Calina
༛༛ ༛ ༛༺♔༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Theo was speaking, and distantly, I heard him. Mostly, I felt numb, trying to focus on anything other than the sound of my pulse battering against my eardrums.

For whatever reason, Theo's voice wasn't enough to save me from drowning in my own torment.

Knox just left?

I was trying to look at it objectively, but it felt impossible to see past the fumes blurring my vision. How much pain could a person's heart take before it shattered into pieces? I couldn't afford to lose anyone else. I had already lost Raine. I didn't want to lose him too.

"Alright. Tomorrow," I acknowledged Theo's words even though I hadn't fully processed them. He bowed, then walked in the opposite direction of my wing.

The queen needed a chance to cool down. I'd be dealt with tomorrow. That basically summed up what he said. At least, I thought that's what he was saying. I felt terrible for causing so much stress on everyone. Really, I did.

I clearly made a bad call, that was on me.
Ira was pacing the hall when I turned down the amethyst wing.

"Princess Calina." He breathed, rubbing his hand over his cropped brown hair before he bowed. "I was worried sick! You know, you could have just told me what you had planned. I would have had your back and kept quiet. I will protect you with my life, Princess Calina."

Closing my eyes, I massaged my temples. "Ira, I only snuck out because I knew you were away from the castle. Your focus is on point all the time. It's almost maddening." I smiled, then sighed. "I trust you with my life. Honestly. The point was to be alone. And bring focus to the queen's guard. The Romarvian radicals are going to turn their anger against us once they find out that Henry and I aren't engaged. No matter who's fault it is. The queen's guard needs to get their shit together before the chaos ensues."

The tense muscles in his face relaxed when he glanced down at me. "That's understandable. I'll collaborate with the head of mil-combat warfare to ensure the guards are ready, Your Highness. Just remember, Princess Calina, next time you have the urge to escape, bring me with you. You can always count on me."

I waved a hand dismissively.

"There won't be a next time. I'm officially a strait-laced citizen. I will abide by all the rules."

The sound of his powerful laugh bouncing off the walls caught me by surprise.

"Okay, I'm going to try and have higher morals for myself and behave like a proper princess. I have your number at the ready for when I veer off course a little." My grin turned into a chuckle as I walked around him toward my room. I had no clue Ira knew how to laugh.

"That's all I ask." I heard him say once his laughter simmered down.

"There she is! So how was your adventure? What kind of trouble did you manage to stir up?" Henry's voice was cheery as he pushed off from the wall near my bedroom door.

"How long have you been waiting by my door?" My tone was harder than I intended, but Henry didn't seem to catch it.

"Not too long. I heard you were making your way back. I figured I'd get the firsthand account of your independent rebellion." He chuckled then his grin faltered abruptly. "Princess, what's the matter?" Concern laced his voice as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"It's been a long day, Henry. I'm too tired to talk."

"Oh, I see. No worries." His hand slid down my arm, catching my fingers in his. "If you need anything, remember you can always ask," he said, his thumb lightly brushing against the back of my hand before he released me.

Shit. I was a jerk. Henry was being nice. The guilt was sticking to my insides like a suction cup.

"Tomorrow," I called after him as he started down the hallway, "we can talk during lunch. I'll give you all the details about my little misadventure then."

"That'd be great, Callie. I'll see you in tomorrow."

༺♔༻

I peered in the mirror, poking at the puffy skin under my eyes. I was seriously disappointed in myself for spending most of the night crying over Knox. I wanted to tell him all about what happened with Raine. I wanted to laugh with him about getting scammed by a woman well in her seventies. Scammed by a woman that wasn't a Rogue.
My relationship with him obliviously wasn't as stable as I thought it was if he could just walk away so easily. What if my accidental feelings for him had been one-sided all along?

Fresh tears clouded my vision, I averted my eyes from the mirror before they could start back up again. Instead, I rummaged through the jars in the bathroom drawer until I found the puff eye reduction cream, blotting the cream under my eyes.

Yesterday was a cluster fuck. I lost my best friend and my boyfriend all in the same day. Boyfriend? Is that what he was? When we were together that was how he wanted to define us, but I refused. I kept pushing him away.

Fuck.
What was wrong with me? I felt like poison. I destroyed everything in my life with a single touch.

