The Dragon's Princess

13.

I had been here for a week now and it was quickly becoming time that I thought about going back to Litha. I'd be lying if I said it didn't upset me to think about having to go back there because it upset me more than anything. Things had become a little...off since I had arrived. I had sent Indigo and Blaire texts and pictures every day telling them about what I did, what was going on, how amazing everyone was. I looked forward to getting Indigo's eager responses every time, but Blaire slowly dropped off in the conversation. I wasn't sure why, but I did my best to chalk it up to she was just busy working.

Semoda and I were sitting up in bed trying to wake up a bit before we headed down to get some breakfast. It was clear that we were both still completely out of it though. Out of nowhere, Amadeus burst into the room quickly shutting the door behind him. I could feel the anxiety rolling off him in waves which caused me to sit up straighter and it definitely woke me up.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Celeste called a meeting. All Kingdoms are to be in neutral ground this afternoon for an announcement." He stated.

The happiness bubble that I had been in all week was quickly poked with the needle of reality leaving me exposed to the real world once more. Mother must have made some sort of decision about what to do about me, aka her little problem. I already knew that it wasn't going to go in my favor, and it wasn't going to be a pretty sight to see.

I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by my phone vibrating. I swiped it off my nightstand and quickly opened up the text. It was from Indigo. My eyes over the screen and I started reading the text out loud,

"I hope you're doing well, and I know you're having fun with Amadeus but unfortunately this can't be a happy message. Celeste has been dodging questions about where you are and making up a million different excuses, but a few hours ago we all got announcement letters saying something about the fate of Litha is changing hands and a full statement will be released soon. Also, as you requested, I've been trying to spot Zara around town ever since you said you saw her here that day and I haven't seen her. There wasn't even a record of her entering Litha."

I looked up at Amadeus who looked like he was thinking about something. I dropped my head into my hands and stuffed my fingers into my hair pushing it back. Semoda rubbed his face against my cheek to try to get me to look up. Not even a second later there was some slight shuffling and I felt the bed dip under Amadeus' weight quickly followed by his hand cupping my chin forcing me to look up. His deep red eyes were trying to hide his worry.

"Promise me you won't go anywhere until I get back." He said quietly.

"I'll be here," I answered.

"I should probably get ready." He sighed. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He pressed a light kiss to the top of my head and reluctantly pulled himself away from me. When he was gone, I sat there for a few minutes longer to collect myself before I quickly got dressed and made my way downstairs with Semoda. I saw a bunch of the kids outside playing so I took Semoda outside and set him free to run around with all of them. I watched as he landed on one of their heads and jumped from head to head causing all the children to burst into fits of laughter.

I sat in one of the chairs and enjoyed the cool breeze that was fluttering through the field and did my best to relax. I could see dark clouds slowly starting to roll in which only confirmed that something wicked was coming.

~ Amadeus' POV ~

It was a half-hour flight from the Kingdom to the neutral grounds. Despite being so far away I could still feel Katalin's anxiety which made me worry even more, but I did my best to keep my emotions level and stable for her sake. There's no telling what Celeste had going on in that head of hers, my only hope was that it wasn't something that was going to greatly affect Katalin. It was obvious to me that she was still a bit on the fence about our connection, which was understandable since it hadn't been long since we started this. It was that reason alone that didn't want her to be forced to make a decision before she was completely ready to, but I feared that with this meeting Celeste had made her choice for her.