The Dance of the Keepers

Chapter 33 The Words We Speak

It was a good thing Ranen was ready to leave by the time I finished my plate of food or I would have left him to fend off the vipers by himself, no matter what he said to convince me otherwise.

"That may have been the most entertaining party I've ever attended."

"Easy for you to say, you weren't the entertainment."
I grumbled.

I'd managed to accidentally insult one of the young noblemen, flick an ant off a chip onto a girl, who'd panicked like I'd thrown a rattlesnake at her, and kick Vega Darrow in the shin when I was adjusting my position.

"I should bring you to my father's next council meeting, might make the whole affair bearable."
Ranen chuckled.

"I think not, I've had rather enough of looking like an idiot. And speaking of making public appearances, what's all this nonsense about inviting me to the royal parade?"

The royal parade was an annual event that involved a display of power from the King. He would march troops of guards through the city streets, following behind them on a grand float with the rest of the royal family. Starting at age 16, royal children were allowed to escort a friend or lover on the float with them. The procession would usually stop in downtown Los Eres for the King to make a speech and then proceed back to the palace. Of course, the whole event was televised, hence why I knew so much about it. I'd grown up watching it, scoffing at the ridiculousness of the pompous King, while still fearing his might. There was no way in heck I was going to be apart of the charade.

"Well I have to pick someone to escort, why not you?"

"You saw me just now, I was a disaster! Can you imagine what might happen in front of the entire country? I don't have any desire to find out."

"Well, I won't force you to go if you really hate the idea, but do think on it a bit, you might change your mind."

"No, I won't."
I told him stubbornly as we reached the front of the apartment complex.

"Have a good rest of your evening Astrid, thank you for enduring the party."

"Oh, well,"
I huffed.

"the food was good anyway."

****

The next couple of weeks passed quickly and my second evaluation came and went without much fanfare. I ranked middle of the pack this time, Glass and Jasper coming in the top 5. I wasn't terribly concerned, the evaluations had little to do with the arena and everything to do with entertaining the masses.

The royal parade drew closer and Ranen continued to pester me whenever we were together about attending as his guest. No amount of coercion, however, was going to convince me that being on public display side by side with the Royals, was a great idea. I could think of a million things that could go wrong, me falling off the float being at the top of the list.

On another note, I'd begun to grow worried, not having heard from Solomon in quite a while. I hoped that no news was good news, but you really never could tell. I was strolling through the lobby of the apartment complex one evening after dinner with Jasper when the desk clerk called me over.

"You have a message."
She told me in a bored tone, handing over a slip of paper.

I hear there's a lovely little park off of the downtown strip. Meet up at seven?