Zarek mumbled as Calira's lips tilted up in a small smile.

"Perhaps both of us should be open to compromise, but as it is right now that is not possible." Calira replied simply. Zarek sighed as he gave up. After all, he knew the true extent of Calira's stubbornness. It was no good to push her. She'd remain firm.

"As much as I hate to remind you, you have a meeting with Countess Dubare," Wesley announced as he glanced at the large grandfather clock in the corner. Calira groaned loudly as she slumped her shoulders forward and buried her face in her knees. Zarek and Wesley chuckled at her childish reaction.