Shattered Truth

I stand at the window glazing out into the night, waiting for Bruce. As I turn away I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Running through the trees are Kingsley and Giselle, a little late night mischief. I pull my attention away from them to the quite knocking at the door. The door opens and a shadow slips in, closing the door in its wake.

“Are you ready Bandit?” I nod my head and retrieve the blow dart from one of the areas in my layered cloak. I was dressed from head to toe in light black fabric, once again only my eyes were visible.

After Giselle showed us to our rooms, I looked at my face to see if the marks had changed or disappeared. The triangles dripped all the way down my face onto my neck and tapered off a few inches from collar bone, and darkened slightly. If what Giselle said was true this was an elemental tattoo, but that couldn’t be true. I was Driat. I may not be able to fly or breath fire but I can still change into my dragon form. I slightly shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“Bruce if we don’t whack him tonight things might start to get complicated. Kingsley is getting to close to Giselle, and if Isaac is truly well traveled and has love for history he might figure us out and that’s not all. What about-”

“We will worry about those things if we fail tonight. If you miss him then I will get him, but tonight he is considered dead,” Bruce said cutting me off.

“Fine let’s go.” We left my room, without a sound. When Giselle was showing us around earlier, I caught a glimpse of Charles changing with his door open. He caught me looking and give me a ‘you like what you see’ grin. Unfortunately, his room was on the other side of the manor. Considering it was well into the midnight hours I assumed no one would be awake. I was wrong.

Bruce pulled me against the wall and pointed. I followed his finger and saw a maid hurrying by with a tray of food. I watched her and realized she was headed in the direction of Charles room. I tugged on Bruce and we slipped from shadow to shadow following the maid. The maid stopped at none other than Charles door. I take a closer look at the so called food she is carrying and see oysters, strawberries, whip cream, and truffles. I rolled my eyes. Giselle was right he was a man whore.

The door opened revealing a robed Charles. He winked at the maid and gave her the worst seductive smile I had ever seen and worse yet was that she giggled. Charles stepped away, and the maid entered. Charles peered out into the hallway looking both ways with a grim expression. Then he dropped a seed. The vines on his face emitted a soft green light. Then he went into his room shutting the door behind him.

Bruce went to step forward; I pulled him back and pointed to the ground. The seed had exploded with growth. A thick stem started to grow, going up and up. Then it blossomed revealing a Venus Fly Trip. It sniffed the air looked straight at us and licked its lips.

“Hell no are we going up against that thing,” I whispered fiercely at Bruce. He let out a frustrated noise.

“I agree. We will have to find another way. He is too paranoid,” he whispered then turned and left.

***

The next day Cecily decided that we were best friends. Since my things had yet to arrive from the Barking Fish, she decided to play dress. Unfortunately I was the doll. She actually gave me a flaming red dress and scarf to wear for the princes arrived.

I looked at the fabric in my hand, if you could call it that. It looked like lingerie. Did she really expect me to wear this? I held in a scoff. I had to be lady like even though I’m starting to think high born women aren’t as lady like as I assumed.

“Sorry Cecily but I can’t wear this.” I handed it back to her. She looked like I just kicked her.

“You don’t like?” I bit my lip. Any way I put it she would assume I didn’t like. Her eyes got big and watery. I rolled my eyes and put my hand out. Her puppy eyes were replaced with a triumphant look.

“Isabella, don’t. My sister is playing you. She wants you to look like slut. Don’t listen to her,” Giselle said ripping the dress from me. Cecily’s jaw dropped.

“Giselle go mind our own business,” Cecily huffed, letting out a blast of air turning Giselle’s hair into a fuzz ball. Cecily doubled over laughing. Giselle forced the water from the flower vase and throw it at Cecily with enough force that it made her stumble back. Cecily stood, she was drenched and she had a red mark on her face. Water lashed. I almost started laughing at my own joke.

“Mother!” Cecily yelled running from the room. Giselle just laughed and tried to flatten her hair down. She turned to me.

“Follow me. I have some dresses I think will fit you, and their not as revealing as Cecily’s.” Giselle started to walk away.

“Thanks, but I will just wear what I am wearing.” Giselle turn and looked me up and down then smiled.

“You’ve been wearing the same outfit for two days. Believe me it will be easier if you wear something different.” I didn’t really want to, but she had a point. The clothes were starting to smell. I nodded and she led the way to her room.

***

I was standing next to Bruce, feeling silly. I could tell Bruce thought so to. I could see the twinkle of amusement in his eye. Giselle had me try on many outfits to see which one showed off my figure the best. She decided on a brown dress with gold trim and gold plant designs. The dress hugged me tightly showing off my curves. At the waist it flared out and it was knee high length. On feet were a pair of light brown sandals, luckily they were flat. The last thing she gave me was a plain gold scarf. I was still trying to decide if she saw my face. At one point I dropped my scarf, if she did see anything she wasn’t showing it.

I looked at Cecily, Giselle was right. Cecily looked like she was asking for it. The butler cleared his throat. I looked at the front door as it opened. Ten guards dressed in armor, walked in. I glanced at Bruce. Our hit just got harder.

“I am pleased to introduce King Edgar Kavanagh and his eldest son Prince Sebastian Kavanagh,” said the head guard. Isaac rushed down and greeted Edgar with a man hug. The rest of the Daggyrmir family rushed down to greet them.

“Bandit we need to be careful. You were right about Isaac. While you were with Giselle he was more or less interrogating me about our past and I think he knew Kinsley’s neighbors,” Bruce whispered into my ear. Great could it get any worse? I headed down to meet the King and his son and I just about fainted. Prince Sebastian was the man from the ball. He saw me and the board look in his eyes disappeared. He smiled and headed toward me, totally ignoring Cecily. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock.

“We meet again. But I fear I am at a disadvantage. You know who I am, yet I know nothing about you. I have yet to even hear your voice.” I looked for Bruce and saw he was occupied with the King. I swallowed. Sebastian followed my glaze and smiled. He knew he had me all alone. If I wasn’t wearing my scarf he would’ve seen me blushing madly.

“Sebastian, her name is Isabella Leventhall,” Giselle said appearing next to me. “And she and her father are her to find her a husband, their foreigners.” I slowly looked at Giselle; she just smiled and patted me on the back.

“A husband huh?” I swung me head back at Sebastian. I did not like the look in his eye, or maybe I did. I couldn’t decide.