The General's Daughter

Chapter 4

First thing Nakita did after her last arrow hit was to turn and look at Prince Zander. Looking at his face, it seemed he was in shock. It made her smile the biggest smile she had probably ever had. Next she looked at her grandfather. He seemed to be in shock as well.

Cheers and applause broke out. Everyone was surprised and excited at what Nakita had just done. The emperor was one of the few that wasn't surprised since he was one of only a handful in Terra that knew her secret. "Miss Nakita, congratulations. That was amazing."

Nakita bowed to Emperor Julian to show her respect. "Thank you, Your Majesty." Other than those three, he's probably the only one not surprised that I won, she thought to herself. She truly hoped that he would keep her secret. Turning toward her grandfather, she asked him, "So grandfather, what is the prize?"

Duke Kari motioned to one of his servants. The servant brought something to him. Duke Kari held out to Nakita a most exquisite bow. It was the best she had ever seen. She reached out and took it from him.

"This bow was given to me by the previous emperor. I have never come across a better one in all my years," Duke Kari told everyone.

Turning it around in her hands, Nakita inspected it thoroughly. It was the only black bow she had ever seen. She could tell that the master who crafted it was incredibly talented. She took an arrow from a nearby servant and notched it. The string was pulled back and the arrow flew toward one of the targets at an amazing speed. The people around her awed at how fast and accurate the arrow flew. The arrow hit the target, like all the rest of hers had, in the middle. There was a bit of difference this time however. This time the arrow went through the target.

Prince Zander had been watching Nakita ever since she had taken the black bow. After she shot the arrow through the target she looked at Victor, Sunda, and Kaiden and smiled. It was the first genuine smile from her that Prince Zander had seen. It was because of receiving a powerful weapon.

She was already beautiful, but with that smile she was enchanting. It was a good thing that she didn't smile like that often. If she did there would be chaos due to men trying to court her. In fact, she always seemed cold and unapproachable. It made him wonder what had happened in her life to make her that way.

Nakita made her way over to those three that she seemed incredibly close with. She bounced as she walked. In an excited voice Prince Zander heard her say, "Look, I have a new weapon. Isn't it great?"

That's all it took to get her to actually show some kind of emotion, in this case happiness, a weapon. Granted it was an amazing weapon. However, he had never heard a lady happy about receiving a weapon. Strange.

After bragging to those three, Nakita walked out of sight of everyone into the edge of the manor. Once out of sight, Nakita opened her storage that was disguised as a necklace and stored her new black bow there. This way, she knew that no one would be able to steal it from her. Since that was done she went back out to join all of the guests.

She walked back over to Sunda and the others. Victor asked, "You put it away already? That was fast."

"Yes. Don't worry. It couldn't be safer." Nakita's voice was back to being

emotionless and monotone. The three of them nodded in understanding. They knew that Nakita had the storage space. Her father had gifted it to her after her year of training was done. They were there when he gave it to her.

"Are you going to let us try it sometime?" It was Victor who asked. He was the most outgoing and energetic of them.

"As long as we can without blowing my cover. You know I train as Kit." She had whispered it to them so that others wouldn't overhear her. They nodded in understanding.