The Reaper

Chapter Three

"You're dismissed. You will wait outside until we are done here. You follow Henrik after," The king instructed, waving me off. I turned on my heel and walked out.

I ignored the servant that tried to open the door for me and shoved it open. Ted waited on the other side of the door, leaning against the wall.

"You certainly have a pair of balls on you."

"It's not like him or his guards could have done anything. There was no risk," I shrugged.

"Well, you know this means that you're technically a guard too now. That means you work for the King. You have to treat him with respect now," Ted countered.

I couldn't find a response to that. Instead I sunk down onto the floor beside him. He soon followed and we sat against the cool wall as we listened to the muffled voices from the throne room.

After about half an hour the doors opened and people began to flood out. I noticed the young maid from before watching me. I nodded politely to her.

Soon the Prince stepped out. He walked purposefully, and his eyes scanned the crowd for me. Once he spotted me on the ground he bounded over.

"Reaper, stand." He instructed. I glanced at Ted before standing up.

"I'm not your puppy. I understand sentences, your Highness." I said coolly.

"Sitting on the floor is unladylike," He said, a smirk on his face. I wanted to slap it off.

"Enough with the lesson."

"Come along then," He said simply, already beginning to strut away. I nodded goodbye to Ted before tailing the prince. People now made sure to keep a good distance from me, as well as the Prince.

"Where are we going, if I'm allowed to ask?"

"I'm going to my office to study."

"What will I be doing?"

"Whatever you please. You just have to stay in the room with me."

I was surprised. I expected some rigorous task. I really had this much slack?

"Sounds like this is going to be boring," I muttered. He twisted around, a smile on his face.

"Reaper, you should really cheer up."

"Thana."

"Pardon?"

"My name is Thana, not Reaper. Use it."

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Please," I added.

"Alright, Thana," He nodded.

We walked through the floors until we reached his office. He held the door open for me and I stepped inside.

A wide mahogany desk sat in the middle of a baby blue room. Books were piled on the desk and crammed into the bookshelves that lined the room. A plush chair sat in the corner. Standing in front of the desk was an older man. He wore a severe expression, though whether it was from our lateness or his natural face I could not tell.

"Prince Henrik. Glad you could finally join me." His gaze turned to me.

"And you are?"

"Your worst nightmare." I grinned, sliding fluidly past him so my cape brushed against his side. I chuckled when I saw a shiver run through him.

"This is Thana, my personal guard," The prince said pleasantly. He sat down at the desk.

"I see," He sniffed, shaking his head before turning to face the prince.

"Now, get out your mathematics. We started..."

"What am I supposed to do?" I interrupted, leaning my hands on the desk a little too close to the professor for his comfort. He pulled away immediately.

"You can sit in that chair over there. Grab a book from the shelves," The prince offered, gesturing at the plush one in the corner.

I moved to pick a book from one of the shelves, plucking one that was just fairy tales from the top row. I sunk into the reading chair and flipped through it
curiously. I had never gotten the chance to read a book, much less fairytales growing up. The only reason I even knew how to read was from newspapers that I would try to decipher when I was bored, which was frequent.

The stories were surprisingly gruesome, but I found myself enjoying them nonetheless. I took interest mostly in The Little Mermaid story. The young mermaid had fallen in love, cutting a deal with the sea witch for legs at the price of excruciating pain, only to have her love unreturned. She was to kill the prince to save her soul, but in the end killed herself and turned into sea foam.

I closed the book with an audible sigh. I eyed the desk, where the prince stared numbly at his work as the man droned on.

I sighed again, louder this time. The back of the teacher stiffened, and he turned to glare at me.

"Can I assist you?" He spat.

"Yes you can. Hurry it up. I'm bored and I'm about to end this lesson early if you catch my drift," I said, wiggling my hand at him. The prince smirked behind the professor.

"I...It seems like we're finished here for now anyways," He grumbled, fumbling for his things. I stood up from the chair and stretched. The prince stood as well, gently folding his workbooks. We walked out together, leaving the angry professor alone in the office.

The prince laughed after the door closed.

"Finally. He's so dull. I might make you scare us out more often," He grinned. I grimaced.

"I did it for myself not you."

The prince frowned.

"You need to be more polite. I am your superior, after all."

I twisted around to face him.

"And if I don't?"

"You'll be sentenced to death," He shrugged easily. I barked a laugh.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

He opened his mouth before closing it.

"I see the dilemma here."

I smirked.

"Exactly. Let's go wherever you need to be next."

I trailed behind him as we walked, hands pinched under my arms.

I followed him throughout the rest of his day in almost complete silence, only speaking to respond in curt answers. He took each answer with surprising ease. It was frustrating. The sun slowly set on the day

"You can retire back to your rooms now. I won't need you until tomorrow." The prince said as we reached the tall doors of the dining hall.

"Fantastic. I'll see you then. Goodnight, Prince." I said quickly, twisting to head to my room. I felt something warm grip my shoulder. I turned to see his hand on me.

I pulled away quickly, feeling embarrassed and exasperated.

"What is wrong with you? You could've died just then!"I snapped, clamping my hand over where he had touched me. He smiled semi-apologetically, inspecting his hands curiously.

"Apologies, I forgot. I only wanted to let you know that dinner will be brought to you."

I sniffed in recognition before sweeping down the hall, cloak pulled right around me. I felt extremely unsettled. Not only was that the one of few times I had made human contact, but it also would've collapsed the entire kingdom. Was he truly that stupid?

I showered and ate once I got back to my room. Ted was nowhere to be seen, and I found myself wanting to speak to him. His presence was relaxing.

Instead, I stayed alone for the night. I tried to sleep in the bed again, and found it bearable against my tired body.

I slipped into a restless sleep, a dream of hands grappling me vivid in my head.