Aideen's Answer

-Chapter Twenty-Six-

"Hello? Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Samantha seemed to be struggling between extreme anger and tears. "How dare you, Addie?"
Aideen felt herself clutching her skirt, guilt and shame creeping up on her. The feeling was heightened to an extreme when she noticed that Samantha had her letter clutched in her hand.
"Samantha," She began, but was not given the opportunity to finish.
Samantha was shaking her head vigorously, "I do not want to hear it, Aideen. Not yet, perhaps soon, I just, I had to see you."
She turned back toward the door, which Aideen thought was a bit strange, considering all that she had gone through in order to get in in the first place. Samantha was halfway to the door when she stopped, and began to speak without turning around to look at Aideen.
"You leaving has wounded us all, I have cried more since reading your letter than I would have thought possible. I sincerely hope that it was worth it."
And she swept out of the room without another word, or a backwards glance.
Aideen sat down shakily, her muscles did not seem to want to cooperate with her brain. She sat quite still as Regan did her hair, neither of them speaking.
A sudden thought occurred to her just as Regan finished, and she walked to her bedroom door, pulled it open, and peered out. Sure enough, as she had suspected, a heavily armed guard stood there.
"Excuse me?"
The guard turned to her, he was a complete stranger, and bowed slightly.
"Yes, miss?" He asked with a trace of an accent.
"Why are standing outside of my door?"
"Kings orders, Highness, I am your new bodyguard."
"B-bodyguard? What on earth for?" She asked, her hand going to her throat.
The guards eyebrows rose, "To protect you, Miss. And to stop you from leaving again, I expect."
With that, he turned forward once more, leaving her standing there gaping at him.
She attempted to look at him, to focus on his features, but all that she seemed able to comprehend was that he was extremely tall.
She clears her throat awkwardly.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes, Princess?"
"You are my bodyguard?"
"Indeed."
"Indefinitely?"
He nodded.
"Well then, could you tell me, what is your name?"
Another odd look and then the reply, "Enrique."
Then he turned back to his post and left her to slip back into her room.

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It was not an enjoyable day. Aideen knew that she deserved what ever treatment her family happened to give her, yet she could not bring herself to go downstairs and face the music. And so she sat in her room. Sometimes she would talk to Regan, but she had chores to attend to and could never stay long.
After what seemed like an eternity, she heard voices, the unmistakable accent of her new bodyguard, as well as another deep voice. Soon, there was a soft knock at her door.
She went to answer it and was thoroughly shocked to find Prince Garrett standing outside her door.
"Good afternoon, Princess, may I accompany you downstairs?"
"I, well, um..." She stammered, as her hesitation was at war with her increasingly severe boredom.
"For what purpose, sir?" Aideen found her voice long enough to ask.
"Well, your father has sent me to fetch you, I believe he called for a 'family meeting'?" There was a distinct twinkle in his eye as he said this, "And I am under the impression that he wanted me present, at least part of the time."
"Oh, I, I see," Aideen answered slowly, dread growing in the pit of her stomach.
"And, I was hoping that you might consent to take a turn of the grounds afterward? Perhaps, show me around a bit?" Garrett added.
Aideen was not quite sure, but she thought that she heard a note of hope in his voice.
'Impossible!' She thought grimly, 'He must know that I am still grieving Kevin.'
But, was grief truly the correct word? Was grief what she felt? She could not be sure, so she found it much easier to simply avoid thinking on him all together. It simplified things.
With a start, she realized that she had been staring straight at Garrett most rudely without answering him.
In the next instant, it dawned upon her that there was really only one answer she could give to him that would help her avoid enduring further wrath from her parents.
Stifling a sigh, she answered, "That would be lovely."

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I know that it is not terribly long, I'm just happy I managed to update!!!!! Hopefully more coming soon, I still have lots of ideas for Aideen ;)
Thank you so much for reading this! Please vote/comment!! It means so much to hear from y'all! And please don't give up on me yet, I'll update when I can:)
Be Blessed:)
Mrs Unger;)