The Kingdom Thief

Chapter 8

My alarm clock wakes me up in the morning at 6. I groan and turn over to my side before I remember that I have to get up. I have to be in the training center at 6:30.

"Damn you Kane with your stupid early morning practices" I mumble into my pillow before sitting up. To my surprise I find a stack of folded clothes sitting on the desk. Madeline or Annabelle must have put them there last night.

I immediately figure out it is my guard uniform. It looks just like the uniforms the guards wear that I have identified easily even without my few days at the castle. I've seen it plenty of times chasing me through the streets to recognize it by heart.

The uniform is a black sleeveless top that hugs my body comfortably with gold stripes on the side of it. The pants are also black and are made of a material that is both tight and stretchy. In a brief description, it is the most comfortable clothing I had ever worn.

I pull my hair into a tight ponytail and examine my face in the mirror. My face has bruises in different places and I have a black eye. I let out a breath and shrug in the mirror. If this is what it took to see Melody, Peter and the others and get a chance to convince Jack to change his mind then I would just suffer through it.

I leave the room soon after and head down the hallway that is still dim. It is the first time I haven't seen the hallway bright and alive with activity. I absorb the silence and continue down the hall.

A figure is walking towards me and it takes until they are a few feet away for me to realize that it is Mason. I stop and do a fake curtsy "My prince" I say in a posh accent.

He smiles at my action. "My Supreme Overlord will work just fine" he says back. I smile as he stops in front of me. "Is there a reason you are up so early?" he asks me. I shrug and say "what can I say, I have a hobby of roaming castles in the dark early morning".

He raises an eyebrow. "Creepy hobby you have there but tell me if you find a pink tie with blue penguins on it. I seem to have lost it" he says. I let out a laugh. "You do not have a tie like that" I say, not believing him.

"What do you want to bet?" he asks. "I have pictures wearing it". I laugh again "if I had pictures with a tie that sounds that ridiculous I would destroy the evidence".

He smiles at me, showing a dimple in his right cheek that I had not noticed before. "Well since you're up as well, would you like to accompany me to breakfast?" he asks.

I open my mouth but before I can say anything a voice answers for me. "I'm sorry to disappoint you your highness but Bridget has training in 5 minutes".

I turn around to see Kane walking towards us in a uniform just like mine except the stripes at the sides of his top are red. The sign of the general.

"Training?" Mason asks, brows furrowed. I step back from him and motion to my uniform. His eyes widen. "Bridget, why on earth are you a guard?". I tilt my head back in thought. "Well, I suck at cleaning so I couldn't be a servant so I thought why not be a guard" I say, not exactly lying but not telling the real reason.

"Who said you needed to get a job?" Mason asks. I shake my head. "Mason I am many things but I refuse to be a freeloader" I answer.

"And if you want to still be a guard I suggest you start walking" Kane speaks out. I send him a mocking salute and turn to say bye to Mason when he suddenly grabs my arm.

"Wait, Bridget what the heck is wrong with your face?" he asks, eyes raking over my bruises and black eye. I shrug "training?" I say but it comes out as more of a question.

Mason turns to Kane with raised eyebrows. "What kind of training exactly are you making your guards do general?" he asks. Kane moves his gaze to the ground in a move I guess was supposed to be a sign of respect. "In my defense, Ms. Morgan is an awful fighter".