A Strange Feeling

9| Arrival

Chapter 9: Arrival (Erik's POV)

Flying from Puliama to Vermineian is quite exhausting. Thankfully we have a private jet, so we didn't have to stop here and there to change flights. We have spent ten hours in the sky and two more travelling from the airport to the palace.

"Ana" I shook her "Ana, wake up, we arrived"

She rubbed her eyes and looked at me confused. She was sleeping through the whole trip like she was on drugs or something. Who sleeps for 12 hours straight, on a flight?

"What time is it?"

"It's midnight, come on" I said gently pulling her arm.

She got out of the car, her eyes were closing slowly as she tried to stay awake. "You slept for 12 hours and you are still sleepy?" I giggled while we walked towards the palace entrance.

"Oh, I always sleep when I travel, once I slept for 30 hours in a bus and continued sleeping when I arrived" she nodded "Plus, the time difference is killing me"

"Damn, I'm jealous of you. If only I could sleep while travelling"

"I'm sorry if you were bored on our trip, I jut can't fight the sleep urge" she laughed

"Don't worry about that."

As we entered the palace, I heard Ana's surprised mumbling. She was looking around, her eyes wide open, her jaw almost on the floor. She was spinning around in circles, scanning every inch of the hall.

I was watching her, smiling to myself. I understand her, sometimes I still gasp at the beauty of the palace even though I grew up here. The entrance hall I huge, decorated with crystal chandeliers and the creation of Adam painted at the ceiling. There are huge stairs in the middle that split in two different directions, leading to the bedrooms and study rooms. Around the hall there are couple of marble pillars, holding the second floor.

"Look who arrived" a voice came from the left hallway, that leads to the huge living room.

"Cassian, the night owl of the palace" I hugged him "Are you the only one awake?"

"Yes" he turned to Ana "Welcome dear" he kissed her hand "I'm rally happy that you decided to stay with us"

"Thank you, Prince Cassian, nice to see you again. I'm truly honored to be here" she smiled.

"Please, call me Cassian, I'm not fond of formalities"

"Deal"

"Okay, since no one else is awake we should go to our room and you will meet everybody tomorrow" I turned to Ana, locking my hand with hers.

"And I will continue wandering around the palace until I get sleepy" said Cassian and went back from where he came from

We reached the second floor, but our room was on the third at the left end of the palace.

"Damn, I will get lost around the palace. You should give me a map" Ana laughed

"No need for that. I will show you your study room, the library, the dining room and some living rooms for welcoming guests and that's it. You don't have to know the palace by hearth, plus only few rooms are being used right now, the rest of the rooms are guest rooms or empty studies"

"Okay... Whose portraits are those?"

"Oh" I giggled "The whole palace is full of portraits of the family, previous kings and queens, princes, princesses, even I have a portrait of my own"

"Where is it? I want to see it"

"It's on the other side of the palace, I will show you tomorrow"

I opened the bedroom door and held it for her.