I rode Nightmare back through the woods as we headed to the Northern lands. I rode up as I leaned against Nightmare and wanted to get some rest that would help me relax before we get back there.
"You look tired." Mother said.
"She has not given me a break with the memories and the more she pushes them the more tired I feel." I tell her.
"I am sorry it's been a month." She said, sounding concerned.
"I know." I agreed with her. "But according to her we have today and that is it."
"Good you look like you could use a restful sleep."
"I just want the memories to settle and let me get my mental strength back." I said softly.
"I understand that." Mother said.
"Diana?" I looked up and turned and looked at Leo.
"What is it?" I asked.
"You okay?" He asked me.
"I will be." I said with a roll of my shoulders.
"Your beast is really gorgeous." He tells me and I pat Nightmare's neck.
"Nightmare here was my first year given I had him for years." I told him.
"You said you wanted to give your brother a horse." Mother said.
"Yes." I agreed. "Nightmares here has his own mate and she is in the last stage of her pregnancy and I want to give him the foll." I tell her.
"That is sweet." Mother said and I blushed as I patted his neck.
"Logan." Father said and Logan looked back.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Were they able to find a way out?" He asked him.
"They were actually. There was a door on the other side locked but they were able to unlock the door." Logan said.
"Lovely." I said. "That means we can control what goes in and out of the lands."
"I know you said I was coming but are you sure?" Leo asked.
"Yes, Leo." I said reaching over ruffling his hair.
"Hey!" He whines.
We got to the first city where Leo joined us. "Leo, do you have a report?" Logan asked.
"Yes my King, your son sent this." He said, handing him a scroll.
"I see." He said as we rode through the city and someone thought something of us. I catch the ball.
"Throw it back!" A little one yelled.
"Watch where you're throwing this!" I called back and threw it back to them.
"Yes, Lady Knight!" He yells back. I smiled at him.
I hummed as I turned myself around to look at Loren."What are you doing?" She asked me.
"Prank?" I asked her.
"No, we are not pranking people." She said with a huff.
"Oh come on, we have at least three more on horseback." I whined at her.
"I still don't see how you're a noble at times." Leo huffed.
"Oi just because I have to be stiff with some people doesn't mean I can't let my hair down with my friends and family." I remind him.
He opens his mouth then closes it. "True."
"Then you help me with my prank." I told him.
"Wait, why me?" He asked me.
"Diana." Both my Father and Logan said. "No pranking the other royals."
"Fine." I groaned and turned back around.
"I need a good prank after the issues that happened at the end of the damn tournament." I sighed and started braiding Nightmare's mane.
"You are such an oddball." Mother said.
"I know." I told her. I pulled Nightmare to a stop as I heard something.
"What is it?" Loren asked.
"I…" I stopped and out of reflex my knife came up and sliced at the snake.
"A snake?" Loren said as she pulled her horse away from it.
"I hate snakes." I said as I dropped, waiting for it to attack again.
"You and I both." Logan said, dismounting as he and I both stabbed at this thing.
"Got it!" I said as my knife sliced into the base of the head of the snake as Logan's knife catches it right an inch below mine.
"This thing got pretty far into the lands." Logan said as I looked at Neo.
"Neo can you burn this?" I asked him.
"Yes!" He said as he dismounted.
"I am going to send a message to the wild guard to have them do a sweep to make sure there are no more snakes." I said to him.
"Please Diana." He said.
"Captain Regver there was a snack found at the southernmost town King Logan has asked for a sweep so that way we don't get any young ones hut." I sent the message through a raven.
"Thank you, Diana." He said as we mounted back up and went on our way.
"Why did you have him burn the snake?" Mother asked me.
"Because the venom is the snakes will act like coffee did with Matthew we don't want kids getting a hold of them." I tell her.
"That does make a lot of sense." Tacal said.
"What happened?" Queen Breanna asked as she rode up beside us.
"Snake got in the north, we had to kill it." Logan tells her.
"That is not good." She said softly.
"No it is not but we have the wild guard sweeping for more." I told him.
"Of course." She nods.
"Would it be a bad idea to have some of the Wild guards set up around the End? I mean they have been hanging out there more because of our guest at the End." Logan asked my Father.
"I think that would be a good idea but they would need to get something for them to rest in to get out of the sun." Father said.
"I agree I know at least two of them that have bad reactions to the sun." I said softly.
"We don't really have anything and trying to make a hut of sticks would not be a good idea." Logan sighed.
"We can leave them some of our tents." Mother said.
"It would keep them out of direct sunlight." I agreed.
"That would be most helpful." Logan agreed.
"The question is do we want them set up inside or outside the end?" I asked them.
The next couple of hours were quiet as we rode to the point I was ready to throw something at someone for something to do. "I really need to work on my patience." I muttered.
"You have patience, you just can't stand silence." Father said.
"Silence is maddening." I groaned as I rub nightmares neck as we road into the capital.
"You worked for hours not talking with me." Logan said.
"We were working, meaning we made a noise because of quills on paper." I tell him.
"You have a point." He said softly.
"I know I have a point. I always have a sound around me. Silence drives me crazy!"
"I like silence, it lets me focus." Leo said.
"Before now I didn't know why I hated it but they would lock me in a silent room if I did anything they didn't like." I said with a huff. That made them all look at me. "What?" They were all looking at me and I sighed. "Look if you're all going to go weird when I talk about my past then how am I going to get over it?" I asked as I dismounted and left the stable area heading for my room to get what I would need to go out to the outside world. "Why do they do this to me?" I asked myself as I walked down the hall.
"DIANA!" I looked up and smiled as I caught Xavier.
"Hey Little brother, how are you?"
"I am great the teacher has been letting me sit in on the studies and it's been a lot of fun!" He tells me.
"That is great little one." I hugged him.
"Also Matthew started to teach me how to use a knife to defend myself!" He said, making me stiffen as flashes of my Daddy being stabbed filtered through my brain.
"That is great for you to know how to defend yourself." I said softly.
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
"Yea just need to get ready to head to the outside world." I tell him.
"Oh, this will be so much fun!" He said as we entered the wing and I set him down.
"I guess." I sighed as I leaned against him.
"Is something wrong?" He asked me.
I sighed as I leaned against the door to the wing. "Just frustrated because every time I say something about the past everyone goes all worried and stiff." I told him.
"Oh, so it makes you not want to talk about it?" He asked me.
"True and I don't mean to make them uncomfortable but I need to be able to talk and joke about it to not become bitter." I tell him. "Because what I really want to do is hunt down everyone who hurt me and drain them but I can't and I know that."
"But they're not helping you with pitting you." He said.
"You are so wise for a little one."
"My friend Saura, her stepdad, hurt her and she would get angry when people pitied her." He tells me hugging me.