15. Myra

“Arms up! I want to see your hands. If you have any weapons on you, lay them on the ground slowly before facing us.”
I still must be dreaming. Grunting, I push my body closer to Alexandra’s, whose arms are wrapped around me like a blanket. Comforting, warm, safe. The next thing I know , that blanket is gone.
“We don’t mean any harm.” Alexandra’s raspy voice pieces through my clouded mind. The worried sound of her words finally shakes me awake and I open my eyes.
In front of us, stand at least twenty men in silver amour, shining in the morning sun, pointing their swords at me. Alexandra looks better in silver than any of them. A red cape is attached to the shoulders of the knight closest to us. The colour of Alethon.
“It is true.”, I add in an attempt to back her up, not quite registering what I am doing. With that, the red knight’s attention is on me.
“Who are you?” His voice is deep and dangerous, shivers running down my spine.
“My name is Myra. I-“
He does not acknowledge me any longer. Instead, he carefully watches Alexandra, even taking a step towards her. I cannot blame him. With her muscles and stern face, she looks much more dangerous than me, a girl in a light underdress, unbound blonde hair and slack body parts.
“And who are you?” he asks in her direction. My eyes widen, when Alexandra rises to her feet and takes a step towards the man. His sword rises to meet her throat.
“Don’t move!”, he commends. She does not listen, for the first time in her life. Her eyes keep flickering at me.
“She is Princess Myra Alaris of Heralin. I am the head of her guard, Alexandra Dempsey. We are here at the request of your Prince, for their marriage.” I freeze. Somewhere between kissing Alexandra and falling asleep in her arms, I actually forgot that the only reason we were here was because I was to marry the Prince. I do not want to marry him, now more than ever. I want Alexandra with her inability to accept her own feelings while taking care of mine, her rough hands stroking my hair and braiding it, her fingers on my skin. I want her to be mine.
“I said, stay still!!”, the knight repeats.
“Give me a chance to prove to you I’m telling the truth !” She is almost screaming now. I want to do something, anything to get his attention off of my knight but I remain frozen in place.
The knight observes us again, lips tight. “Alright. But I am warning you. Do not do anything reckless.”
Alexandra takes a few steps back, slowly, with her hands in the air. She crouches down beside our bag. Only then does she take her hands down to dig through our things. She pulls out the brooch she got when my father assigned her as my personal guard. She hands the item to the lieutenant who eyes them for a moment. With his nod of approval, I am finally able to breathe normally again.
“Lower your swords” The knight’s voice is so loud, it echoes all around us. Head hung low, he goes down on one knee, his men following suit.
“Pardon me, your Grace. If we had known who you were, we would not have met you with such disrespect. We are relieved you finally reached your new home.”
As I watch Alexandra’s eyes go cold, her back straightening, it does not feel like coming home at all. It feels more like losing it.