Chapter 4

I secured the ribbon of the thick cloth tighter before I looked at the mirror.

Even though half my face is covered, it is easy to tell how sad I am.

Last night had been a disaster. The wedding itself had been beautiful.

Sure, there had been a few glances and whispers that had upset me but it was fine because of Prince Barlion.

He had been, somewhat, a very attentive husband.

He had made sure to hold my hand and keep me close until we were behind closed doors.

He was a gentle man, until he wasn't.

The amount of humiliation I felt last night was undescribable.

It made me want to run back home, hide away and never show my face again, or at least some of it.

But I knew it would be impossible. So instead, I ran back to my temporary chambers and spent the entire night in fear, wondering if he would do something else.

And today, Mira woke me up to tell me that I would be dining with the royals living in the castle, including the King and Queen.

"Are you okay, My lady?" Mira asked and I looked st her through the mirror before nodding my head.

"What happened last last?" She asked again but I remained silent.

Mira waited for a few seconds before she realized that I wasn't about to give her an answer and sighed.

A knock on the door caught my attention and I waited for Mira to open it. 

I turned around to see that it was the guard that had let us in the day we first came to the main castle.

"Lady Frost, let me escort you to the dining room." The mad spoke as he stared at me with his dule brown eyes.

Mira stepped in front if me blocking my view of the man.

"I wasn't informed that any one would come to take her..." She tried to protest but the man stared her down with a heavy glare on his scarred face.

"And you, a handmaid, expected to be informed because?" He asked.

I saw Mira physically bow her head to avoid his glare.

She is always very protective of me that she would stand up to anyone. But she too has her own scare and men scare her.

"For-forgive me..." She stuttered. "I was just told I should escort her myself..."

Placing my hand on her arm, I gabe her a soft squeeze before turning my eyes to the man at the door.

"The King wished for me to show you to the dining room, Lady Frost. King Viper was afraid you might not be able to find your way in time."

That statement brought a frown to my face. Why would the King think I wouldn't be able to find the dining room?

I mean sure, the castle is really big and I still haven't been able to take in even half of the entire place, but I had been to the dining room and a few more rooms in the past three days.

The King would have known that too. So why would he send a guard to escort me?

The man must have understood my confusion.

He lifted his left hand and reached out  his fingers to scratch the scar that ran across his right eye before he cleared his throat.

"His grace will be joining the table soon. We must get to the dining room before he does."

Nodding my head, I slowly walked out of the room as Mira followed after me.

"Handmaids do not join the royal family." The guard spoke as he drew his arm to block Mira from following me.

I turned around to see Mira quickly stepping away from the man.

"What do you mean?" I asked and the man glaced at me.

"Handmaids are not allowed to seat around the table. They have a quarter of their own."

"But..." Mira whispered but stopped when the man turned his eyes over to her.

"I shall send someone to show you to the handmaid's quarter. In the mean while, I will escort Lady Frost to the dining room."

The guard doesn't let Mira or myself say another word before he slammed the door shut and turned around to leave.

With a worried glace over at the door, I let out a silent sigh before I followed after him.

The guard walked slowly to let me catch up to him. As soon as I was next to him, he slowed down even more and started following after me from a short distance.

It felt like he wasn't here to show me where the dining room is. It was as if he was my guard.

"The name is Hundre Bowman, My Lady." The man introduced himself. 

Turning my head to the side, I took a quick glace at him.

Hundre Bowman. His name is not unfamiliar. His, among a few others, is a name I have heard of. My father spoke of him with two other names a lot of times.

"The night sword?" I asked only to stop when I hear a loud laugh boom from behind me.

I stopped and turned around to see that the man had thrown his head back.

"It appears, your father loves his story telling." The man smiled down on me and I watched as the scar across his right eye wrinkle.

A small smile crawled it's way to my lips as I saw his once tight face relax. I know the man can't see my smile, but I was sure he could tell by the way my eyes would curve upwards when a smile stretched my cheeks.

"The Night Sword? I haven't heard that name in a long time." He said as he looked in to the distance.

Yes, my father does love his story telling. 

I've heard about the Night Sword one too many times that I know the tales by heart.

The man standing infront of me had been one of the best soldiers in the war.

He had joined the army at the young  age of ten and it had taken him a single year to master the art of wilding sword.

My father had told me that Hander Bowman is the best swordsman in the entire five Kingdoms and most probably beyond. Not even the King at the time could handle a sword like him.

