The Shadow Princess Chatper Five

Chapter Five:

Because of my determined ways of keeping my concentration on the book I was reading, I did not notice the time. It was already 6:30 when the book fell, forcing me to look at the floor, where Tyler had already beaten me into picking it up first. Somehow, it then reminded me of what I had to do. Party.

My eyes grew bigger. Tardiness. He read through my eyes, helping me pack the books and running with me upstairs.

“What time’s the party again?” I said, gasping for breath. We were at my room, already. The stairs were killing me.

He smiled coolly, not even at the slightest bit tired. “It’s at 7. You have thirty minutes to get ready. ”

I dashed towards my cabinet, grabbing the blue, silk dress I prepared earlier that morning. I glanced at him and saw that he was, as usual, still watching.

Something that set him apart, however, was that he didn’t mind that I saw him watching. He was frank and bold in that way---he eyed me unabashedly, not even bothering to look down when he met my questioning gaze. That was something new. I raised an eyebrow at him knowingly. “What do you think of the dress?”

“It looks classy, but it doesn’t matter much.”

“Really? A dress doesn’t matter for you in a party? ” I stared in horror. I thought that dress was an asset!

He smiled humor unmistakable through his eyes. “No, it’s not. You’d be the most beautiful lady there, no matter what you choose to wear. ”

I smiled, returning the humor. “Right.”

Abruptly, his humor-filled eyes became serious, and for the first time, they looked as if they were directly looking at me, with no peripheral views, straight to my eyes.

“I mean it. If only you didn’t have any other options but to choose me, I would have been the happiest man on Earth for having you as a date. ”

“Okay, then. I’ll take a bath now. ” I feared my ability to have a very red face. That was even more dangerous than my hysterics and my sarcasm. So much more dangerous.

****

When I got out of the bathroom, wearing make-up, fully dressed and wearing pearls, I saw him wearing a coat and tie, already waiting for me at the door.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Not quite,” I said, pointing to my wet, dripping hair.

He smiled. “Take your time.”

“Yah,”

He paced around the room, and then grabbed the blow dryer form me.

“What now?! You want to do that for me? ”

He smiled. “Funny, but I thought of a way to keep myself busy while you take time to become a girl.”

“There’s enough suspense already. Spit it out.”

“I want to see your pictures.”

“Well, ha-ha.” I don’t have photo albums.

“Then just let me rummage through your cabinets.”

“Fine, just keep your hand off the personal stuff.”

“Diaries?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s corny. I don’t have one.”

“What personal stuff, then? ’

I made a face. “Clothes?! Duh?!” It was so embarrassing to say the word itself.

Then, he was able to comprehend. “Oh, panties, right. Of course.”

I threw him a vicious glare, and he put two hands up, taking a step back.

“Chill,” he said, going to my cabinet to examine the things there. I went on with fixing my hair.

After 20 minutes, my hair was designed already, into a loose grip, the shorter ones falling out of the tiara. I turned to Tyler who was already examining how I looked like.

“Well?” I asked, as he continued to just look.

“Beautiful.” he said, sincerely bobbing his head up and down.

I smiled. “Well, I’m ready, then.”

He smiled and took my hand.

“I would have chosen you, anyway, you know?” I told him.

“Pardon?”

“I would have chosen you even if I had other options.”

He looked at me. “Really?” He seemed genuinely surprised.

“Yes. I’ve only been close to Jazz and Kyra ever since. I was never really close to other students. You break the records.”

He laughed. “I’m honored.”

By now, we were already in the Dining Room. The party was always at the garden, lit by romantic lamps and candles. From inside the castle, I could already hear the tender music playing outside. The gift was clutched in my hand; I placed it on the large table where the other gifts lay. The chatter of the guests was heard from the Dining Room. I glanced at Tyler who was eyeing me suspiciously.

“What are you so uneasy about right now?” he asked.

“The guests. They could have really hawk-like eyes, and become very...quick to judge. ”

“I’m sorry about that. That must be hard. ”

I shrugged. “You kind of get used to it, after some time. Plus, I couldn’t exactly blame them. ”

Silence.

“Well, come on, then. I’ll guarantee that you will have fun tonight. You look dazzling. ”, he said, offering his hand.

I took it, walking towards the garden. As soon as we were there, eyes started following us, some awestruck, some rolling their eyes, some disapproving, some just looking. If I were not with Tyler, I would have shrunk and grimaced uncomfortably. Now, however, I looked back at the people looking at me, Tyler’s confidence influencing me. I smiled back to those who acknowledged me, and nevertheless smiled to those who raised an eyebrow when I passed. You couldn’t please everyone; you couldn’t make everyone agree with you. The most important thing, at times like these, would have to be your belief in yourself.

