Royal Blood

Chapter 17

Chase glanced my way with a genuinely curious expression and said, “Who’s in charge of the castle while we are gone?”

I shrugged, “Probably his advisors, he wouldn’t dare leave in the hands of someone else.”

“I could only imagine,” he said, “Peace and happiness all over the kingdom.”

I laughed at the wonder in his voice.  “Aaron and Jesse wouldn’t let it get that bad,” I joked.

“You’re right, the people will probably end up hating you even more than before by the time we get back.”

I shrugged and smiled at him, “You never know…”

            “Who are we visiting by the way?” he questioned.  

            “Queen Charlotte, King Charles, Prince Liam and Princess Isobel… I think…” I said.

            Chase nodded and frowned, “Don’t know them.  What are they like?”

I shrugged and said, “I’ve only met them once at a ball I attended, so I don’t really know.  King Charles is a good friend of my father, or so I hear.  Isobel is a sweetie, and the Queen and King seemed polite enough.  That’s about all I really know about them.”

“So this visit can’t be too bad… can it?”

“Hopefully it won’t.” I said and left it as that.

******  ******  ******

We slowly rode into a quiet town, and just in time too, the sun was starting to go down.  We quickly found an inn and a guard hopped off and knocked at the door.  An older woman with gray hair that was tucked up into a bun opened it and her wise eyes quickly assessed our group.

“Do you have three empty rooms?”  The guard asked.

The lady nodded and turned around. “Ben, Jared, get out here!” she yelled and two boys scurried to the doors.  One looked about sixteen, and the other probably nine.  The lady nodded towards us and said, “Take these people’s horse, and carriage to the barn.”

The boys nodded, and I jumped off my horse and handed to reins to older one.  I gave him a slight smile as he walked off which he returned with a slight blush.  Everyone else had gotten off theirs, including my mother and father who had climbed out of the carriage.

We watched as the boys swiftly lead the horses away and turned back to the lady.  “This way,” She said and made her way into the inn.  Our group eagerly followed behind, ready to rest our aching bodies.  As we walked in she led us to a doorway of to the side, then up some stairs, and into an empty hallway.  She pointed to three doors, two on the right, and one on the left. “These are the ones you may stay in,” she said quietly, never saying more than she had to.  I didn’t blame her.  We were new here and she didn’t know who we were, the only thing she could tell is that were rich.  For all she knew my father could be a Lord that lived not too far away from here. I actually liked that she didn’t bow as we came in, or call us by any formal titles.

My father cleared his throat, causing the lady to glance his way, “Is there a place for the slaves to stay?” he asked, and all could think was, of course, he would be the one to ask that.

She nodded and gestured with one boney finger for Chase and James to follow her.  My father, pleased, walked into an empty room with my mother and the three guards disappeared into another.  I grabbed Chase’s arm to stop him as he had started walking off to follow the lady.  There was no way I was going to make Chase sleep somewhere that was probably utterly and totally disgusting.  James, though, I couldn’t help.