[ E D I T E D ]

♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 22//: How about Addi?♕✿~♕✿~

My new guard snorts in exasperation. The dark green eyes from earlier pierce my skin once more, and I involuntarily shiver from the sharpness of his eyes.

"The feeling is mutual," the guard retorts. I cross my arms and purse my lips.

"Well, here's to a fun time," I say sarcastically as the guard grunts and looks away from me.

I walk past the silent guard and into my room. It feels weird to call it my room because my real room was located about 2 hours from here in a comfy, small house.

"Madi, wait a minute!"

I glance behind me to see a fuming Tara and an annoyed Addaline trailing behind her.

Tara runs up to me and sighs heavily. "Madi. We need to talk."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I never expected to hear that tone of voice that only my mother uses on me. You know the voice your mom uses that says 'I-am-angry-at-you-for-something-and-I'll-tell-you-what-I'm-angry-about-but-first-I-need-to-yell-at-you-for-making-the-mistake' ? Yeah, that was how Tara sounded like right now.

I raise an eyebrow. "Yes, Tara? What is it?" I ask in a sickly-sweet voice. When I was in a sour mood, I always became incredibly sarcastic and unintentionally rude. And after everything I just went through, I wasn't feeling in the mood for conversations, especially one that included yelling which I already suffered from the king.

Tara crosses her arms and narrows her brown eyes at me. "Well, Addaline and I," Tara gestures to Addaline behind her, "heard you are not allowed to go to the ball because of an incident."

My mouth drops open in a surpirsed 'O' shape. "How do you guys already know? I literally just got yelled at."

Tara shrugs half-heartedly. "Word travels fast around here."

I scoff. I can see that.

"Anyways! That's not the point of this conversation! You can't go to the ball now, and Addaline and I have to work on all the planning details by ourselves!" Tara exclaims.

I shake my head at her. "The king never said anything about me not being able to plan for the ball," I tell her. Tara looks surprised, but then she glances at Addaline and they both smile at me.

Tara and Addaline barge into my room. I am knocked back a bit and barely gain my balance before I might have fallen to the ground. I close my door and mutter, "Make yourselves at home, sure. Why not?" under my breath as Addaline and Tara sit at my desk.

Tara rings the bell signaling my maids to come to my room, and they come in record time.

"Yes miss?" Sam asks us as she enters the room.

"We need to make invitations for the upcoming alliance ball. Get us a paper to write our request to the man in charge of making and sending out the invitations," Tara orders them, not even glancing at them.

Addaline and I both have a look of disapproval on our faces. I turn to face my maids.

"Please. Thanks, you guys," I tell them with a small smile. Lacy looks up at me in surprise as they all turn to leave to follow Tara's orders.

A few minutes later, my maids return with a piece of paper which I'm guessing is to write our request to give to the man who will make these invitations and send them out.

"Okay." Tara grabs a pen and the paper and looks at us expectantly. "What should we write here?"

Addaline leans back in a chair. "Well, start out with the basics. Say something about the alliance ball and that it's hosted by the Chosen girls from Norta. Oh, and also mention it's a masquerade ball."

As Addaline talks about this, Tara is furiously writing on the piece of paper. I listen to Addaline as she suggests more things to include in the invitation.

"Done!" Tara exclaims as she sighs and dramatically throws her pen to the table. Addaline and I jump at the sound and Tara smiles at us sheepishly.

"Sorry. I've always seen people do that in movies, and I couldn't resist the urge."

I giggle at this just as a knock comes from my door.

All of us look at the door with surprise and curiosity. Tara turns to look at me and mouths Are you expecting someone? I shake my head no.

Another knock comes from the door, and I push myself off of my bed as I make my way to the door. I timidly open it but sigh in relief as I see it's just Ahren.

"Ahren? What are you doing here?" I ask him as I open the door fully. Behind me, I hear the swish of skirts. I glance behind me to see Tara and Addaline curtsying to Ahren. I turn back to him and shrug.

"I would curtsy, but I might as well just trip on my skirts."

Ahren smiles in amusement at me as he turns to Tara and Addaline. "Ladies. I would like to talk to Madison alone," Ahren tells them. Tara and Addaline's eyes widen as they look back at me. Then, they quickly scurry out the open door.

Ahren closes the door behind them and turns to face me. I rock on one foot to the next as I stare at the floor. Finally, I can't take the silence anymore.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Ahren has a look of thought on his face as he completely ignores my question and states something completely random: "I think I need to call you a nickname."

I blink at him.

Once.

Twice.

Then, I roll my eyes at him. "That was completely random. If you want to call me a nickname, just call me Madi," I tell him.

Ahren smiles at me as he shakes his head. "No, that's what everyone calls you. I've been thinking about it, and I think I came up with the perfect nickname. How about Addi?"

I start at those words as I look up at him. Those words....he had said those words to me years ago.

