I woke to the feeling of someone running fingers through my hair. It was weirdly comforting and I almost ignored it, but then I realized that there was someone touching me, in my room. My eyes immediately opened and I looked up to see who my intruder was. I relaxed though when I saw it was Dimitri. "You looked like you were having a nightmare, tossing and turning like you were."
"I was." I told him, sitting up. "But that's nothing new." He smirked, getting up and bringing me a tray. It had a cup of tea on it and a large bowl of soup.
"You slept the morning away, but you should still have some lunch."
"You know I'm not going to be able to finish this." I said as I looked at the size of the bowl. Dimitri had been kind enough to start small with my serving sizes, but they kept on increasing faster than my stomach. And I still couldn't eat more than one meal a day.
"Eat what you can." His demand was humorous. Here I was, apparently a member of royalty, and I was being ordered around by a tailor.
"Never would have thought..." I said aloud. Dimitri turned and looked at me, but didn't say anything. Dimitri was more of the listener type anyway. I quickly ate what I could of the soup, surprised by how much I was able to eat this time around.
"You received a letter from Lord Varen." Dimitri went over to my desk and grabbed the letter, bringing it over. I shifted to get comfy and opened the letter, popping a bite of bread in my mouth.
Dear Princess Erilyn,
You have been invited to the Hummingbird Palace to celebrate Prince Varen's upcoming birthday. We will be hosting a glorious ball with fine music and delectable food. It will be a masquerade. We look forward to your attendance.
The Nicaroff Family
"Lord Varen also sent this with the messenger that arrived this morning" Dimitri said, handing me a small package. I looked up at Dimitri, confused as to why Varen didn't give it to me yesterday, but I didn't question it. The package was relatively small and thin. I shook it, smiling. "You're entertained."
"It's a wrapped present. It's been a while." He chuckled at my childishness and went over to the closet to pick out my outfit for the day. I carefully pulled the paper wrapping from the box, turning it over in my hand before opening it. A necklace fell down into my lap, a simple choker made from some kind of black metal, but woven into vines. There were roses also wrapped into the choker with emeralds embedded into their leaves. "Can you make me a dress to match this? Something extravagant for a masquerade ball?" Dimitri came over to me, a pair of pants and a shirt hanging from his arm. He looked at the choker and his eyes widened.
"Wow, that is a magnificent piece." I grinned as he studied it, and I could faintly hear the gears turning in his head as he began designing in his mind.
"Take it with you when you go. Then you can use it for the design." He nodded, taking the choker and putting the clothing he had picked out on my bed. His eyes never left the choker, not even as he silently left the room. I laughed, watching him go. Then I turned back to the box and saw a letter within it.
Dearest Erilyn,
Hope this finds you well. I saw that choker on my way home and thought it would suit you. I hoped you would wear it to the ball, but if not I'm sure you'll look astounding anyway.
I talked with my family about courting you. Let's just say my father was not all that thrilled. Actually, he was enraged. Be careful when you come. Be sure to bring your sword. Lord knows what he may have planned.
Also my brother, Ryan, wants to battle you sometime. I told him about Roy being your guardian when you were young and he's very interested in your fighting ability. He's the strongest in our kingdom, but he's arrogant about it. It's definitely his weak spot.
My mother sends you her regards and blessing. She told me to tell you she's thankful for your assistance and efforts. She's sending you a carriage tomorrow morning to bring you here for the ball. I think she's also sending her own guards for just in case.
Can't wait to see you,
Varen Nicaroff
It was then that Tory came in. She helped me get dressed, and was surprised that I still didn't have to suck in my stomach to tie a corset tight. "You're highness, you ought to eat more. 'Tis not healthy havin' a body like yours."
"I can't do anything about it Tory. I'm trying to eat, I am, but I just can't fill my stomach very much." She shook her head, a frown on her face.
"You can do anythin' you set your min' to do." With that she took her leave, bowing before she walked out.
