A week passed and the dance practice always carried on until late in the night. At the end of each lesson, the students would always request more time to practice in the studio so the instructors would leave first.
With how much Arden had stuck with Katie before this week, Alexander wondered why he was nowhere to be found now. Ever since Katie came back from her walk with Arden clutching her bruised arm, he had never seen him around the palace again. Katie had discussed her injury with no one, hiding it with bandages until it eventually faded.
The day before the dance, Alexander finally saw Arden in the palace, walking out of the Queen’s study, holding a folder full of papers. Alexander turned toward the stairs, but after a silent argument with himself, spun sharply on his heel and darted toward Arden. The young doctor noticed him and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
“What?” Arden asked, mildly irritated.
“You were gone for a whole week. Why?
Katie managed to catch Alexander when she saw his body start to slump and set him down gently on the floor. She grabbed his phone and shone the light over his body to check for anything that could explain him losing consciousness so suddenly. She saw blood dripping from his temple and took a closer look at it.“It’s something blunt, probably,” she muttered. “I should get him ou-” she paused when she recalled why they were eating sandwiches in the studio instead of going out. “Crap.”She felt movement around her and she scrambled back, her back against the dance studio mirror, shining the phone’s flashlight. The darkness around her felt as if it now hid something else that wasn’t supposed to be seen. Another movement on her right… then to her left. Summoning all of her courage, she dashed to the door.“Help!” she helplessly pounded on the door in panic.She could almost feel the darkn
“Uh… Your Majesty, why is my ensemble a little less fitting for the ritual?” Alexander called out from inside the dressing room.“That’s because the story happened when the god of war met the goddess of love,” the Queen answered. “The god of war was the leader of a more “civilized” tribe but the goddess of love was a maiden from a different tribe so the clothes aren’t matching.”In the other stall, they heard Katie gasp. “It’s so flowy!” she exclaimed, chuckling to herself. “I feel like I’m living in the wrong time. The sleeves feel like it’ll get in the way of sword, though. This, uh, lower part reaches up to the end of my dress.”“They did say you’re quite the sword user if you finish the dance with no damage to the dress.” The Queen replied. “Although, I don’t think it has anything to do with skill at all. I was not a good
“Thank you for attending the courtship dance, my lords and ladies,” the priest smiled warmly at the gathered crowd. “With the blessing of the gods upon the prince and princess’ engagement, they’ve both considered each others’ kingdom as their responsibility. Now, with your generous donations, Princess Katie believed that it will go where it is truly needed: as an aid to the Kingdom of Anatolia.”The nobles clapped with approval and they all nodded politely at King Alaster. The King greeted back, unable to mask the surprise and gratefulness in his expression. Alexander turned to Katie, his expression identical to his father’s. Katie grinned from ear to ear and nodded shyly.After more felicitations from the nobles, they finally went home. The monarchs watched from their seats as Katie and Alexander displayed a playful fight, probably to shake off their nervousness from the performance. Alexander beamed at the sight o
Intent on exploring the entire passage, they continued on. Alexander and Katie discussed what they heard from the conversation of their guardians.“Maybe he had a sibling who took over?” Alexander suggested.“The story about him was a bit more fantastical than the other kings, really,” Katie muttered, surreptitiously grabbing the end of Alexander’s shirt as she constantly looked behind her. “They say he was this ‘Great Warrior’ who descended from the old temple in mountains of Aelysia. His battle prowess made people believe that he was favored by the god of war, which is why he was able to unite the people. It is also said that he was immune to poison and that he defeated an army of a hundred thousand strong with no weapons in hand.”Alexander scoffed. “With the obvious ego boost aside, that does not prove he didn’t have a sibling.”“That’s because I didn’t say
Terror slowly became evident on their faces and they simultaneously ran out of the room, Katie instinctively grabbing Alexander’s hand as the distance between them started to widen. Alexander gripped her hand tightly and they ran as fast as they could, managing to exit the passageway quickly. When they finally shut the bookshelf, they locked eyes, panting… then they burst out laughing.“Oh… my gods,” Katie muttered between breaths, “I guess I should have expected that with secret passages. I hope I didn’t drag you down.”Alexander shook his head, his hands on his waist. “I wasn’t planning on leaving you behind.”“Ugh,” Katie removed her shoes and glanced at Alexander. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m-”“Perfectly fine,” Alexander shrugged. “You don’t have to apologize for it.”“Thanks,” Katie turned away, stif
Arden held coffee cups in his hands as he walked toward the library doors and paused to look at it. He knew that Katie was there since her tutor quit. For a few days, he sent Katie gifts to apologize but she was unresponsive whenever they crossed paths. She always looked like she wanted to say something, and he hoped she would talk with him, but she never did go through with what she was going to say.Since the gifts didn’t work, he thought the coffee would be a horrible way to apologize… But he found himself doing the coffee tactic anyway.The library doors threw open and he heard Katie’s excited giggle as she and Alexander walked out of the library. Arden tensed and gripped the coffee cups slightly, but he quickly loosened his grip. He squared his shoulders and summoned all the courage he could muster before approaching Katie. He saw the surprise in her eyes when they were finally face-to-face after a while.“Hi,” he started.
The next day, Katie paced back and forth in the library, her phone pressed to her ear. She had tried calling Arden but he was unavailable. Alexander looked up from the book he was reading.“Any luck?” he asked.Katie shook her head. “I’m not surprised since he almost never answers his phone. I guess he’s recharging.”“Recharging?”“I know, crazy,” Katie chuckled. “He once stayed home for a week after my anointing ceremony. He made sure everything would go smoothly.”“That’s… nice?” Alexander mumbled. “Shall we go without him, then?”After careful consideration, Katie nodded. “We should be careful, still. If it doesn’t bother you, I hope you will do the talking.”Alexander smiled and nodded. “I know. Feel free to speak when you have something to say, though.”With Alexander’s bodyguard
His senses coming back to him, Alexander groaned as he felt his entire body ache. He opened his eyes, and looked around in bewilderment for a second before realizing that he was looking at the car’s wrecked interior. He pushed himself up and saw the unconscious Katie, blood dripping from her temple and the back of her head.“Gods, Katie!” Alexander glanced at the driver, hoping to ask for help but saw him unconscious as well, his large body lying on both the driver seat and passenger’s seat.He dug through his coat pockets and finally found his phone. As he heard his father’s phone continuously ring, he saw a figure approach the car from the windshield. They were quite a ways from the city. Judging by the forest around them, they were probably near the palace… that means the one approaching could be palace staff.He rushed to the cracked window and pounded on it, attracting the person to his side. The person, one of the male