• I waited for the valet to open the carriage door and offer his arm before I got out. Once I was out of the carriage, I couldn’t help but stare open mouthed at the castle’s courtyard. The fountain that rested in the center surrounded by multicolored flowers attracted your full attention when you arrived. I fought the urge to stare at the fountain with my mouth agape; instead, I scanned the area for anything that didn’t seem normal. With my trained eyes, I caught a young man shrouded by a black cloak sneak into the castle. I thought did the king and queen know that they had a burglar in the castle. I followed the valet to the throne room and waited patiently as he opened the great oak doors.
    I walked down the lush red rug that ran all the way to the two ornamentally designed thrones that the King and Queen of Belfet sat in waiting for me to stop walking to them. I stopped about twenty feet for them and curtsied.
    The queen looked me over and said, “Ah, you must be Lady Gwendolyn, dear.”
    “Yes, your majesty.” I curtsied wobbly, “I can’t thank you enough for taking me in.”
    “Think nothing of it, my dear,” she replied waving her arm as if waving away the thought. She looked at the king. “Dear, do you know where Frederick is? He said he would be here to greet Lady Gwendolyn.”
    The king shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen him since he ate his morning meal.”
    I thought could the young man I saw earlier be the prince. As I thought that I abruptly blurted out, “I saw a young man wearing a black cloak sneak into the castle as I arrived.” As soon as I said it a covered my mouth and curtsied wobbly again. “I’m terribly sorry, your majesties.”
    The queen looked at me and laughed, “That would be Frederick, my dear. He finds sport out of sneaking into and out of the castle. I caught him climbing down the astronomy tower the other day.”
    I looked at her and the king as if they had lost their minds. Who would let their only son climb down a forty-foot tower? When all-of-a-sudden a lovely masculine voice rang out, “Mother, Father sorry I’m late I fell asleep in the library while I was reading.”
    “Frederick, dear, drop the façade. You were caught sneaking in by Lady Gwendolyn,” she said matter-of-factly.
    Prince Frederick looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes, which disappeared within seconds. “The letter that was sent to us did you absolutely no justice. You are by far more beautiful in person then on paper.”
    I couldn’t help but blush. For if, it was flattery he was working for that was what I received. “Thank you, your highness.” I preformed my wobbly curtsy again, but this time I lost my balance. Prince Frederick caught my arm before I fell.
    The queen asked, “Are you alright, dear?” at the same time Prince Frederick asked, “Are you alright?”
    “I’m perfectly fine, thank you. Thank you for catching me, your highness.” I bowed my head.
    “Your welcome, Lady Gwendolyn. Would you call me Frederick? I never liked, your highness,” he sighed and I nodded.
    “Lady Gwendolyn, dear, don’t you know how to curtsy?” the queen asked.
    “No, I was never taught,” I replied softly.
    “By God, dear! What were you taught?” The queen asked shocked.
    “I was taught how to hunt, fish ride, and fight. My father taught me.” I lied through my teeth.
    “What did your mother do, dear?” The queen asked angrily.
    “My mother passed away during childbirth. My father and the nursemaid raised me. The nursemaid tried to teach me the ways of a lady, but my father wouldn’t allow me to learn,” I sadly lied. I thought I never knew my parents. All I know is my name because that is what Cesaria calls me.
    Frederick watched me with weary eyes as the queen said, “Oh, you poor dear. I did not know your predicament was so unpleasant. Is your father well?”
    “My father is well. He is now with my mother in heaven,” I said sadly.
    Frederick laughed, “Mother, don’t you think Lady Gwendolyn needs her rest. She did have a long ride here.”
    “Oh my, you are right, Frederick, dear. Lady Gwendolyn does need her rest. Please call a maidservant to show her to her room, dear.” The queen said losing her train of thought at Frederick’s comment.
    “Mother, it wouldn’t be a problem if I showed Lady Gwendolyn to her room?” The Queen nodded, and Frederick smiled. “Lady Gwendolyn,” he said as he held out his arm for me to take.
    “Thank you, Frederick,” I said as I placed my hand on his elbow.
    He smiled as he escorted me from the room and down the hall. When he suddenly came to a stop and grabbed my left wrist. I didn’t even think as I jerked my wrist from his grasp and pinned him to the wall. Frederick was speechless until I realized what I did and let him go.
