The Exiled King

Chapter 2 - Lady Lirya

"What are you talking about?!" Jason demanded angrily, "I don't know anything about Lady Lirya Thro-"

He trailed off and his eyes widened in realization.

Jason looked at Lirya, who would not meet his eye, "Lir... ya?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you... I just didn't want you to look at me that way too," She said softly, looking away.

The Lord's daughter!

It made sense all of a sudden. How she had never set foot outside the castle and how he had not seen her before.

Why did I not think of that possibility before? He mentally reprimanded himself, I would never have brought her out here if I had known!

Alarming thoughts raced through his head as he thought of the punishment that awaited him.

Damn it! He thought furiously, Today of all days! Why did I invite her to go with me?!

Because she looked so frantic and I wanted to cheer her up?

Because I wanted a friend?

"I didn't know she was the Lady!" Jason said pleadingly, "I've never seen the Lady before in my life! Honest!"

One of the guards slapped him across the face, snapping his head back.

"Shut up! Lies won't get you out of this!" The guard shouted.

"Reylous!" Lirya cried, "Stop them! They're hurting him!"

She stood a bit away, kept within a protective circle of guards. Reylous was among them, as the captain of the Guard.

"My lady, he has taken you to the town, undoubtedly with the intention of kidnapping you! Why do you protect him?" He said tonelessly.

"He's a squire at our castle! And I was the one who decided to come with him!" Lirya exclaimed, "Please, Reylous!"

He nodded reluctantly and gave the order, "No one hurts the boy more! It's the Lady's order!"

The guard who beat Jason scowled, but turned away muttering, "Don't know wha' that gurl sees in ya boy, but if I had my way yer'd be dead!"

Were the guards always this hostile? Jason thought, They were always friendly enough when they saw me on errand duty.

Satisfied that Jason was out of immediate peril, Lirya approached Reylous again.

"Is it possible... that you could let him go? Forget about this incident? It's all just a misunderstanding anyways."

"We are only concerned for your safety, my Lady! After everything that has happened, we don't want you to get more hurt!" The captain said.

Lirya looked away with a frown etched over her face, and her thoughts wandered back to the subject of her father and how he used to resolve issues involving her.

There had been an attempted assassination a couple of years ago and the perpetrator had been caught, beaten, and brought to the lord. Lirya had taken pity on the assassin and begged her father to not hurt him anymore. Lord Rowan had agreed with a small smile and let her go off to play, saying he'd deal with the matter.

"Oh... I wish I could see my father..." Lirya whispered, "He always knew what to do..."

Reylous hesitated but then offered a reassuring grin.

"Actually, my Lady, perhaps we might be able to help you with that," Reylous smiled, "We must report directly to the Lord that someone tried to kidnap you, after all!"