A King's Guardian

>6<

Morning arrived with dawn. I rose from the plush bed with a yawn, not being able to recall the last time I'd ever rested so well. A faint rosy smell hung in the hair and I traced its source to a lit candle staged atop an oak dresser. Wondering who had lit the candle and when they had done such, I blew out the flame and ambled into the bathroom.

The stand-up bath helped me forget my worries when I realized it had hot water. I stood beneath the deluge for longer than I should have, enjoying the luxury I did not receive back at the castle. Once every inch of my body was clean and tingling from the heat, I stepped out and wrapped myself in a towel.

As I padded back out into the bedroom and looked for the clothes I had so hastily discarded last night, I found them nowhere. Not under the bed. Not tangled in the bed sheets. Not hanging in the armoire. I started to panic. It was likely that detestable little mongrel Isaac playing a trick on me.

The more I thought about his annoying stunts and how this one really topped them all, the angrier I got. At last, I tightened the towel around me, threw open the bedroom door, and marched down the hall to where I knew the scrawny demon slept last night. I didn't bother knocking, and the door wasn't locked.

"Apphia?" squealed a familiar voice as I stormed inside the room. Seth was gaping at me from where he stood by the bed, naked. He attempted to hide himself behind the bed, though I wasn't even really looking at him.

"Where's your brother?" I demanded, holding his gaze with unwavering force.

"He's—"

"Well, well, well," Isaac purred from behind me. "Apphia, you should have told me you liked my brother like that."

Spinning around, I buried my optic daggers into him. "What did you do with my clothes?"

"Your clothes?" He chuckled while his gaze raked over me. "Why don't you tell me?"

"This is not funny, Isaac," I hissed.

"Aph, I don't have your clothes, but I probably wouldn't tell you even if I did."

"You didn't take them from my room?"

He quirked a brow, quipping, "Now why would I do that?"

"Because you enjoy getting a rise from me."

"This is true, but I am not your culprit."

That made things even more frustrating. I clenched my jaw and fists. Who would have taken them then?

"Perhaps you should speak to Samson," Seth calmly suggested. He was now half-clothed in his black trousers while working his undershirt over his head.

"I don't know where he's staying," I said. "He wasn't with us last night when we received our room assignments."

Both brothers appeared perplexed. Before anyone spoke again, someone appeared in the doorway behind Isaac. She was dressed in a green chiffon gown today with her hair curled in large ringlets. I hadn't previously realized her eyes were a piercing sapphire, like her husband's, until this very moment in which I found them boring into me.

The brothers and I rushed into hasty bows. My face was already slightly burning from having been caught in this kind of situation.

"What is going on here, guardians?" she inquired, glancing between Isaac, the still-dressing Seth, and me in my towel.

"Someone took my clothes from my chamber," I told her. "These two claim they don't know what's happened to my uniform."

"Oh, yes." Princess Tabitha nodded. "I had a maid retrieve them early this morning to be cleaned. I suppose they are not yet ready."

"You had my uniform cleaned, Your Highness?" I asked dubiously.

"I suspected you might want it to be fresh seeing as how you trekked across the land yesterday. You might be a guardian, but you are still a lady, are you not?"

"I am." That didn't mean I wanted her to take my uniform. I thought about how disapproving Samson would be of this entire ordeal. "I'm greatly indebted to you for this, Your Highness."

Shaking her head, she waved a hand of polished fingertips. "Nonsense. You and your fellow guardians do us all a great honor by protecting the king."

"Do I hear praise for my men?" asked a solid voice.

We all looked to where King Zacharias stood outside in the hall. I tried not to feel hurt by his remark, unable to stop myself from thinking it must be a direct insult. I was clearly female and standing right in his presence.

"Your guardians are splendid," the princess informed him.

"Why, thank you, Princess." As if noticing me for the first time, the king's face darkened in disapproval as his gaze locked with my own. "Shall I dare ask where your uniform is, Guardian?"

My mouth opened to spew an automatic response, but his cousin beat me to it. She stepped in front of me almost protectively.

"Her uniform is being cleaned at the moment, Zacharias. Do not scold the poor girl."

I was humiliated that two Royals were speaking about me under these circumstances. While my cheeks began to warm, I retreated a few steps further into the room. Seth came to stand beside me, now fully dressed in guardian garb.

"Being cleaned?" the king demanded. "Was it sullied?"

"Yes," the princess lied, no waver in her voice. "It was sodden with sweat from yesterday, so I had a maid clean it."

"She is a guardian, for land's sake, Tabitha. Not a doll for you to dress and play with. Just because she is a woman does not earn her special merit," he snapped. "She will be treated the same as all the others."

We all stood in surprise. The king wasn't wrong. It simply was unexpected of him to raise his voice at a princess. From where I stood, I could see her jaw shifting angrily. She finally sighed and stormed past him out of the room. Now there was no barrier between me and him.

Our eyes met briefly before I dropped mine to the soft carpet beneath my bare toes. I was ashamed, though none of this was really my fault. I wanted nothing more than for King Zacharias to leave without another word.

"Apphia," he called sternly, "you are to report to your chambers immediately. If I see you again out of uniform, I will be forced to place you under Samson's subjection."

Samson, as we all knew, happened to be very good at punishments. He could tell a person's weakness after only a minute of speaking with them. I never wished to find myself in that position.

"Yes, Your Highness," I answered, head still bowed.

"We are understood then. Good day." His retreat sounded with the clap of his boots down the stone hall.

Chuckling, Isaac elbowed me. I didn't look at him on my way out of the room nor at anyone I passed down the hall. I closed myself in my own room before any further humiliation decided to target me.