Plus…we should love our enemies because it pisses them off. I believed in that quote. The moment I smiled at the people who raised an eyebrow or rolled their eyes at me, they seemed to freeze in shock or look even angrier.

I smiled even wider.

“Thanks,” I muttered to Tyler, looking down on the floor. “For everything.”

I felt him nod. “Sure, Ariana. Come and dance with me. ”

I spotted the twins with some sophomores from our school, chatting with them joyously not far from us.

The moon was an unusual round glow that night, as if matching the candlelit garden and the slow, soothing, music. The stars were also amazing---like small, twinkling, lights within the dark, unadorned sky. It was striking. Tyler drew me closer as the song drifted into the chorus part. “You don’t have to be sad. I promise to make you happy. ”

I nodded. “You do make me happy. Somehow, I know I could trust you. You make me confident. And I am happy. ”

“That’s good.”

“But I want you to promise me something. If you promise this to me, I’ll be so relieved and comforted. I’ll be the happiest girl in the world. ”

“What’s that?”

“You have to promise me first that you’ll say yes.”

He laughed. “You have naughty plans, don’t you? You know I won’t do that. ”

“Okay, I’ll leave that hanging, then. As long as you don’t promise to say yes, I won’t tell you what it is. ”

He scowled. “That’s unfair, but you might have really naughty plans, and I won’t give my word to something I don’t even know anything about. ”

I shrugged. “Up to you.”

He smiled. “Razzi briefed me with your evil tricks. I won’t fall for your traps.”

I smiled, and then the music came to a halt. The band smiled at us, then to the twins who were now making their way towards the stage.

Everyone clapped as they waved to the crowd. I smiled as I met Ramon’s eye. “Happy Birthday,” I mouthed. He smiled back.

“I thank you all for coming to our birthday party to commemorate with us our 20 years of flying and journeying together. We value your support, cooperation, trust, and love, as we look forward to ruling over the next generation. ”, said Caesar, smiling sincerely as he addressed the crowd.

Ramon took the other mike and his voice boomed through the small yet powerful speakers. “Again, thank you. Now that we are 20 years old, we have now become of legal age and thus, we will begin our works in the government. You will surely hear more of us, and promise to give what we could for your betterment. I believe Alessandra will promise you the same thing, when she celebrates her 25th next year.” Legal age for males were 20, while females 25. Alessandra was still 24.

“On behalf of our family, we would like to thank you for your years of trust, support, and love, and promise to give you what we could provide for you. We hope we don’t let you down… Do we? ”

There was a lot of reply form the crowd, all of them seeming to be disagreeing with the statement that our family lets them down.

I had to agree with them. When my father took his position as king, I saw every aspect gradually become better. He loved his people, and his people loved him, too.

I was worried how the people would react to the news on Monday, about the war. Would the Shadows be as united when the news came? Would they rebel against the royal family? How would my parents and siblings handle that? It also worried me sometimes that when I became of age, if I be able to perform as effectively as them.

“You’re afraid if you’d become a great leader? ”

I nodded. “Yes.” It was odd how he always seemed to read my mind.

“You don’t have to worry. You ‘re very charming…and ….stubborn…”

“Stubborn? How does that help? ”

“It keeps you determined. Your being stubborn and unique , for me , is one of your greatest assets. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Others see them as a bad trait, but I heard enough about you make a good leader. And to formally from Razzi and seen enough of you to know that your stubbornness and uniqueness is beneficial. And you love your people, no matter how they look at you. I could see it in your eyes, and it runs in your blood. You don’t have to worry. I know you could prove this, I can’t just see the future for you…we both aren’t born Psychics, so we could only see until a few hours away from the present. We aren’t born with certain Abilities, so our Abilities are limited. But you know what? I am so sure of your leadership abilities that I could bet my life.”

I didn’t know how to reply, and fortunately, he seemed to not be waiting for one, anyway. I caught Jazz’s eye, who was in deep conversation with a young teen whose face was someone I was familiar with, someone at school. She smiled at me differently and quickly broke the eye contact. But before I could think about that, the music played once again, and we started to dance once more.

Tyler swayed me once again, not breaking eye contact. Odd.

“What?” I asked.

He smiled. “I want to come clean to you about who I am, but that might be a wrong idea.”

For some reason, I had goose bumps because of what he said. Who he really was? Was I just being paranoid because of the upcoming war, or was this instinct that was telling me something? “What do you mean?”, I stuttered.

“Okay, I’ll come clean. Whatever. This will be the first rule that I ever broke, but your safety is my priority.”

“Enough suspense. Get to your point.” I snapped.

“Listen intently and smartly. I’m only allowed to say this once. Look for hints in my words. Read between the lines. Things are about to change. Knowledge is power.”

