Courting Tragedy

Courting Tragedy (12)

Chapter 12

"Royal blood." I stated flatly.

He nodded, his face still nervous.

Suddenly it sunk in. "You're royalty!?" I screamed, throwing myself backwards off of the bed.

I landed on the floor, feeling a strong surge of deja vu. So, for the last couple of days, I've been living with royalty? The mere thought that I've been cavorting with a Prince or whatever he was and having the thoughts that I've been having brought a blush to my cheeks.

"Please don't worry about it. It's really not a big deal. And please refrain from throwing yourself off the bed in the future. It worries me." He got off the bed and took a step towards me, falling into the olde-tyme accent he sometimes had.

"Excuse me, but it is a big deal! Were you ever going to tell me that the royal family you were talking about was your family?" I asked, putting my hand up in a 'stop' gesture to keep him from coming any closer to me.

"Yes. I was going to tell you. I just wanted to introduce you to more of our world before I thrust it onto you." He stopped a few steps away, looking down at me uneasily.

I stood up and curled into the chair in the corner of the room.

"So, because I don't have a mark, I'm not royalty." I said, thinking out loud.

"Yes. But, there are other marks. Well, one other mark really. There is a a mark that every protector has, a mark that guides them to their soul mate, the person that they're truly supposed to be with," Gage replied, skirting a step closer to me.

"There's another mark? That's awesome." I smiled, feeling myself being pulled into this world without my permission but still liking it.

Gage's face hardened. "It is a lovely idea, in theory, but quite inefficient in reality. Every one of us has the mark, but very, very, very few find the one they're supposed to. The world is such a big place, and there are so many undiscovered protectors that it's nearly impossible for someone to find their soul mate.

"That's so sad." I whispered, a shiver running down my spine.

He pulled the comforter off of his bed and tucked it around me.

"Warm up. I'll come back in a little bit and we can do dinner." Leaning in, he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before striding across the room and leaving.

When his lips touched my skin, my whole body tingled. I brought my fingers up to my face and brushed them across where he'd kissed me dreamily.

Was that a 'you remind me of my sister' kiss or a 'I like you like you' kiss? I didn't know, and that thought bugged me more than it should have.

I slid off the chair and threw the blanket back onto the bed. If it was bugging me this much, I was going to find out why.

Going down the stairs slowly, I made my way down the hall. Gage wasn't in the living room or the kitchen, so I kept going. I came to a door that was ajar, and I crept closer. A light was on and I could hear voices coming from inside of it.

"...Don't understand. Why her?" Logan's voice floated out of the room.

"I don't know, Lo. I have no idea." Gage's sentences were followed by the sound of pacing.

"She's not even of wealthy stock, Gage. She's a commoner, a nobody. After how her parents ended up, it won't be a surprise if she goes the same way. You know you can do so much better; you're a prince for Pete's sake!"

My heart stopped dead in my chest. My parents ended up how? My father was, admittedly, a workaholic, and my mother had died two years ago from cancer. I didn't see how either of those were bad fates, in the whole scheme of things. Weren't there worse things?

And my status? My stock? What did he mean? My family was middle class, maybe at the lower end since my dad didn't get paid the most for what he did, but we had more than enough to keep us happy.

Even hearing Logan call me a nobody made my eyes burn with tears. I wasn't going to go through that again. It was hard enough the first time, and if I had to hear that again, I wasn't going to be able to stand it.

"But--" Gage spoke up, his voice soft.

"NO! Gage, you have to see sense! Just because she looks like Emily doesn't mean you can keep her around as a pet. She's meant to be a warrior, a guardian for our people, and she will train with the rest of them. Her unusual circumstances and social rank will not make anyone go any easier on her than any of the others. You need to see right now that she is nothing more than a harlot, a temptation of fate to make you stray from your path! There is one thing she wants, and you will not be getting THAT from her. Someone of her status could have any number of contagious diseases." His voice was shaking with rage, pulsing through the doors with an almost visible energy.

I took one last look at the door, tears streaming down my face, before I turned and fled back up the stairs to Gage's room.

On the way, I stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I might need it.