When I returned, Alberta sent me straight to the Royal Court. She showed me a letter dated a couple months back carrying Queen Tatiana's royal seal requesting that once I returned to St. Vladimir's I was to immediately report to her at the Royal Court. So Alberta booked me the next flight to Philadelphia and before I knew it, I had arrived. Alberta must have called ahead of time because when I got off the airplane, two guardians in their serious black and white uniforms.
During the flight I wondered if I would see Adrian there. There was a high probability that I would because well, Queen Tatiana was his great aunt. What was so important that they needed to see me at the Royal Court? Clearly it was much too important to be included in the letter. Was it something I had done or had word of my condition reached the court? I had to admit, I was scared of what was going to happen. It was a common thing with all requests that came from the Royal Court, it was meant to maintain a sense of ambiguity, an air of mystery, and a sense of helplessness.
When I stepped off the plane, the guardians came forward to greet me. One of them I recognized, it was Mikhail Tanner; the other I did not.
"Gentlemen," I greeted.
"Guardian Sterling," Mikhail nodded.
"Grant," introduced the other guardian extending his hand.
"Pleasure," I returned smiling, grasping his hand firmly.
"Shall we proceed then?" asked Mikhail, once introductions were complete.
"What exactly am I doing here?" I asked.
"We were order to bring you to the Queen," stated Grant seriously, "We were not given any more information than you were."
"Oh dear God, what have I done," I thought.
The ride was in complete silence. I wanted to talk to Mikhail, but I didn't think it was appropriate considering that he was here on official business, so I just sat there in silence...letting it eat away at me, just like before, painfully reminding me of my awakening. My heart ached again for Alexander and I felt his cold fingers touching my neck again, of his fangs piercing my skin, filling me with bliss.
We stopped at the Royal Court. It was beautiful and completely deceiving in its appearance. To the humans who passed by every day, it was just another building, but to us, it was everything, our entire government. Mikhail and Grant got out first and led the way through the halls to the throne room; that too was in complete silence.
"Just through there, Guardian Sterling," directed Mikhail.
"Thank you," I managed in my nervousness.
I stepped into the room, a bundle of frayed nerves. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this way.
"Your Majesty," I said dropping onto one knee.
"There's no need Guardian Sterling," stated Queen Tatiana dismissively.
"Of course, Your Majesty," I said rising.
"You must have been caught quite off guard when you received our request," started Tatiana.
I had always been taught to speak only when spoken to, answer only when I had been asked a question, neither of which just happened, so I just stayed quiet.
"We have noticed your talents and would find them to be more fitting at the court," continued Tatiana, "We believe that your talents are being wasted by teaching at a school, not that we do not value your efforts to pass on knowledge to the young guardians of the future, so we ask you instead to be the personal guardian of a prominent individual at court, the guardian of-"
"Of? Of whom?! Why did she stop?!" I thought frantically.
A messenger had, at that moment, burst in, interrupting Queen Tatiana's train of thought and sentence. He was clearly out of breath and his face flushed a deep red hue, "Your Majesty, they have returned!"
"Bring them here, all of them, NOW!" she ordered in her queenly tone.
The messenger nodded, "Of course, Your Majesty."
He quickly scurried out of the room, clearly embarrassed by his intrusion, but obviously thought what he had to say was important enough to warrant such an interruption. I kept my place, I could not speak or more or leave without the Queen's consent.
"We will speak later," dismissed Tatiana, "Guardian Tanner will escort you to your room and we will call upon you once we have dealt with this matter."
"Yes, Your Majesty," I bowed and exited.