    “What in God’s name did you do that for?” He all but yelled.
    I flinched at his tone of voice, so he lowered it, “I could have you hung for what you just did.”
    “I’m terribly sorry. I acted on impulse. I’m sorry I disgraced you, your highness.”
    I lowered my head and closed my eyes waiting for him to hit me, when it didn’t come; I opened my eyes and looked up. I saw Frederick watching me as if he was deep in thought. I thought, why didn’t he slap me I just pinned him to a wall. Cesaria would have slapped me then chained me upside down to the large oak tree that resided in the courtyard. I then would have had to shot arrows at the target until there were one hundred arrows in the center.
    Plip.
    “What was that?” He asked as he looked at the ground. When he noticed a drop of liquid on the floor. “Huh? What’s this?” He asked as he kneeled down to check it out. He swiped his finger through it and it came up red. “Blood? Who’s bleeding?” His eyes searched over me.
    Plip.
    This time he was watching and had caught the blood drip from my finger. “Lady Gwendolyn hold out your left arm,” he stopped, “please.”
    I could not disobey the prince so I extended my left arm. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned the blood off my hand. Then gently pulled up the sleeve of my gown, and noticed the blood soaked bandage right away. He looked ready to remove it when he asked, “May I?” I nodded, and he began to remove the bandage very slowly. By the time he got it off my wrist was throbbing like there was no tomorrow. He looked at the wound with a frown on his face. “How did you get this? It looks like a wound from an arrow.”
    I sighed, “It is. A comrade of mine was jealous of my archery skills, so he tried to take me out. Luckily he had poor aim; he was aiming for my shoulder.”
    “Comrade? What do you mean?” He asked confused.
    “. . . Do I have to answer you?”
    “I would appreciate it if you did.”
    I looked around uncomfortably trying to find the answer on the wall. I couldn’t find it there so I looked at the ground.
    “Perhaps if I take you to your room. Would you tell me there?”
    I nodded reluctantly. “I have no choice, do I?”
    “No, not really Lady Gwendolyn.” He smiled.
    “Gwen is just fine,” I mumbled.
    “Then Gwen it is,” he laughed. He rewrapped my wrist with the soiled bandage, and then tied his handkerchief around it to stop the bleeding. He then took my hand and practically dragged me off to my room.
    Frederick came to a stop at a plain, oak door. He opened the door and made a sweeping gesture with his hand. I walked through the door and to the bed. Frederick followed me in and closed the door behind him. I noticed my bags on the bed and sat down next to them. I looked for the bag that I had placed my jewelry box and pulled out the small bag of medical supplies that Cecil had given me. I turned to face Frederick as he came to sit next to me on the bed. He took the medicine bag from my hands. “Excuse me,” I protested, “that is mine.”
    He put his hand over my mouth and chuckled. “Do you mind if I change the bandage? It is my fault that it started to bleed again.”
    “Fine, if that’s what you want to do,” I said studying the walls.
    He chuckled again as he set to curing my wound. “If I remember right you agreed to tell me how you got injured, why you have comrades, and now who you really are; once we got to your room,” he said raising an eyebrow.
    I sighed, “I did agree didn’t I. I guess I should tell you.”
    “Preferably,” he chuckled.
    I took a deep breath and started, “I don’t really know who I am. All I know is that when I was two months old my mother was assassinated. My father died on a boat during a dangerous storm before I was born. I was kidnapped and taken to the assassins’ sanctuary. Since I was, three they have been teaching me to read, write, and to perform the duties of an assassin. I just turned sixteen, but I am the youngest grade six assassin in history. Adrian, my mentor, told me how my parents died. I was sent here to assassinate you, but I’m not going to. I have never killed anybody in my life. You will not die by my hand. I always helped the person, I was supposed to assassinate, fake their deaths. I gave them a poison that made them appear dead then I would show them the orders to let them know the plan. This time when I finish my assignment I’m not returning to the sanctuary. Because I know you are going ask, I’ll tell you my orders. My orders are to befriend you then kill you in a way that made it look like you killed yourself.” I looked at my wrist and noticed how nicely the bandage had been laid. “Thank you,” I whispered.
