The Dragon's Princess

11.

I was woken what seemed like only a few hours later, but what I saw was something I wasn't expecting. The woman wasn't wearing any sort of uniform, just casual clothes, and her overall demeanor was a lot more relaxed.

"Hello there, King Amadeus said to come wake you up." She smiled kindly. "I didn't want to since I heard you didn't get in until late, but orders are orders. Anyway, breakfast is in roughly half an hour."

"Thank you." I did my best to return her kind smile.

She gave me a small curtsey before she walked back out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Semoda looked up at me through cracked eyes but he quickly went back to sleep. He was worse than I was. Carefully I slid him off my stomach and onto the bed and I got out of bed. I searched through my bag for something to wear and headed off to take a shower. A pair of jeans and a flowing, off the shoulder top later, Semoda and I were headed downstairs.

As I passed people on the staircase they stopped and stared for a second. I could sense and hear their confusion, but I did my best to ignore it. When we hit the bottom step, I noticed Amadeus standing off to the side. So, I quickly scooped up Semoda and walked over to him wanting nothing more than to escape the curious gazes. Everyone was looking at us, the strangers that appeared in the middle of the night. Once we were standing next to him, everyone's eyes were moving back and forth between us clearly more curious than they were before. I looked up at Amadeus, but he wasn't showing any emotion.

"Everyone to the dining room! I'll explain everything there!" He shouted to everyone who was now mulling around hoping to witness something.

It still took a second for everyone to get their attention back to their original destination, but they did as they were told. We stood there watching them walk into the dining room. We waited until the last person walking through the doors before Amadeus led us in. The three long tables that sat in the room were mostly filled with people anxiously waiting to hear what their King had to say. Amadeus let Semoda and I sit in a chair next to his while he remained standing.

"I know you're all wondering who these two are, some of you might have been wondering since last night." His voice naturally seemed loud and intimidating. "This is Katalin and Semoda, they're going to be staying here with us for a while."

I glanced around the room and it was very clear that no one was satisfied with this small answer. So, I looked up at Amadeus who was already looking at me and gave him a small nod. He furrowed his eyebrows and I just nodded again. He gave me a small smile and turned his attention back to everyone else.

"She's my fated one." He announced, not bothering to ease into it. "I'm going to be honest with you like I always am, there's no guarantee that she'll be here forever. There's a lot going on and I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't bombard either of us with questions and please don't go starting any rumors. The second that we have any definitive answers you all will know."

As soon as he sat back down, breakfast was served, and I could hear the excited conversation coming from everyone. The room was buzzing with energy that I loved to feel. It made me happy to feel, hear, and see everyone else excited about Amadeus and me. It also didn't take long for everyone to welcome Semoda and I. The kids instantly took a liking to my interesting companion and after Amadeus told them they had to be gentle, let them all run around together.

Amadeus and I ate breakfast quickly so we could get to his training session. I decided to leave Semoda here so he could continue running around with the kids and Amadeus and I headed to a large building that was on the property.

"After training, I want to take you and Semoda through the Kingdom." He said.

"Sounds like a great way to spend the day." I smiled.