03: Reserved Queen

I'm inside the courtroom listening to their discussion when one of the royal officials said, "Queen Katrina, Princess Avery could not be queen she's far too young and innocent to be crowned."

My heart began pounding as tension rose. Many members of the council agreed and it made me question my rights.

"You are the King's daughter, Patrice. You can rule." I remembered what Darcy told me and it gave me confidence. I am the King's daughter, I can rule.

I have all the rights to the throne.

"Mr. Marco, I know that, actually that coronation is actually a façade, my daughter here knows that she is only a reserved queen and she'll only appear queen during occasions, right, Avery?" I was surprised with my Mother's reply

I thought she'd defend me like she does when people are downing Ezra for being the first-born but losing the throne to me, I didn't expect her to do this. Nor say those words.

Me? A reserved queen?

A façade?

The coronation, the banquet, everything's just for a façade?

'I hope Zairo's coronation will also end up like this' I thought selfishly

I was sent back to reality when another official said, "Therefore, it is settled Princess Avery, what would you like, would you like us to choose your personal guards and near guard or will you do it?"

I'd like to correct him that I was already crowned but I can't, not after what my mother, the former – no, scratches that – current queen, had just said.

I won't allow them to give me guards that they will use to control me. I'm not letting them choose everything for me, I have a will and I will use my rights to do that.

"I'd like to choose please. Can I meet your guards now, so that I can choose already?" I replied icily and I can sense the sudden dropping of the temperature in the room.

"Of course, Princess," He said averting his gaze from me

Of course, they didn't expect me to be like this.

He lead me to the guards who are lining up he said these were all the guards who knows all about the set up. I'm glad that some of the ones who also lined up were my close friends. They were the guards who let me slip from the palace. I consider them as friends.

"Which one of them?" he asked after making all of them introduced themselves though it's unneeded because I already chose from the beginning.

"I choose Sir Charles, Knight Therese, Knight Stephen and Knight Maia to be my personal guards and I choose Zairo as my near guard." I said and he dismissed everyone else.

A little while later, Mother told me to go back to my room. Along the way, my near guards are stopping on their designated post as we climb up my tower.

While Zairo and I are both walking to my room, Zairo suddenly knocked the knock code, which drew my attention I looked at him confusedly

"Patrice, shall we go – home? Of course wait let me change." I cut off what he was whispering then I started running he suddenly pulled my wrist

"Patrice, palace guards are near, don't run. Okay?" he whispered and looked at Knight Stephen who managed to catch up.

"What happened? Why did her highness run?" Knight Stephen asked Zairo

"I don't know, maybe because she passed her curfew or something." I acted as if I didn't hear what Zairo said.

When we arrive near my room, Zairo's the only one accompanying me. When I entered my room, I pulled Zairo in too.

"Wait for me while I change. Then, you can change into the clothes I'm giving you okay." I told him and went to my closet

After I change, I threw shirts to him and pushed him in my closet.

A while later we're ready, I wore a cyan blue shirt with the same pin we usually wear. I ran to the window and opened it I told Zairo to go first so that I could lock the windows first.

Few moments later, we both reached the house we considered home.

After opening the door I ran to the couch and lay Zairo chuckles while following me through the door he then said, "Patrice you shouldn't run you know because–" "Because I am a princess and a royalty but hey it's the only thing that makes my palace life lively." I cut him off

"Pam, even if it's fun. Remember, you're a princess, not just some guard or anyone in training," he scolded me

I crossed my arms and with that, my stomach grumbled he laughed at me and then he went to the kitchen and cooked.

After cooking, he called me and said, "Pam, give me the pin."

I asked him why and he just took my pin after opening the back of the pin he chuckled "So, you didn't know about this." He said after pulling the lace behind it and gave it to me. He helped me put it on. It looked so pretty on me I looked on the mirror, few minutes later Zai teased me

"Pam, the necklace might melt you know. Stop staring at it, I brought new gadgets. Here, check it out." So I followed him to the living room I sat on the couch while he sat on the arm chair he showed me the gadgets he said, it were bracelets with engraved 'ZaTrice' with two jewels on each side one green and one purple. I wore the other one and he wore the other one.

If you're wondering why he called me Pam, it's a nickname he came up with for me, Patrice Avery Mae.

