Kingdom Raiders

Chapter 6 - Ada

OVER THE NEXT day I avoided the King's Scribe side of the castle. The princess had notices my strangely quiet behaviour, but didn't say anything. She knew I would come to her when I was ready.

I sat quietly in the throne room, watching some peasants come and go with questions and queries. At this time of the week, the princess responded to all who needed things settled between them, whether this be disputes over land, drought issues, stock going missing, the list goes on. Farmers, merchants and the like to visit from all over Kingsworth just so they could get a word in with Princess Isabelles and solve their problems.

This was her job as the future ruler of the kingdom. King Roland had made her attend these meetings since she was eight, saying that he thought the Princess should know what goes on in her Kingdom and so she should. She took the responsibility on with great honour, giving a gentle, or firm hand wherever it was needed. The King had ceased attending, knowing that the peasants were in good hands.

Unfortunately, due to his absence, the Scribe was required to attend. The King always wanting to be updated with the welfare of his people. I had yet to make eye contact, as I sat in a smaller chair next to the princess.

The one thing I did notice was that his scribbling was infuriating. The taping of his pen on the ink jar, then the scratching of him writing down whatever anyone said on the parchment was now starting to get on my nerves.

"Ada," the princess leant over to whisper to me in between the rotation of the less fortunate, as she called them, "what's the matter, you look like you're about to take down an entire army."

"It's nothing really, Princess. Just a headache is all." Typically, the only way to get out of anything was to have an ailment in the presence of royalty, much to the annoyance of the princess.

She huffed, hated being lied to. "You may go rest then Lady Ada, there is no need to further strain yourself." She dismissed loudly enough for everyone to hear, knowing it would look bad if I just wandered off without permission.

"Thank you, your Highness." I curtsied and left the suffocating room, only to feel a pair of eyes on me as I left.

Walking down the cold stone halls I started to feel as the tension lifted from my shoulders. I don't know why Elyas was giving me a creepy feeling, he wasn't before I tried to confront him. Why would he lash out like that unless he was trying to hide something? Well, it was obvious he was trying to hide something.

With everyone in the castle somewhat distracted, maybe this was my chance to go have a look around in the Scribe's desk...

With my mind made up, I headed in that direction, only taking two minutes to reach the door and slide in.

"Hello Missy."

I jumped and turned around with a squeak. "Oh... Hello?" It was more of a question than anything.

"Sorry to intrude." He smiled and bowed deeply never breaking eye contact. He was quite lean and tall, yellow hair and grey eyes but a thin scar ran over the side of his jaw, just clipping his bottom lip. He had a mischievous glint in his eye and seemed to think himself quite charming. "I was just looking for the King's Scribe. My name is Jarrett."

A small smile graced my lips as I curtsied, hopefully it didn't look too forced as I had barged in for one, unannounced, and two, with an intent to be very nosy. "Ada."

"Very nice to make your acquaintance, Lady Ada." He leant down to quickly kiss the top of my hand. "As I've just said, I'm looking for a friend of mine, is he around?"

"He's indisposed at the moment, I'm sorry to say." I gave him a sheepish smile.

"No worries, we can both wait here for him then." He leant on the wall opposite me and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you, any chance being courted by my dear friend, Elyas?"