The commotion outside her room doors got Rue's eyes to burst open and rise from her bed. She knew her guards were outside her room. The faint sounds of yelling and clangs got her to ask herself, "What the bloody corpse is happening out there?" Thoughts that someone was trying to assassinate her got her claws to come out and pierce the sheet.
It was the final day for withdrawals and any new volunteers. Ezra had not withdrawn and even worse, she had yet to hear anything from Callum.
Her door slammed open with guards on both its side, and she noticed they were not all hers. Tall Sir Lucius came in followed by her maids pleading behind at his tail. Other guards dressed in white-themed uniforms removed their spears from contact with her guards before they too rushed inside.
Rue enraged by his unwelcome presence got off her bed in her long nightgown with her hair plaited in one long braid down her back.
"You freak of nature! What do you think you're doing here?" she exploded.
"Know who you are speaking to!" thundered Lucius in a tone that surpassed hers. His feet stamped to stop before her bed. "Leave us be and close the door behind you!" he ordered the maids and guards as he looked down at her.
"My guards can't leave my sight those were the orders from my father," she told him as she stood to her feet to glare up at him.
Her guards stopped and did not continue through the door.
He made one step closer. "Need I remind you that I am the rightful heir of the royal bloodline, disobey me and I can have them executed."
The sound of her room door shut got her eyes to move from his to see they were now the only ones in her room.
"Dammit!" she thought.
Lucius turned away from her and put one hand at his forehead. "Please tell me those rumors you've volunteered to go on the assassination Quest were not so."
Rue couldn't say anything, she now knew why he was so upset. Word had traveled to even him and that noon was the cut-off time for any withdrawals. She hadn't withdrawn in hopes that Callum would still plead for her not to go.
He turned to face her with his eyes wide open with rage. "Are you out of your mind? My betrothal left for a Quest without my consent and died--you'll mock my name and I will not have it. You will withdraw at once!"
"Need I remind you you are not my master, you do not tell me what I can and cannot do…"
She didn't continue as he had boxed her and she fell onto her bed. The sound echoed to even the high ceiling in the room. The stinging pain at her cheek reassured her that it did happen.
She looked up at him looking down at her and it made her feel small.
"Peasant girl, it seems your years of royalty have gotten to your head. You are nothing. You belong to me! I want to hear no more of this. You will withdraw before this evening or you will not like what follows."
His dark red eyes darted from her to march off through the door and slammed it behind him. Finally, she could breathe. Tears began to cloud her vision as she looked down at the sheet.
She was still in shock that he had hit her. She never planned on going on the Quest and did not tell Sir Lucius to spite him. But she did not expect this. Now the thought of being there without her father with him and the royals got unwelcoming thoughts to flood through her head.
She dropped herself back into the bed and stared at the chandelier. Soon anger got her to shut her eyes to block everything out. Her hands clenched unto the sheet and wrinkles crowded her eyes from how tight she held them shut.
She had still not gotten Ezra to withdraw and she was starting to become convince Callum wanted nothing to do with her. She hated that scar on her back, it caused everything--those mutts caused all of this, she thought in rage.
The explosion from glass cracking got her eyes to rip open and she sprung to lean upright in her bed. Her guards and maids burst through the door in time to see the rain of glass shards fall from the ceiling to crash onto the ground close to her bed.
They all stared at it with shock.
"Wow," thought Rue as she moved her hand from shielding her face.
***
Rue put on her robe and went for breakfast on the morning lit patio, and spoke not a word on what happened to her father. He reminded her that noon was the cut-off time and she should not wait on this Callum person.
She hurriedly ate as she planned to go see him herself. She was being silly by waiting for him, after all, he had his work to do, he must have not had the time to come see her.
Afterward, her maids got her ready in her regalia, fixed her mighty coronet onto her head without the use of pins, and fastened her scarf made of Werewolf fur around her shoulders. She rushed through her few royal duties before they helped dress her in her dark red uniform and styled her long hair in a bun.
She didn't scurry to the Metalcrafters with her gang that time and instead arranged for a carriage to carry her and her guards. Two sat on the outside while one sat inside on the other seat facing her.
As they zipped past fields through both windows at the sides she thought about what she would say to him. He wasn't expecting her so she would have to demand his presence, something she had never done. The closer they got to their destination the more her desperation grew.
"What do you think I should do?" she asked the guard that sat before her. "You men know one another so well. Do you think I should be frank and ask why he wasn't concerned about me volunteering, or should I beat around the bush and hide how hurt I am?"
The seated statue spoke with hesitation and in a female voice, "Y-you're highness, I don't believe I am fit to give you the advice you seek."
Rue's cheeks hardened and got red before she turned to look through the window on her right. They both sat in awkward silence for the rest of the ride.