Beatrice awoke from a nightmare panting, her hands sweaty. She threw the covers off of her body and embraced the cold breeze rushing through her room. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin against them. Her arms wrapped around her legs and she closed her eyes, trying to recuperate her battered breath.
She stood from her bed, slipped into her slippers, and walked into the bathroom. As she stared back in the mirror, her nightmare came back to her in broken pieces.
It was a dark room, except for the faint candlelight in the middle of the room.
The cool shower ran as she stripped her clothes off of her. Slowly, she stepped in the tub, standing in front of the water as it hit her face and hair. She caressed her blonde hair, leaning against the wall tiles.
When she was finished, she wrapped a towel around her body and stood in front of the faucet. She turned the water on, splashing her face with water before brushing her teeth and hair.
She walked towards it, her hand outstretched to the flame.
Since she had the day off, Beatrice opened the last drawer in her dresser and reached to the back of it. She took out her only different clothes – a black onesie – that was given to her by Tori a couple of days prior.
It was, apparently, her training clothes - which she was strictly told to wear during training.
She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time for breakfast. She exited her bedroom and spotted Will and Christina leaving the bedroom across from hers. They were kissing and giggling, and something in Beatrice felt sad again; she missed Tobias.
The flame sparked up and turned big as she backed away, tripping on a crack in the floor and falling.
Beatrice walked away from the scene in front of her and toward the cafeteria. She grabbed a plate and her food before walking to Tori's table. She sat across from her, who chose to ignore Beatrice blatantly, biting into her crust.
Consumed in silence, Beatrice leaned in slowly. "Are you going to the training arena today?"
Tori glanced up at her with furrowed brows. "Are you insane?"
Beatrice leaned back, shocked at her sudden hostility.
"Can you fathom how reckless it is to be speaking to me about these things unless we are in the security of the arena?" She scoffed and shook her head. "Amature."
"It may come off as a shock but I have never been involved in this sort of thing before," she snapped back.
Tori rolled her eyes. "Did you manage to retrieve any information while cleaning this week?"
She twiddled her fingers and shook her head. "The prince chooses to keep quiet about his affairs."
She sighed. "I am aware of how stubborn he is; the handmaidens told us that he sent them away once the conversation between him and his mother got heated. He does not enjoy having an audience."
Beatrice contemplated disclosing that she knew the prince and his father were not on speaking terms. The night we spent together now puts a damper on the information I promised Tori and Matthew, she thought quietly, stirring her food.
With a deep breath, she glanced up at Tori. "The prince and his father are not speaking. I do not think the prince will be able to obtain any concrete information any time soon."
Tori groaned, setting her toast down. "Damn; I was really counting on that. I mean, it isn't like the queen is much help; she's always passed out drunk forgetting the events of that day," she scoffed. "What a deranged family."
The room is silent as a figure emerges from the large flame.
With her hands in her pockets, Beatrice walked away from the table and followed Tori into the cleaning supplies closet. She stepped in after Tori, both of them entering into the dark space and toward the room with peeling paint. Sitting there was Matthew, who looked back and stood quickly at the sight of his new trainee.
"Thank you for being in your uniform. We can get started right away then," Matthew motioned for Beatrice to follow him through a door and to a spacious room.
"Before we do," Tori interrupted. "I fear we have bad news."
Matthew sat at the edge of this desk while Tori explained how little information the two of them are able to acquire. Matthew sighed and turned around to sit back in his chair. He pulled out another golden folder, opening it slowly.
Beatrice leaned and peaked at the contents; a picture of Tobias and information listed below.
"I was afraid this might happen," he confessed. "I will fix this. We will protect the people in this castle."
Tori and Beatrice watched as Matthew stood and walked out of the arena, clutching the folder in his hand.
Tori turned to the new recruit. "Now that that's being handled, we can get you started on training. Might as well since you are unable to retrieve anything valuable," She looked around and pointed to a row of punching bags. "Get started over there; I will join you in a little bit."
