BODYGAURD

MISSING PRINCESS.

I knock on his door and open it to find him sitting on his bed, staring at a picture, his eyes red and puffy. I close it and walk closer to him. I squat in front of him to get his attention.

"Dario? Hey Dario what's wrong?" I ask softly and place a hand on his shoulder. His eyes snap up to find me and he wipes the tears on his cheeks.

"Maria Azul, hey." He says and sets the picture on the nightstand, letting his eyes linger a bit longer before he look back at me.

"Que pasa, why do you look so upset?" I asked. He looked down.

"It's been seventeen years since my sister, Princess Adriana Arturo-Juan Estephania Montenegro, went missing." He said and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"There was another princess?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes. See, my two other twin sisters were once triplets. When they were two and I was five, we were on our way back to the palace from a charity event in your hometown, Lekeito, Basque country. We were involved in a fatal accident with our mother. Padre decided to stay back. Madre was incredibly injured. I had a broken ankle and a long cut that ran all the way down my back and my two other sisters had a few fractured ribs and little bruises. Mother struggled to get us out of the car with a broken leg and a lot of fractured ribs. She got us out one by one but then when she was looking for Adriana, she wasn't there. She cried until the ambulance came for us and she passed out. All of us had to be sedated for a few weeks. Padre was completely broken by it. My sisters were up first, then me but it took a little bit longer for mother to heal. When she finally woke up, she was devastated about Princess Adriana's absence. We sent search parties everywhere to look for her but they all came back empty handed. It really took a toll on all of us. She was everyone's favorite. You remind me of her a lot, that's part of the reason why I like you so much. She could sing just like you too. Had a beautiful voice just like yours. I miss her so much." He ended. I had tears streaming down my face.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know..." I whisper mostly to myself. He puts a finger under my chin and raises my head. My eyes meet his and he gives me a sad smile.

"Don't cry for me bella, I hate to see you cry." He said softly. I shake my head and wipe my tears.

"But you went through so much and the thought of you being hurt and losing your sister at such a young age is just so depressing." I argue. He slides down from the bed and sits beside me on the floor, takes my face in between his hands and presses a kiss to my forehead.

"Yes I've been through some things but you also have some pent up feelings in here," he points at my chest, "and I know that you would very much like to spill but you're just having a hard time fully trusting people to tell them your story. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it but it's not right to keep it inside you. It destroys you. So please try to trust a bit more." He says. I nod.

"Okay, wow, we should really get you to that meeting or else the Council's gonna be really mad at you." I say with a laugh. He shrugs and stands up, stretching a hand towards me, I take it and he pulls me up.

"They can wait. I have more important things to attend to." He says, intently staring at me. I smile and look down, heat crawling up my face. I clear my throat and take a deep breath.

"Alright that's enough compliments for one day, now go get ready and let's go." I say with a goofy smile on my face. The Prince shares my smile as he walks off into the bathroom. I then walk out to wait for him.

***

The meeting was incredibly boring and I wonder how I managed to stand through it all. Prince Dario is supposed to head to this hotel where Queen Auradona is to help her with the décor for an event they're hosting. According to Prince Dario, it's a charity event. I can't even keep track of the number of charity events these people host. We're currently on our way to the hotel. I have music blasting through my ears whilst I play subway surfers. I hum along with the music as I play. I don't know what Prince Dario's doing but all I do is play. The car comes to a halt and I look around. We're at the hotel. I shove my phone into my back pocket and put on my sunglasses, curtsy of Manuel then get out. I round the car quickly and open Prince Dario's side with a stern look on my face. He chuckles as he looks at me and I roll my eyes. Thankfully the sunglasses hid it. He enters the building with me trailing him; looking around for any threats but there aren't any so I relax a bit. Soon we enter the ballroom and it's enormous. I think it's the biggest room I've ever seen in my life. People are running around, putting up decorations and other stuff. Queen Auradona comes into view. She comes and hugs her son and winks at me. I chuckle at her antics then turn to Prince Dario.

"Um, I'm just gonna hang out at the entrance your majesty." I say sternly. He raises an eyebrow but nods. I nod at both him and the Queen the turn, leaving them to themselves. When I get to the door, I stand in a way to look intimidating. Inez told me to do this so anyone who might be looking to do some harm will be a bit intimidated and plus, I think it's kinda cool. After a few minutes, I begin to feel a bit of pain in my arms so I loosen up. I get bored and lean against the doorframe, twirling the ends of my braid that falls down my back. I do that for an hour or so before I hear my name being called. I snap my head to find Queen Auradona and Prince Dario staring at me with matching smiles. I walk towards them a bit slowly. When I'm closer to the Queen Auradona speaks up first.

"Cario, I was told that um, you have a very beautiful voice." She starts and I snap my head to Prince Dario. He raises his hands in surrender. "And, we kind of need a singing performance on the day of the event because our singer has been declared sick. So would you please do it?" she asks, sweetly. I stare at her wide eyed, with nervousness etched onto my face. I shake my head slowly.

"No, I don't think I can do it. I don't have the training for that and I think I have a little bit of stage fright-"she cuts me off.

"Oh you don't need any kind of training to sing. Sure I can get you someone to help you overcome your fears and we'll be there with you through it all. No se preocupe cario, you'll be fine. So will you do it?" she asks with that award winning smile on her face. I sigh. There's really no way I can say no to that smile huh? I finally smile and she squeals.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. You really have saved me a great deal. Te amo!" she engulfs me in tight hug and I giggle, hugging her back.

"It's no biggie, as long as it's for you my queen." I said and she let go with a huge smile on her face.

"Okay. Perfect. You start two days from now. And don't worry; you can still go through with your duties as a bodyguard." She says and I sigh. Good. "Thank you so much, you really have idea how much you've saved me right now." I smile and she walks off to talk to the other people. I then look at Prince Dario and he looks away.

"You're in so much trouble." I say to him, crossing my arms with a pout. He smirks.

"Oh I'm sure I am." He leans in and my breath hitches, "You want to teach me a lesson when we get back?" he whispers huskily into my ear and a shiver runs down my spine. I pull away from him with my face glowing red.

"I'll be at the entrance." I say a bit shakily and walk to the entrance without a second glance. I just hope that no one saw that little moment we just had, or else we will be doomed.