Silence.

“Ready?”

“Go.”

“My real name is not Tyler Corazon Valiente. It’s Tyler Gibson. You must know that the bodyguards are not what they seem to be. We were together before we applied for jobs, and trained together. We are like families, because we grew up together. Most of our tests at the school we went to for training were carried out as teams, composed of different people ---different ages, gender, family, status…We are trained well before we are sent out to our employers. Razzi, Petunia, Ivo, Cornelius, Johnnie, and Felicia were educated as a team by Razzi’s father. There are bloodlines and title inheritances amongst us. There are families higher than other families, just like royalty. We have our own rules and our own communities, although we go by your rules too. It’s like a whole new world out there. I’m biologically related to Razzi, because his sister is my mother, so, yes, he is my uncle. Our family is one of the upper class, like the royalty amongst us bodyguards, that‘s why we were assigned to the royal family. Of course, our system is strictly government-supported, because it is one of the departments, falling under the name, Department of Defense. Apart from guards, there are also hackers, pilots, spies, et cetera. There is a system. Remember that. There is a system, and for every system and department that is under the government, there are files and copies of files for that. Remember that. My alias is only used in the missions assigned to me. This keeps our anonymity when we want to keep hidden. In our community, there are a lot of safe places to hide. ” He said all these so fast, his eyes sweeping around the dance floor casually, nodding occasionally to people who met his gaze. His lips barely opened, and when they did, it was following the rhythm of the song. One important thing I noticed was the emphasis he put on certain words---“copies”, and “places to hide” I was more that sure of the emphasis, because aside from the change of the tone of his voice, those were the times he nodded to other people. Copies. Places to hide. What was he trying to say?

“Got that?” he whispered when the music stopped.

“I guess so. Remember that. Every bit. ”

“Yah, I’ll try.” What was going on?

Silence.

“What’s going on? Do I really have to figure it out myself? ”

“Yes.”

Someone tapped me from behind and I was surprised to see Ramon.

“Could I speak with both of you privately? ”, he asked.

I nodded, and together, the three of us went inside the castle, past the people who were all staring and pointing.

As soon as we were inside the castle, Ramon lead us towards the stairs, to his room.

“Is Ariana giving you a hard time, Tyler?”

Tyler laughed. “Far from that.”

Ramon returned the smile. “That’s surprising, even for you, Ariana.”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want to say?”

“I want you to promise me that you would behave yourself and follow Tyler’s and Razzi’s orders, no matter what news reaches you.”

I felt a heavy lump on my throat. More news. This night was full of surprises, raising more questions and suspicions. Tonight was overwhelming. “Why? What’s going on? ”

He shook his head. “I’m deeply sorry about what I heard, but you have to promise that to me.”

“I demand to know what’s wrong!”

“Ariana, come off it.”

“That’s so unfair! Look, Ramon, I’m gonna hear the news anyway, whatever it is. Would you rather I hear it from someone else? Would you rather me hearing the tampered version? ”

He breathed heavily. “No, so I’ll tell it to you now, just give me your word that you would follow orders.”

“Fine, fine. I promise. ”

“I’m sorry, Ariana, but someone broke into Kyra Johnson’s house earlier today and kidnapped her. We have no idea of her whereabouts, or what has happened to her. Her family is also missing, and…a taunting note was written on the walls in blood, demanding us to drop out from the war. ” His face remained composed, but his voice was shaking slightly.

I clasped a hand on my mouth. “Oh my…Oh…” Cold, icy, tears started streaming down my faces as fear engulfed me. I broke into a cold sweat and curled into a small ball on the corner of Ramon’s room.

Both Tyler and Ramon were watching me intently as I tried to hold myself together. Kyra and her family were taken, and for all I know, the blood on the walls could have been theirs. What if we were too late? They didn’t even do anything. They just got dragged into this mess because they were acquainted to me!

I started hyperventilating. I should never have watched those brutal and violent movies with horrifying torture scenes. I could almost see Kyra and hear her bloodcurdling screams.

That was when I started screaming myself. The thought of Kyra being tortured to death, her family screaming as they watched her scream and beg for mercy…Blood splattering on walls, her own family feeling her blood as it splashed across their skin, knowing they were next…I was screaming even louder now, and my eyes grew wider with horror. Ramon had to slap me to get me back to my senses. I was still breathing heavily when I heard his voice, seemingly far away, saying, “I promise to fix this problem. Jazz and her family have already been informed, and are being watched closely by the guards.”

Oh, shit. Jazz was in danger, too. That thought set me to hyperventilate once more. This time, even when Ramon slapped me, I continued being hysterical. That was when he decided to sedate me with an injection he drew out form his pocket, allowing me to breathe once more. He knew I was gonna freak out.