Chapter Twenty
Dressed in a long elegant robe that was a turquoise in color, happening to compliment her gray eyes, the woman turned to Anya and Mason. She held her head high and her back straight, even though it was clear she had just been worriedly pacing moments before until she had noticed the pair coming up the stairs.
“I understand staying awake late for a ball, it is hard to sleep after such excitement, but running off in the middle of the night?! Mason! Explain to me what was going through that thick head of yours, please!” Mason opened his mouth, she cut him off however. “Mother and Father went to bed soon after the ball ended, so they have no idea that you went missing. Consider yourself lucky.” She put her hands on her hips.
Mason's eyes rolled. “Alright, mother, however, just to let you know, I can take care of myself-”
“You are a prince, a prince! You could have been killed! Or kidnapped!”
“Adara, will you let me finish?!” He cried in irritation. Adara rolled her eyes, but closed her mouth. “As I was trying to say, I had to help someone-” He gestured to Anya.
“Help her with what? Untying her gown?” Adara eyed Anya for the first time and looked at her with disgust. Anya felt her face grow warm and imagined it was very red at the moment.
“What? - No!” Mason exclaimed, also red in the face. “There was a-a-”
"I was in danger and Mason was fortunately there to rescue me. Your brother has just saved your duchess; I think that calls for approval, not disgust, Your Majesty." Anya said quickly, glancing between Mason and his sister.
The princess’ eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping. “The-the duchess? What is she talking about, Mason?”
Mason gave her a shocked look. “Anya…”
"I am Anya Thimes, true heir to the title of Duchess of Hallareese." Turning to Mason as Adara soaked this this in, she spoke in a quiet manner. "If I am truly safe here, I will take your offer."
Mason's eyes lit up, but he was interrupted before he could reply. "Where have you been all this time?!" Adara exclaimed.
“Unfortunately that is a long story-” Anya started before being interrupted.
“And as you have previously stated, it is late and we should all get some rest.” Mason finished for her, stepping to stand beside her and shooting Adara a look.
Anya nodded. “However, as soon as it is possible, I would like to come out with the truth.” She glanced to the side, half expecting one of those horrid men to pop out of nowhere with a knife. Nothing seemed amiss.
Mason seemed to notice her thoughts. “Adara, can Anya sleep in your quarters tonight?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of her.
“I suppose that would be a better plan than having her spend the night with Kelerin. That woman might slit Anya's throat in the night." No one argued that point.
Footsteps came down the stairs from the King and Queen’s floor. “Children! Really, up at this hour of the night? Cederick just informed us that you two were-” The King stopped mid-rant, seemingly noticing Anya there. “Oh, dearie me, who is this young lady?”
“Father, this is Anya Thimes… ” It seemed so unlike Mason to be submissive to anyone, and yet Anya was witnessing it happen before her eyes. She made sure to engrave the moment to her memory.
“You mean... This is Anya Thimes? ” Queen Chesa clutched her dress with her fists. “You are... Alive?"
“Yes,” Anya answered for herself.
Caam seemed bewildered as he turned to Mason. “Son, is this true?”
Mason nodded. “There is no mistake.”
The king focused his attention to Anya. “Well, my dear, it has been quite a while.” He smiled and held out his arms to her. Hesitantly, she walked to him and he embraced her in a hug. “It has been so long.” He whispered, letting her go. He held her at arm’s length by the shoulders, as if making sure she was really Anya Thimes. Chesa came to stand by his side.
“You look so much like your mother.” She told Anya. The mention of her mother made something in her chest snap, but she ignored it.
“T-thank you.” She stumbled on her words. Mason looked as if he wanted to hold her tightly to him and comfort her, but was too afraid of what his father, the king, might think.
“Perhaps we should get some sleep.” Adara suggested. “Anya, if you may…?” She gestured around her as they walked down the hall. “Mason and I share this floor.” She explained as we entered through a door into some kind of foyer. “You will find his chambers across the hall.”
Anya nodded to Adara, but found herself distracted as she looked around the first part of the princess’ chambers. The furnishing around her was in soft shades of orange, peach, and other warm colors. Think pink drapes lined the large bay windows and pillow of brown and orange were arranged on the plush, cream colored couches and armchairs. In the middle of the room sat a coffee table resting on a rug woven with a majority of the room’s colors.
“Does it please you?” Adara asked when she saw Anya pause. “I directed the decoration myself.” Anya heard the pride in the Fifteen-Year-Old’s voice as she spoke.
Anya nodded again, too tired to muster more of a response. She would have been more than happy to stay there in the room and slumber on one of the couches, but Adara led her through a door at their right. The next room seemed like the area where Adara would take her tea time. A small circular table decorated the room with a vase of presumably fresh flowers in it. There was a closet-like room in the back that Anya guessed was a small kitchen. The place looked as if it had never seen food, but that was the job of the servants to create the illusion. Adara continued ahead with Anya hurrying to keep up with the girl. The two walked into a small hallway that housed five more doors and Adara opened the largest of them to reveal her bedroom. It housed a large four-post bed with curtains draped around it. There were more armchairs in this room, along with large French doors leading to an outside balcony overlooking the palace grounds. To their left was another door.
“That is where a personal guard may sleep at times, but tonight it is your room.” Adara went to her bed, but paused before parting the curtains. “You are safe here, Anya.”
“Thank you. Good night.” Anya said before entering the small room and closing the door behind her. Despite all the fear surrounding her, Anya collapsed onto the bed and passed into a deep, sweet slumber almost immediately.
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Okay! Wow! It's been about two years since the last time I looked at this chapter. All the previous chapters were already edited and I only had to do a little bit more before publishing them on here. This one, however, was only edited half-way through- TWO YEARS AGO. WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN. Needless to say, it took a lot of work to fix this chapter. I'm still not sure about it, especially concerning the parts where I explained Adara's chambers, but I hope it makes sense. Let me know if anything is wrong.
I will post sometime during this next week and then on Saturday, but then after that is gets unpredictable. I start school on August 22nd, and my major is going to be consuming most of my attention. (I have to maintain a 3.7 GPA just to keep my major for the next year!)
What did you all think of the royal family? Comment below! If you like Adara's risque accusations, hit that vote button! And if you want to really get my inspiration flowing, please share this story!
XOXO, I love you all. (:
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Hidden Mysteries
FantasyAnya Thimes is just nineteen years old, but her life has been far from normal. For the past eight years, she has been hiding from the man who killed her parents. Now he's back and with a fate worse than death for Anya. However, with the arrival of...
