Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,17
her. I need to fill the position and if you agree, you wouldn’t travel unless she wanted to go somewhere. From here on out, you’d live in the castle and would rarely leave her side. You’d be more constant than a shadow. However, you’d be compensated with generous pay, time to train or whatever you wanted to do in your spare time, and your needs would be provided for at all levels. Also, I rarely hear my daughter referred to as a ‘twit‘, so I don‘t believe it should be an issue.”
Mathieu sighed. “You’re not going to give this up, are you?”
“No. I want you to protect my daughter and I’d order you to do it if I thought you’d listen.” The King gave him a good natured look, seemingly understanding Mathieu’s need to not be controlled.
“You do realize I’m supposed to be a prisoner, right?” He raised an eyebrow. “Your lackies put me under arrest.”
The King shook his head. “I’ve found that being the King tends to give me a certain level of leeway with how things happen. If you take the position, I’ll see to it that you don’t have a problem with my officers or with the prison.”
Mathieu took a long time to think about that. He could avoid jail time if he took this job to protect some bimbo princess. How hard can it really be…? “Fine, I’ll do it. Jeez, this is a pain.”
The King nodded in a definitive manner. “Good, you’ll start immediately. My daughter should be at her lessons right now. Let’s go do a round of introductions.” He stood from the chair and went through a side door.
The castle was a complex maze of passages and corridors that seemed to lead into the abyss. Fortunately, the King was well versed with the palace and its secrets, letting him quickly lead them to their destination. The sight that met Mathieu’s eyes made him nearly regret his choice to take this job. Looking back, though, it truly epitomized The Princess.
The king opened the door to a study. The study itself was a rather nice room, decorated in shades of blue with two desks set beside each other. They were petite wood desks, which could hold a surprisingly heavy load. Mathieu knew this because a girl was standing on one. She was shorter than him, but not by much, with soft chocolate brown hair that fell down past mid-back and golden eyes. She was perhaps a bit chubby, but that didn’t faze Mathieu at all. What did faze Mathieu was the full sized globe that she kicked off the desk at the face of her teacher. Her lips were curled up in a grin of triumph as the man ducked to avoid it.
“Mwahaha! Cower before me, Professor, for today, the student surpasses the teacher!”
Chapter
Three
“Avian!” The King snapped, his voice lowered to a growl.
“Erm.” She flushed across the bridge of her nose, peeked down at her father past her glasses. “Heeey, Papa…”
Sighing, the man rubbed his temples. “Avian, get down here. Now.”
She hopped off the desk and landed smoothly on the floor just before them, eyes cast to the ground. But curiosity got the better of her, and she pushed her face up into Mathieu’s. “Oh, did you bring me a new toy? She’s cute.”
“I’m not a girl, thank you.” Mathieu said with a raised eyebrow, “and I’m not a toy. I’m your new, er…guard.”
Avian put her hands on her hips, standing squarely on her feet, before laughing heartily. “I don’t need one. I have Narrie. She protects me.”
The King laughed right back at her. “Narrie is your maid.”
“She’s Kin! More so than your little army. They suck.” Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she marched out of the room, brushing her father off. It was clear to Mathieu that she did this often.
Mathieu looked at the King, and at a nod, followed her. He found her kind of intriguing in an awkward way. Hot on her heels, he trailed her to a staircase and stayed one step behind her the whole way up. At the top, they took a left and down the hall they went. Her pace was clipped, and when she got there, Avian kicked opened her bedroom door. “Rawr!”
“Ah!” A woman dropped the stack of books she was carrying. “Damn it, Avian! Why do you feel the need to do that to me?”
“Eh.” Avian hopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. Without looking, she pointed at Mathieu. “That’s a creeper. Sick