I asked what these were for and he answered, "Patrice, these are communication accessories; all you have to do is press the purple gem if you want the conversation using your inner voice also known as thought and press the green if you want it in vocal."

"However, only you will be affected example if I choose green and you choose purple then I will be the only one that will have the bracelet sending messages vocally but it is much safer if they're always in purple mode because no one will hear it but you. Do you have questions?" he explained

"Yeah, are all of these undetected and untraceable?" I asked

"Yes, they are. Why'd you ask?" he replied

"Because you know that I might get in trouble if your kingdom gets to trace these." I said

"Don't worry, I created them alone so that no one will be able to trace them." He assured me

"Okay." I answered assured

Then few minutes later my attention diverted to the wall clock and I was shocked. We've been here for 4 hours. I am so in trouble, Zairo must've felt my shock because he too looked on the clocked and was shocked for we left by 2:00 in the afternoon and it is already 7:00. We both run to the door and locked it. After running for a while, we reached the shortcut and we quickly climbed on my window and entered.

I quickly pushed Zairo to my closet and he came out after a while wearing his uniform and he said "Pam, about the laundry-" I cut him off by saying "I'll bring them to the Secret House, alright, I know it, okay?"

Then after he gets out of my room using the door I use to sneak out when Mother locks me up here it only leads to the garden half a mile away from the tunnel. After seeing him leave and disappear on the secret passage, I went to my closet, took Zairo's worn clothes, and placed them to his suitcase hidden behind my first ball gown. My Dad told me to hide in here when there is trouble because it only opens to handprints. Before, it recognize Dad and my hand prints only but since Dad died I change it to only accept me and Zairo's hand print which means that only the two of us are the ones able to open it.

Because, he is in a hurry Zairo didn't get to put them in so after I changed I placed them to our respective suitcases. After changing to my Lime colored gown I went to my room and sat on my bed.

I was about to lay on the bed when Ezra entered my room frustrated then mad she said, "Avery, I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been?"

"I've been just wandering around the kingdom." I replied

"Avery, are you with Knight Zairo?" she asked which made me look at her confusedly

"Isn't that to be expected? He is my near guard." I answered

I snuck out all right, I snuck out with Zairo and to think of it I don't even know how he managed to remain my near guard when in fact; he's already a crowned king. He's real king of a kingdom now, so much unlike me.

"Avery, what time did the bell rang?" she asked and I furrowed my brows

"Why are you asking?" I asked her slowly getting irritated

"Just tell me, Avery." She demanded

"Fine. Four pm." I answered irritated

"No, Avery, you are not inside the kingdom." She accused

What did she just accuse me? Is she insane? I've memorized the interval and exact time the bells ring every time.

"Yes, I am." I insisted

I don't get why she's making such a fuss.

"No, Avery. You're lying to me because the bell didn't ring inside the kingdom. Only the outside bell rang." Ezra said while with tears in her eyes.

She ran out of my room and I heard her cries, I went to Mother's room right after she went out because I know she's going to tell Mother that I lied to her. Moreover, I wasn't mistaken because I heard Ezra's cries when I was in front Mother's room, so I knocked and when Mother saw me, she allowed me to enter.

"Avery, why is Ezra crying because of you?" She asked.

"I am not doing anything to her." I defended

"You lied to me." Ezra said

So, what if I did? I don't really understand why she's crying when in fact deception is something people of the royal family should be accustomed to and aware of since we're at the top.

"Fine, I'm sorry." After I said that, she stopped crying and smiled and Mother was relieved.

I offered Ezra to come to my room and check on my designs, which she thought was a good idea since we could 'bond', we entered my room and I toured her around

While I was touring her around my closet, which she requested, she saw the suitcase where I hid the unused clothes of Zairo and asked "Z? What is this for?"

"That is for nothing, 'Z' means 'zero'." I answered without any hint of lying

"Well how about this 'P'?" she asked again

"It is for emergency, in case I need to go to different places." I answered

"Going to different places? Are you even allowed to do that?" she asked

"Of course, I am the queen now; I should be the one to fix the matters between our allied kingdoms." I answered

"But isn't your coronation just for formality and in accordance to the traditions? You're not really the queen." She asked and that took me off-guard

Wait. Am I really the only one who doesn't know that?

