Sinful

222

Thana held her tea securely, absently watching the steam escape from the carefully crafted mug as her close friend sat beside her on the cracked kitchen counter. Suspicious stains and foul smells accompanied the two as they sipped on their hot tea, remaining unbothered about the scenery around them. They often hid deep in the servants quarters whenever they needed to catch up or break away from the prying eyes of the Kingdom. The servants that worked in the Kingdom of Rowan were treated far better than the previous King had treated them, King Trevino. They rarely stepped foot in the run down section of the castle, preferring their new lavish lifestyle that was gifted to them by the current king. Thankfully, this meant that the Princess had a safe haven to run off to when she needed to escape the craziness of being a royal. Whenever she did run off to her safe space, her closest friend, Silas, would never fail to join her, even if he was busy, he'd stop everything just to join her. Silas was the definition of loyal. He had followed King Trevino's orders as a small boy, fighting in countless battles despite knowing how pointless it was, jeopardizing his life just to prove his loyalty even though his heroic ways were never recognized by the late king. He had stayed with the kingdom of Rowan during their downfall, he stayed by Thana's father during the dark days, the days with no king, no protection and no plan. He had helped him win the battle of Vandenberg, he was risking much more than his death, he was risking discovery. Despite the possible consequences of exposing his skills, Silas used his forbidden power to help his long time friend win the battle that would save not only his life, but the entire Kingdom of Rowan. Now, the 500 year old mage resided by Thana's side, providing her with friendship and comfort, carrying on his legacy of loyalty. 

Silas let out a heavy sigh, breaking the comfortable silence between the two friends. Thana swung her feet back and forth as she brought the hot tea to her lips, preparing to be scolded about her overnight disappearance.

"You went to see the ceremony of the seven's, didn't you?" Silas looked straight ahead as he spoke, appearing as stoic as his voice had sounded. The question took Thana off guard, causing her to choke on her tea and cough loudly. The corner of Silas' mouth twitched into a brief smirk, pleased at the reaction he received. In their 20 years of friendship, Thana has never once been able to hide something from him, he was always a step ahead of her as if he was the one writing  her story. He knew everything. 

Almost everything.

Thana cleared her throat, attempting to compose herself after her brief cough attack. She didn't dare attempt to lie to Silas, he already knew where she went, there was no point in trying to weasel out of the situation now. Her drink rested carefully in her lap, sitting snug between her delicate hands, she traced the pattern on the side of her mug with her fingertips, in hopes that the bumpy texture would calm her down. Silas was not known to be disloyal, he was a very understanding and reasonable individual, but Thana still was nervous for his reaction. What she had done was forbidden, the last thing that she would have wanted was for best friend to be disappointed in her.

"Yeah, I did." Thana hesitantly looked at Silas, scared to see his disapproving face but instead, he just nodded slowly with an unreadable expression. Perplexed with the reaction, Thana furrowed her brows in confusion. "Are you not going to scold me?"

"There's no point," The mage turned his head to face the Princess, his fiery gaze pierced her light grey eyes, "You'll just do it again next year." He hopped off the kitchen counter, wiping off the dirt from his pants before reaching out to help the Princess descend. Thana scoffed with a smile before grabbing his dirty hand and bowing her head slightly. "Thank you kind sir, how chivalrous of you." Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she jumped off the ledge, copying Silas by wiping off her clothes. The two shared a silent mutual understanding of the situation, as long as Thana was careful about her secret endeavors, Silas had no reason to tell the King about it. The Princess felt relieved that he knew so much about her, if she ever did find herself in danger during one of her adventures, at least someone knew where she was and had the capability of helping her. Not that she would ever let that happen, she more then able to take care of herself, even in dangerous situations, she's been able to escape unscathed every single time. The royal guards treated her as if she was some delicate flower that would wither after one sunny day, they clearly had forgotten that her father, nicknamed 'the Reaper', taught her everything he knew when it comes to fighting. She loved to spar with the trainers at her castle, she spent most of her days practicing her form in the gyms with various opponents, each punch, each kick, each block, gave her adrenaline. Her favorite person to practice with was her father, he challenged her in a way that none of the other trainers could do, he pushed her to be better. He hadn't come to the practice room for weeks, rather, he had been hiding out in his office for weeks, clearly he was working on something important but the absence bothered Thana. She had questioned his work several times, wanting to get some sort of answer but instead was met with vague replies and silence. Whatever he was working on was big and that worried the Princess. The Kingdom of Rowan had been at peace for as long as Thana had been alive, she had hoped for it to stay that way but with the strange behavior from the King, she was unsure about where their Kingdom stood. She had to wait to hear about the announcement he was making soon to ease her worries, she was preparing for the worst. She was prepared to hear the enlistment notice, she was prepared to fight for her Kingdom, just as her dad had in the past.