How could I have been so careless with what was second to the most important thing in my life? What could have happened, I brought the ring out just a while ago so we could prove a point to Queen Penelope and now it's gone?
I dug my hands deep into my pocket to be sure the ring is not hidden somewhere. I even turned my dress upside down but couldn't find it.
"Oh by the lights. Where could this have gone to? I just hope I've not lost it. I'll be so ruined if I have." I said to myself and kept searching. I searched in my wardrobe, under the bed, in the drawers and even on the nightstand but could not find it. It was beginning to get frustrating and so I dashed into the hallway and started to search the flower vases. I knew I wouldn't find it there but I just decided to try. After all, it won't cost me anything to do so and we can't be too careful. I was moving a very beautiful porcelain statue when someone walked toward me.
"Excuse me?" a gentle young guard stood before me. "Are you looking for something?" He asked.
"Yes. I mean no. I… I was… just ah… right, I was just exploring. You've got a very beautiful castle here." I lied. I didn't want to talk about my ring. After all, nobody here but Queen Penelope knew about it.
"explore. You may be the Queen's guest but I think it's quite creepy for a visitor to be seen exploring a house past bedtime. Anything could happen." The guard said.
"Hold on, you think I'm going to steal from the palace?" I asked in shock.
The guard scratched his head, "Take no offense to that mi lady but you have a porcelain statue in your hands right now and even at the time I walked in." he shrugged at his last sentence. "And that particular statue has been admired by a lot of our guests. It's quite tempting." He added.
I quickly dropped the statue at his comment. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to give you a bad impression. But I must say I'm quite offended by your view of your visitors. I don't look like a thief, do I?" I said.
The guard folded his arm in response to my question.
"You know what? I could ask the same question right now. This is no route to the guards' quarters so what are you doing here? Do you make it a habit to stalk your visitors?" I said building up my courage.
"Just the beautiful ones." He responded.
A blush quickly crept in on my face, thinking he just called me beautiful.
"Well, since you might as well not be just a thief but a dullard, I'll explain this, but just once." The smile on my face quickly faded away. "I'm a guard in this palace and I have access to every part of the castle, especially at bedtime."
"Right but that doesn't give you the right to insult me. As you said, I'm your Majesty's guest so you can as well treat me the way you treat her… with… respect." I said.
The guard smirked and pulled me by my sleeve, "come here, I'll get you back to your room. Which one is it?"
"let go of me." I said and forcefully pulled my hands away from him. That force sent something falling out of his pocket. My onyx ring.
"Why the hell do you have that ring?" I asked almost as quickly as it fell out of his pocket.
"It's none of your business. Now come on let's get you to bed." He gently grabbed my hand this time and led me down the hallway.
"Okay, this is it. My room." I stopped as soon as we got to my room.
"Really? You were given the finest and most comfortable guest room in the castle."
"By order of the Queen. You see why you have to treat me with respect." I said with my smile radiating in pride. I still needed to figure out a way to get my ring in his pocket without his consent.
"Alright. Goodnight." He said but before he left, I pulled him into an unexpected hug and quietly took the ring from his pocket then bid him a good night and shut my door behind me.
I felt my heart race a little when I hugged him but that was probably because I was about to steal from him, or so I thought. But I strangely went to bed that night thinking about the hug and smiling at the thoughts of him calling me a thief rather than a Queen. Well, how would he know?
The next morning, after Queen Penelope had assured us of her soldiers at our command whenever we needed them, he still insisted on one of his strongest knights traveling with us to keep us safe.
"I understand you are both such strong fighters but I can't forgive myself if anything ever happened to Naya again. Please let my guard go with you and in that way, I can be relaxed and know you both are safe."
"Your Majesty, you know we can't afford to trust anyone right now. Anyone could turn into a traitor." Dolores said.
"Not this one. He has long been my loyal servant and chamber guard. He has my trust." Queen Penelope said.
"It's alright Dolores. Giving a little trust won't hurt, would it?" I said and then bowed to the Queen. "Your Majesty, If you truly trust this man, then he has our trust." I said.
Queen Penelope introduced us to the guard I met last night. He was going to be our guardian in the course of our journey. Queen Penelope explained everything to him in secret and ordered him to protect me with his life. "She is a Queen and from this moment, your master. You will treat her like you will treat me and stay loyal to her like you would to me." Her orders sounded.
A smirk formed at the corners of my lips when our eyes met and my gaze at him read 'I told you'
After the instructions, before we left, Queen Penelope took him to a corner and instructed him in a whisper I barely heard.
"Keep a close eye on Naya. I don't trust Dolores… If… no… act…" Apart from her opening instructions, the rest of the instructions made no sense to me.
After all said and done, we set out on our journey to the next kingdom…