Scorched

Chapter 5

Gwen sat up abruptly at a loud knocking on the door. It took her a moment to remember she wasn't in her small town anymore. Her eyes widened and she frantically smoothed down her hair and hurried to the door.

She pulled it open hesitantly, peering out into the hall. The guard from last night, Jennings, stood there, looking considerably less angry than he had previously.

"The prince suggests that you get dressed and head down to the kitchen for breakfast before the other trial takers arrive," he said stiffly, avoiding looking her in the eyes. Gwen glanced down at the flimsy nightgown she was wearing and felt her face heat up.

"Of course," she stammered, looking anywhere but at the uncomfortable guard standing in her doorway. "I'll be right there," she said, pushing the door closed.

Jennings stuck his foot in the door before she could close it and called out, "I'll be here to escort you. Prince Rowan would prefer not to have a repeat of last night."

Gwen shut the door and let out a shaky breath, turning to the large closet near her bed. She opened the heavy wooden doors and gasped. People weren't kidding when they said the castle would provide anything you needed. The closet was full of beautifully colored dresses and more shoes than she has ever seen in her life.

She frowned, searching for the type of informal clothing she would wear for the trials. There was nothing but dresses in this closet. She stood there angrily, contemplating who to talk to about her situation. She had no doubt the men were provided with exactly what they needed to succeed in the trials.

Gwen knew not many women were successful in the trials to become guards, but she had assumed those who tried would be treated the same as any other competitor. She thought the trials would at least be fair.

There had never been a woman as a member of the King's Guard, but Gwen was determined to become the first.

She huffed and selected a long, plain blue dress. Once she was changed, she looked at herself in the mirror. Gwen never wore dresses at home. She was always working around the house and it would be very impractical. The only time girls ever wore dresses was if they were invited to a castle ball, which was very rare.

The dress was much too long for her small frame, making her look like a little girl playing dress-up with her mother's clothes. Her brown hair hung limply by her face and she sighed, turning away from the mirror.

She walked out into the hallway, finding an impatient Jennings leaning against the wall. He took one look at her and scoffed.

"You're going to compete in that?" he asked incredulously. "You know, I passed the trials myself and I don't think you could do them in a dress."

Gwen glared at him. "I don't have much of a choice. Dresses are the only thing in the closet."

Jennings snickered and led her down the halls, not saying anything else before they reached the kitchens. The smell of fresh bread once again brought a smile to her face. He left her standing outside the kitchen as he walked over to speak to a cook.

Just outside of the busy kitchen was a large area filled with long tables, most of them filled with chattering guards. Many of them turned to look at her quizzically. She looked very out of place in her dress in a room full of uniformed guards.

Jennings returned with a heaping plate of food. Just looking at it made Gwen's stomach grumble. She realized she hadn't eaten since she left her house the day before.

She walked over to an empty table and sat down, digging into her food quickly. She was so focused on the delicious food she didn't notice the room fall silent. She looked up from her plate, confused. Every guard in the room was standing, staring silently at her.

Gwen frowned, wondering why they were all staring at her. With some unspoken command they all sat down at the same time and Gwen shook her head.

"You know it's customary to stand when a member of the royal family enters a room," a soft voice said behind her.

Gwen jumped, her fork clattering noisily to the floor. She spun around in her seat, finding herself looking up at the serious face of Prince Rowan.

She stumbled to her feet, turning to face him, suddenly very conscious of her unwashed hair and too big dress.

"These clothes are ridiculous," she muttered, tripping over the hem of the dress again. Rowan quickly reached out for her elbow to steady her. Gwen jerked her arm away and glared at him.

"I don't need help standing," she snapped, trying her best to ignore the tingling sensation on her arm where he had grabbed her. Rowan looked taken aback by her harsh words, before a stony look came over his face.

"Need I remind you that I am the heir to the throne?" he asked coldly. "I expect some respect from you. I have been nothing but hospitable." The warmth and kindness from before had completely vanished.

Gwen was in no mood to apologize to a man that was probably a part of running the trials. Reminding herself that he was the prince was the only thing keeping her from snapping back at him. She turned away from him and picked up her almost empty plate, marching back towards the kitchens.

"There's servants for that you know," he called after her in a mocking tone.

Gwen continued to ignore him and handed her plate to a gawking boy, who couldn't have been any older than her.

Gwen huffed, heading down the hall in a direction she thought would lead her back to her room. After making a series of turns through the castle, Gwen stopped in her tracks.

Guilt washed over her. All this time in the castle, and she hadn't even spared Xander a thought. Xander, who she had ran away from, and left to the guards without a thought for two days. She was finally in the castle where she had a chance to find out what happened to him and she hadn't even tried.

Gwen sunk to the floor, guilt overwhelming her. His bright smile flashed through her mind, followed by the hurt look she had seen when she looked back. She hadn't known him for long but the memory of his happy, laughing face and shaggy blonde hair was burned in her mind.

Footsteps jolted Gwen out of her daze, looking up she locked eyes with an annoyed looking Jennings.

"You just love to make my job difficult, don't you?" he asked, his tone unhappy.

"Sorry," Gwen said, pulling herself to her feet.

Jennings rolled his eyes, and motioned for her to follow him back down the hall. They reached her room after about five minutes.

"You've got ten minutes before we have to go meet the other contestants," the stoic guard said.

Gwen hurried into her room, pulling the door closed behind her. On her bed lay a fresh set of clothes. Similar to what she would wear at home while working they looked very durable. A small smile made its way onto her face; it looked like she owed a certain prince an apology.

Gwen changed quickly, feeling much more comfortable once she was out of the dress, she hurried back out into the hall, and Jennings led her to where she would finally officially begin the trials.

Visions of her soaring through the sky on a bright red wyvern flew through her mind. Ever since Xander had fallen out of the sky on Storm, she had been longing for a wyvern of her own. Gwen knew she had to pass the trials. She wouldn't settle for anything less than her own personal wyvern.

A surge of excitement overcame Gwen.

She had been waiting her whole life for this. She would finally have the chance to fly, even if it was just once during the trials. 

Her dream was about to finally come true.

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Thanks again for reading, all the support and comments have been incredible. Every comment is so helpful and I would love it if people kept leaving them. Also thanks so much to indigo551 for all of her amazing support and editing with this story so far.

xoxo Emma