"I'm curious," Beatrice confesses quickly. "Is there any way of knowing who belongs to the organization outside of this arena?"
Tori chuckled. "Unless they're doing a really bad job about keeping their agency a secret, you wouldn't know. You'll see some of them here and training. Look, one of them is training over there."
It's a man figure; the only man she was waiting for. He extended his hand.
Beatrice walked over to the boy her age currently attacking a punching bag. By the look of it, he was struggling - his punches were blatantly weak. Beatrice stood next to him and waved.
The boy stopped and turned, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Hey, I'm Al," he stuck out his hand. "Well, it's Albert but in the midst of an attack, if someone were to call my name, I think Al is easier and quicker than Albert."
Beatrice smiled and accepted his hand. "I'm Beatrice. Should I change my name?"
Albert nodded. "You should."
She nodded back, pensive. "Then ... my name will be...Tris... I guess."
Albert smiled and extended his hand once more. "Well, Tris, welcome to Royal Protection Program."
She grabbed the hand in front of her, letting it hoist her body back up and letting her stare into the beautiful eyes she had become accustomed to.
"I haven't seen you before, you're new right?" Albert asked as Beatrice positioned herself in front of the punching bag.
"Yes, I am. And you are-"
"New."
"What made you accept?" she asked curiously.
He shrugged. "I think it's important to protect people. To stand up for people. That's what the agency is supposed to do, right?"
Beatrice nodded and smiled. She lifted her arms in front of her face, pulled back one of them, and lunged to the red stuffed bag in front of her.
Of course, this resulted in her whimpering in pain as she applied pressure to her knuckles.
A bullet sound escaping it's chamber alerts both of them. His eyes widen as he clings to his stomach.
An hour or so later, Tori finally walked up to her with a clipboard in hand. "Come on, Beatrice, you got this. More power!"
Another shot.
Hit.
Shot.
Hit. Hit.
Shot.
Hit. Hit. Hit.
The fire becomes smaller by the second as she falls to the floor, reaching towards the burning light.
"Stop!"
A single, delicate tear runs from her left eye and down her cheek. The teardrop falls on the fire and it extinguishes instantly.
"That is enough."
She cries as her hands touch the burned ash on the ground. The ash runs through her fingertips and falls to the floor as she sobs.
"Tris, stop it!"
The fire that once burned so bright was gone, diminished by her single tear, and she finally came to the resolution of how dangerous she could be, and the two lives she could lose in a matter of weeks; hers and his.
"Enough!"
Beatrice was whipped around by her shoulders. Her eyes were full of tears, her knuckles bruised and destroyed by the countless hits against the punching bag.
Her nightmare from earlier this morning was haunting her.
She looked up in a blur of tears and swooned at the young man holding her in his arms.
Tobias' face was filled with worry, his eyes wandering over her shaking body. Out of impulse and his secret need to hold her, he enveloped her in his arms, pressing their bodies together as Beatrice froze against him.
Through all the commotion, they had forgotten that whatever the nature of their relationship was better left a secret. And now, both of them were hugging intimately.
Luckily for them, only Albert was in the room, but he was more concerned about his new friend's safety to try and guess what the nature of her relationship with the prince may be.
Realising his own place, Tobias quickly straightened himself away from her, holding her shoulders at a distance. He cleared his throat and let his hands fall to his side, stepping back. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," she said, her cheeks burning.
Matthew sighed, now beside her. "You should not push yourself like that," he reprimanded. "If you are in no position to fight, then what is the point of being in the organization?"
"Do not be so harsh, Matthew," Tobias intervened. "Appreciate her determination."
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Right," he glanced at her bloody knuckles. "Go ahead and get those bandaged."
She nodded and backed away from the prince, turning toward Albert. "I'm not sure what came over me."
"You seemed deep in thought," he told her, offering a compassionate smile. "The adrenaline of whatever you were thinking of must have pushed you to an extreme place. You'll learn to control yourself better."