When I heard a knock on the door, I swallowed down the tears clogging my throat and pasted on a smile as I answered the door.

"Hey Henry. Help yourself to some lunch." I pointed to the small dinette in the center of the alcove in my room and walked back into the bathroom.

The puffiness around my eyes had already gone down. Last nights disaster of getting my heart broken repeatedly was no longer evident on my face.

I pushed gold stud earrings into my lobes, giving my reflection one last once over, I adjusted the hemline of my butter-soft crewneck top. On the outside I looked completely unaffected. On the inside, rage, doubt, confusion, and denial all swirled inside me like a violent maelstrom.

Knox pulled me into his life just to push me away. Ugh, I couldn't delve back into my emotions again.
I rushed out of the bathroom before I could talk myself out of having lunch with Henry.

Henry stood when I entered the alcove. I lifted the silver dome off the platter, happy to see that Hattie actually went through with my request. This morning when I asked her to send up burritos for lunch she threw a hissy fit over the holocomm, claiming she would make me no such monstrosity.
I wanted to keep the lunch simple, because if I didn't she would have sent a mountain of fancy foods that would have been a wasted effort because I hardly even had an appetite at the moment.

Once we were seated at the dinette, I launched right into my great adventure that started with me cramming myself in a trunk for a brutal four hours. I skipped over what happened with Raine and ended it with Knox's rage. Henry listened intently, I had his full attention and it was strange because he was acting completely casual. Not once did I get those weird crush vibes he usually threw my way.

Henry stared at me with an incredulous look on his face.
"Wait that's it? The story ends there. He just left. No words?" Henry shook his head before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Nothing," I replied, my shoulders hunched as I fiddled with my silverware.

"So, is it over between you two?" Henry's curiosity was evident as he leaned forward, his eyes fixed on mine.

I let out a sigh... "Yes, definitely. No. I don't know." I lifted both shoulders in a shrug, as I pushed away from the table and wondered into the cozy sitting area. Settling into an overstuffed armchair, I gestured for Henry to take a seat across from me on the cream leather sofa.

"Calling it quits would make sense. I obviously pushed him too far but I..."

"Oh, come on Callie. How hard is it to send a quick text saying I'm upset I need time to think? Instead, he is choosing to hurt you by leaving and making you question your worth." I could hear the smile in Henry's voice, even though he was wise enough not to show it.

I frowned. I was positive I saw a smile flicker on his lips before he took another sip of his coffee.
"You're happy about this aren't you?"

"No, of course not. I'd never take joy in your pain."Henry placed his cup down on the small oval table between us. A slow smug smile creeped across his face.

"Okay, maybe I like the idea that the two of you aren't together anymore. I'm pretty sure he was only chasing after you because you were engaged. He liked the challenge," Henry chimed in.

"Don't say that, Henry. Don't put more ideas in my head. I've been obsessing over last night enough as it is. And I still have no idea why he ended things between us so quickly."

"You know I completely understand why you left. The timing was smart. No one even knows about you yet. I witnessed how you lived freely, almost envied it. We've spent our entire lives shadowed by bodyguards, reporting our every move back to our parents. But you..." he trailed off, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "You had your secrets, and they belonged to no one else."

"I take it you gathered that bit of info when you were stalking me."

"Let's say watching from a safe distance. I needed to ensure you didn't vanish again."

I playfully rolled my eyes, and our conversation settled into an easy rhythm.

Perhaps I had been too hasty in harboring negative feelings toward Henry. As we talked, I realized he was surprisingly pleasant company-uncomplicated. There was no heart stopping, bone melting chemistry that defined my dynamic with Knox, but maybe all of that was overrated?

There was a light tap on my door before it opened. I leapt out of my chair with a smile when I saw Alice.

"My parents are losing their minds that they've dined with the Princess. The Ghost Elite sort of tipped them off that you were not in fact a normal girl."

"So your parents aren't upset that the Ghosts treated them like criminals?"

"No, they were thrilled..." her voice trailed off into laughter. "My dad said it was an awesome adrenaline rush and a night he'd never forget. Now. Details about your non-date lunch. Oh, prince Henry, I'm so sorry I didn't see you." Alice dipped into a curtsy, a crimson blush stained her cheeks.

"This was fun, Henry. I'll see you around, okay?" He nodded his head, confusion by my quick dismissal flickering on his face.

"I just..."

