Chained Princess

Chapter 4 - The King

Anastasia stood completely dumbstruck in front of her audience. He was the king?! Her mouth surely would have hit the floor if it had not been attached to her face.

She turned angry eyes toward Cesare, who had a mischievous grin on his face. He hadn't even bothered to warn her! The little bit of trust she had placed in him vanished in an instant.

The man sitting at the desk had his hands folded in front of his face, but he did not look pleased as he stared at the two of them.

"Cesare, what is the meaning of this?" the man name Syran asked, his tone completely different from only moments before. He seemed much less friendly now.

Cesare stood to attention but his smile didn't falter in the slightest. "Yes sir! I believe this girl has something you will be very, very interested in," he said, looking pointedly at Anastasia as he emphasized his words.

Anastasia fumbled in her pocket, pulling out the battered envelope. The king looked at it with surprise as she was handing it to Cesare.

"You are from Sasnia?" he asked, his voice filled with curiosity. The other soldiers were staring at the little envelope with similar expressions. Anastasia's eyes narrowed. How could he know such a thing when she had yet to speak a word? She hadn't told Cesare of her origin either. Maybe he had seen the coins after all? But the king had asked her as a question, not a statement. Recoiling her hand, she channeled magic through her eyes and saw, emblazoned on the front of the envelope, the royal seal of Sasnia. Panic and anger fill Anastasia. Panic because she was in a room full of people who now knew who she was and anger because she couldn't believe her step father would betray her this way. Everyone continued to stare at her as they waited for her reply, but her attention was now focused between the letter, the king, and the exit.

In an instant, she made a dash for the door. Cesare and one of the woman soldiers were on her immediately. She sent a bolt of magic energy through her finger tips, repelling both soldiers as they went flying in either direction. Cesare landed hard on his backside and the woman managed to land on her feet but looked incredibly surprised.

Anastasia turned her attention away from them and back to the door, but the king, standing at his full height, loomed over her as he blocked her escape. She took a step back and gasped at his speed, but that was all that was needed for two more soldiers to grab her by the arms and hold her in place. She struggled against them, but all she was doing was shaking her own body in futile effort against their granite grips. The king walked up to her and grabbed the envelope still clutched in her hand. She fought back her tears and let out a shaky breath. The necklace burned hotter than she had ever felt against her throat.

The king stared at the envelope and his eyes narrowed infinitesimally as he flipped it over and ripped it open. Anastasia watched as his eyes quickly scanned over her step father's letter. It was only a few lines, though, before his attention peaked and his reading slowed. The grandfather clock ticking in metronomic rhythm was the only sound in the room while everyone waited for the king to finish reading. Anastasia found herself rather annoyed as he read through three pages. Her letter only had one page. What could her step father have written so long about? Surely, he didn't give away too many secrets. It was he, after all, who had drilled it into her that she was to never speak of her past to anyone or even tell anyone her real name. The only two people who had been privy to that information was her step father and Rowan.

Once the king had gone through all of the pages, he scanned back over them, repeatedly, looking up at her then back down at the papers for much longer than Anastasia believed necessary. He was making her feel very uncomfortable, not that she already wasn't. While the king had been reading, the other soldiers, with the exception of Cesare, had been studying her with hostile scrutiny. In addition to Cesare and the two women soldiers Anastasia had already taken note of, there were two other women and five men. They were all incredibly tall and, standing together as they were eyeing her with distrust and scrutiny, extremely frightening.