The Pains Of Being A Royal

No Remorse

My nerves were in jitter as I played with the ends of my white top, momentarily noting how smooth it was.

I wonder how they wash clothes here.

"Are you excited?" Merida who had been walking beside me asked with a smile.

"Extremely," I whispered grinning like a child who had received the world's largest candy.

I walked through the corridors passing the immobile guards and finally reached the room I was supposed to enter. The room looked more intimidating than the rest for two guards were defending its huge metal doors. 

"What room is this?" I whispered as lowly as I could to my personal guard.

"It's the room of the council of Kings, my lady," Merida whispered back as she gestured to the guards.

Council of Kings? Now what the hell is that supposed to be?

The guards grabbed the metal rings and swung open the doors revealing the longest table I had ever seen. This piece of furniture was suitable to accommodate nine people at least, if not more. There were also duplicate chairs following the length of the table, with the behind portion of the chair which supports ones back, long and filled with intricate carvings visible even from a distance.

"I'll be outside," Merida said as I entered the large room with several burning lanterns and a large glass window opposite to me that filled the room with more light than sufficient.

The metal door closed behind me with a loud bang and I looked back ahead to face the audience.

My brothers weren't the only occupants in the room, two other men were standing apart from them, one whom I recognized almost immediately. 

He was the huge man whom Aiden had addressed as General and if I remembered my history lessons right then this man happens to be the one who held authority over an entire fleet of soldiers.  The man standing next to him was certainly new.

He was quite pale and old with grey hair and wrinkles beginning to show over the contours of his face. With dusty round spectacles over his eyes, a golden watch dangling from the pocket of the robe that completely engulfed his frail physique the man had a rather severe expression across his face that made him look harsh.
 
As practised with Christian I did my best to follow all the protocols a princess should while in the presence of others and by the size of the smile on his face I could tell I was doing a reasonably good job.

The men bowed down low as I gave them a small dip in greeting which was not too deep nor too high just as I had been instructed.

"Helen meet the General of the royal kingdom, Owen of Ether and My royal Advisor, Samuel Graham." Dominic who was seated at the centre far end of the table announced not looking up from a pile of sheets he was studying.

"It's an honour to have you amongst us again Princess." The General said as Christian drew me a chair and gestured for me to sit at the other end of the table.

"Thank you, General," I muttered trying to be confident. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well gentlemen."

"The reason why I called you here is that I have something to tell you," Dominic said interrupting us as he kept aside a pile of paper.

"Okay." I nodded glancing nervously at him.

"When we took you home, I naturally found it my obligation to inform your Foster family about it," Dominic said as my eyes widen when I understand his words.

"They know?" I asked my breath uneven.

"Not all the parts." My Brother explained. "Do they know you are with us? Yes, they do. Do they know what we are? No. I found it unnecessary to scare them by informing them that the girl they had been raising all this while was a demonic being."