Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (6 page)

The castle was a complex maze of passages and corridors that seemed to lead into the abyss. Fortunately, the King was well versed with the palace and its secrets, letting him quickly lead them to their destination. The sight that met Mathieu’s eyes made him nearly regret his choice to take this job. Looking back, though, it truly epitomized The Princess.

The king opened the door to a study. The study itself was a rather nice room, decorated in shades of blue with two desks set beside each other. They were petite wood desks, which could hold a surprisingly heavy load. Mathieu knew this because a girl was standing on one. She was shorter than him, but not by much, with soft chocolate brown hair that fell down past mid-back and golden eyes. She was perhaps a bit chubby, but that didn’t faze Mathieu at all. What
did
faze Mathieu was the full sized globe that she kicked off the desk at the face of her teacher. Her lips were curled up in a grin of triumph as the man ducked to avoid it.

“Mwahaha!
Cower before me, Professor, for today, the student surpasses the teacher!”

Chapter

Three

“Avian!” The King snapped
,
his voice lowered to a growl.

“Erm.”
She flushed across the bridge of her nose, peeked down at her father past her glasses. “Heeey, Papa…”

Sighing, the man rubbed his temples.
“Avian, get down here.
Now.”

She hopped off the desk and landed smoothly on the floor just before them, eyes cast to the ground. But curiosity got the better of her, and she pushed her face up into Mathieu’s. “Oh, did you bring me a new toy? She’s cute.”

“I’m
not
a girl, thank you.” Mathieu said with a raised eyebrow, “and I’m
not
a toy. I’m your new, er…guard.”

Avian put her hands on her hips, standing squarely on her feet, before laughing heartily. “I don’t need one. I have Narrie. She protects me.”

The King laughed right back at her. “Narrie is your
maid
.”

“She’s Kin!
More so than your little army.
They suck.” Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she marched out of the room, brushing her father off. It was clear to Mathieu that she did this often.

Mathieu looked at the King, and at a nod, followed her.
He found her kind of intriguing in an awkward way. Hot on her heels, he trailed her to a staircase and stayed one step behind her the whole way up. At the top, they took a left and down the hall they went. Her pace was clipped, and when she got there, Avian kicked opened her bedroom door.
“Rawr!”

“Ah!” A woman dropped the stack of books she was carrying. “Damn it, Avian! Why do you feel the need to do that to me?”

“Eh.” Avian hopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. Without looking, she pointed at Mathieu. “That’s a creeper. Sick it, Narrie.”

Mathieu rolled his eyes. “I’m
not
a creeper. My name is Mathieu. The King hired me to protect his daughter.”

“Mathieu, you say? I’m Narrie.” Narrie was a tall, well-endowed woman. Her hair was cut into a short bob and her dark eyes flashed with good humor. “You sure have a task ahead of you.”

Avian was stretched out on her stomach, feet in the air, glasses balanced precariously on her nose, and reading a magazine.

“Yes, I suppose I do. I’ve got a q--” Mathieu started.

“Listen, knave,” Avian hadn’t moved, but her voice had become low, “you are my servant. You do what I say. You won’t step out of line, lest I be forced to punish you. Father says you’re to protect me.
Fine.
Just stay out of my way. I am your Princess, and you will love me. I’ll love you too.” She didn’t look at him at all while she spoke.

“Oh…kay…?”

“You will sleep through that door.” She pointed to a door just to the left of her bed. “Narrie sleeps through that door,” she pointed to the door on the right of the bed, “and I sleep here. If you need anything, ask her. But don’t get in her way. We have a schedule that must be kept.” Avian ended in a matter of fact way.

Mathieu was staring at the girl on the bed. “How old are you?”

Narrie folded a shirt as she answered the question that was clearly meant for Avian. “That’s a rude question to ask a lady. She’s nineteen. I’m twenty-two. And you’re how old if we’re going to ignore social convention?”

“…Seventeen…” Mathieu said, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

“Look at the baby!” Narrie grinned and carried the laundry to the dresser, stowing it away. “Now, it’s my job to make sure that everything is running smoothly. This means that if I tell you to jump, you jump and ask to where.”

Mathieu crossed the arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, really?”
These bossy women were kind of annoying him now.

“Yes.
Really.
You will rise promptly at 6 a.m. and will be ready to work by 6:45. You will be fed at exactly 6:45, not a moment later. If you aren’t there, you do without. Avian starts class at 7:15, which you will accompany her to, then you will escort her to her fencing lesson at 11.
She has lunch at 11:30, which concludes at noon. You have the half hour off, then you report back to take her to her study period and the rest of her lessons. They start at 12:15 and finish at 4.” Narrie recited as if from a script.

“Oh, goodie.”
That seemed like a lot to remember. He hoped he just had to follow the girl. That part would be easy enough.

Narrie smiled. “She has free time for two hours,
then
dines with her parents. You’ll have that time off to eat, just over an hour, and then you will escort her to the gardens where she relaxes until 10. Bring her back up here and you are free for the night. This is the schedule for five days of the week. The weekends are her free time and you will be at her beck and call to take her anywhere she’d like to go other than this room.”

“So, otherwise, my freedom is gone and I’m on a schedule. Wonderful.” Wrinkling his nose, he sat in a nearby chair with his arms folded. This new job felt like entrapment to him.

“Exactly.
I’m glad you understand.” Narrie replied blandly and disappeared into her room.

Avian had turned and was sitting up now, watching him, feet crossed at the ankles. “Aren’t you an interesting creature? Your eyes are purple, and your hair is white. You’re not a Unithian, are you?”