I suddenly lost the interest in having a conversation with her so I sighed and pressed the right gem on my bracelet.

'Zai, can you please come here? Like right now?' I asked Zairo

'Okay, sure.' He said and I sighed

"What's with the sigh? Are you feeling unwell?" she asked

"No, I'm not. Don't mind me." I said

Suddenly, we heard knocks so I went out of the closet and I opened the door, I wasn't surprised when Ezra followed me out of my closet.

"You called for me?" Zairo asked when I opened the door for him

'Ezra. I just don't feel like having a conversation with her anymore.' I told him

"Oh, Knight Zairo, I haven't seen you in a while." Ezra said and looked at me questioningly

"I've been with the queen Avery everywhere she went." He replied and I didn't miss how he emphasized my suppose title.

"Oh, right. You are her near guard after all." I sensed the embarrassment in Ezra's voice and somehow it made me feel a little better

"Avery, can we design clothes today? I want to learn it too, can we?" Ezra asked me probably to divert the attention

"I suppose there's no problem." I said and turned to Zairo, "Thank you but I think I, I mean we can handle things on our own now." I said

"No, Avery, we should ask his help he should carry the fabrics from your closet to your design room." At first, I stilled a bit because Zairo modified my room a little and installed some technology, which is still unavailable here.

Thankfully, Zai added a special system it scans if I'm just with Zai or with other people so it won't show my sneaking cloth design and all that is associated with it would disappear apart from the workshop material

"There's no need for that. We already have all that we need in my workshop." I declined sternly then we went to my workshop room

"Avery, wait, I forgot the fabric in the closet." Ezra said and I held her hand, Zai, on the other hand, stopped on his way because he knows the system.

"I told you, there's no need to bring extra fabric." I said and she nodded

"Oh. Right." She said sheepishly obviously embarrassed for the consecutive mistake she had done

"It looks so complicated." Ezra said when I showed her how to stitch and the stitch designs.

It was obvious she was uninterested, which made me wonder why she wants to see my workshop and works in the first place.

"Let's go have some tea in the garden." I invited her

"I think that would be great." Ezra said and I lead her out of my workshop

"Go ahead and tell the maid what kind of tea you'd like, I'll just fix my workshop." I told her and she look hesitant but she went out of my room anyway.

"You can fix the mess now." Zairo said as I sat on the chair

"Yes, master Nathan." The computer he installed replied

"What was that all about?" he asked and I sighed

"You know what happened during the council meeting, right?" I asked and he nodded

"Yeah. So, what about it?" he answered

"Ezra just rubbed it to my face earlier. I mean how the heck did she even know that or am I the only one who didn't know?" I ranted and he chuckled

"You should just let it go, Pam, it's not like she actually lied about it, right?" he asked and I rolled my eyes

"Thanks for rubbing it in, Zai. I totally needed that." I replied sarcastically

"Pam..." He said and sat beside me

"It just felt unfair for me. I mean I was crowned so why can't I rule." I said frustrated and he chuckled

"Are you frustrated because she rubbed it in or are you actually sad that she reminded that your mother didn't stand up for you like she did to Ezra?" he asked and I sighed

"Ah I know that sigh. It's the latter, right?" he said and I nodded

He knows me too well that I didn't have to answer for him to know the answer.

"Uh, Zairo, can we go home tonight?" I asked him

"You know you can't always run and besides you're already tired, you've been lacking sleep, arriving so late." He said and tapped my head

"I know. I'm not trying to run away, okay?" I said and sighed

"Why do you want to go home then?" he asked

"I just want to go home." I answered and he smiled

"It's my off tomorrow so it's Knight Therese who's going to be your near guard, you better think of an alibi." He said and stood up

I stood up and he opened the door

"Can I tell her about us?" I asked him

"Us? Wait a minute –" I cut him off before he could think of something to tease me with

"I meant what we are doing, silly. Don't even give a different meaning to that, okay?" I explained to him and he chuckled

"I thought you meant different." He said and smiled at me charmingly

"But it's fine if you fall for me." He said and I shook my head

"And so are you." I retorted as we went out of my workshop

"You think so?" he asked and I chuckled

A knock on my door interrupted our conversation, but the workshop was soundproof so I'm sure nobody heard what we were talking about earlier.