    Frederick just watched my probably wondering if I was telling the truth or not. So that he didn’t doubt my story, I got out the orders and handed them to him. He looked them over and glanced at me.
    “I’ll go if you want me to leave the castle,” I said starting to pack my bag back up.
    He placed his hands over mine to stop me from packing. “Hold on. I need to think,” he let go of my hands and sat on the bed. “So let me get this straight. You’re an assassin?” I nodded. “At any point earlier tonight you could have killed me?” I shook my head at first then suddenly changed my mind and nodded. “You where sent to kill me?” I nodded again. “Then why don’t you do it right now?”
    I got aggravated at that question. Hadn’t he been listening earlier? I practically screamed, “I’ve never killed anybody in my life. I’m not going to kill you. End of story.” I noticed that I had tears in my eyes, so I walked over to the window.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said as he came up behind me. He meant to place his hands on my shoulders.
    “Don’t lay a finger on me, unless you want to die a long and painful death,” I snapped.
    He still put his hands on my shoulders despite what I said. He started to rub soothing circles on my shoulders. “I understand that you have comrades, but why would someone want to kill you?”
    “As I said before I’m the youngest grade six assassin in history. Most of the assassins my age are a grade four or lower. They are jealous and want to get rid of me. I was eating lunch when someone shot an arrow off the top of the chapel tower. The person was caught, but they will never see the light of day again.” I whispered as I wiped away my tears.
    “What do you mean -- oh, you mean he is dead.” He stood behind me silent for a few minutes. Then said, “You do know that I will have to tell my parents?”
    “Yes, I know,” I said solemnly.
    “I’m sorry Gwen, but they have to know,” he said quietly in my ear.
    “It is alright. I can cope,” I whispered back. I could feel his breath on my neck as he spoke.
    “One last question. Do you have any clue at all, as to who your parents were? Anything that belonged to her?” He whispered so close to my ear I could feel his lips gently brush it.
    “In fact I do have a ring that belonged to her. I also have a letter that I never opened. I got them from a traveling seer three months ago. She said my mother wanted me to have them. I don’t know how she knew my mother and I didn’t ask.”
    Frederick kissed my neck and I was so startled that my defensive training kicked in. I instinctively turned around while I simultaneously grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. “Gwen, would you please let me go,” he chuckled. I instantly let him go and looked at the ground. Frederick frowned and said, “Gwen please look at me.” I shook my head, so he placed a finger under my chin and forced me to look up. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to startle you. I even startled myself. I usually don’t kiss ladies necks when I meet them.”
    I smiled and blushed. “Sorry about the defensive move. It is instinct for me.”
    He smiled. “Don’t be, it was my fault you did it. You know that was pretty neat. Could you teach me how to do that? It would come in handy if someone tries to rob me.”
    I laughed, “It comes in handy when princes sneak kisses the necks of unsuspecting ladies.”
    “That was a blow that went right to my pride. You said you have your mother’s ring and a letter?”
    “Yes, I did say that. I assume you wish to see them?” I asked with a smile.
    “Yes, please,” he practically begged.
    I started too laughed and Frederick cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. That only caused me to laugh harder. I was laughing so hard I had to sit down on the floor.
    Frederick asked, “Why are you laughing?”
    In between laughter, I managed to say, “First-of-all when you asked to see the ring and letter you looked like you were ready to beg. Second-of-all the look you gave me only made me laugh harder.”
    “Oh, alright then.” He smiled crookedly.
    I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t help giggling quietly as I got the letter and ring for my jewelry box. “Here,” I said as I handed them to him.
    He examined the ring for anything significant. When he found what he was looking for he gasped.
    “What?” I asked worried.
    He asked, “Do you know who this ring belonged to?” I shook my head. “Oh right, you don’t know anything about your family. This ring belonged to the Queen of Dalmir --”
    “And how do you know that?” I interrupted.
    “See that there,” he said as he pointed out a very intricate symbol on the inside of the band. “That is the family crest the howling dog. But as I was saying, the Queen of Dalmir was assassinated while feeding her daughter in her bedroom. That was about sixteen years ago but till this day nobody knows what happened to her daughter.” His eyes widened. “Have you read the letter?” I shook my head. “Well read it, now. There is no better time than the present,” he said impatiently