CHAPTER FOUR

Skylar sprinted down the empty hall, her skirts held tightly in her fists to avoid tripping over them. She chuckled softly as she hid behind a marble pillar. "Dammit, princess," the leader of her three guards, Ian, grumbled under his breath as he and the two others passed by her hiding place. She was quite adept at evading her guards, she'd had twenty-one years to hone in her skills, and her guards never seemed to catch on. She appreciated them, but they were suffocating. The large, blue-clad men were never more than ten feet from her. "Sorry, Ian," she whispered and then took off in the direction from which she had come. Greta, her parents, and her guards chastised her on a nearly daily basis for evading their presence, but the dragon in her did not like being stalked. The dragon within her did not like much, but the one time they got along was when she was sneaking away from her supervisors. Although, even when she and her counterpart were on the best of terms, the dragon constantly fought to escape the confines of her mind.

Skylar strode briskly around the corner and took a deep breath, clasping her book against her chest. The fresh air seeped in from the open doors at the end of the hall, signaling her freedom and calling out to her. She smiled and danced proudly outside. Now that her guards were looking for her elsewhere, she had at least half an hour before they caught up with her again. The courtyard was often empty in the middle of the day, as those in the castle were breaking for lunch, which made it Skylar's favorite time to be outside. The sun sat directly above the large patch of land in the back of the castle, warming Skylar's fair skin and filling her with energy. She sighed and laid down on her back in the spring green grass. She used her highly advanced sense of smell to take her surroundings. Grass, trees, the people who had walked there before her, the heavy smell of horses from the stable at the other end of the courtyard, all the smells of her life brought her comfort and security. After one more deep inhale, she rolled over onto her stomach and opened her worn book. She read the story of the daring knight, evil witches, and the brave girl out to save them all, though she didn't absorb what she was reading; she had read the book countless times.

Skylar loved being alone because she wasn't burdened with having to sit tall and proud and always be conscious of the eyes that were watching her, and there were always eyes on her. She didn't need to worry that she would do or say something that would give away her deadly secret. When she argued with her mother and father and got too worked up, her eyes would begin to glow and once she grew claws where her fingernails should have been. She'd been horrified, as had the king and queen. It put an abrupt end to their argument as Skylar tried to figure out how to retract the nails. That lack of control could never happen when she was with anyone other than her nurse, mother, or father. She didn't even want it to happen around them. She didn't want to lose complete control of herself, as she had no idea what she was capable of.

Her sensitive ears picked up on familiar footsteps on the grass and disturbed the air and scents around her. She smiled when a shadow stood between her and the sun, casting the words on the page into darkness. "You know the sun isn't good for your complexion," a deep voice chuckled.

"But it feels so nice. I won't get burned," Skylar smiled and lifted her gaze to look into her friend's hazel eyes. "You're back!"

"I do believe I am. And I've missed you." Jonathan grinned, reaching out a large hand to assist Sky to her feet. She leaned in and hugged him close; her best friend had been gone for nearly three months and the castle had been quite boring without him. "I see that you have evaded your guards once again." His familiar musky scent overwhelmed her senses and it took her a moment before she could respond.

"They aren't very good if they can't keep track of me," Skylar shrugged.

"I think that it might have something to do with the fact that you hide from them," Jonathan suggested. He took a respectful step back, letting go of her gently. She hugged her book to her chest and studied her good friend. The knight dressed casually in black cloth trousers and a red shirt that rested over his broad shoulders and stretched across his muscular chest as though it had been painted there. His ever-present sword hung at his hip and a large hand rested on the hilt in a casual stance. The neatly cut blonde hair on his head added to the proud aura that surrounded him and the noble blood that ran through his veins.