To Protect Dragons

4. Attention

I didn't know where to begin. My father and his council didn't know why the sudden slaughtering of the dragons had begun either. I also had no clue why thirteen innocent dragons have been brutally killed with poisoned arrows these past few weeks. Another issue I had was that I had no idea where the prince stood either. Had the prince ordered the killing of the dragons? Had his council? Or had his father? He stared at me waiting for an answer. I was intimidated by the aura of firmess and the power that emitted from him. Everyone noticed it, the stares from women and men were obvious with jealousy and desire. Women ogled him from the dance floor, even ones who were with someone. Men gave envious stares while some gave stares of admiration. 

"As you know my father was supposed to come to this meeting tomorrow." We continued dancing. I could still feel the lingering stares around us. "But he had to stay and attend to some urgent matters at the North so I came instead. Do you know what the council meeting tomorrow is about, Kazuto?" I asked him, wondering if the council was even aware of the urgent matter that I was going to present at the meeting tomorrow. I smiled, "I hope you don't mind that I drop the formalities, I never really liked titles too much, feel free to call me Kana if you would like as well." Nice try.

"Princess, like I said before, I don't have time for your games right now." He was tense and right then and there he looked exactly like the heartless cold war commander that he was made out to be.

"I will get straight to the point then" I cleared my throat, "why are you and your men lacing arrows with poison and shooting the dragons down?" I stopped mid dance and dropped my hands. His hand lingered on my back for a few seconds before he dropped his hand too.

He scoffed. It almost looked like he laughed, if you would even call it that. "That is the important council meeting? Tell me princess, does your father know your here on this little adventure of yours?" He was mocking me. He wasn't taking this situation seriously. I had wondered if he knew anything about the relationship between the dragons and the Northern people, or if he had been informed at all while he was out commanding his troops.

He began to walk away suddenly but I grabbed his arm keeping him in place. Gasps came from the women around us and suddenly everyone stopped dancing.

"Did she just grab the prince?"

"Who does she think she is?"

"Who is that girl?"

"Do commoners think they can just do anything they please these days?"

He stopped, leaned in closer and whispered "Now I believe you're the one who is attracting a lot of attention, Princess." He shook my hand off. "I'll have someone show you to your sleeping chamber." He walked away from me leaving me in the middle of the ballroom.

No. I had lost my chance. He hadn't even let me talk. Before I got a chance to start my sentence he was gone within the crowd. For him, this conversation was over. He didn't even give me the time to explain myself. I looked around and realized that everyone in the ballroom was staring at me. Wonderful, just wonderful. I had ruined the only chance that I had tonight. I couldn't let everyone down, I couldn't let this stop me, I had to remember why I was here.

I quickly walked away from the ballroom down a hallway and stopped the first maid servant I saw. "My name is Princess Kana, I arrived early and would like to be shown to my room. Now please." I must have seemed irritated because she quickly bowed and looked a bit frightened.

"This way please Princess follow me." She quickly walked down what seemed like an endless hallway. Finally we walked up a staircase that was so long by the time we got to the top she seemed out of breath. She led me to a room at the end of the hallway and opened it for me.

"This is your room Princess, please let me know if you need a-anything or if something isn't to your liking." She bowed again while she was stuttering.

"I apologize if I came off rude, this is perfect thank you so much" I tried to smile as best as I could but the situation that had just occurred didn't allow me to. I think I may have even been scowling at this girl and my attempt to look like I was smiling failed to say the least. The maid scurried away and I walked into my room. The room was very plain just with a large bed in the center and a desk with scrolls surrounding it. I sat on the bed and leaned back sighing.

I wished Amree was here. She had always comforted me since I was a child in stressful times. This time I was all on my own. I knew nobody here except Gennovete and Orella and they weren't even staying in the castle walls. I hugged my arms around myself. I wondered what my mother would do in this situation. She was a much better Queen than I will ever be. I closed my eyes thinking about the time when I was younger and Amree had comforted me through my hardest times. This was the first time in my life that I had been away from her this long. Every night she would fly to my window at night. Here I couldn't even express my emotions to anyone because I had no one to talk too. 

I had hoped Amree wasn't worrying too much about me. She stayed up in the mountains by herself normally instead of socializing with the other dragons or people in the village. I do hope she was checking on my father. I knew with the current situation he would overwork himself just to make sure others weren't stressing themselves out too much. I couldn't let my father down. He had done so much for our people and for me. It was my turn to step up and do what has to be done. I couldn't expect my father to lead me and the nation forever. I was going to be the Queen, sooner or later I had to accept that.

Thinking back to the conversation I had with the prince I winced. My head pounded and I rubbed my temples. Ever since I was little my head would pound when I had been overthinking something. I had anticipated the difficulty of talking with him but tomorrow with all his council members I knew it would be one hundred times more stressful. I had tried to be nice today but now it was clear to me that nice wasn't going to get through to this coldblooded prince.

Tomorrow I would go to the meeting with two options that they would have to choose. Sadly war was one of them.