-Victoria-
I was stunned by the accusation. Looking back at Ani, the shame on his face made me see that this man wasn't lying. But I knew there had to be more to story. I was aware of all the people watching. This wasn't the place to talk about this.
I grabbed Ani's arm and began pulling him towards a balcony door. I noticed Zekora appear from nowhere standing right next to it.
"Make sure we aren't disturbed." I said to her as we passed by.
As the door shut, I felt strong magic fall into place. It wasn't just Zekora. I could feel my father's magic laced through the silencing spell. Looking through the glass door, I saw the three guards from earlier had taken up posts inside. I turned towards Ani, who was looking out at the city below.
"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" I asked, moving to stand beside him.
"It's not what you think." He said, not turning to face me.
"I really don't know what to think." I confessed, "A little context would be appreciated."
"Since the founding of Varezia, my family trained the army and elite royal guards," He explained, "We were the best."
"Were the best?" I asked.
"Are the best." He corrected with a chuckle, "Then everything changed."
"Let me guess, 500 years ago." I said.
"What gave it away?" He asked.
"Seems like a lot changed 500 years ago." I laughed.
"That is true," He agreed, "My family was in favor of peace for a long time. We had lost so many soldiers to a seemingly never-ending war. So, when my, however many greats, uncle happened to see the Prince and Princess sneaking around no man's land…"
"He saw an opportunity for peace." I finished.
"And turned a blind eye," He continued, "He also instructed the troops to look the other way. To get between anyone trying to look for the pair. I guess they even had a system for communicating with the Prince to let him know that the area was unsafe."
"He really helped them." I said with a smile.
"The whole family did," He told me, "My many great grandfather was known to stall the King for hours while the Prince was away to give him time to return. And my grandmother, despite hating fashion, learned everything there was just to keep the Queen away."
"So, what happened?" I asked.
"The pair was discovered," He said, "And they fled. The King ordered the army to the human realm to hunt them. To tear down anyone in their way."
"You refused." I said.
"The army had no reason to be in the human realm," He said, frustrated, "They would've just made things worse. The King didn't agree. He hated that my family had more say over the actions of his soldiers than he did. He needed loyal soldiers and generals."
"Inuvius's family stepped into that role." I said. Ani nodded.
"By the time the Aivorians found the Prince and Princess, every soldier and guard my family ever trained was replaced by one theirs," He said, shaking his head, "During the transition, the information about what we did to help the Prince reached the King. He wanted my family branded as traitors, but since we were helping the Crown Prince, it was determined we did what we did in good faith."
"So, you're not actually traitors in any official capacity." I pointed out.
"To two-thirds of the families in there we might as well be." He crossed his arms.
"Which means a third of the families think you aren't," I countered, "And, since you were invited to the party, I imagine the Royal Family is among that third in-spite of the history."
"That's actually because of your grandfather, the former King," He informed me, a smile forming, "Our family may have lost the ability to train others to be elite guards, but we didn't want to lose the methods and traditions we refined over thousands of years. So, the head of the family had to ensure that every child was fully trained to serve as a guard."
"Oh, does that mean you're a trained, elite guard, ready to leap into action at the first sign of distress?" I joked, nudging his arm.
"No, not at all," He laughed, "My difficulty in controlling my magic disqualified me from training."
"I'm so sorry," I panicked, hoping I hadn't offended him, "You've been doing so well with your lessons and control, I completely forgot."
"That's ok," He laughed at my panic, "I have been doing well. My father was even talking about giving me some training especially since I'm best friends with our future Queen."
"That could be useful, I feel like we're going to get into a lot of trouble," Then I thought for a second, "Wait, if you can't do the training, who's going to inherit the methods and traditions for training new guards?"
"Well, it was supposed to be my older sister, since she was first born," He explained, "But she has said, for as long as she could talk, that she would be too busy serving the Queen to even think about having babies and continuing the line, so she passed it on to my brother."
"You have siblings?" I asked, astonished that I hadn't heard anything about this before.
"A sister and three brothers," He told me, clearly suppressing a smirk, "I'm the youngest of five."
