To Kill a Prince

Chapter ~4~

My mother had came into the house squealing like those girls teenage girls as she held a slim pink dress to my face.

"Where'd you steal it from?" Was all I asked as I passed her and walked into the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes before laying the dress nicely on the couch.

"Zach got it for you. It's for tonight." She replied with a straight tone.

I was about to take a bite out if my sandwich I had made, but it was rudely snatched from my fingers. My mother took a bite of my sandwich and pointed at me.

"You need to look thin for tonight." She spoke with a mouth full of food.

"So you're going to starve me?"

"No, you can eat at the banquet that will be held at the palace." She licked her fingers and danced around happily.

She laughed and spun in a circle before sitting on the couch armrest.

"Just imagine," She whispered happily in a day dream voice, "killing the King and Queen will really raise up our standards. We'll be the center of attention and fear!"

"Yay." I mumbled.

Last thing I needed was attention. Especially attention from a hateful crowd. My mother wrapped her long, bony fingers around my forearm and pulled me up. She sat me down on a wooden stump we used as a small chair. She began brushing my hair, the comb brushing through my small tangles.

"Why did you name me Sky?" I asked quietly.

Ever since I was a little girl I've hated my name. Everyone thought it was weird and stupid. I had no nickname or any connection with my name. I was just... Sky.

"Because it was the first thing I saw when I was asked to name you." Mother stated boringly.

I sighed, deciding not to continue as she brushed my hair until it was soft. She then yelled at me to hurry up and get dressed.

--*--

The sun began to set below the horizon by the time Zach had arrived at my house. The carriage he came in was the same one he came in on his first visit. It was traced in gold, outlining flower designs as the royal seal was imprinted on the door. The chauffeur stayed seated on his bench as he held the reins to the horses.

"Sky, you look lovely this evening." Zach complimented with a smug smile in his face.

"Thank you." I mumbled.

I flattened my hands over my dress, not looking at Zach. The dress he got fitted me perfectly outlining curves I never cared to know I had. It was long and barely stopped right at my ankles. I had on golden sandals that matched with the golden belt that was adjusted around my waist. My hair was braided to the side in a way that constantly annoyed me.

"Have a nice evening." I mother said in a flat tone before closing the door.

She had her nice moments and her evil moments.

"Well then, lets head off." Zach stated as he a he got back into the carriage.

I lifted my dress a bit as I took a big step into the carriage. I looked around with wide eyes as I sat down. I quickly looked down as I felt myself sink into the red velvet cushioned sets. The inside of the carriage was painted the color of gold, little red roses traced through green vines as it stretched around carriage walls. I looked at Zach and next to him was a small table with glass cups that were placed into a small basket. On the wall behind the table was another basket that seemed to hold wine bottles as they clanked against each other once the carriage began to move.

I was amazed that a carriage could ever hold drinks and have such fluorescent designs. I literally thought it would just be plain and simple, but boy was I wrong.

The carriage ride was silent, bumpy, and short. Soon we had reached palace grounds and Zach exited the carriage, not saying a word to me. I followed him into the palace where every corner seemed to hold something beautiful and priceless.

"Don't touch anything. And don't steal anything." Zach finally spoke up.

"Yes, sir." I replied as my eyes greedily scanned all the priceless items.

I looked down at my feet as we walked through the palace. Soon voices began to echo off the walls and I looked up and saw ahead of us a grand ball room. In the middle was a large table where a group of people sat, conversing with one another.

Everyone fell silent as Zach and I walked in. I looked up to see everyone's eyes on me and I grew nervous.

Get over yourself, they are just looking at you, that's why god gave them eyes, to look, I thought to myself.

"Good evening everyone, sorry for my late arrival, I just went to pick up a friend to join me." Zach explained before taking seat.

I reached to pull out my chair but someone behind me cleared their throat. I turned around and noticed an elderly man waiting for me to move. I did so and he pulled out the chair. I just looked at him confused until he smiled and held out his hand for me to take a seat.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized.

I sat down and he pushed me in close to the table. Everyone smiled at me before going back to their conversations. I turned to Zach who seemed to be to interested in his food to speak to me. I felt a weird feeling, as if I was being watched so I turned to see who was seated next to me and I felt my face flush.

"You?" I looked into those familiar warm brown eyes I had seen only yesterday. The bruise on his right cheek seemed to be fading but the scratches were still there.

"You?" He repeated.

"Who are you?" I asked in a serious tone.

"Sky, I see you've now met my brother, Abel." Zach spoke as he cleaned the sides of his mouth with his napkin. "I advise you try the chocolate covered strawberries, there are delicious."

Zach grabbed some chocolate strawberries before shoving them into his mouth.

"Abel?" I smiled.

"Sky?" Abel retorted.

"Hey, if I had a choice to name myself then my name would be so much more cooler than Sky." I giggled.

Abel smiled at me and opened his mouth to speak but there was a piercing tap that echoed through the room. Everyone became silent as a man sitting at the end of the table put down his fork.

"I would like to thank you all for coming, it's been a while since we all ate as a family." The man spoke loudly, his gray beard moving as he spoke. "Now, we have prepared a large banquet for tonight and our special dish created by Chef Lou will be turkey with pea rice."

Everyone clapped as men came around with silver trays that had lids covering the food. A tray was placed I front of me and the lid was taken off to reveal my meal. When everyone had received their food they began to eat.

I just looked down at my food. I had a turkey breast with white rice that was mixed with green peas.

"You look like you're going to puke." Abel spoke those familiar words and I remembered when he first spoke to me at the park.

"Is it too late to mention I'm a vegetarian?" I whispered.

"Try it, it's really good."

I looked around, noticing everyone was cutting their meat with their knives and eating it with their forks. I did the same but I cut slowly. It wasn't as easy as it looked, but I managed to get it down within my third try. I stabbed the sliced piece of turkey before scooping up some pea rice. Abel watched me as I stared at the full fork. I opened my mouth hesitantly and slid the fork in.

I chewed slowly at first but slowly I began to chew faster, the food watering in my mouth as its delicious flavor delighted my taste buds.

"Told you." Abel whispered before eating his turkey.