Royal Renegade

Chapter 38: Game of Chess

Princess Axelia

What should have been a twenty-minute ride, happens in five. Shadow's muscles shifting as her hooves nearly glide through the snow. With so much wind in my face, I imagine how it must be to fly. If this is how it feels for Leonidas. Expressions of the crowd yesterday come to mind; shock, amazement, fear and disbelief, all of which I assume were similar in my own reaction that night in the forest. 

All these years, a decade, I never had a clue. It's a wonder why he hasn't shown them until now. I would fly everywhere if I could. Play in the feathers. Sleep wrapped in their warmth and comfort.

"That was amazing," I breathe as Shadow trots to a stop at the tree line out of range for any soldiers patrolling Cadomia's wall to notice. 

In my state of awe, my grip loosens on her reigns and she rears up her front legs sending me toppling over her rump, and face planting into a mound of snow. When I manage to sit up, she triumphantly trots in a circle, tossing her head back with loud neighs as though laughing at me.

"I'm going to tell Leonidas what you did," I threaten. 

Halting, she seems to glare at me with her icy-cold eyes before snorting and darting back in the direction we came. 

What a piece of work. 

Once I reach the Kingdom's wall, I am greeted by knights who escort me up to the castle. I return in time for Miss Elysse to shove trays of food in my face the moment I enter my bedroom. 

"You must be starved after spending a night in the forest," she rambles, pacing restlessly while I settle myself on a couch. "What were you thinking staying out there? You could have gotten hypothermia, or worse, a bear could've made a snack out of you."

Little does she know; I have played with such a creature. 

Sorrow suddenly comes over me as I reflect on all my new memories.

If my father finds out--

"Axelia? What is it?" Miss Elysse asks, looming over me. "You aren't eating."

Can I trust her? She never told anyone about the time Leonidas came to visit us at the lake.

"I met your brother," I mutter, poking a fork into a baked potato. "Elytis."

Her chin drops and eyebrows dip at the center of her forehead. "H-how?" she frowns. 

"I left a few nights ago, after Herakles' proposal, and he helped Prince Leonidas rescue me from an army of Ferals. Herakles told everyone that I was with him in Cadaekin, but I was in Rerimas for a few days," I try to explain as briefly as possible. She stands with a look of shock as she stares at me. "You didn't tell me he was handsome," I add. "Or that he even existed."

"No one is supposed to know!" she panics, resuming her pacing of the room all over again. "Cadomians are forbidden to go to Rerimas unless bought from the prison. If the King found out Queen Ida turned one of his citizens, he could use it as a reason to charge their walls."

I don't think my father is that trigger happy. It happened so long ago. 

"He won't find out," I give reassurance. "Elytis, the Queen, and Prince all took very good care of me."

Flopping down on the couch, she clasps her hands together with wide eyes. "Details! Tell me everything."

I do as she asks while enjoying the refreshment of a bath. She listens for hours as I share about the things I saw, people I met, unofficial date I went on with the Prince, challenge against Elytis, drama with Herakles, being bitten by a vampire and everything else up to riding Shadow.