Shattered Truth

Earlier that night I told Kingsley that Bruce had received a letter from the guild. Someone had planted a fake hit and knew who we were. The worst part was that they wanted us here. We were lucky to even receive the letter; someone had tried to kill our messenger. Shortly after the letter arrived the messenger died. I warned him to be warily of everyone even Giselle. Kingsley wasn’t too thrilled about the situation, but agreed he would be careful.

Since everyone was off doing their own thing I decided to do a little snooping and find out who this imposter could be. I went done the east wing, I believe that is where Giselle’s mother’s room is. It’s pretty weird how Isaac and his wife sleep. They don’t sleep in the same room, or separate rooms, but separate wings of the manor. What was even weirder was how Charles and Cecily stayed in the east wing with their mother and Giselle stayed in the same wing as Isaac. Talk about a civil war.

I passed Cecily’s room and noticed the door was opened. I peeked in and saw that it was empty. I went to her desk and ruffled through her draws. I opened the bottom draw and nearly laughed. Her draw was filled to the brim with condoms. Did she really get that much action or was she just really eager. Other than that, her room fit the stereotype of a teenage girl, a horny husband hunting teenage girl.

As I leave her room, I pocket a few condoms. Who knows they may come in handy later. A few doors further down the hallway I come across another opened door. I glance inside. Judging by the dresses laid out I assume it is Giselle’s mother’s room.

I pause at the door and listen. I hear nothing at first. As get closer to her desk and the other door I hear running water. She must be in the shower. I quickly ransack her desk. All she has is jewelry and make-up and other accessories. As move around her boxes I notice faint lines in the wood. I push everything aside and see the outline of a box. I push in the center and I hear a click. Then the wood pops up. Inside there is a leather bound book.

I look at the door and listen, the water is still running. That’s a good sign. I pick up the book and start to flip through it. It’s a photo album. There are pictures of her and her family, her through school and her in different parts of the world. I cocked my head to the side when I see picks of Kingsley, as a little kid, then pictures of the prince. The further I flip the more current the pictures get. My eyes widen at the last picture. By no means is the picture current. In the picture is a group of people, elementals of all kinds, and other species. Edgar, Kingsley’s parents, her, Isaac, and others I think I’ve seen somewhere before are here, but the one that confuses the hell out of me is the one girl who looks extremely similar to me.

I jolt my head up as I hear the water shut off. I quickly shut the book and put it away. I try to arrange her stuff back to how it was, and hope she doesn’t notice anything out of place. Then I sprint out of the room. I calm my breathing as I walk down the hallway. Between almost getting caught and finding that photo, I’m freaking out.

“Hey there lovely lady.” I look up to see Charles leaning in his doorway with his shirt off. To be honest he looks like a discolored toothpick. He has no muscle and his skin his blotchy. I curl my lip in disgust.

“Put a shirt on.” He slumps a little taken aback by my comment. I give him one last glance and continue walking past him.

“Whoa! Wait up. You can’t just say that and walk away.” He runs in front of me and stops. I arch my eyebrows at him. Because of this little worm Bruce and I are now in the enemy’s territory. Right about now I wish I had my blow dart.

“And why not?” I cross my arms. He smiles and gives me a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I let out a sigh. Unbelievable he is hitting on me. Yuck. To top it off he is doing a terrible job. He steps forward I step back. We keep doing this till my back hit a wall. Then I realize he has backed me in a corner. He puts both of his hand on either side of the wall by my head then leans in.

“”Cause I know you’re just playing hard to get. I’ve seen you watching me and if I do say, stocking me.” I try to dip under his arm, but he stops me with his arm. “I know you want me, and I’m not going to lie. I want you to. I think what does it for me is the scarf.” He brings his hand up to my scarf and tries to tug on it but I move away.

“Stop!” His smile fades and he pushes me against the wall. For him looking like a toothpick, he sure is strong.

“No one tells me to stop,” he whispers in my ear then, yanks me scarf away. I quickly duck and cover my face waiting for his next move, but nothing happened.

“Are you okay?” I glance up, keeping my face covered and see Sebastian hold Charles in a choke hold, cutting of his air way and allowing no sound to be emitted from his open mouth. After a few second he passes out and goes limp. Sebastian drops him like a sack of potatoes.

“Yes.” Then without realizing it I move my arms away from my face. Sebastian’s eyes go wide.

“You’re an Earth elemental?”

“What?!” I look for my scarf and see that he is holding. I ponder the idea of running, but that would not be a good idea. I calm my beating heart. The damage is done I have to deal with it. “Can I have my scarf back?”

“If you answer my question.” Then he dangles the scarf in front of me. I glare at him and he smiles like he won a prize. I just stare at him. “Back to this I see. I must say, it is much better when I can actually see your face.” I reach for the scarf but he pulls back and grabs my wrist with his other hand and pulls me close into him. “You’re more beautiful than I imagined.” I can’t help but blush. He smirks at my reaction. He so fucking arrogant then I got an idea. “So are you?”

“You tell me,” I took a step closer to him. Royals always think they can get whatever they want. He took a step forward and leaned down.

“Earth, but you say you’re a foreigner.” I stood on my tipsy toes closing the gap between us. I felt him loosen his grip on my wrist. His eyes seemed to glow with unrequited desire

“So?” I could feel his lip a breath away. As he moved for the kiss, I moved as well. I pulled my hand out of his wrist and yank the scarf from his hand and dance away from him in a matter of seconds. He blinked his eye and looked up dumfounded.

“You’re fast.” Then he smiled. He bowed his head in respect. “You’re secret is safe with me for now.” I tied my scarf around my head.

“Until next time.” I bowed my head and swiftly walked away from him. I had won this battle but now he was better prepared for the next and he knew my method of attack. He was a good opponent, the next time we encountered each other he may just win. I smiled at the thought.

***

For some reason I was craving a potato, so I headed for the kitchen. When I rounded the corner I saw Bruce leaning against a door.

“Am I interrupting something?” I heard him say. I slowly turned around and went to the other entrance. I wanted to see who he was talking to. I stopped at the door and glanced through the crack in the door. It was Giselle and Kingsley. If I must say, they were a little close, to close. I shook my head Kingsley wasn’t listening to me. He needed to be careful.

“No nothing at all. Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, making sure Bandit’s virginity isn’t compromised? My brother can be quite the dog,” Giselle snarled. Then took a step toward Kingsley. You know I could be quite offended by her comment but hearing Bruce protecting my virginity was funny. Bruce glared at her then gave Kingsley a warning look and left. I was going to watch some more, but then I heard a maid coming and scampered down the hall. I hid around the corner waiting for her to pass when I overheard a conversation. It sounded like the King.

“Isaac you need to keep an eye on the outsider’s especially Kingsley. His family is known for being traitorous and he is getting close to Giselle have you seen those two?” I shifted closer to the door to hear them better.

“Yes, but if I were you I would watch your son. He is smitten by Isabella.” I bit my lip. It was a nervous habit of mine. I heard the king huff. He was thinking.

“I will stay with my guards until they leave to make sure nothing goes wrong. We must also keep a close watch on our children, and under no circumstance must these foreigners find out our secret.” I raised my eyebrow. A secret.