Regina and I had stayed up almost all night talking about things we remembered from home. The time before everything had gone wrong, before my whole life was turned upside down. It wasn't until rays of the early morning sun sparkled through my open window that we realized just how long we'd been talking. Only then did we find ourselves falling asleep.
Hours later, we awoke to the sound of frantic knocking on my door. I sat up immediately while Regina; who had once slept through a storm that caused a tree to fall on her house, may I add; remained fast asleep. My door flew open and Gage stepped inside. "Charlotte, you're needed downstairs." I groaned and slowly pulled myself out of bed, finding myself in the same torn dress as yesterday. Gage looked me over briefly, then sighed. "What am I going to do with you? Come on, the guards said it was important." With that, Gage took my hand and lead me down the spiral staircase that lead to the front doors of the palace. Only to freeze on the bottom stair. The same man from yesterday who had threatened us without question was standing at the door.
Immediately a storm of emotions surged through me, everything from anger to fear. Only one of them reflected in my actions. At the very sight of him I scowled and began to charge at him, only to be held back by my arms by every guard present. "Princess! Stand down!" I continued to ferociously wrestle the guards and get to the red-haired male. "I'll kill him you hear?! He's mine!" I growled, all the while refusing to make eye contact with anyone other than him. "Princess please! Let me explain myself!" At the sound of his voice, which reflected clear desperation, I began to feel myself calming down and regaining my composure. After a few moments, the guards released me, and I looked him over in suspicion. "You have my attention. Don't make me regret it." I muttered, my voice reflecting obvious disdain.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Callen, I believe your name is Charlotte, is that correct?" I didn't respond, just nodded, wondering when he would reveal his reason for coming here. "You see, when I attacked you in the woods, it was only because they forced me!" He took a moment, then sighed and continued. "My father was part of the original rebellion, I'm not sure if you've been informed of it, but hundreds of years ago there was another war that my father took part in against your family. It is for this reason that I've been forced to go against you, but I simply can't take anymore. I just want to live a normal life! I ask your forgiveness." He muttered, not breaking eye contact with me throughout his whole speech. Silence fell over everyone in the room as they anxiously awaited my response. "I forgive you." His face lit up. "But, that doesn't mean I trust you. You'll have to earn that." For a brief moment his face dropped, but then he smiled again. "I can do that! Thank you so much!" He hugged me briefly, before looking up at the top of the stairs. "Who's this?"
I spun around and saw Lillian standing at the top of the stairs looking down at us. "Lillian go back upstairs!" I growled, the last thing I needed was one of my friends getting involved in this. Before she could however, Callen approached her and smiled. "Lillian? That's a beautiful name." He took her hand gently and planted a light kiss on the back of it. "My name's Callen, it's a pleasure to meet you." Lillian blushed and looked away from him. "I-It's nice to meet you too." She stuttered. Gage, noticing my obvious discomfort, grasped my hand and smiled. "Do you want to start your lesson?" He asked kindly, in an attempt to draw my focus away from the situation. With a loud sigh and one more glance at Lillian and Callen; who were conversing nonchalantly; I nodded and allowed Gage to lead me to the weapons room.
As soon as we entered, Gage handed me one of the many swords on the wall and smirked. "Now let's see where you're at right now. It'll help me determine just how much you have to learn." I nodded in agreement and got into my proper stance, with my feet shoulder width apart and my sword positioned at a ninety degree angle in front of me. "Not bad, I'll go easy on you. Just try to disarm me." I laughed a bit and shifted my position. "Ready to get your butt kicked by a girl?" His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could get even so much as a word out, I charged him at full force. His eyes widened as he blocked my oncoming attack and pushed back. "Heh, that was a dirty trick." He huffed as he pushed me back a bit. I chuckled and ran at him again, this time locking the tip of my sword underneath the handle of his, with a quick flick of my wrist, I was able to send his sword flying across the room. I smirked at the sound of metal hitting the wooden floor and placed the tip of my sword at his nose. "No one ever said anything about playing fair."
Gage gently pushed the tip of the blade away from him face, then slowly relaxed and retrieved his sword from behind me. "Huh, not bad, maybe you don't need as much training as I thought. Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked, his eyes gleaming with curiousity. I spent a moment in thought, then shrugged my shoulders. "I'm honestly not sure, it just sort of felt instinctual." I explained. Gage nodded and leaned up against the back wall. "Well, to be honest, your father was one hell of a swordsman, I'm not surprised, it is in your blood after all." At the mention of my parents, I felt a bit depressed, my family back home was probably worried sick about me, unless they've known all along. That thought hadn't once crossed my mind, it was a real possibility that they knew all this time that I was destined for this. Part of me wanted to continue looking into this, but my heart simply couldn't take it. I allowed the thought to drift from my mind before picking up my sword yet again. "So, want to get beat again?" I teased. Gage laughed and placed his sword back on the wall, jokingly hanging his head in shame. "No I think I've had enough for today, granted, there are a few things you'll have to work on, but you're almost there."
Slowly, he approached me and took my hand, the light from the window a few feet away shined light on us, and created a warn feeling in the room. He smiled softly and embraced me yet again, whispering in my ear; "I'm so glad you're back." I was a bit surprised at the sudden act of affection, but it was still nice. I returned the hug and hid my face in his chest in a failed attempt to hide the blush on my face. Gage simply chuckled and placed a hand on top of my head. "You're cute you know." I tightened my grip on him and held back a giggle. "Oh shut up." I growled, my voice slightly muffled by his jacket. Another one of his cute laughs rang out through the room at my act of stubbornness. Suddenly, a strange feeling arose in the pit of my stomach, and I lifted my head to look at the door, I noticed a shadow flick by. Almost immediately I pulled away from Gage and grabbed a sword off the wall. "Charlotte, what are you doing?!" Gage shouted. "Fixing my mistake."
With those words, I ran desperately from the room and down the hall with the sword in my hand, I heard movement from inside of the bedrooms nearby and pressed my ear against it. "I don't know, I think Charlotte would be mad." It was Lillian, I felt the urge to kick the door down, but I kept my cool and continued to listen. "She doesn't know. After all, it's your body." I couldn't hold in my anger anymore and opened the door as quietly as I could, only to see Callen holding a knife over Lillian's bare back. "It's gonna hurt a bit, but then we can be together." He smirked madly and began carving some sort of symbol into her back. I didn't need to know what it was to know that it wasn't going to end well. "Lillian!" I ran towards them and pushed Callen off of her before examining the injury. "I'm sorry Charlotte! I love him!" She shouted. "Dammit Lillian you can't be serious!" I moved to stand up, only for Gage's voice to stop me dead in my tracks.
"Charlotte look out!"
