chapter 9

The next morning was quiet. She woke up alone and Kronos’ side of the bad was still neatly made. 
He didn’t come at all last night, but where did he sleep then? Her heart sank and she rolled in the bed. She didn’t want to get up just yet.
She thought about yesterday morning. It was different, she really had no idea what he thought. Yesterday he almost took her and she would probably let him but today he most likely slept in someone else’s bed.
As she thought for a bit, there was a knock on the door. She had no choice now. Slipping out of bed and putting her robe on, she opened the door. There were her two guards and the chests with their things from the capitol.
“Good morning your highness”
“Good morning” she stepped aside and let them through.
They put the chests by one of the walls as she instructed and were ready to leave when she stopped them. “Where is your prince?”
“We, don’t know your highness, he ordered us to guard you and left somewhere. Forgive us but that’s all we know.” She started unpacking some of her things as she listened to them.
“Do you want us to call your maid to help you with that?”
She didn’t, she didn’t like her new maid. There was no disrespect from her and she did her job, but she gave her a bad vibe. 
Yesterday when she served them lunch, she would glance at the prince several times and bet her eyelashes at him, but when she looked at her, there was jealousy in the maid’s eyes.
She already had her opinion on her maid but the two guards in the room were still a mystery. “No, I’m good on my own. There’s not really anything else for me to do.”
The two men just nodded. “What are your names?”
The blue-eyed one was first to reply. “I am Dean and he’s Larrian, your majesty.”
She smiled brightly at them and she saw the corners of their lips lift a little bit. “Nice to meet you, gentlemen, my name is Keila, you can call me that.”
Their faces stiffened for a moment. “Forgive me your highness but we can’t call you that, our prince wouldn’t allow it.”
“So call me by my name when we’re alone.”
They nodded because she didn’t look like it was negotiable. 
“Did it really take a day and a half for the luggage to arrive?”
This time it was Larrian to speak. “No,…..Keila, it arrived yesterday evening but we didn’t want to bother you so late.”
She smiled at hearing they complied her request. “I’m glad you came now, I wish to go take a ride and you need to go with me.”
“Take a ride? Are you sure his highness would allow you to?”
She frowned, she didn’t need Kronos’ permission for everything. “He said I can go for a ride as long as I’m with him or with my guards and I am afraid that would be you.”
They frowned but didn’t protest. “Please wait for me outside, I’ll be out in a minute.”
They left hurriedly and she dressed. Now that her baggage arrived, she could wear her riding dress. It was black, the top of it was tight around her chest and there were leather pants under the skirt, which was short so she could ride comfortably.
She put her hair in a messy bun and left to find Dean and Larrian.
After they walked to the stables the guards were surprised which horse she chose. This was one of the prince's horses and no one was allowed to touch those but she looked like she knew what to do.
They offered to prepare the horse for her but she waved them off. She loved horses and knew how to saddle one. 
They rode out of the city and Keila couldn’t help but urge the horse to speed up much to her guards' dismay. They scampered through fields and a nearby forest and she almost managed to lose her guards.
They came to a stop at the edge of the forest. “I want to rest here for a while, any problem with that Dean?” 
She asked because he wouldn’t shut up the whole time, he complained about how they shouldn’t be here and that Kronos would get angry.
Dean just waved his hand and Larrian laughed at him. They sat under the trees for a while, talking.
It turned out that they were cousins. They came from a little island near the coast of the Eastern empire and joined Kronos’ army five years ago.
“So, if you are soldiers from the army, ….why are you in Nosstrey?”
Larrian scratched the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “You see, Larrian here met a girl and she’s from the city, so we joined the prince's personal guards as he sometimes stays here.” She almost laughed at how adorable Larrian looked, blushing like that.
“I’m sure she’s a lucky girl.” She smiled at him but he didn’t return it. He was looking behind her and his face showed fear.
She turned around and her eyes almost popped out of her head. Clossos was landing on the meadow nearby. “What now?” she mumbled as she saw Kronos’ getting off of the dragon and marching towards her. 
Dean and Larrian looked petrified but she didn’t want to show any fear, not this time.
“What the hell do you think you are doing out here?” He looked murderous as he stood before her. 
“I came here for a ride. You said I could remember? And I brought the guards.” She didn’t even flinch at his harsh tone. 
“You two, go back to the palace and take all the horses.” The guards nodded furiously and left like their heels were on fire.
“I don’t understand, you told me I could go, and I brought the guards so what’s the problem?”
He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “The problem is, you left without saying a word and there’s a dangerous prisoner out there. You were at the meeting, I didn’t think you would be so dumb to just leave like that.”
“Don’t call me dumb, I had two trained guards, what could one prisoner do?” she was on edge, she wasn’t dumb, quite the opposite.
“He could kill you…” He sounded really concerned, was he worried about her? “…he is not a human, he’s a warlock and you don’t want to fight with those.”
She didn’t know what to say, warlocks and witches were the real deal, you had to be prepared and even that couldn’t guarantee your victory. Those were the dark witches, they were the powerful ones, but there wasn’t many of them.
“You should have asked me before you left.” All right, this angered her. 
“It’s not like you were there so I could ask.” He stayed silent and instead of arguing took her hand and led her towards Clossos to head back.