Sweetest Dreams

Chapter One

       

I sit at a large ornate marble table among a group of other royal council members, mostly the heads of the royal families but there are some others that I can't remember, and my only thought is how I can get out of here so that I can catch up with Josh. I hear a buzzing in my ears, and feel someone gently place their hand on my shoulder and realise that someone has been trying to get my attention.

"Sorry, I blanked out, what were you saying?" I ask looking at the person sitting next to me.

"I asked how you've been going lately. We've been worried about you," Says Prince Zach Daltroy with worry pouring out of his pale green eyes as he pushes his brown hair out of his face.

"Oh it's nothing, I'm fine," I answer politely.

"Are you sure?" says Princess Maria Kamowitz, running her fingers through her short raven black hair, pushing it out of her blue eyes.

"Yeah, it was just a bit hard finding out that my ex-boyfriend and one of my best friends are hunters," I tell her as politely as possible.

"Well we should be able to get your mind off that today," says Prince Joseph Vilegas. "We have a busy day of preparing to do today because we have your birthday party tomorrow night."

"Will any of my school friends get to be there?" I ask, doubtfully.

A big grin crosses Ian's face. "It's being held at your favourite place in the council however we have invited quite a few of your friends and for the purposes of anything to do with humans they have been told that the council is a very prestigious school," He tells me happily with his grey eyes gleaming.

"Oh and don't forget that we got a crown specially made for you to wear tomorrow night," Prince Joseph says.

"I think Josh is jealous because he didn't get one too," Zach says with a laugh.

I join in with Zach's laugh. "Are we almost finished? Because I'm meeting up with Josh when we are done."

"We have some other things to discuss as well, Kayla," Ian tells me with a weary look on his face like he worried about how I'm going to react.

"What is it?" I ask certain I know the answer already.

"Your marks," Ian tells me confirming what I already knew.

I look around the extravagant council room with its white marble floor, the gold painted roof with its elegant arches and the cream walls with an elegant design of flowers on it and the potted plants all around the room with their beautiful fragrance, while everyone else starts talking about my markings.

"Why are we discussing this again?" I ask, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Because Prince Zach has been doing research on it and he has found something else that he believes all of us should know," says Ian with a gesture to Zach that suggests he should take the lead on this subject.

"Kayla, I know this is hard on you but you need to know about this," Zach says with an upset look on his face. "I found out that person marked by a God or Goddess normally have an affinity for something to do with the God or Goddess who marked them and because the Goddess who has marked you is Aphrodite I had a lot more trouble finding stuff out. However I did discover that marks by her are rare and mean that big changes are coming for our people. I also discovered that you are the first person to be marked by Aphrodite and have a bond with someone, I also found out that one of the things that someone marked by Aphrodite is that they can perform the ceremony to strengthen the bond between soulmates better than anyone else," He says the last part with a pointed look at Ian. "However I don't think you can perform the bond ceremony if you are one of the participants."

       "But how do we know that I can't perform it?" I ask having perked up when Zach started talking.

"We don't but it's a safe bet since no one else has attempted it," Ian says quickly before Zach can answer.

"But you said I'm the first person marked by Aphrodite to have a bond," I point out just as quickly.

"Yes that is also true but normally the person it is being performed on has to stand next to the person they share the bond with while the person performing stands before them," Joseph tells me after a few moments silence.

"Fine but who will perform the ceremony because it has to be as strong as possible," I demand.

"We all are going to perform it. If we perform it together it will be stronger," Princess Maria answers with confidence.

"Okay, thank you, can I go now because I promised Josh I would meet him. He said he had a surprise planned for me and I don't want to be late," I say hopefully.

"Yes, this council meeting is finished. We can all leave and until next time be safe," Ian says dismissing us.

I stand up and all but run from the room in my eagerness to meet up with Josh. I see him as soon as I leave the main Council building, he puts down the basket he has in his hands down and reaches for me, pulling me into his arms and leans down and gives me a quick peck on the lips.

"What's with the basket?" I ask pulling back and looking down at the basket.

"I got permission for us to leave Council grounds and head to a park for a picnic, I thought you might be sick of seeing the same things all day for the last week and a half," He says with a goofy grin.

"You know me so well sometimes. Just you and me I can't wait," I say excitedly but then I see the look on his face and my excitement starts to fade. "Wait, that look on your face means something is up. Oh no, the guardians are coming too aren't they?"

"Yeah," he says nodding with a sombre look on his face. "It was a stipulation of you going off grounds that Claire and Justin come with us or you can't go. They are also sending two other guardians with us."

"Great, well I guess that I'll just have to dealwith it if I want to get out of here for a little while," I say as Josh picksthe basket up and leads me to the Guardian building off the side of the maincouncil building.