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“Trained by Kingston himself,” Quinn added. “I don’t think anyone has been taken under his wing since. He fully devoted himself to her after her parents were gone.”
“Well, he kind of had to. She is the only one left to rule.”
Their expressions became somber with Thea’s words, and I understood the man’s reaction now. He’d probably give his life before he let anything happen to her.
“Forget being paired with her. I want to be like Princess Evanna one day,” Thea snickered. “She’s the shah.”
“Paired?” Edward asked, as confused as I was.
“Sorry, we forget you were held in the Hollow all this time, used to the old language,” Quinn offered. “Paired is like being married, except no one performs the sacred ceremony anymore.”
“So they just choose to be with each other?” Charlotte questioned, exchanging a glance with her brother.
“Pretty much. That is, for any of us regular folk. Not for the princess.”
Mulling over her words, I glanced back at the change of clothes. “I’m headed to the showers. See you guys later?”
“Yeah. We need to get back to training, our rest hour is over,” Aaron informed, cringing like he was already too tired.
“We’ll meet you here before dinner.” Thea smiled, and they walked past me, going only God knew where. Edward and Charlotte returned to their nooks.
“Will the princess be at dinner?” I called after the others before they stepped out.
“She always tries to share her meals with her people,” Louis replied and left.
Taking the pair of pants that seemed made of linen like the shirt I now wore, and the leather sandals given to me, I headed out of the dormitory. My gaze carefully observed the maze-like hallway that guided you in and out of it. It didn’t have a door, but the passage was carved in such a way that it gave you the same privacy.
Seriously, this place belonged in a National Geographic documentary. The more I walked along the corridors and multileveled stairs lit by torches, the more I felt like I was in the middle of an Indiana Jones adventure, in some exotic land. I’d never been one to focus on architecture, but you had to be blind not to be left speechless at the genius behind this construction.
It seemed like an entire city had been carved inside the mountain, becoming these people’s shelter.
And then I realized I was completely lost, because I got distracted admiring everything around me. Shit. Turning around, I meant to go down the stairs again, hoping I could find my way back and start all over. Except, every corridor looked the same.
I wished I could say that I was going in circles, but there was nothing I could recognize enough to confirm I’d already walked through this part. Glancing over my shoulder as I continued, I wondered if I should have just kept going the first time. Maybe, I would have actually—my mental rambling stopped the second I slammed against a hard wall.
“Damn it!” I mumbled, staggering back to realize it wasn’t a wall at all. It was the warrior who almost cut my throat because I was holding Evie. Kingston.
“What are you doing in the royal wing?” he asked in a low and stern voice that said he had no patience for me today. Or ever.
“The royal wing?” I asked, perplexed. How far had I walked?? Wait. Was that where Evie’s room was? “I’m lost,” I replied, wishing I knew how I got there, so I could come see Evie later tonight.
The man lifted a single brow, like he didn’t believe me, and I was suddenly struck by the unnerving way the torches illuminated his menacing face. He was a freaking giant, built of pure rippling muscle, and bronzed skin. He totally reminded me of Mr. T… if Mr. T were twice the size.
“I was trying to get to the showers, but I got distracted by how impressive these caves are, and completely lost track of where I was.”
Kingston regarded me for a moment, trying to figure out if I was telling the truth, but finally nodded. “I will show you how to get there. Next time, pay attention.”
Right. His hands landed on my shoulders and he turned me in the opposite direction, walking me to the stairs… yeah, that was definitely where Evie was.
“You see these?” he asked, stopping before we could begin to descend, and my gaze lifted to the torches I’d seen at the start of every staircase. I nodded. “They represent the level you are in. Notice how there are seven on this one?”
My head turned, counting the line of live flames on the wall. “Yes, so we are on the seventh floor?”
Nodding, Kingston began to guide me to the dormitories again. “The new trainees stay on the fourth floor, that is where you will be sleeping.”
My gaze counted the lights on each floor as we descended.
“The showers are on the third floor, and the common rooms as well as the dining halls, the throne room, and the like are on the second.” We stopped on the fourth floor, exactly where I had started, outside my room. “The Elevated Warriors live on the sixth floor. If you have reached the sixth floor, you have gone too far.” His eyes filled with a warning. “I don’t ever want to see you on the seventh floor again, unless I take you there myself. Understood?”