****FLASHBACK****

I stand in the shadows of the colorful, clustered shops in the market. Next to me, Nathie stands there looking like a shadow. His long, black hair as dark as midnight can barely be seen while his bright blue eyes are the only things clearly visible.

"Addi." He calls out to me. I turn towards him. "Yeah, Nathie?"

He stays silent until he faces me. "Addi, you have to understand that you have to fend for yourself. You can't depend on anyone, only yourself. You need to learn that right now," he tells me in his silky voice unheard of from a 12 year old.

I'm about to ask what he means by that when he suddenly pushes me out into the open, making me crash into a passing Silver merchant.

I back away from the merchant as he turns around to face me. His dark eyes flash to my hands entangled in the straps of his bag, and his face darkens as he grabs my wrist in a strong grip, making sure I can not escape.

I let out a cry as the man tugs me towards a Security Guard stationed close by.

"This girl was trying to steal from me. She needs to be punished. I want her whipped for even thinking she could try to steal from me," the merchant tells the Security Guard as he glances at me. I shake in his grip, and I feel like I'm going to wet myself.

The Security Guard stares down at me. I expect to be immediately taken to the whipping post, but the Guard's eyes soften upon looking at me.

"She's young. She was just messing around. All children do that," the Security Guard points out. The merchant seems unsatisfied with the Guard's answer and glares down at me.

"I want her to get a little punishment then. So that this habit of hers won't stick," he says as he shakes me viciously in his grip.

I hold back my tears as I shut my eyes close. Waiting for the Guard to answer.

Suddenly, I feel someone hit me in the back of the head harshly. I stumble forward, and the merchant lets me go so that I fall onto the sandy ground of the streets.

I look behind me and see the Guard's hand raised. He must've hit me.

The guard looks at the merchant. "That should be enough punishment for her. I assure you that she will not attempt to do anything like this again." The guard turns back to me and nods at me to go. I quickly scramble up from the ground and rush back to the place where I was hiding out with Nathie.

When I sneak back into the shadows of the shops, Nathie's bright blue eyes are there to guide me. I angrily hit him on the arm.

"I got in trouble because of you! I thought we were friends!" I tell him with a pout.

Nathie has a calm look on his face as he grabs my hand to stop me from hitting him. I thrash in his arms.

"Let me go!" I tell him with a glare, but he does no such things.

"Addi, you will thank me later in your life. When you have shielded yourself from others so that you are a strong, independent girl. When everyone either fears or respects you. You will thank me for helping you become that girl," Nathie tells me.

I stare at him in confusion, going limp in his arms. He lets me go, and I stumble away from him. "Nathie, why don't you trust people?" I ask him.

His eyes narrow to slits. "Because they will betray you," he answers in a low growl.

This only makes me more confused. I furrow my brows. "But what about your friends and family?" I ask him.

He stays silent for a moment before he answers.

"They are the people who can hurt you the most."

****END OF FLASHBACK****

I stare at Ahren as this memory comes back to me.

He looks at me with confusion and worry as he snaps his fingers in front of my face.

"Earth to Addi?"

This brings me back. I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Call me anything other than that," I tell Ahren in a hushed voice.

He furrows his brows at me in confusion, but doesn't let it bother him for too long.

"Ok, well how about 'darling'? I think it matches your personality perfectly," he tells me with a smirk.

I can't help but roll my eyes and break into a smile at this. I walk away from him and open the doors leading to the balcony facing the garden. I walk outside and sit on the ledge of the balcony, staring down at the garden. I feel Ahren sit besides me and wrap his arms around me.

"My darling," he coos.

I scoff and push his arms away playfully. "That is a terrible nickname," I tell him with a laugh as he smiles at me.

We stay silent as we both look down at the serene calmness nature has to offer. During this time, I think back to the flashback I had.

"Ahren?" I call out to him during the silence.

"Hm?" Ahren mumbles in response.

I stay silent before asking: "Can we....stay friends even after all of this," I gesture behind me, "is over? After I...go home?"

I'm met with silence, and I glance at Ahren to see him frowning. "Well, yes..." he answers me, trailing off.

I smile in relief, but it is short lived as I wonder...

Will Ahren leave me just like he did?

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

First of all, I just want to say sorry for the long wait guys!

This chapter took a bit longer for me to write. I was almost going into a writer's block but then I decided I should give you guys a chapter since you are all being patient with me.

So here's the next chapter! A new character got introduced: Nathie. Of course, that's not his real name, it's just a nickname 8 year old Madison gave to her childhood friend. You'll get to know about him more because he'll become quite essential to the plot later on.

You're also probably wondering why I'm putting so much emphasis on this guard (I'll let you decide if you think I'm talking about the guard from the present or the guard from the flashback). Well, he's an essential character to the plot as well. I want to give you guys a chance to make your own theories because, in my opinion, the best part about reading a book is coming up with your own theories about the book, whether it be about characters or the plot.

The next chapter will be posted soon. Anyways, hope you guys have a good week and luv you all!

Glass_Sword