Royal Alley

Danger danger!

I woke up to the blinding light of the morning pouring into my window. I rolled onto my side and buried my head under my pillow as Gianna said good morning. Then she told me to get up or she'd pour water on my head.

"No I'm getting up!" I groaned, and rolled groggily out of bed. "How do people get up so early?" I mumbled.

"Eean wanted me to tell you that he would like to meet you at nine o' clock to discuss how to deal with documents."

"Nine o' clock? It's so early..."

I didn't let Gianna change me, and put on a dark green summer dress with chiffon sleeves that were short and breezy.

Right at nine o' clock, I heard a knock on the door and told them to come in. I asked Gianna to bring me some toast and milk, and Gianna passed Eean on the way out of the door. Eean smiled at me when he saw me, though I still felt a little awkward from the night before. He was carrying a thick stack of papers.

"What are those?" I asked.

"These," Eean said, plunking them on the square table in the middle of the room, "are all the documents that you need to read and sign, or not sign."

"Wow this looks like real fun," I said as I flipped through some of the pages. We sat down at the table and Eean began to explain each document as we made our way through the stack. Gianna brought breakfast and I ate as we worked. It was long and tedious work, but when talking to Eean, it wasn't so bad. We goofed around some, but we managed to get it finished in around an hour. Then I had a convention with some of the influential people in the castle. We took a limo, and Brianna, Trent, and Laya wore suits and sunglasses, looking like true body guards.

We were there until around four thirty, and came back to the castle at around five. I was ready to just relax with my friends, so Eean, Laya, Brianna, Trent and I took some cards outside and sat in the garden by the north wing around a stone table. We played late into the evening, and went back inside only when dinner was being served in the dinning hall. I sat near the end of the table with my parents and Stephanie, and Brianna sat next to me. Laya and Trent sat just further down the table talking to Uncle Matthew and Phillip. Lyden was sitting next to Phillip, and seemed attached to Phillip. I felt bad for Lyden, being alone and parent-less. But it seemed like he was finding a place, and Phillip treated him like his little brother.

I got to truly talk to Stephanie for the first time. She was young, and constantly asked me questions about what it was like outside of the castle. I described the slums very vaguely, not wanting to get into too many details, and found that Stephanie was a very girly girl. She loved make up and doing her hair. I promised to do her hair that night after dinner.

We all left the dinning hall and I walked with my friends and Stephanie, and said farewell to Eean, Trent, Laya and Briana as I followed Stephanie into her room. The wall was sectioned into panels of the same designs of red and gold amid white, and the floor was covered with a red and beige rug with matching patterns as the walls. A large window with green curtains pulled shut across it stood on the wall opposite me and to my right a bed of dark green with red leaf designs sat against the wall, it's long side against the wall. The four posters of the bed rose up to hold a canopy of deep green curtains, pulled open. A mirror on the wall right over the bed reflected the room and made it long longer. A white stone fireplace was on the wall just to my right, and green plush chairs matching the bed and curtains sat around it. A glass and gold chandelier hung from the golden ceiling.

"Wow," I said, looking around.

"This used to be Napolean's bed," Stephanie said proudly. Stephanie sat on a chair by the fire while I played with her hair, trying to make a braid. I'd only ever seen other people wearing it, and had never tried to do it myself. I eventually made a thick braid down her back, and Stephanie smoothed her hand over it happily. I tucked her into bed and said good night. Stephanie wanted me to sing to her, so working my memory to remember a lullaby that I'd heard often in the slum's I sang to her.

Don't cry for the people my dear, my dear,

they sing for you above,

don't cry for the darkening sky , my dear,

it rains upon you love.

Though bread be scarce, and water retreat,

God gives you love and strength today,

if only you trust and carry on your feet,

He'll guide you toward a happier way.

Stephanie's eyes drifted closed as I finished the song and I watched her breath slowly and deeply. I kissed her on the forehead, and turned off the lights as I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. I walked quietly down the hall, then suddenly the lights went out. I stopped and looked outside. It looked like a cloudless night, no thunder or lightening. I slid to one wall and walked cautiously along the hallway, looking out for danger around me. I got to the end of the hall and turned a corner. The hall beyond was silent and empty, and continued down, when I heard a ruffle of clothing and looked up just as a large figure landed on top of me, toppling me to the ground and crushing me. I laid on my back, and the man gripped my chin and pulled up so he could slide a knife below my throat. I shoved the knife up into the man's hand that gripped my chin and he cried out, his hand on my chin loosening, I took this opportunity to tilt my body and elbow him in the face. He tilted sideways and fell to the ground. I groped for the knife and rolled onto my back. The man was gone.

I lay there, breathing hard, and staring into the dark around me, searching for the large figure of the man. I sat for a few minutes listening. Not a sound was to be heard. I stood up, still carrying the knife, and walked back to my quarters. I took off my dress and shimmied up my chimney. I made my way to Laya's room, woke her up, and told her all about what happened to me. We talked about who could've tried to kill me. It could've been the people of Paris who were angry at having a Princess from the slums, or people in the court who were angry for the same reason. We agreed that I should stay in Laya's room for the night. I took a bath and slept on the couch.