"If only it were that simple." I whispered, going over to my vanity and grabbing my brush. I ran it quickly through my hair before pulling some of it back with my tiara. I hated to wear it, but at this point there was no reason not to. Might as well get used to moving around in it anyway since I would have to wear one as I stayed at the Hummingbird Palace. I gave myself a good look over in the mirror before I grabbed my sword, tying it to my hip, and heading to the king's study again. I knocked and peeped my head in. He was seated in the same spot, a book in his one hand, a cup of tea half raised to his face in another. "Can I go out on my own today?"
"No. Get Dimitri to join you." The king didn't even look up from his book. Though he did humorously raise one eyebrow as though internally laughing at my request.
"Please? He's working on a dress for me for the Nicaroff ball and I don't want to disturb him." This time the king did look up.
"Take Lord Izen with you. Get to know him better." I about gagged at the idea, swallowing hard before responding.
"But he's my sister's suitor." The king just looked at me, as if this didn't matter. "Very well." I resigned and slipped back into the hallway, closing the door behind me Lady came down the hall again, carrying what looked to be a white sheet. "Lady!" I called to her, waving my arm and running to her.
"Your highness! You should really be careful running like that!" She looked at my ankles and fussed about, as though she was worried I had broken a heel in my sprint to catch up to her.
"Oh it's ok. Can you take me to Lord Izen?" She looked at me quizzically before agreeing to do so.
"I was going to his quarters anyway." I followed behind her, not entirely surprised to find his room was next to Marie's. "Lord Izen, I have your fresh linens."
"Come in." She entered and I followed her, though I don't know if I really should have. Upon entering I was met with the sight of Lord Izen shirtless, ruffling his short hair with a towel. "Princess Erilyn is here as well." Lady announced. With this Lord Izen turned toward me faster than I thought was humanly possible. Apparently we were both flustered by the sudden turn of events.
"Your highness what are you-"
"I wouldn't be here unless it was important. I need an escort to go into town and Dimitri is busy at the moment." I turned my gaze to the floor, not wanting to embarrass myself by staring at him. I hadn't actually seen a shirtless man before, but I didn't want to study it from Lord Izen for sure.
"Huh. Did you talk to your father?" His tone noted he didn't want to be bothered with the task, and I felt even more ashamed I was here asking for his help.
"He said to come to you. He seemed to ignore the fact that you're Marie's suitor." I heard Lord Izen go across the room and move some fabric.
"Alright." He said. This time I had to look up. He was now fully clothed, but that wasn't what had me shocked.
"That's it?" I asked. "No argument at all? No witty comment? No sarcasm, cold shoulder, or refusal?" He chuckled, grabbing a pair of boots and sitting down in a chair as he put them on.
"I'm not that heartless you know." he said with a smirk as I about choked in response to his claim.
"You called the kids I looked after trash." I retorted. He looked up at me, then back down at tying his shoes.
"I'm very hot-headed, I'll admit that much. When I get mad I can't stop myself." He stood up, adjusting his laces one last time. "I'm sorry for that by the way." While I could read a note of sincerity in his voice, I wasn't completely won over by his sudden apology.
"Sure." I said, fiddling with my shirt. "I'll meet you out in the stables." With that I left his room. He annoyed the living daylight out of me. I couldn't stand being in his presence, especially with the aura he gave off. I went back to my room briefly, grabbing the bag of gold from my first trip out with Dimitri, and headed to the stables. The sun was out surprisingly, and the heat of it felt amazing on my skin. I almost just wanted to stand in it, drinking in the warmth on my skin and ignoring everything going on around me.
I saddled up Warrior, feeding him an apple and some oats when I was done, and led him out of the stables and into the courtyard. Lord Izen soon came out of the palace, proper attire on and even a pair of riding gloves in his hand. No surprise, he had on his bright red cape. "That cape is going to have to go." I told him as he approached me.
"Yeah, no." He snickered, flipping it back like I had seen women in the kingdom do with their hair.
