Royal Pain ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A few days passed as normal. Or as normal as they could be when we were undercover in a rebel camp, myself and Rose improving our skills by training daily with a vampire; our natural born enemy.

Yep, pretty normal.

I had become accustomed to Josh's tactics and his ways of teaching. It was hard to admit but after our many training sessions we had actually become closer, I had almost forgiven him for attacking me so long ago to prove Aiden had liked me. It was clearer now than ever that Aiden liking me was far from the truth. I'd hardly seen him, choosing not really to look too hard most days. Though it seemed he hadn't made many appearances himself.

After being here almost a week, we still hadn't made many friends outside of our little circle. Most people seemed wary of the newbies, including us. Despite more and more people seeming to appear each day and join the cause, none of them approached us. It was kind of weird, but I chalked it up to the fact that my father was one of the leaders and maybe they were nervous.

The news that a meeting would be held in the main room later that day had spread like wildfire through the camp. I wasn't sure if this was a rare occurrence, meaning that there would be some important news announced. By people's excitable reactions, this seemed to most likely be the case.

When the time came, we all gathered in the main cavern that the four of us had entered the first day we had arrived. The same three raised chairs stood before us, the three familiar leaders already present in their seats. Their expressions were neutral, none of them giving away any of the news that was to be announced.

The sight should have remained ominous as it had seemed before, but knowing I was in the presence of the rebels and my father brought a sense of strange security. I felt safer here than I had for many, many years and I was hopeful that the future may be the same, whatever it held for me.

The massive space was already crammed full of people when we arrived, the noise levels extremely high as everybody chatted amiably. The sheer sight of the many people was astonishing, seeing them all in one place it was as if the size of the rebel encampment had doubled. I wondered absently what feelings the sight provoked in both Aiden and Josh.

Fear?

Shame?

Excitement?

Rose held onto my hand beside me as we pushed our way through the crowd. Neither Josh nor Aiden could be seen in the sea of faces, though that didn't really bother me. Having their almost alien presence there always made it difficult to fit in. We eventually managed to work our way close to the raised platform where the leaders sat.

I caught the gaze of my father, instantly smiling pleasantly at his regal position. The way him and the other humans led the rebels was so different from the High Royals. It made me respect them even more. He responded with his own warm smile that in turn warmed my heart.

''Silence everybody, please.'' My father stood, his hand raised over the crowd as the voices became muted, ''I'm sure you're all wondering why we've called you here at the present time.''

There were a few nods amongst the crowd in response to his words. A nervous energy had settled over us all as we anticipated his next words.

Instead of him continuing to speak, Lana stood, ''We've called you here today to discuss some information that has been revealed to us. As some of you may already know, we have had agents positioned in amongst the vampires, most as slaves undercover.'' My heart almost stopped at her words, it was astonishing that they were so advanced in their plans. How had they even managed to have humans who were willing to act around vampires?