Dragon of Storms

Chapter 11

Reyna woke to light glaring through her eyelids. She sat up, causing Helios to wake up and slide into her lap. He glared up at her, probably for disturbing his sleep. "It's your fault for sleeping there." Helios didn't respond, only got up and stretched his back. "Could you be any more catlike?" She muttered as she got out of bed and stretched.

Her leg hurt a little, but not too much. Reyna limped to her sitting room, and frowned when she saw a few piles of books on the low table. Taking a closer look, she saw that they were all relating to dragons. "Marie," Her low accusatory mutter went unheard.

Looking down, Reyna saw the bloodstain on her carpets. Annoying. She thought. It would be hard to get it out, and in most likelihood, she wouldn't even bother. Helios showed up behind her and began to sniff the now brownish stain. When he recoiled Reyna only laughed. Of course the smell of that stupid lord's blood grossed him out.

"Alrighty, here's the plan," She started, "Since Marie is taking the day off, I'm going to find us so breakfast, but first," Reyna walked into her closet. "I need to get dressed."

Helios dutifully followed her, and watched as she examined her clothes. After a few minutes of her staring, he went up to her legs to try to peek at whatever the princess was staring at. When Reyna noticed him she started to talk a loud, "What people wear, makes a statement, whether it's small or big is more up to those interpreting," Her eyes skimmed everything in the small room. There wasn't a lot of light, but she managed to stay calm.

"Strategically speaking, I need to appear innocent, young even, like this whole incident wasn't my fault and that it's traumatized me, but not made me weaker in any way." Her mind was already filling with combinations, "I need to seem strong, but tired, subdued a little, so people will hopefully not bother me, except to ask after my health."

Helios only listened and watched when Reyna began to pick out a dress. In truth, she didn't much care about her appearance, but right now, it was a tool she needed to use. So, she chose carefully, and after thirty long minutes, she was finally ready to get out of her room.

In the end, she had chosen an off the shoulder dress that was white at the top but faded into a rosy pink. Over it was a pink draped vest, embroidered with roses, that had gold trimmings. There were pink wings of silk chiffon that crossed under her arms to drape over her forearms. All of it was tied together by a reddish belt over her stomach, an arm cuff of the same color on her left forearm, and a necklace paired with matching earrings.

While Reyna was quite independent of Marie, she was horrible with hair, so she only put it in a soft twist-wrapped bun and called it good enough. After slipping on flats, she made her way out of the room with Helios bounding after her. Smiling sadly down at him, she said, "You have to stay her buddy," Helios looked up at her with sad eyes that she could only describe as puppy dog eyes. "I have no way to hide you, so stay here, and I'll be right back." With that said, she left her extravagant rooms, and locked the door behind her, as she didn't need anybody walking in to see a very put out dragon.

The halls around her were so filled with light, that for a minute she managed to forget the bastard ruler of the castle. Speaking of which, she had a few choice words for the man. But at the moment there were more pressing matters that involved a hungry dragon.

Her footsteps never echoed in the halls because of the carpets, and it always disturbed her. Said carpets were a plush sea glass blue that went well with the ivory walls with gold trimmings. On one side of the corridor had arched windows that showed the intricate gardens beneath.

Just as the whole wing belonged to Reyna, so did the gardens. She was thankful for it, as she could walk the packed gravel paths endlessly and nobody could enter to bother her, except her father of course. Now that Reyna thought about it, it was the perfect place to take Helios. Storing the information for later, she made her way to the kitchens. When her ivory halls ended, and the dark stone ones began, Reyna knew that she was close.