"I'm serious Lord Izen. Trust me and leave it here." He looked over at me suspiciously before walking past me and saddling his own horse. At first he seemed too stubborn to actually listen to me and take his cape off, but eventually I saw that he did remove it with a huff, right before he jumped on his horse.
"So where are we going?"
"Somewhere important." I told him as I jumped onto Warrior and led us through the courtyard at a walk. We bypassed the guards and I debated taking my tiara off. At first I was hesitant. If I had been going out myself it would be okay to wear it, but now I could put Lord Izen's life in danger by wearing it. I took off my tiara and put it in my saddlebag. I found another bag of gold other than what I had grabbed and internally thanked Dimitri for being so intent on covering all of my needs. "Okay, let's go." I got Warrior to a gallop and we sped to the town. When we got there however, I slowed down for fear I might harm someone in the streets. We cantered to the outside of town and followed the dirt road that lead into the mountains.
"Where are we going princess?" Lord Izen repeated. He wasn't going to go unanswered this time.
"I need back up information for something. And there's only one place I can go to get that." I said as I pushed Warrior to a gallop once again. We rode like that for a good fifteen minutes before the tavern I was looking for came into view.
"Now that's a beautiful sight." Lord Izen said when he too saw the tavern.
"The tavern?" I asked, surprised he would be interested in a place like this. "I can't imagine you being an alcoholic and drinking in a place like this."
"I am not an alcoholic. That wasn't what I was talking about. Look at the tree beside it and how it's blooming." I turned my head and saw the tree he was talking about. Indeed it was beautiful; so beautiful I wondered how I had missed it. "Princess you should really stop acting as if you know me."
I slowed my horse and looked at him, eyes raised. He met my gaze as he too slowed his horse. "What?"
"I think you heard what I said." he said as he slid off his horse. I did the same, contemplating what he had said.
"I didn't think there was a lot to know." I said under my breath.
"You always think you need to have the last word don't you?"
"Aw are you mad Lord Izen? Angry that someone can finally pick on your personality?" I said sarcastically, looking over and seeing his face growing pink. "Come on." I turned away from him and entered the tavern. When I opened the door and stepped in, everyone went quiet. A lot of the men and females knew me as the assassin I was in the past. Now many of them knew the truth of my birth and I felt them tense upon my entering. I ignored this, going to the bar and sitting down.
"Eri, it's been a while." The bartender said. I loved this man. His name was Marcus and he was probably one of the most brilliant con men I'd ever met in my life. He also ran an underground information network that was known in many kingdoms.
"Hey Marcus. How have you been? It's been what, three years?" Marcus chuckled as he made his way over to me, leaning on one elbow against the bar.
"I know why you're here. The Nicaroffs right?" Marcus whispered.
"That fast huh?" I asked him. I looked over at Lord Izen standing at the door, and motioned my head for him to join me. "This is Izen, he's running with me today." Marcus looked over at him and laughed.
"Girl, you'd break him like a toothpick. Why you runnin' 'round with him?" I laughed as Lord Izen looked over at me, surprised by Marcus' words.
"Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. He's not completely useless you know." Marcus looked over at Lord Izen and smirked.
"You good with a sword?"
"Yeah. Best in my kingdom." Lord Izen replied. I could almost see his nose growing from his arrogance.
"No you ain't. Not compared to this little missy. She's amazing. I've never seen someone so skilled." Marcus turned back to me. "You still workin' in the underground?"
"No. I stopped to look after the kids. Plus, my new station makes that hard."
"So I've heard. Royal blood doin' the dirty work in the underground? I love the irony of that." Marcus laughed a deep, reverberating laugh. I think some of the other men in the pub did too, and conversations began picking up their normal tempo.
"Listen, Boris is delaying a letter to me. He usually sends it within twelve hours but he's late." I saw Marcus fidget when I said Boris' name. "What?" He looked around and then titled his head.
"Come with me. You too Izen." We stood up and met him around the bend of the bar where he let us behind it and into a separate room. He had one of the female servers stand by the bar to make sure nothing happened in his absence, then he closed the door and locked it.
