The General's Daughter

Chapter 5

In the next few months Nakita spent most of her time with her grandfather and cousin. Nothing eventful happened during this time. She still trained with the guys when they were available but she hadn't seen anyone else that she had met so far.

Nakita wanted to start cultivating. Once she turned 18 she was old enough to cultivate but she wasn't sure how she wanted to go about it yet. She knew that eventually she wanted to find a teacher to be sure that she was efficient and safe when cultivating. What she didn't know is that it wouldn't be long before a teacher would come for her.

On a sunny day that Duke Kari was doing nothing except spending time with Nikita and Sunda, an invitation came from the palace. It was inviting them to a party for Prince Zander that was in about a month. It was sent directly from Prince Zander to Nakita specifically. Of course it mentioned she could bring family too.

Sunda laughed and teased Nakita. "Look at that. He sent it to you. Not to me, his friend, or grandfather, the duke."

"Do I have to go? I really don't want to." Nakita asked. She wasn't ready to enter the palace officially.

It was the duke who said, "Yes, I think you have to. Think about it. What if, at some point you need his or the emperor's help with something. If you don't go to this party, wouldn't they be less likely to help you. But if you go, the prince would be grateful."

"Grandfather is right. You need to go. Besides, in the long run this could help your father and brothers also," Sunda explained.

Nakita sighed. "Fine, but Sunda, you have to go shopping with me for a dress. If you try to get out of it... you won't like the results." Sunda reluctantly gave in. He knew he wouldn't win an argument with her.

The next week, when Sunda and Nakita were leaving to go dress shopping, Kaiden and Victor showed up and they got roped into going too. They went to every dress shop in their area and still couldn't find one that she liked. So Nakita decided to design one and have the best dressmaker put it together for her.

The design was simple and elegant. It ended up being red outlined in black. There were no extra embellishments, just simple but elegant lines that fit her perfectly. Instead of the dress making her look fabulous, she made the dress look fabulous.

The dress hugged her curves but was still modest. She chose black shoes and black hair accessories. She chose not to wear any jewelry except the necklace that she wore everyday. It was black as well but the reason she wore it was because it was a storage necklace.

Looking at it you couldn't tell, but it could hold quite a lot of things. All of her weapons and any medicine that she might need were in there. It was a gift from her father when she finished her training with him.

Finally the day of the prince's party arrived. Both her grandfather and cousin, Sunda, went with her. They all rode in the carriage together until they got to the entrance of the palace. None of the carriages were allowed in the palace grounds. From there they walked to where the party was being held.

The hall that the party was being held in was already teeming with people. Among them was Prince Zander. He saw Nakita as soon as she entered the hall. She was the only unmarried lady bold enough to wear red. Unmarried ladies usually wore pastel, feminine colors since it made them seem more gentle. Nakita Warfield... He had never seen her in anything but red or black.

He watched her stroll in with the duke and Sunda. Right behind them was Victor and Kaiden. Why was she always around those two as well? And yet, everytime that he had spoken with her it seemed like she couldn't care less about him. He didn't like it.

With the duke, Nakita, and those three all being a part of the nobility they were seated not far from him. They were close enough he could even hear their conversation if he paid attention.