A Throne of Fire and Blood

Chapter 7

The past few days had been the same for Tianna, wake up, train, sleep. She had started to go on walks in the gardens, which were extremely beautiful. She wished she could spend her time alone in the gardens, but Nathan had refused her to go alone, he had to go with her.
Tianna was walking along a path she hadn't been down before. While she was distracted looking at all the plants, she walked into a young woman. Tianna knew who she was from first glance, the Princess Calissia of Kaosa.
"I am very sorry, my Lady." Tianna apologised. The Princess looked confused at what she said, so she repeated it in Kaosian. Tianna was taught the language by Rachael, the girl from the mines, who was a rebel against the King.
"You speak my language?" The Princess asked in Kaosian, "How did a young girl from Aloyerith learn a language spoke by those so far from her?"
"I had a friend from Kaosa, she taught me the language, and how did you know I was from Aloyerith?"
"No matter how hard you try to hide it, you will always have the strong accent of Aloyerith," Calissia explained. Calissia invited Tianna to walk with her. Nathan wasn't happy about it but Calissia demanded it and Nathan couldn't refuse the Princess. They spent several hours in the gardens, talking in Kaosian so no one else knew what they were talking about. Calissia explained about how she came into the King's court, as her family and the King have never got along. She told her it was to help build bonds between the two Kingdoms and that she had to learn the language and traditions as she has a possible future wife for the Prince, and she had to be the one to come and not someone else of her family as she was rumoured to be leading the Kaosian rebels. The Princess kept asking about why Tianna was here in the Castle after what the King did to her home. Tianna said she left her kingdom with her father when she was very young to move to Penhallow. Tianna could tell the Princess knew what Tianna was saying wasn't the whole truth, but thankfully the Calissia didn't pry.
Tianna and the Princess walked back the fountain in the gardens as Calissia had things she needed to do.
"Teach me your language." The Princess told her out of the blue.
"I don't know how I would teach you, my Lady."
"You can find a way, please,"
"Ok, meet me in my chambers tomorrow afternoon, I'll try to teach you the best I can."
"Thank you, Evalyn," The Princess thanked her and walked off with her guards. After the Princess had left, Tianna turned to look at Nathan, who was more then angry at her.
"Don't you dare defy me like that again!" He shouted at her, "I don't want you to talk to her again, having a friendship with her is dangerous, especially now." She looked behind her when Nathan was yelling at her and she saw the Princess look back at her. Tianna knew there was a lot more the her then she let on.
       Tianna was told to stay in her room for the rest of the day by Nathan, but she didn't listen to him. As soon as Nathan was out of sight Tianna left her room to walk around the Castle. Despite how much she hates being here, Tianna was amazed at the beauty of the castle and loved wondering the halls and looking at all the statues and carvings in the wall. As she was walking, she stumbled upon a large empty room in a secluded part of the castle which only had a piano in the middle and boxes stacked along the walls. Tianna walked over and admired the exquisite instrument infront of her and sat down on the bench. She missed playing the piano, the last time she played was with someone she used to love. The one person she would give the world to. But she was killed. Killed by the man who claimed he saved Tianna 10 years ago, the Master of Assassins. Tianna glided her fingers over the keys, she felt them yearning for her to play them, but no. No. She wasn't ready. The pain was still too great for her. Tianna doesn't know if she would ever play again, but she was ok with that. As the final moments she enjoyed playing was with Megara, and she will never forget the joy and love she felt when they played together.
Tianna left the room and went back to her chambers before Nathan found out she was gone. She was able to keep the guards standing outside her room from following her, so it looked like she was still inside her room. She spent the rest of her evening finishing her final book from the pile she had collected from the library on her first day. She couldn't find any other books which do look appealing to her, so she wrote a letter to the Prince, asking if he could lend her some books from his private collection, which Nathan told her about. She hadn't spoke to him much in the past few days. The Captain tried to keep them apart because he still didn't trust her, and she didn't argue with him over it, because he was doing his job, and that was protecting the royal family. Tianna waited for Demetra to bring Tianna her food so she could ask her to give the letter to the Prince next time she saw him.
Tianna went to sleep after she finished her dinner as the first test was the following day, and she needed all the rest she could get.