A King's Guardian

>22<

Though it may have been months since I had needed to use my finely tuned senses, I jolted away at the sound of the bedroom door easing open. I slightly opened one eye to see the room was lighter than last night. It must have been morning. Footsteps proceeded from the door towards my bed, and I found myself tensing. Would it be better to catch the intruder by surprise or confront them now?

"I know you're awake," Zacharias said, causing all my thoughts to crumble.

I sighed and sat up. My eyes moved to him and roved over his black outfit, the same he wore nearly every day. His face was lit with a smirk when my gaze slid back up. Realizing I had unwittingly checked him out, I blushed furiously.

"Good morning," I murmured while glancing at the window. The cream-colored drapes curtained the glass and prevented most of the sunlight from filtering in.

"Would you like to dress and meet me in the dining room?" he asked.

"And we'll start the investigation?" I just couldn't stand the thought of having the power to do something about these boars and wasting so much time.

Chuckling, he nodded. "Yes. A few others who are leading the investigation will be joining us."

"Okay."

"There are clothes in the armoire that I suggest you wear. You're now a guest here, so everyone will expect you to dress like it."

My first reaction was annoyance. Who was he to tell me how to dress and to talk so haughtily? Then I remembered I was still a guest, inferior to the king himself, and I had no option but to comply with his demands.

"Alright," I gritted out as politely as I could manage.

Once he'd left, I went to the bathroom to wash my face and rinse my mouth. I stripped out of the undergarments I'd slept in and went to the armoire to fish out an outfit. They were all gowns. My hands thumbed through the soft materials—chiffon, velvet, satin. Most of them were darker colors, which made me wonder if the Zacharias had chosen them. That thought unnerved me, for some reason.

I plucked out the simplest of the gowns to wear, though even it was far more luxurious than anything I would have been comfortable wearing. The dress flowed down to my feet and spilled over onto the white carpet in a puddle of royal blue satin. My shoulders felt bare from the off-shoulder sleeves, but I was surprised that where the bodice cut in to emphasize my waist, it fit perfectly. Considering I had gained smoother curves since I'd last been here, I was surprised the material wasn't stretched or too tight. Now that I had such a beautiful dress on, I felt absolutely ridiculous for not doing anything to my face or hair. It wasn't like I really knew how to fix them anyway.

Turning away from the mirror, I pulled out a pair of white close-toed shoes like the ones ballerinas wore. They were the only shoes in the armoire that weren't heeled. As much as Zacharias wanted me to look the part of his guest, I wanted to be taken seriously during this investigation. This outfit somehow made me feel illegitimate. I sighed and left the room.

Emerging into the plush corridor of the king, I allowed my memory to guide my feet around the Castle. A small smile curved at my lips. I was back where I belonged, where I needed to be. On my way to the dining room, one at which I had only stood in at during the king's meetings, I passed a few guards. None of them were Guardians, to my disappointment. Then again, perhaps it was for the better I didn't run into anyone I knew.

Two guards stood outside the dining room, so I knew Zacharias and his other men were already present. They opened the tall, red doors for me and I strode inside. The gown dragged along behind me as I moved. My eyes flickered instantly to the head of the table where Zacharias was seated before acknowledging the other four men present with a nod. All of the seats nearest to the king were occupied except the one directly to his left.

"Gentlemen," he addressed them, staring at me with a smile, "please meet Lady Apphia. She is the guest I mentioned before."

"Lady Apphia," the other men greeted in unison.

I made my way over to the chair Zacharias was gesturing to and attempted to mask a blush warming my cheeks from all the attention. "Good morning, everyone. Forgive me for being late."

"Not to worry, darling. You are not late," Zacharias told me. "We were just catching up before breakfast is served."

"Oh. Lovely." I slipped into the seat and one of the servants standing along the wall pushed it in.

Before the servants brought in platters of food and placed them in front of us, I was introduced to the others. It was only then that I realized I recognized one. Seth fastened his gaze to mine, and I felt my mouth part in surprise. Our king, however, did not notice our exchange and continued to speak about the others. I turned away from Seth to focus on Zacharias. One of the men was his head advisor, Moruvio. I had seen this older man before, as he was difficult to forget with his unfashionably long black hair and eyes. The other two men were from outside the Castle walls. Marcus was likely around Moruvio's age, but his hair was gray and short, matching his beard. He belonged to the city's law enforcement and had been one of the officers to respond to the boar attack last night. Then there was Sigmund, who apparently spent quite a bit of time with pigs and the like.

"Forgive me for arranging this over breakfast," Zacharias declared while passing around a stack of sheets for us to take, "but I thought matters were too urgent to further delay."

I nodded to myself in mute agreement. In my opinion, we had already waited too long. The king himself had been attacked twice by the monstrous boars and now one had attacked a crowd of people. Our investigation should have started after the first attack.

We all looked over the king's sheet while examining our food. I found both more than interesting. The food, for one, breathed the most delicious aroma of sweet butter and salt. My stomach rumbled by the smells alone. Not to mention the sheet, written in the king's handwriting, was composed two lists: one side with bullet points of facts we knew regarding the boar attacks and another side with points of which we remained ignorant. I found myself alarmed at how much longer the second list was.

As I lifted my head to survey the reactions of my companions, I instead caught Zacharias staring at me. He slid a half smile in my direction. I wondered why he was being so overt when we had an audience. Just because he added the title lady to the front of my name didn't change the status of my comings. Very few things could change that.

Clearing his throat, Zacharias brought the table's focus back to him. "Well, he said, "let us begin shall we?"