Five hours later and Gianna was once again thanking Madame Fleur as they were finally leaving. She was exhausted. You wouldn’t think that just standing there and having someone fit you for a dress and making alterations would be so tiring. Making sure that the door was firmly shut as the last assistant carried out more fabric, Gianna slumped against the door. As soon as the door closed, Sophia opened the door to their bedroom. She quickly checked to make sure that they were alone before saying, “I thought they were going to be here all night.” “Tell me about it,” Gianna muttered, pushing herself off of the door and trying to stretch out sore muscles in her shoulders and back. “Are you done packing,” she asked quietly. “Yes,” Sophia nodded. “I put things that you might want on your bed to try to help.” “Thank you,” Gianna said as she made her way to their bedroom and her bed. “Did you pack underwear, leggings, dresses, a pair of jeans, a warm sweater, and a jacket?” “Yes,” Ol
Hurrying from King Keres’s office his advisor smiled as he remembered King Keres’s praise. He liked all of the plans that he had organized for his special day tomorrow. Surely if everything goes off perfectly tomorrow he might even be looking at a promotion or a raise the advisor thought happily to himself as he reached a heavy wooden door. Taking a deep breath to hide his happiness, the advisor quickly gave two short knocks on the door and opened it without waiting for a reply. Looking inside the room, he saw just the guard that he was looking for in the middle of a game of cards. “Captain Dolion, may I have a word with you,” the advisor said quickly as he saw all of the eyes in the room turn to him. None of them were friendly, but he also knew that they wouldn’t dare touch him due to his position. “What do you want,” Dolion asked after barely sparing the advisor a glance. “I need to speak to you out in the corridor, please,” the advisor said as he saw the looks some of the guar
The guard that had pretended to be asleep by the door made a show of stretching and yawning when Captain Dolion kicked his boot as he passed him on the way back in. “Get up sergeant. I have a job for you tonight.”“I don’t want a job tonight. I had to cover for Jackson this morning.”“Does this change your mind,” Dolion asked as he threw a couple of the bills that the advisor gave him. “What’s the job,” the sergeant asked as he picked up the money and began to count it. “Follow me,” Captain Dolion said and he motioned to two other guards as well. They followed him into another smaller side room. “Listen the King’s advisor wants to keep this hush hush. I know that I can trust all of you to keep your mouth shut, right?”Everyone around Captain Dolion nodded. “Good. All we have to do is make sure that no one leaves the princesses rooms tonight.”“What for,” one of the other guards asked.“I don’t know,” Captain Dolion said, “but we are getting paid enough extra not to care, right,”
Gianna hurried to the door as soon as she heard the knock. It was almost time. All they had to do was eat, pretend to go to sleep, and then make a run for it. She had checked over everything that she and Sophia planned to bring one last time to make sure that they had everything that she could think of that they might need. Opening the door, Gianna forced a relaxed smile, and hoped that the maid delivering their dinner took note that she was already dressed for bed. Gianna’s smile almost faltered when she saw a stern-faced guard holding the try with their dinner on it. “I’m so sorry,” Gianna said, recovering quickly. “Let me take that,” she said as she went to take the tray. “Let me carry it. The tray is right heavy,” the guard said, quickly stepping past Gianna, and easily kicking the door shut with his heavy booted foot as he easily carried the tray. “Thank you,” Gianna said as she hurried to move a few of Sophia’s school books off of the table in front of the sofa so that
“Let’s go,” Gianna said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile, as they quickly made their way to the door. Gianna let her wolf come forward just enough to help heighten her senses, but not enough that her eyes would change. Opening the door, she was relieved to see just the guard there, and that he was carefully scanning up and down the hall. “Ready,” the guard whispered. “Yes. We have everything,” Gianna whispered back as she quietly stepped out into the hallway, keeping Sophia behind her. “Good. Follow me,” the guard whispered as he quickly turned and begane to make his way down the opposite way that Gianna had planned. “Why this way,” she whispered as they quickly caught up to him. “Trust me,” the guard said as he guided them up against the wall and motioned for them to be silent, as soon as they came to an intersection in the hallway. Gianna looked down so that she could hide her eyes, and let her wolf come forward a little more. The guard eased a little closer to t
“We can just go somewhere else then,” Sophia pleaded one last time. “I have a feeling that if you go back, you won’t come back.” ““The shifter kingdom is our best bet. They do not like Keres, and maybe I can learn about my father there. There might even be family that will take us in for a while at least. I promise I’ll be back,” Gianna said as she pulled Sophia in for a quick hug. “Stay here,” she said as she slipped off her backpack and put it between a bush and a tree. With one last quick smile, Gianna hurried off, carefully making her way back to the cave that the guard had brought them through maybe fifteen minutes ago. “Please don’t go,” Sophia whispered as she watched Gianna quickly making her way along the rocks. Sophia watched her sister till she disappeared in the cave. Once Gianna was out of sight Sophia slid her backpack off and put it on the ground with Gianna’s. She pulled the rain jacket that Gianna had packed her out, and slipped it on to help block the wind. It wa
Okay. You can do this, Gianna told herself as she let her wolf come forward to help sharpen her senses. She hurried back the way that they had just come, following the rapidly fading scents. With her sharpened scenes Gianna was able to move quicker, and soon found herself back at the door the guard had led them through earlier. Holding her breath, Gianna listened to see if she heard any sounds on the other side of the hidden door. Not hearing anything, she carefully opened the door just a crack to make sure there was nothing to hear over the pounding of her own heart. Once she confirmed that the coast was indeed clear, Gianna pushed back her wolf and stepped quietly into the hallway. Making sure that the door was covered, she quickly made her way back to their rooms. Peaking around the last corner, Gianna was relieved to see that no one was in the hallway. Good, she thought to herself, they have not had a shift change yet. Gianna quickly sprinted to the door and closed it softly b
Gianna sighed as she sat through another meeting that her cousin Keres, excuse me, King Keres was holding. Ever since Keres took his father, King Victor’s, place last month after his very unexpected death, Keres had been forcing her to come to these meetings where he was basically trying to undo everything that her parents and uncle had worked so hard to put in place. After being at war on and off with different kingdoms for the past one hundred plus years, they were finally at peace and most everyone in the kingdom was content. Gianna’s step father and her mother, the former king and queen, had worked very hard brokering peace treaties with many of the other kingdoms. After the accident that took their lives a little over two years ago, her step father’s brother, Victor, had continued on in their place with trying to garner additional peace treaties. Listening to Keres and hearing his greed underlined in everything that he is doing, Giannna knew that it was only a matter of time bef