“I don’t--”

“You aren’t.”
Avian steamrolled over his feeble denial.
“Narrie isn’t either. I know one when I see one. You’re one of the others…from Korinth. Are your parents like
you?”

“I don’t have parents.” Mathieu said coolly, looked out the window. He was only able to see the tops of some trees from his vantage point.

The girl cleared her throat awkwardly. “Oh. I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t ask.” He looked around, taking in the room. At the far end
was
a simple fireplace and two arm chairs facing it, as well as a large rug. The walls were an off white, and the floor a reddish stone. Two different tables were in the room, the small circular one he sat at, and a sprawling monstrosity that could be used as a desk. A few bay windows jutted out of the castle walls and then were lined with pillows to sit on.

Avian tutted.
“Well, excuse me. Is there anything else I should know about you?”

“Hm.”
Mathieu thought for a long moment. “I don’t think so. I’m an orphan.
Nothing big.
Just didn’t know my parents.”

“Well! Since we ditched class today, we might as well do it right. We should go down to the grounds.”The girl yawned and got to her feet, stretching out her back.

Narrie re-emerged from her room. “You are going to the rest of your classes, young lady.”

“No, I’m not. Mathieu said it was okay.” Avian pointed to the white haired man.

“I did?” He asked, tilting his head in a confused manner.

“Yes.” Avian had a devilish look in her eyes. “I feel a shift in power within the confines of this room! A new player has emerged in this little political system, and I declare we have moved from a dictatorship to an oligopoly!” Grinning, she hopped onto a chair, balanced on one foot. “I love this new dynamic; it is wonderful!” Giggling, she suddenly started to tip, headed for the floor.

Mathieu reacted instantly, catching her the moment her foot left the chair.

“Awe, my hero!”
She threw her arms around his neck and laughed. Then, she jumped out of his arms and pulled the door open.
“To the grounds!”
With all the speed of a bullet, she took off, racing down the hall.

In Mathieu’s opinion, this girl was very easy to please. It seemed that despite her initial label of him as a ‘creeper’, she now wanted to form some sort of alliance with him. Avian also seemed to suffer from some sort of mood swings, if he had to guess. She was very odd; Mathieu wondered if he would regret taking this job.

Narrie watched as he stood there lamely. “Better get going. You’ll lose her if you aren’t careful.”

“Er…right.” Mathieu followed the young woman out the door just in time to see Avian leaping and landing on the banister, using her momentum to carry her down the staircase. She slid down it with a practiced ease while he took the stairs two at a time, trying to keep up with her.

“Good job!” She said as she flew off the banister and rolled, coming back to her feet. Avian tore through a side door that had been partially concealed behind a bookcase,
dashing past nonplused maids and astonished butlers. The path she was taking seemed well traveled and the other travelers moved out of his way as he tried to keep up with her; she was deceptively fast.

The young woman was surprisingly fast and light on her feet. She would be racing down one hallway,
then
suddenly would be sprinting down another, traveling in a completely different direction. Mathieu had been one of the relatively faster people at the orphanage, but even so, he nearly missed it as Avian vaulted over a food cart and through open double doors, landing with a soft thud in the castle’s lawn.

Mathieu finally caught her, panting and holding the stitch in his side, his free hand on his knees
..
“Please don’t,” his breath was coming in huffs, “
do that
again.”

“Slow poke!” She stuck her tongue out at him, sprawled out on the plush grass. “Well, now. Let us retire to the forest’s edge and sip fruity drinks.” She rolled up to her feet, hauling him up to a standing position in the process. She smiled and hooked her arm into his. “Aren’t we just a stately pair?”

Mathieu nodded and made a non-committal noise, not completely sure what a “stately pair” was, by definition, and knowing he had definitely never been called that before. The grounds, he noticed, were immaculately kept. All of the trees were the same shape, the grass exactly level. Everything about this place said ‘royalty’. Peering back over his shoulder, Mathieu began to realize just how big the castle was in its entirety. From outside the gates, it didn’t look all that big.

“So, you told Narrie your name was Mathieu. I’m Avian
Elizebeth Kathryn Renault, Princess of Unith and sole heir to the throne.” She pulled a face. “But really, I’m Avian. I won’t have any ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘Princess’ or that sort of stuff. It makes me sound old, and clearly, I am not.” She smiled at him in a kind way, nose wrinkling.

That statement Mathieu could wholeheartedly agree to, and nodded his approval. “You’re quite fast, you know. I was surprised.”

“As are you.
Sit.” Avian nodded to the small table set up under a brightly colored umbrella just in front of the forest. “Tell me how I ended up with you as my ‘guard’.
Other than because my father is a paranoid fool.”

He sat in a comfortable chair and immediately women appeared with drinks for them. Mathieu thanked the women and looked at Avian. “Well, I was raised on the outskirts of the Hart Hills at an orphanage. I left recently and came here, got into trouble for hurting some officer or
something,
was brought before your father, and here we are.”

Avian stared at him; then she started to laugh. “That’s a horrible story. But you say my father hired you after you hurt his men…” She swirled her fruity drink around the sparkling glass. “Well isn’t that interesting? So, he tells his men that soon one of them will be selected to protect me. He’d choose Jaken, but that’s his personal guard. So, he starts having Jaken test the others. None show promise. Jaken sees you beat up some of his highly trained men. You, presumably, have no professional fighting experience and you’re able to take them down. He’s intrigued. He brings you before the king, thinking that while yes, you are now set for death
row,
you may be of some use to us. Maybe he thought you’d be another
recruit to join the others. But Papa sees someone rogue, strong enough to hurt someone, yet deceptively…girly.”