She chuckled. "Thank you, Al. I hope to see you around."
Tobias wearily looked between the two, shifting uncomfortably.
Tori stepped over to Beatrice. "Let me help you get yourself bandaged."
Tobias glanced up, wanting to instead offer his own services in helping her, but Tori was already guiding her away. Matthew sighed as he beckoned for the prince to follow him into his office; their original plan before the distraction.
Beatrice sat in a chair in a secluded office as Tori searched in the cabinets for ointment and bandages. Once she found them, Tori stood beside the new recruit and started to dab the ointment into a cloth, pressing it into the cuts.
"I am surprised by your power," Tori confessed. "You are probably my most proud recruit yet."
Beatrice smiled. "Could I ask why the prince was present?"
She nodded, cleaning the blood. "Matthew's decision is to include him in the organization. He thinks by doing so, the prince will be more inclined and willing to retrieve information. By any means necessary."
"Am I out of a job, then?" she joked.
"Nonsense. We still need soldiers to fight, remember?" Tori applied pressure, making sure the wounds were disenfected. "Your information was actually quite useful in recruiting him. It seems as though the feud between the prince and the King is more drastic than we imagined. The prince is more than eager to work against his father."
Beatrice stayed quiet.
Tori sighed. "But, you already knew that, did you not?" she chuckled at the silence. "The immediate distress the prince found himself in at the sight of you earlier was very telling. He cares a great deal for you, Beatrice."
"Only because I am his servant," she replied quickly.
"Do not be so naive," Tori wrapped the bandages carefully. "I don't see servants jumping to their peers aid as fast and worried, let alone a prince doing so," she sighed and patted the bandage. "I don't blame you for not wanting to disclose the true severity of their broken relationship. Perhaps I would have done the same in your place."
"Thank you," Beatrice confessed, relieved.
"Do be careful with how public you bring yourselves to be," Tori warned as she put away the extra items. "There are people who would enjoy seeing your relationship burn."
Beatrice nodded, taking in her advice. Tori smiled and patted her shoulder before walking toward the door. She opened it and almost stumbled at the sight of the prince on the other side, seemingly waiting.
Tobias chuckled as he stepped back. Tori smiled and bowed her head, greeting him. He nodded back to her, watching her leave. As she walked, Tori could not help but turn back slightly, watching Tobias take a deep breath before knocking on the door of the office.
How sweet, Tori thought to herself, turning away to leave them.
As Beatrice's voice rang in his ears to enter, Tobias slowly opened the door. Her eyes widened at the sight, surprised to see him.
"May I come in?" He asked softly.
"Of course," she answered quickly, straightening herself in the chair.
He smiled and walked over to her, careful not to make her unweary of his presence. He gladly noticed the blinds had been drawn, leaving them in solitude within the office.
"Are you alright?" he asked again.
She nodded, smiling. "I am. The cuts don't hurt nearly as much as I thought they would."
"You are a lot braver than most," he chuckled, nearing her. "I remember the first time I got cut in a fight, the pain was quite horrible."
"I can't imagine you getting yourself into fights," she teased.
Tobias laughed. "You would be horribly surprised, then. I suppose being a prince in the academy had its benefits when getting into fights; I was never sent home."
She laughed with him.
Tobias sighed and slowly crouched down beside her. He lifted one of her bandaged hands into his, his heart faltering at the sight of small drops of blood shown through the white cloth.
Beatrice laughed nervously at the sight, her face heating profusely. "It really doesn't hurt that much."
Without another word, Tobias steadily lifted her hand and neared his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles.
Her heart beat eratically, out of breath. As did his.
He smiled, setting it back down on her thigh but keeping his fingers wrapped carefully around hers.
Slowly, Tobias reached out and caressed the side of her face, smiling at the feel of the heat emanating her skin. His heart beat fast as Beatrice leaned into his touch. With no other concern in the world, he leaned in and pressed their lips together, sighing at the familiarity of safety he felt holding her.