Slave to Destiny

Chapter 23

I was not in a very good mood. In order to prepare for the festival the slaves had been awoken far earlier than we appreciated and sent out on the grounds to help set up the stalls. Looking around it was almost like a carnival. Games, entertainment, and people were everywhere. It fit well with theme of the first day of festivals, family. The entire midnight sky was lit up with neon lights emitted from the tents and stalls. I had never seen so many vampires in my life. Children ran through the dirt pathways freely. Laughter filled the air. I could smell food cooking and smoke in the air.

Tina was at my side as we sauntered around. Tina’s job was to walk around helping people with directions and such while I was supposed to continue watching Edmund and Kayli along with twenty other guards that lay surrounding the perimeter. We were all forced to wear these stupid uniforms to set ourselves apart from the normal populations. “I wish I could have some ice cream,” Tina muttered beside me staring longingly at a tiny vampire child who had just been handed an ice cream cone.

“No kidding,” I replied bitterly. My bad mood really didn’t make that much sense I suppose. Blaire and I had recently become very friendly. Evidently Daniel had been informing some of the younger, trusted vampires of my living status. It was a little unsettling to be perfectly honest.

For the last half hour I’d been refraining from glancing over at Cole and Blaire who had been running around laughing and having fun the entire time. Lately it seemed like Cole wouldn’t even glance at me anymore. It went against everything Blaire had told me. It would seem to her that Cole was completely and utterly in love with me and would be not only relieved, but thrilled to find out I was a princess.

“When are you going to tell me the truth about you?” Tina asked me randomly as I stared up at Edmund and Kayli who were currently on the ferris wheel.

I was taken by surprise by the question. How was everyone figuring things out? Was I really that bad at acting? Or was I just that distracted by Cole? “What?” I stuttered.

Tina rolled her eyes, “I’ve known you’ve been keep something from me sense we first met.”

Was it time to tell her? If everyone else was discovering it, why not her? “Okay you know how I told you I was a servant at The Dark Moon Castle? Well that wasn’t entirely true. I wasn’t a servant. I was the princess,” I told her in a hushed voice.

“I knew it!” Tina accused grinning wildly, “You never talked like a servant. You always seemed far to well educated to have grown up without any proper teaching.”

It shouldn’t have surprised me that Tina would pick up on something like that. Bennet, Edmund’s head guard, had nearly caught me for the same reason, but his accusations were deflected at the last minute. “Well aren’t you clever,” I mumbled smiling lightly at her.

“Well what are we going to do? How are you going to escape? We have to get your Kingdom back,” Tina blabbered quickly. Perhaps I should have told her long ago considering she was the most energetic one about the situation.

My mind reeled with ideas. “I have to find a way to contact the new alpha,” I explained. Tina nodded in understanding. We would have talked more, but the slender blond that had only moments before been frolicking around with Cole sauntered right on up to us. She looked as confident as ever as she grinned at me, the slave.

“Gabby, a word please,” she asked kindly as if we were equals. We actually were, but given my current state I still wasn’t accustomed to being treated with any kindness. I nodded my head once at Tina. Tina got the hint and quickly ran off to continue her duties.

“How can I help you Blaire?” I asked her staring off at Edmund and Kayli who had just exited the ferris wheel. I found it strange that she would pick now to talk to me considering the vast amounts of vampires surrounding us.

Blaire could hardly contain her grin, which in someways alarmed me. Had her and Cole decided to make themselves official even though she’d assured me it wasn’t like that? “Gabby, you know I said Cole was in love with you?” she started. Here it comes, the part where she says she was mistaken. “Well I think it would be wonderful if you guys got together. It would totally bring the peace between species.”

I stared at her dumbstruck, “Have you talked to Cole about this?” I questioned her.

“No, but I was thinking wouldn’t it be the perfect place to reveal yourself at the ball. You can tell him who you are, he can join you, and we can all come up with a plan,” she babbled happily. It seemed like a descent enough idea, but there were some flaws.

“What if Cole turns me over to to Corban and Abigail? Besides what ball are you talking about?”

Blaire responded without a moments thought, “Cole would never do that, he loves you even if he doesn’t always act like it,” she was sure of her answer. It was comforting to know someone else was confident in my love life, but I couldn’t help but not feel so sure. “At the end of the week of festivals, there is a huge masquerade ball. It will be perfect. We can dress you up, you can dance around together, and at the peek of your love you can tell him.”

She sounded like one of the blubbering school girls that I used to run into at boarding school. Back then I would make fun of them, but as the words swarmed out of her mouth I couldn’t help but feel happy. Perhaps everything would work out. Perhaps I would get a happily ever after. Perhaps even after all this time I was a princess and I had a prince charming.