Kidnapping the Prince

Kidnapping the Prince Installment XIV

Kidnapping the Prince Installment XIV

~ DAY SEVEN OF THE BALL ~

After Dan had kissed me on that balcony, I’d wandered around the castle aimlessly, thinking, and hadn’t returned until well after nightfall. I had completely ignored Ryan’s questions and gone to bed silently, but even in the now familiar bed I tossed and turned, still thinking. When I awoke the next morning, Ryan was waiting by the fireplace, a list of questions ready to fire at me.

“Before you say anything,” I started wearily, “I’m just gonna go ahead and say that you were right.” Ryan looked confused as to what I was talking about, and then shocked that I’d given in so easily once he’d made the connection.

All night I’d been up, thoughtful and wondering. Images of Lucas and Dan had alternated dominance in my head until I actually wanted to tear them out. I could no longer deny the feelings I had for Dan. Trying to smother them would be like trying to cover a flame with paper; they would only be fueled by the resistance they met. And although I did love Lucas, those feelings seemed to be leaning more and more towards what I felt for Ryan: sisterly love. We had grown up together after all.

The day Johnathan had saved me and brought me back to his own home had played over and over in my head like a dream. I’d heard the lullaby my mother and father sang, I’d felt the deep laugh of my father, and I saw the flying fists of the stranger and my mother’s still form. And then Johnathan was there, wrapping his strong arms around me and picking me up, taking me away from the mother and father I would never really get to know and the soldier I would always remember.

I owed Johnathan everything. When he took me home, Lucas had only been six years old, two years older than me. Both father and son immediately took me in, treating me as their own kin and teaching me their lifestyle. The lifestyle of a thief. Even now, when Johnathan had been dead for three years, I still felt like I owed everything to Lucas. Ryan was right; that was why I wouldn’t – couldn’t – leave him. But I had to. I couldn’t live my life chained to Lucas. I had paid my debt in full in the twelve years I’d spent with the Sweetwaters and the three years I’d spent working with Lucas.

But as night went on, another thought had occurred to me. I was a bad person; I always would be. For fifteen years I had harbored a secret, fiery monster inside me, and for fifteen years that monster had thirsted for the bloody revenge that had not been fulfilled. Why should I want to murder everyone that had any connection to the country Niwels when it was one drunk soldier that had done me wrong? Add that to the thousands of things I’d stolen and the hundreds of lives I’d more than likely ruined, it would be surprising if even Hell let me through its gates.

I had run from that thought for fifteen years. I would accept it now. In the face of having to kidnap the man I loved, I didn’t think there was anything I couldn’t do anymore. When dawn had nearly come around I had made a decision: I wouldn’t tell Dan anything. A thief had to stay professional, which meant putting jobs first and feelings second. But if Dan guessed anything at all about my true identity, I would spill it all, regardless of the consequence.

“We’ll be okay,” Ryan said softly. I nodded and walked over to one of the windows and opened it. I was never one for metaphorical connections in real life, but for once I saw the cool, dewy, gray dawn as a new beginning. I stood there unmoving for a long time, smiling, staring out at the horizon where a bright orange sun was sleepily making its way over the quiet landscape.

“Well, Dearie,” I grinned, “I’m off to see Dan!” Ryan chuckled.

“Before you go, tell me how your part of the plan went.”

I sighed, reluctant to talk about the job. “It went very well. I even found out some potentially useful information.” I recounted how angry Dan had been at Ryan’s rudeness, how I’d snooped around the queen’s rooms, how the queen had ordered for me to be searched, and how Dan had yelled at me afterwards. I omitted the kiss. Ryan nodded, satisfied.