"You never told me that." I accused.
"You never asked." He argued, smirk now barely contained, "You were always too caught up in your woe is me, I don't know where I belong or what's going on, but I like this hot guy and now I'm a princess drama."
"Guess that makes me a bad friend." I mumbled, turning away.
"You said it not me." He responded.
I gasped, quickly turning back to look at him with a stunned face. He just stared back with barely concealed amusement. The dam finally burst, and we were lost in a fit of laughter. It took a few good minutes for us to catch our breathe.
"Alright, anyway," I said as we calmed down, "What was it my grandfather did to help your family?"
"Right," He wiped some tears from his eyes, "When your grandfather was attending Pelmora, he actually met your grandmother. She was from a common family, but it didn't matter. It was love at first sight and that made the noble family, whose daughter he was supposed to marry, very upset. So upset, in fact, they sent mercenaries after her at Pelmora."
"That's awful," I said, "Obviously they failed."
"Thanks to my great aunt," He told me, "She was very close with your grandmother and was with her during the attack. She defeated 10 elite mercenaries on her own, without sustaining any injury."
"That's impressive."
"Your grandfather thought so too," He said, "It was that skill that led him to test my grandfather's ability. When he, successfully, defeated every elite guard that served the palace, your grandfather made the decision to, privately, hire my family to protect his. Unofficially, they were called the Prince's guard. Once he took the crown, they became the King's Guard."
"That means those three guards that helped me earlier and are watching the door right now were trained by your family." I pointed towards the guards.
"Yes, they were," He said, "And they're not just anyone. The one in the middle is my uncle and the two on the side are your uncles."
"My uncles?" I looked at him like he sprouted a second head, "I have uncles?"
"They're your mother's younger brothers," He looked at me confused, "They're twins. Don't you know this stuff?"
"I only just found out I have an aunt yesterday."
"Yeah, your Aunt Suni," He said, like it was the most common knowledge in the world, "She's a servant in the palace."
"She's my servant," I told him, "And no one said anything about her being my aunt until I talked to my mom."
"You talked to your mom?" His eyes filled with happiness for me.
"And I got to hug her." I gushed, getting more and more distracted, "Zekora gave me this crystal, and I focused my magic until she appeared, but she looked like a ghost...wait...we are getting so off topic here."
"Sorry," He laughed, "You'll have to tell me later."
"If I understand everything correctly," I began to recap, "Your family helped the Prince with his secret affair behind the King's back, refused to help look for the Prince, got caught, lost your status and were, unofficially, labeled traitors."
"That's about right." He agreed.
"Then your family saved my grandmother when she was still dating my grandfather and were silently forgiven, but still publicly shamed." I added.
"That sums it up."
I leaned against the railing to think. A majority of the nobles just want to get a head. To make more money and have more influence in the court. Who I favor can sway many people in the court. Maybe not Inuvius and his kind but they didn't seem to be a majority. If the rest of them wanted to set themselves up for a future in my court, they'd need to start now.
I grabbed Ani's hand and pulled him towards the doors.
"Where are we going?" He asked.
"Back to the ball." I told him.
"But they're just waiting to hear what you're going to say about our friendship." He pointed.
"Well, we can't hide out here forever," I said, "Plus, I have something to say."
"What are you going to say?" He asked skeptical.
"I'm not sure," I confessed, "But I know it will be very dramatic."
"Not sure if dramatic is going to help us." He confided.
"Look," I spun him to face me, "When I first arrived here, I was nobody, but I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had no home and no idea what was going on. I was lost but then I was rescued by some guy who managed to get a burn in history class. He was my first friend in a frightening new world, and I never would have made it through my first day in Evania without his help. That guy was you, Ani. I will forever be grateful for you finding me in that hall."
"If you're looking for what to say," He told me, wiping a tear from his eye, "That would be a good place to start."
"Ready?" I asked with a smile.
He took a deep breathe, smoothing out his clothing. Linking arms with me, he returned the smile.
"Ready."
I nodded too the guards and the doors flew open, causing everyone to turn and look. We were going to face the music. I was more than ready to change the tune.