Royals (Book 1)

Chapter 34 : Preparation

"I do not even want to know how you two pulled it off." I told Natia when the guards brought her to my room, already differing greatly from Cindy. Instead of the typical skirt and some kind of blouse, Natia decided on a beige power suit that fit her demeanor greatly.

"Despite your beliefs, I organize most of the plans after Luis comes up with the idea. I am probably far more qualified than anyone else who applied." She grinned, adjusting the cuffs of her sleeves as she spoke.

"Well I am quite excited to have you here, not just because you are my age but to have someone else know what is going on." It seemed silly, but I was mostly excited to have someone closer to my age. Other than Alarik and Marina, I really had no one else to consider a peer.

"I would love to stay and talk about things, but apparently I have to take over planning your birthday ball. It looks like a snore for a girl's nineteenth birthday." Natia laughed.

"Well the princess from Aldford is planning a more secretive affair that will apparently be more...age-appropriate. I will let her know to invite you." I reassured her.

"My first day and I am already invited to secret parties, lucky me. Alright, this is tomorrow so I should start working on it." Waving goodbye, she left on my own for a moment. I had lessons coming up soon, my homework was already prepared in my bag so I grabbed it and tossed it over my shoulder.

Opening my bedroom door, I turned the corner until I bumped into a statue of a man. There stood Angelo, hands rested behind his back and narrow eyes practically burning me with a simple gaze. I took a step back with intimidation, wondering what his motives were for coming to visit me. It had felt like guilt was written all over me, but I remained calm as I collected myself.

"Angelo, you scared me." I laughed it off easily, trying to walk past him but he stuck his arm out before I could cross in front of him.

"I came to ask you about your new attendant, you two seem to be getting along." Was he eavesdropping this whole time?

"Well she is my age, that helps." I did not want to reveal too much but I did not want to seem like I was withholding anything either.

"Yes, I suppose." There was a pause, my palms were beginning to sweat. "Do you not find it strange that Cindy would suddenly turn her back on us?"

"I made it clear that I found it strange during my outburst."

"You were the one closest to her, did she mention anything to you before everything happened?" So he came for information, as long as he was not throwing accusations in my face I felt safe.

"No, I doubt she would have told anyone if she had been planning something." I crossed my arms over my chest, maintaining eye contact the whole time.

"You're right, tight set of lips on that one. No matter what we say or do, she will not speak." My eyes widened at this.

"Do?" My need for clarification felt desperate, and Angelo could tell I was falling into his grip. The horrors of what could have been done to her in the holding cell filled my mind, and he could tell that was exactly what I was thinking of.

"Standard interrogation Rayna, do not get so wound up. After all, she is a traitor to this country now." I knew he was trying to stir up enough emotions to get something out of me, but I had to stand my original ground of ignorance.

For a moment I had forgotten how barbaric some of our laws still were. Enemies of the country could be treated as we wished, and any way to extract information from them was legal. My throat went dry at the thought, but I attempted to seem unfazed.