His Selected Mate

Chapter 6

A unite of guards burst through the doors and began baring the doors. "To the back of the room ladies," said my father. As they moved away from the table, I moved towards the window to bring down the metal covers. America and a few others came to help bring down them down as well. I latched mine down, while America was struggling to get hers in place. However, as soon as hers was down, something hit the window outside. She screamed and tripped over her feet trying to get away. I was immediately at her side. Something urging me to be at her side, something instinctual.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She quickly did a once over of herself. "I'll be fine." I nodded. "Get to the back of the room," I ordered. My mind was torn. Stuck between helping her, protecting her, and helping the other girls. Damnit. I needed to help the others. Some of them were in tears or hysterical. America was fine. From what I could tell at least.

As I crossed the room to get to the girls, my eyes met with my father's. He gave me a look that said 'We'll talk about this later'. Probably to reprimand me or tell my theory about the rebels was wrong. I nodded and made my way to the girls. I approached a small group who were standing in a funky circle. Some were crying, others were hyperventilating, and the rest were silent. I thought they were in shock. God, why did they have to cry. I was stiff as I walked up to them.

"Are you ladies alright?" I asked. The girls who were sitting, leaning, against the wall stood up on shaky legs, using the wall for support. Three replied with 'Yes Your Highness', the rest just nodded their heads. I silently nodded, unsure on what to do with their tears. "Hang in there. These don't last forever." It went like that for the rest of the girls, except for Kriss and Celeste. Kriss was calm while we spoke, even managed to crack a joke. Celeste was confident and a little flirty. I was a little embarrassed at her teasing but we had a good chat.

Finally. I turned my attention towards the one girl I had yet to visit. America. She was standing by a vase with flowers in them, lost in thought. "Hey," I said, coming up to her. She turned to me and smiled. I could look at that smile all the time. "Hi," she replied. "How are you doing?" She bit her lip before speaking. "I'm okay, could be better." She looked around the room at the rest of girls. "How are you doing? I can't imagine how you must be fairing with room filled with crying women." I let out a quiet laugh.

"Nothing is more confusing." She giggled. "I'll let you in on a secret. Most times, we don't want to be told things will be okay, we just want to be comforted."

"It can't possibly be that easy," I said, looking over my shoulder at the rest of the group. "I said most times, but it'll probably work for them." We were quiet before another explosion went off against the window.

"What do they want?" she whispered. "It depends on the group you ask." Her eyes widened. "You mean there are more than one group?" I hesitated, wondering if I could tell her this. "There are the Northern Rebels and the Southern Rebels. The Northerners are more of a nuisance than anything. They break in, destroy things, and leave the place a mess. Few guards have bad injuries since they seem to tie up the guards and leave them.

"I think they're looking for something, the rooms are always upturned, papers scattered everywhere. You have no idea how many cameras I've had to replace over the years." "Cameras?" she asked. I ducked my head slightly down. I didn't mean to let that slip. "I like photography. Anyway, my father doesn't think I'm right though, about the rebels. He thinks it's silly, says 'What would a bunch of uneducated brutes be looking for?'" I looked at her then. "Do you think it's silly?" I don't know why, but I wanted to hear this answer. "No, confusing maybe, but not silly." She gave a small smile, and I returned it, before speaking.

"What about the Southern Rebels?" "I think their goal is to get rid of the monarchy. All I know is that they don't live within our society, casteless. Their visits are much more...brutal, deadly," I said. She shuttered. "Well, I'm guessing this attack is from the Northern Rebels?"