Chương 11: Princess Isla
Isla sprinted down the empty hall, her skirts held tightly in her fists to avoid tripping over them.
She chuckled softly as she hid behind a marble pillar.
"Dammit, princess," the leader of her three guards, Gabriel, grumbled under his breath as he and the two others passed by her hiding place.
She was quite adept at evading her guards, she'd had twenty-one years to hone in her skills, and her guards never seemed to catch on.
She appreciated them, but they were suffocating.
The large, blue clad men were never more than ten feet from her.
"Sorry, Gabriel," she whispered and then took off in the direction from which she had come.
Greta, her parents, and her guards chastised her on a nearly daily basis for evading their presence, but the wolf in her did not like being stalked.
The wolf within her did not like much, but the one time they got along was when she was sneaking away from her supervisors.
Although, even when she and her counterpart where on the best of terms, the wolf constantly fought to escape the confines of her mind.
Isla strode briskly around the corner and took a deep breath, clasping her book against her chest.
The fresh air seeped in from the open doors at the end of the hall, signalling her freedom and calling out to her.
She smiled and danced proudly outside.
Now that her guards were looking for her elsewhere, she had at least half an hour before they caught up with her again.
The courtyard was often empty in the middle of the day, as those in the castle were breaking for lunch, which made it Isla's favorite time to be outside.
The sun sat directly above the large patch of land in the back of the castle, warming isla's fair skin and filling her with energy.
She sighed and laid down on her back in the spring green grass.
She used her highly advanced sense of smell to take her surroundings.
Grass, trees, the people who had walked there before her, the heavy smell of horses from the stable at the other end of the courtyard, all the smells of her life brought her comfort and security.
After one more deep inhale, she rolled over onto her stomach and opened her worn book.
She read the story of the daring knight, evil witches, and the brave girl out to save them all, though she didn't really absorb what she was reading; she had read the book countless times.
Isla loved being alone because she wasn't burdened with having to sit tall and proud and always be conscious of the eyes that were watching her, and there were always eyes on her.
She didn't need to worry that she would do or say something that would give away her deadly secret.
When she argued with her mother and father and got too worked up, her eyes would begin to glow and once she grew claws where her fingernails should have been.
She'd been horrified, as had the king and queen.
It put an abrupt end to their argument as Isla tried to figure out how to retract the nails.
That lack of control could never happen when she was with anyone other than her nurse, mother, or father.
She didn't even want it to happen around them.
She didn't want to lose complete control of herself, as she had no idea what she was capable of.
Her sensitive ears picked up on familiar footsteps on the grass and disturbed the air and scents around her.
She smiled when a shadow stood between her and the sun, casting the words on the page into darkness.
"You know the sun isn't good for your complexion," a deep voice chuckled.
"But it feels so nice. I won't get burned," Isla smiled and lifted her gaze to look into her friend's hazel eyes.
"You're back!"
"I do believe I am. And I've missed you."
Mikel grinned, reaching out a large hand to assist Isla to her feet.
She leaned in and hugged him close; her best friend had been gone for nearly three months and the castle had been quite boring without him.
"I see that you have evaded your guards once again." His familiar musky scent overwhelmed her senses and it took her a moment before she could respond.
"They really aren't very good if they can't keep track of me," Isla shrugged.
"I think that it might have something to do with the fact that you hide from them," Mikel suggested.
He took a respectful step back, letting go of her gently.
She hugged her book to her chest and studied her good friend.
The knight dressed casually in black cloth trousers and a red shirt that rested over his broad shoulders and stretched across his muscular chest as though it had been painted there.
His ever-present sword hung at his hip and a large hand rested on the hilt in a casual stance.
The neatly cut blonde hair on his head added to the proud aura that surrounded him and the noble blood that ran through his veins.
"Since they spend all their time with me, I have to make sure that they keep their tracking skills in tune."
Mikel laughed openly at that.
"You have an excuse for everything, don't you Princess?"
"One has to be charismatic if they are to gain the loyalty of their people."
"Ah, there it is again."
Isla didn't answer, but looked up at the sky.
She felt the blood rush to her cheeks when she noticed the affectionate way Mikel was looking at her.
The wolf growled and clawed at the cage in which Isla had locked it in the corner of her mind.
For the most part, the wolf stayed quiet when Mikel was around;
it tolerated him because he was strong, kind, and intelligent, but whenever Isla began to have deeper feelings for the knight, the wolf retaliated at full force.
Whenever the wolf fought her as hard as it did it brought on a pounding headache that lasted until the fury of the monster subsided.
It didn't help that the full moon was only days away; the one force that caused her to shift into the monster with no choice on Isla's part was the one thing she dreaded the most.
It was the night that she snuck out to the woods, into the cave that she and her father had discovered.
She never allowed her father, Greta, or her mother to accompany her into the woods for fear that she would hurt them when she was in the form of the beast.
She chained herself up so the wolf form of her couldn't escape into the world to wreak terror on the night.
"So," Mikel broke the silence,
"are you excited for your party tonight? I'm glad that I made it back in time."
"Define excited," Isla said quietly.
Ever since her parents had told her of the party, a rock had settled in her stomach and appeared to have no intention of leaving. The wolf hated human events such as this, especially when the unspoken goal of the king and queen was to find Isla a husband.
"Hey, there's nothing to be worried about, Isla," Mikel assured her.
"Everyone is going to love you."
Not if they knew what I really am, she thought to herself, but smiled at Mikel's encouragement nonetheless.
She knew that he only meant well, whether he was misinterpreting her worry or not.
Mikel had no idea that Isla turned into a wolf, and she was going to keep it that way.
Her friendship with the knight might have been strong, but there was no way it was strong enough to withstand the betrayal the warrior would feel.
Mikel's mother had died during his birth and his father had been killed by wolves when Mikel was only eleven years old.
Isla's father had taken him in after his father died, for he had been good friends with the orphan's father.
Mikel would not hesitate to kill Isla if he knew what she was, if he knew that she was a monster.
The knowledge that her close friend would hate her devastated Isla but she accepted it just as she had accepted her lot in life.
She could not change that she turned into a monster, but she could control it and keep it in check.
"Princes and nobles have been coming in from all the kingdoms to try to woo you this evening," Mikel informed to her.
She almost thought she detected a touch of jealousy in his casual tone, but convinced herself that she had imagined it.
Isla nodded.
"I've been watching the carriages arrive, though I have yet to greet them myself."
Tbc
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