"Eri, Boris was found dead this mornin'." Marcus was quiet as he talked. "That's the reason he couldn't send you a letter. He died yesterday. Sometime around late night."
"What?! But I just talked to him!" I was shocked. Boris had always been careful about his dealings.
"What kind of a letter was you askin' from him?" Marcus asked as he pulled up some crates for us to sit on.
"I need information on the..." I looked over at Lord Izen and glared at him. "What we say in this room stays in this room. Got that? Or I will kill you."
"I doubt you'd be able to do that, but fine. My mouth won't ever open on this subject."
"Boy I'm telling you, Eri was the number one most hired assassin for Saint's Domain and Devil's Judgement. She'd kill you before you even got a chance to draw yer sword." Lord Izen's head whipped around to me so fast I thought it would fall off his neck.
"What?!" He yelled.
"Shhhhh!" I exclaimed.
"You were working with whom?!"
"I don't need to explain myself to you." I turned back to Marcus. "I had asked Boris for information surrounding the Nicaroff king's involvement in Devil's Judgement."
"That would explain why he was killed. You put him in a very tough spot. He was already under surveillance for givin' out information like that." Marcus scratched his beard, trying to make sense of all of this.
"Marcus I need you to tell me then. If Boris is gone I'm one broker short. I can pay you for this information. For real." Marcus looked over at Izen and then at me.
"Who is he really Eri?" The face that Marcus made showed me he wasn't going to let this go without an actual answer.
"Well..." I thought about telling his true identity, but that would put Lord Izen in really bad trouble. "He's one of my cousin's. He's also involved in the underground a bit. But he does work for people like Bishop. He's my broker apprentice for information on Patricia's Calling. I brought him today so he could learn the ropes of being an intel." Marcus looked up at Izen and seemed to believe this.
"Alright then." Marcus rolled his shoulders quickly and sighed. Oh no, this is top secret information for sure. Those were two signs from every broker that we were talking about really intense things. It was a sign I've known to look out for in regards to how I would pay. This was going to cost a good bit. "Nicaroff and his eldest son are the leaders of Devil's Judgement. You overthrow him and the entire underground realm will be shook up. He will target you, and he will kill you Eri. You have skills, the best I've seen, but he has numbers. And I'm talkin' very, very large numbers of men. And women. He has spies everywhere Eri." I took a long breath, rocking back on my crate a bit.
"Does Lord Varen and his mother know of this?"
"No. They know he's involved, but they don't know to what extent. They don't know what they're dealin' with. Overthrowin' him will also put them in trouble."
"What if we were to get Saint's Domain involved in this?" Lord Izen asked, trying to think of ways to get all of us out of trouble.
"They won't get directly involved. Saint's Domain is just as sketchy as Devil's Judgement and they try to stay in the shadows as much as possible." I told him, shaking my head.
"What if I personally sent guards to insure some higher level of security? We could ask Saint's Domain to send their men that are involved in my military there. Then I can say I gave the orders and they stay in the shadows." I thought about this, surprised that it actually sounded like a decent idea.
"I don't know if they'll go for that." Marcus said. "They've been tightenin' their chains since they're preparin' for..."
"Yeah I know. But it's worth a shot right?" I said as I stood. "I have the money for the intel in my saddlebag. Izen let's go." Lord Izen stood obediently, following me out of the room after Marcus unlocked it. We walked out of the tavern and to our horses where I gave Marcus one of the bags of money before getting on our horses again. "Thank you for the information Marcus!" I called to him, waving before pushing Warrior to a gallop back towards town.
"So where are we going to meet with the Saint's Domain leader?" Lord Izen asked as we headed back.
"We're not. I will soon enough. Thank you for the idea, but the Saint's Domain leader is very picky about who gets in and out in meetings." Lord Izen looked at me, almost irritated, but let it go.
"Where are we going now then?"
"To the tailor's" I said, grinning.