Without a moment to spare Gianna hurried herself and Sophia down the hall to the smaller dining room frequently used by the royal family when they were not entertaining. At 12:00 on the dot, Gianna and Sophia stepped into the dining room. “Ah, my dear cousins,” Keres greeted. “I am so glad that you could join me for lunch today.” “It’s our pleasure,” Gianna said with a forced smile and small curtsey. Thankfully she saw Sophia follow her movement out of the corner of her eye. Sophia had been just as upset as Gianna when she learned what Gianna had overheard last night. It had taken a lot to get her to clam down enough to play an oblivious part for this surprise lunch. Keres smiled in acknowledgement of their proper greeting. Waving them over he had one of the waiters pull out the two seats on his left hand side. “Join me. We have much to discuss.” If only you knew how much we would like to discuss with you, Gianna thought as she smiled and took the seat closest to Keres. As
“Why did you say that,” Gianna tried to scold Sophia quietly as they quickly made their way back to their rooms. “You sounded too old. Keres can’t realize that you are not a normal four year old.” “I’m almost five,” Sophia offered with a shrug. “You know that is not what I meant,” Gianna said with a stern look. “I know,” Sophia said looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry. I just got mad, and one of the voices told me I should say that,” she whispered softly. “It’s okay,” Gianna said, squeezing her sister’s hand and opening the door to their rooms. “I’m glad they at least didn’t tell you to say something else.” As soon as they were inside and saw that Madame Fleur had not arrived yet, Gianna hurried Sophia over to the sofa. “Okay, as soon as Madame Fleur and whoever is done, we need to start packing for tonight. Think about what you want to take. Anything that we take will need to fit within two backpacks. I am thinking that you can wear one on your front and one on your back
“Yes. All of this looks great, “ Keres said as he looked over the plan for tomorrow. He had his most trusted advisor with him, looking over last minute changes for his big announcement tomorrow. “Thank you, your majesty,” the advisor said, inclining his head at the rare praise from the king. “I am happy that you are pleased with all of the changes.” “Yes, you did very good work,” Keres said, looking back over the plan again to make sure that nothing had been left out. “There is one more thing that I need you to do for me,” Keres said as he passed the papers back. “Of course, your majesty. Anything.” “Have our most trusted guards watch my cousins’ rooms tonight. I want to make sure that no one accidentally goes missing. Also, maybe have the guards bring up any dinner this evening and make sure to add a little something to make them sleep through the night to their tea as an added precaution.” “Of course,” the advisor agreed quickly. “We would not want to chance anyone missing t
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