Breaking Silence

Chapter Ten

Ever since the King and prince had returned from their travels, princess Aracel found it strange that Darlius was hardly around again. She had even waited for him in the rose garden but he had never showed up.

"How is he supposed to be my personal guard yet he is nowhere around me?" She said aloud making her art teacher, Ms. Bedelia, give her a stern look.

The princess also found it strange how her mother had suddenly changed her sister's schedule. Now, they no longer had art together and she had to admit that the class was boring without her.

"Please focus on every detail that you are trying to capture in your painting and it would make things even easier if you had actually paid attention when I was explaining."

Although she was trying her hardest to focus on the sword that she was painting, she couldn't prevent herself from thinking about other matters. There was something happening that her mother didn't want her to know about and she was dying to find out what.

With the final stroke of the brush against her canvas, she took a step back to admire whatever disaster she had created.

Ms. Bedelia had hurried over ready to criticise everything done wrong, but her mouth had just hung open when she saw her painting. She could only stare in shock at the beautiful sword that the princess had painting.

Princess Aracel was also taken aback by her own art piece. Somehow, she had managed to paint Darlius's sword with every little detail just right. It was done so neatly and beautiful that it almost seemed real.

"Oh my," Ms. Bedelia finally managed to say. "Maybe you were paying attention or probably you have been practicing, but I have never seen a painting so life-like except," she cut herself short.

Her brown eyes opening wide as she took one last look at the painting before running out the room. Her long brown hair falling out of its messy bun before she disappeared out of sight.

The princess didn't know what to do or even think about what had just happened. This was the first time that she had seen her teacher running and not to forget about her worried expression.

Carefully picking up the canvas, she rushed out of the classroom and to her sister's room. For some reason, her sister just randomly popped into her head.

The guards in the hallway looked at each other questioningly as they saw their princess running with her painting in her hand. It was pressed tightly onto her dress as she passed them by.

Without knocking on her sister's door, she simply burst through the room. When she realized that she had rested the canvas on her dress, she was fearing for her life it had ruined it.

Surprisingly, there was no paint on the dress and the canvas was actually dry. Now the princess was convinced that magic had to be involved in this somehow.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Princess Nubia asked, placing her book down on her desk. "And why do you look like you have just seen a ghost."

Princess Aracel said nothing as she walked over to her sister and placed the painting on the desk. "Just look at it and tell me the first thing that come to your mind."

Her sister nodded her head while wondering what was so important about it. As soon as she saw the sword, her eyes widened as her blue eye began to itch. Her fingers trailed along the outline of the sword until she suddenly let out a tiny yelp.

"So what do you think about my painting?" Princess Aracel asked. Seeing that her sister's reaction was similar to her teacher's own, she was ready to burn it.

After what seemed like forever, princess Nubia finally responded. "Stay away from Darlius." Her blue eye was shining and she was shivering every now and then.

Princess Aracel wondered why her sister would tell her that but couldn't think of any reason. She got up and reached for her painting but Nubia stopped her.

"I want to keep it," princess Nubia said, before picking it up and leaving her sister in her room. There was something about this sword painting that made her interested in it.

Maybe it was because it had somehow cut her or maybe because the same voice from before had spoken to her. Either way, she was scared of what it may mean.

Meanwhile, the King had just finished putting away the final paperwork when Ms. Bedelia rushed in. The expression on her face had him worried that something bad had happened.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, hoping that nothing bad had happened to any of his children.

When Ms. Bedelia finally calmed down and had gathered all her thoughts, she took a deep breath while resting her hand on her chest. "The princess had painted Darlius's sword and it looked so real. It was as if I was staring directly at the real thing."

The King was up from his chair immediately. He paced back and forth in his office wondering what he should do. He couldn't act recklessly and a lot of drama could unfold if he didn't think things through carefully.

"I see," he said finally. "And where is this painting now?"

Ms. Bedelia gulped before looking around the room nervously. "I left the painting with her and rushed here to tell you. I didn't think that it would be necessary to take it with me."

The King was about to speak when princess Aracel came rushing into his office. She quickly shut the door before walking over to him.

"Where is your painting sweetie? I would love to see if it is just as how Ms. Bedelia describes it as."

Princess Aracel looked between her teacher and her father before taking a seat on one of the chairs. "Nubia said that she wanted to keep it for some time. Why?"

The King and Ms. Bedelia exchanged looks but said nothing to each other. "Oh, well stay away from Darlius," the King said before going back to his seat and looking through his stuff. "You two may leave now while I get back to work."

On her way out, the princess headed to her room and then fell face first onto her bed. She was beyond confused and scared and just wanted to forget everything that happened.