The Shadows

24| Continue On

We stand staring at the beautifully large structure in front of us. It seemed so homey to me. Comforting.

"RAH!"

I jump and duck at the same time, crunching my eyes shut and throwing my hands up over my head. Damien and an unfamiliar voice burst into laughter.

I remove my hands from my head and open my eyes to see a beautifully tall red head, french braided so that it wraps around her shoulder, little freckles that dab her pale skin and gorgeous blue eyes smiling brightly at me. Damien pulls the girl into a friendly embrace. "Sabrina, it's so good to see you!" He gives her a sweet smile. The girl known as Sabrina, grabs my shoulders and pulls me into her, wrapping her arms warmly around me. I stutter in my reaction before giving her a light hug. She let's go of me and curtsey's to Damien. "It's so good to see you again your grace. I see you brought the beautiful Aryah with you." Her eyes sparkle towards me. "You know who I am!?" I look at her utterly confused, how is that possible. She raises an eyebrow at me, "Word spreads fast when the handsome prince finds a girl." My eyes widen as the realization that I am indeed, dating one of the three famous prince's. Mild anxiety floods my brain.

"How's everything on your end?" Damien switches over to her. "Great! We never have problems here. We do feed everyone." She shrugs. Damien nods, "Is your dad around?" She nods happily, "He is, he was looking forward to seeing you again." Her expression falls suddenly, almost pained. "I want to give you a heads up. He's quite ill. I'm afraid our extra room is being occupied by our family doctor. I'm so sorry my prince, you know normally I-" Damien squeezes her shoulder reassuringly. "Sab, it's okay, don't worry, out meeting does not need to be long. I just want to discuss a few strategies with him." She sighs in relief and looks back and forth between us. "Of course, please follow me inside."

She begins walking up the long beige driveway, almost skipping towards her home. I giggle at how happy she is, it was nice to see someone was dealing with the war so well. As we get closer to the home, it becomes more apparent how extremely large the farm is; I mean, I guess they feed the entire island, but geez. We take a few steps onto the large white balcony and through the charmingly rustic front double doors. I close the door behind me and turn around to see her searching through the front hall; she pauses in the center and squares her stance.

"Daaaaadd!!! They're here!" She screams making us grab our ears. She swirls around to face us. "Please excuse me, I need to assist my father." She bows her head and runs down the hallway.

"I like her a lot better." I nod, giving Damien a relieved smile, making him chuckle. "Me too."

Sabrina turns the corner helping an elderly man walk towards us; He was slightly hunched over and had been coughing harshly. Damien and I both run up to them to avoid him from walking too far. He looks up to Damien as if he had been his own son. He reaches up and slaps his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, making Damien smile. "Please excuse me my prince." The elderly man coughs as he makes an attempt to bow. Damien quickly bends down and helps him up. "Zander please, formalities are really not important!" Zander smiles at him, "It would be improper." He chuckles. "I forbid you from bowing, ever again." Damien says giving Zander a light chuckle, more worried about his health. Zander looks over to his daughter Sabrina and nudges her. "Just as sweet as always I see!" Making Sabrina giggle and me smile. "I'm sorry, are we talking about Damien here?" I joke as I point a thumb to Damien. Zander, Sabrina and I all burst into a chuckle and Damien rolls his eyes. "You found a good one Damien! She's feisty." Sabrina winks at me.

"What brings you to our neck of the woods son. What can we do for you?" Zander changes the subject to business. Damien scoops Zander's arm over his shoulder and begins leading him to a rustic bench with mint green pillows. "Let's sit and chat."