The Marked Phoenix: Little Red Bird - Chapter 8

The rebels arrived when Emerine retired for the night. By the time things had escalated, the banquets had come to a close and the entire palace was vacant of visiting aristocrat sand blue-bloods. They were not going to be the victims tonight.

Emerine did not realize that with each step she took, a body eight floors below her began bleeding out. Her brows raised upon seeing a tall, muscular figure approaching her. “Kalesin.” His name smoothly rolled off of her tongue.

Kalesin stopped glancing around as if he was searching for something… or someone. He didn’t expect to run into her so quickly. He surveyed her lack of guards, but heavy presence of maidservants. “Your Highness.” he greeted her with a strained smile.

“Where were you? I didn’t see you at the banquet… and it was my eighteenth birthday today.” She softly frowned, displeased at his lack of presence. The only thing she wanted to do was see him on her special day, but he was nowhere in sight. Her mind couldn’t help but wander to the woman she had seen him with.

“I apologize, your grace. I had important duties that urgently required my attention.”

Emerine scowled, “Your duty is to keep me safe.”

Kalesin blinked, “My duty is to keep the nation safe.”

Her eyes flared, “I am the nation. Without me, this nation would not live on—”

His eyes narrowed, “Your Highness, I am well aware of that, but I am also tasked with the mission to keep the people of this nation safe as well.”

Emerine was taken aback by his brash words. His voice was cold and distant. He had never treated her like this. He was rarely aloof with her and it was something she couldn’t help but frown at his actions. “Father assigned you to protect me. Only me. And no one else. You swore allegiance to me—”

Kalesin harshly spoke against her, “I also swore allegiance to the country. The people—”

“The aristocrats and blue-blooded have their own bodyguards!” Emerine exasperated, growing frustrated that he hasn’t apologized for being absent at her birthday dinner.

Kalesin’s hands tightly gripped the hilt of his sword and he gritted out, “Your Grace, the ‘people’ of this country are not entirely comprised of the small minority of blue-bloods. This country is also comprised of the middle-class, the commoners, the peasants, and the serfs.”

His harsh and reprimanding words were like a slap to her face. Emerine’s maidservant did not move a single inch from behind her, but tomorrow, their mouths will make up for their lack of action tonight. The gossip would’ve spread like wildfire, except, none of them would be able to see the rise of dawn after tonight’s commotions.

Emerine opened her mouth to retort his prickly words but she closed her mouth a second later. “You’ve disappointed me today.” She shook her head with disapproval.

Kalesin gently smiled, almost as if he was pained by the action. “Is that so, Your Grace? Shall I apologize?”

“Enough.” Emerine deadpanned as her violet eyes set ablaze, revealing a shade of crimson red that he was shocked to witness.

Kalesin blinked twice to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. Her eyes had just changed color. Momentarily distracted by this unpredictable change, he began, “Princess, your—”

“I wish to retire for the night,” Emerine interjected. Without waiting for his reply, she picked up her dress and sauntered past him.

Kalesin grabbed her wrist, the action irking her. Her blood began to boil at his audacity.

“Kalesin,” she warned him, her voice dangerously low. She couldn’t control her outbursts in front of her family, but at times, she could tame her anger in front of Kalesin.

A shout could be heard in the distance. Kalesin’s head whipped to the direction of the noise. Swiftly and softly, he cursed.

Emerine was growing more and more irritated by him tonight. “Kalesin, unhand me, have you lost your mind?” She hissed, snatching her wrist back. Her eyes wandered towards her maidservants. Their eyes were still trained to the ground, examining the Their lack of attention did not reassure her, for ears behaved on their own will.

Without warning, Kalesin yanked her close to him and her maidservants flinched at the abrupt action. They had seen what he had done. He knew they would report his rash actions back to the King, but tonight, he did not seem to care anymore.

Emerine reached the last straw of her patience. “Kalesin, my father will have your head for this!”

Kalesin bent low until his lips brushed against her ears. He relished in the fact that a shiver trembled her body. “Wait for me until midnight. It can not wait until tomorrow morning.”

“At midnight, I have to be in bed. The archer in the tower will report to my father—”

“Have a maid lay in your stead.” Kalesin murmured, raising his head when the noise grew a bit louder. In the distance, he could hear a faint shout, “Commander? Commander where are you?!”

Due to their proximity, Emerine heard it too. “What’s going on?”

Realization and alarm flashes in Kalesin’s eyes. “I’m going to investigate the noise. You need to retire for the night.” Without warning, he shoved her into her group of maidservants who easily caught her

“Your Highness, are you alright?” They gently asked, but she pushed off of them and ignored their worried questions.

“Kalesin, that really hurts!” Emerine huffed, but he was gone. Her eyes widened in horror when he reached the end of the hallway, drew his heavy sword, turned a corner, and disappeared.

In a worse mood than before, Emerine turned towards one of her maids. “Go investigate.” She instructed as the woman obediently nodded her head with a deep bow. “Right away, Your Highness.”

Without a final glance towards the maid, Emerine stalked off, completely unaware that Kalesin had seen the entire exchange whilst hiding in the shadows. He slowly shook his head in disappointment. Emerine truly did not inherit the heart of her mother, despite inheriting every angle of her features.

“What have you done, Your Majesty?” He asked no one in particular before taking off and disappearing into the shadows, ready to join his comrades in the battle.