Courting Tragedy

Courting Tragedy (4)

4

"The world didn't always seem as small as it does now. It used to take weeks or months to get correspondence from country to country, or at least for the commoners. Among the royalty, things were different. Royalty became what it was because they possessed something the other people didn't; power that surpassed all imagination." He had begun speaking in a serious, old-fashioned voice. He stopped and took a sip from my glass of water.

I shot him a venomous look, and he shrugged.

"I'm thirsty. Sorry." He said.

I sighed. "Continue, please."

"Ok. Needless to say, many of the royal families of the old days are no longer in power. But, if you know how to look, you'll see the business leaders of today are very similar to the monarchs of the old times, and that is because they're from the same family. It's easy to stay in power when you can control anything, make anyone do whatever you want..." His eyes glassed over and his gaze turned inward.

"Hey there. You okay?" I waved my hand in front of his face, and he snapped out of it, suddenly locking eyes with me.

"Sorry. I was thinking. Where was I?" He asked.

"You were saying that it's easy to stay in power when-"

"You can do anything you want." He finished gravely.

I nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"I should mention their powers, but I think I'll instead go into what you are here for. These... leaders are strong and demanding, and they don't seem to care about what happens to the normal people of the world. They seem to leave the fate of the commoners to certain people." He smirked and pointed at himself and me.

"Ok?" I said, confused.

"We are the protectors. We are the warriors; the defenders. Our sole purpose in existence is to protect the only remaining active monarchy: the Sinclair family-"

I cut him off. "But I thought all the royalty was doing something different now."

He sighed in exasperation. "Not all, Princess, just most of them have moved on. There is one family that adheres strongly to the ways of the past, and as they are also the strongest store of magic on this planet, they are the ultimate rulers."

"Can I make a checklist here?" I asked jokingly.

He scoffed. "Why? It's not necessary."

"I was kidding." I said as I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. This guy has no sense of humor.

"The point of my story, since I keep getting interrupted, is that you were 'kidnapped' because you were spotted by one of our searchers. I was supposed to bring you back free of harm, but it was hard with you being so scared by the storms before I even got there." He ran a hand through his hair and looked down.

"My bad. I don't like storms... or being alone... or the dark. I guess you just caught me at a really bad time." I blushed as I realized how childish I sounded.

"Don't be ashamed. Everyone is afraid of something." He said softly, staring out the window.

"Thanks... I just realized I don't know your name." I was astonished that I'd somehow managed to be around this guy for almost 24 hours and not once need to say his name.

"Oh, yeah. That might be important," He gave me a stunning grin. "My name's Gage." He held out his hand for me to shake.

"Emory VanWelden." I leaned forward and shook his hand, surprised by how big his hand seemed in comparison to mine.

I thought his eyes had widened slightly when I said my name, but I blinked and it wasn't there anymore, so I ignored it.

"Now, as I again try to finish this story, you are being taken back because they feel you will be essential to the guard of protectors that follows the royals every move." He pulled his other leg up onto the bed and criss-crossed his legs.

"Can you take your shoes off if you must have your feet on my bed?" I asked in annoyance.

He looked pointedly at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, this is my bed."