“But I have Royal blood and am a first born female and all of that, that has to be why, I’m not special.” – “I know your dad has done a number on your confidence, but he’s not the only person who has made you feel inferior even though you know you are not. I see it in your eyes, the fight between knowing how strong you really are and what people have told you and conditioned you to believe.”
“Speaking of my dad, does he know, about all of this I mean. The Royal blood connection, my mom, all of it.” | look up at him earnestly, completely avoiding his last statement. “He has been made aware of the situation and my feelings on his treatment of you. He has also given me his feelings on my, and I quote, taking both his children from him.” He actually laughed at the idea of my father being angry with him. “He seems to care about you, in his own way, his choice words were that of a father protecting his only daughter from someone who would use and abuse her talents.” He winked. “In all seriousness though, now that he does know, he agrees this is the safest place for you.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. So much information today, it’s hard to believe | started out with just a dress fitting so | could help a friend out. Now I find out | am a distant part of the royal family and | might be a part of some kind of prophecy. My head hurts.
“You look like you could use a meal after all of that. Anne and Xander have been waiting a while for us, but I wanted to make sure you were able to understand and ask all the questions you have. Sierra is still here too.”
“Does she know? Who can | tell? All of my friends are curious about my visit here today.” | ask as we both stand and stretch after sitting for so long. I hadn’t even noticed the passing of time with his story, but the sun was already cresting towards the other side of the mountain. It’s not late, but definitely mid afternoon, we missed lunch for sure.
“Her parents know and she is smart enough to figure out that you are important to the Royal family, but I would like to keep it at that for a while. Especially with the Rogue King actively looking for any females connected to our bloodline and being tortured. The rest of your friends just need to know that you are friends with Xander after the trials, it’s true enough and with your training and closeness in age it makes sense to have you assigned to him as needed.”
“Okay, that works for me. So what does that mean for me and my training?” We’re walking out of the maze now and back towards the castle.
“Your training will not change, although I believe some changes need to be made, am | right” He gives me that dad looks like he knows the answer and is waiting to see if I will lie to him.
“I don’t know if changes need to be made, I just need to know what I did to piss off my floor leader so I can fix it. She has hated me since the day | walked in, and seems to like making things difficult for me. It’s nothing like what I was going through back home. I think she is just trying to establish her dominance, I just don’t know why.” I tried to explain.
“Even she can feel your aura, she has never had another female to challenge her. While she is an exceptionally strong wolf and a great warrior, her ego and her temper get in her way. Her maturity will be what holds her back for now, but | believe she will outgrow it. She has potential and drive, she just needs some more time. You came in witha reputation and the respect of almost every warrior in the bunkhouse. There was plenty of buzz about you after your trials and then again when they all found out you would be arriving sooner than expected. I think she may feel threatened by your presence.”
