Danny Arrows: Gifted

3. Elena

We must be a couple miles or so from the Lower Gate of the Capital Rings, where all the most important citizens of the Royal City live. From there it's another mile or so to the top of the large hill called the High Seat, where the estate sits. Even from so far away, it's an impressive sight.

Sabella climbs up in one of the chairs next to the window. "Hey, yeah! It is the Royal Estate! Look Lana, I can even see the Landbury Gardens!" She exclaims, rubbing at her eyes. Her face is flushed and the skin around her eyes is red and puffy. She's exhausted.

"Yeah, Bells. You know, I sometimes forget how smart you are." I muss her hair playfully, and she worms away from me, her green eyes suddenly bright. I sometimes envy my little sister. Sabella will be stunning when she gets older. Dad used to joke about how he will one day have to beat the boys away from our front door with a stick. She got her bronzed complexion, bright emerald eyes, and golden-colored hair from our father, while Elliot and I inherited our mother's darker features and freckled skin. I have no idea who we got our violet eyes from, but I can't imagine they looked any less strange on them than they do on me and my brother.

"It's a lot bigger than it looks in the books," Sabella says, her eyes big.

I go back to Elliot, grab his map, and open it on the table in front of Sabella. "See this circle here?" I point to the center of the bullseye.

"That's the High Seat! That used to be Meena's castle, but it was destroyed during the Great War." Sabella answers eagerly. She's theatrical and sometimes overly dramatic, but my little sister is smart and way more intuitive than I was at her age. "Now the Royal Estate and the Landbury Gardens are there!"

"You're right," I point back out the window. "You can't see it from here, Bells, but there's a big wall that circles all of it."

She scrunches up her face in thought. "The Upper Ring. Right?"

"Right again," I look back at the map. "And these..." I point to the two lower rings that circle the estate. "...are the borders of the Middle and Lower Capital Rings. That's where my appointment is tomorrow."

I hear Elliot shut the door behind us and collapse into the mattress of the other bed. "It's also where all the conspiring takes place," he grumbles.

"That's not true, Ellie." Sabella snaps. "Lady Royal Theresa is kind and gentle, just like Meena was. It's not like in the books, where only stinky boys are kings. She rules now, but before her it was Lady Royal Sibil and Sir Royal Landbury but they died a long time ago when their ship burned. Lady Royal's husband was Sir Royal Boros, but he died of the fever. And her brother is Sir Marcus. Sir Marcus isn't married, but their sister, Lady Sara was. She died of the fever, too, a long time ago, when she was pregnant with their first baby. And Lady Royal's heir is Lady Mary, her daughter. And she has two daughters, too. Lady Walda and Lady Anna."

I chuckle. "Wow, it looks like someone's been paying attention in history class."

Sabella grins, "The history of the Royal Family is my favorite subject. Just think, Lana, about all those Lady Royals. They get to make all the rules!"

"And they have to make sure people follow the rules, too." Elliot answers.

Sabella opens her mouth, as if to challenge him, and then suddenly snaps it shut in thought. She turns back to me. "Lana, how do you get to be in the Royal Family?"

I chuckle, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how come we call them that? Why are they Royals if they aren't kings, like in the books?"

"Bells, those books are from a long long time ago, before the Royal Family. In those days, the men who called themselves kings were in power because they were stronger and richer than the other men around them. But the Royal Family changed all of that when they stopped the Great War."