Hander Bowman, King Viper Great, My father and one other Knight were considered as the four horsemen during the war about thirty years ago.

From what I've heard, the four had led the war with full force and were able to defend the throne from those who wanted to do harm to the kingdom.

"Well, I'm hoping he didn't alter the events to turn the story in his favor." Hander commented before he cleared his throat. "We should get going, Lady Frost."

The smile I had on my face dropped when I remembered where I was and where I was about to go.

Nodding my head, I turned around and started walking again.

Just as we were close to the dining room, I stopped and turned to look at him again.

"Will Mira be okay?" I asked.

"Mira?"

"My handmaid, Sir. Would she be okay on her own?"

Hander Bowman looked at me for a few seconds before he sighed.

"I'll make sure she finds her way to the handmaid's quarter myself, Lady. Don't worry about her for now, worry for yourself."

A frown once again made it's way to my face as I watched him take a step closer to me and leaned down until he was fairly close to my left ear.

"Don't let your guard down. Keep your ears open and never let them get to comfortable with you."

"What?" I whispered.

"You jabe a very limited amount of friends in this castle and the royals are not one of them."

Hander pulled back and turned around before I could even stop him.

***

I sat down next to my husband as we awaited for the King and Queen to arrive.

I glanced around the long table as Sir Hander's words kept ringing in my ears.

"Don't let your guard down..." Why would he say that?

King Viper joined us a few minutes later and soon, everyone had started to dig in.

I reached for a fork only to remember that I was still wearing my mask and that they wouldn't want me to take it off.

I looked around the table one more time to see that some were glancing at me while others were glaring.

It seems none of them wanted me here. If it wasn't for the King, I can tell they would have gladly asked me to leave the table.

Would they mind if I just take off the cloth and start eating?

They think my illness is contagious and the face under the mask is quite hideous. It would bother them if I do take it off.

My eyes turned to the side and I glanced at Prince Barlion, the man I'd married just the night before, only to see that he doesn't even pay me a single mind and was digging in to his breakfast.

I moved my eyes slightly to the right and they land on King Viper who had been watching the two of us with indifferent eyes.

He doesn't say a word. Our eyes met and he doesn't even blink as he looked down to his plate and continued to eat.

At this pont, I was more than confused. He would have known I wouldn't be able to the the mask off, not because he knows the royals would be uncomfortable but because he thinks I can't go with out the mask anywhere.

The King doesn't know the outside is the only place I have trouble breathing in. I'm more than fine when I'm indoors as a clean area.

So why would he insist I have breakfast with all the royals when he's well aware that I won't be able to eat without taking my mask off?

I reached for the thick cloth covering half of my fave and brushed the tip of my fingers against it.

I remembered what Prince Barlion had said to me the day we first met and snatched my hand down.

I placed both my hands on my lap and looked down on them. The nose of knifes and forks clicking against plates filled the room and even though my stomach was twisting with hunger, I didn't reach for the fork or my mask.

I could once in a while fill their eyes on me yet none of them say anything.

"You have a limited amount of friends in this castle and the royals are not one of them." Hander's words kep on returning to my ming once in a while, making me wonder if he was referring to this moment right here.

I'm very different from the people sitting around the table. I'm not one to fit in this crowd.

Yet here I am. I'm married to one of them while each one of them wished I was anywhere else but here.

"What a night it was, the wedding." A voice commented and I looked up to see the mam sitting from across me.

His comment made almost everyone stop eating to look at him.

The man sat his fork down and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back on his seat.

His long black hair was suspended at the back of his head and wrapped in a messy bun.

He looked close to my age and the clear skin of his face made it obvious that he is pretty young.

But what made me look at him was the fact that he looked like the spitting image of King Viper.

I glanced at the King and then back at the man across from me.

"I would have joined the wedding ceremony but you see, I was quite busy with... things." He smiled, shining his perfect white teeth at Prince Barlion.

I looked over to my husband to see that his once careless eyes are now sharp and he was holding his knife just a little too tight.

"It's a shame you missed it, son." The Queen commented as she looked at the man sitting from across me. "It truly was a beautiful ceremony."

Son?

The queen had a warm look in her eyes when she looked at the man. It's a warmth I haven't seen in her eyes since the day I came here, not even for Prince Barlion.

"Victor is just being Victor." Barlion spoke for the first time. "He must have been busy playing with his little friends."

He said it with such a voice that might sound calm but is too sharp to the ears.

My eyes bounce from Barlion to the man infront of me. And I realized that he is Barlion's younger brother Prince Victor Great.