"Would rather have some girl time. I get it."

"You are kind of great, Henry."

Smiling, I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling the tension in his muscles slowly dissipate as he wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me closer. "Let's hangout sometime tomorrow? Think you can move somethings around and fit me in your schedule?"

"I'd move the heaven's and earth for you, Callie."

Returning his hug with a light squeeze, I stepped out of his embrace.
Alice arched her eyebrow at me as I closed the door behind Henry.

"I told you he wasn't so bad," Alice teased.

"Henry's permanent home is in the friend zone." I nibbled on my bottom lip, trying to figure out how to make my next question sound nonchalant.

"Have you heard anything from Emilio?"

I failed. That sounded like a desperate woman chasing after a king that was stomping on her heart.

"No. I messaged him last night and this morning. Nothing but silence," Alice responded, her tone echoing a sense of frustration.

"What? Emilio is completely ignoring you? Shit, Alice, I'm sorry for screwing things up for you too. I didn't think leaving would explode in my face like this."

Alice grinned and rubbed her hand up and down my arm. "You didn't ruin things between me and Emilio. I'm sure there is a reason for their silence."

"I keep telling myself the same thing," I declared, rolling my eyes. "So what brings you by?"

She stepped into the hall, and returned with a thin strapped white dress with watercolor flowers in shades of teal, and paired it with shimmery gold sandals.

A discontented sound slipped from my lips as I accepted the dress from her.
After a quick outfit change, Alice opened my bedroom door and we made our way through the castle.

"The queen is requesting your presence."

"Why? Did she not yell at me enough this morning. Well, the queen doesn't yell, but she was angry."

Alice nodded sympathetically. "I heard she banned you from the dojo for a week. I'm so sorry, Callie. Did you tell her majesty about how awful yesterday was for you? Maybe she will accept that as punishment enough."

"No. The queen is like my father was. The less you say, the better. I didn't want to stoke her anger."

"The queen is actually in a much better mood. Her nephew is here to meet you before the official announcement. Did you study the names and their pictures I've sent to you?"

"Umm...no. Sorry, I kept putting it off, never got around to it."

Alice momentarily paused, retrieving her phone from the pocket of her peach and white dress. "We can't keep the queen waiting, but I can try to inform you with pictures while we walk to the white drawing room. The queen's nephew reigns over a fishing village called Queen's Gate, it's the smallest kingdom in the world. Queen Ariadne gifted it to her youngest child to reign over before she died, so it's a region that is claimed by Greecia but ruled separately since the division of the different countries isolates them from us. GrandDuke Idris is the queen's nephew. He and his wife GrandDuchess Zosia have nine daughters but the duchess's won't be here until the announcement party."

"Wow, I have a lot of cousins. It's exciting to meet more family, but I'd rather be in the dojo to work through my anger. This pretending like I'm happy is going to be exhausting."

Alice hooked one arm around my shoulders in a quick hug. "Timing will always be off. Your schedule will always be full. So you'll constantly have to keep pushing through regardless of what is happening in your personal life. Here we are. You can do this." I hand over her phone, and exhaled to calm my nerves.

"Remember to curtsy to your grandmother first, then the GrandDuke and his wife. Though you are a higher rank than both of them, it'd be a show of respect and reflect well on the Queen."

I steady my shoulders and nod my understanding.

"So you know how I've been searching for an assistant and have said no to all of the candidates so far?"

"Yes. Have you finally found one? You are going to make Theo very happy if so," Alice replied, a soft grin playing on her lips.

"Well, I think so. I mean I hope so...Would you want to be my assistant? I mean if you think about it you basically are, since you handle my schedule and all the other million things you do for me."

"Well, I do those because you're my friend." She glanced down at my hand and shook her head.
"You know you have a nasty little habit of picking at your nail polish, right? Maybe I should just keep a clear polish on them because this..." she lifted my hand with mock irritation. "...is not what the hand of a Princess should look like."

She whipped out the matching nail polish from her pocket and repainted over the chips. It dried instantly.

"See, you would be a perfect assistant. You could help me keep my nasty habit in check and get paid for it. Plus, We'd get to hang out way more if you're my assistant. Theo has been screening more applicants, but I'd rather have you."

"I'd love to Callie. Thank you! I'd still like to design and make all of your dresses."

"Oh, absolutely!"