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Chapter 3 - The Princess

"Let him go, Keturah!" Ashton's voice boomed across the yard. It was too late. The damage was already done. She looked at Ashton and she removed her foot from the werewolf's throat. While she was especially savage by breaking his arm for his offense, she wasn't heartless enough to drop it. By keeping his arm held up straight the way it was, Keturah knew it would be easier to heal.

Once healer flew past her to the werewolf on the ground, she handed the arm over and stepped away. One thing was for sure, he was never going to touch her tail again.

With a blink of her eyes, the foxes eyes went from black back to blue. "I only broke the lower bones. He'll be fine in a couple of weeks." She responded to the combat matter. Her tone was very matter of fact.

Broken bones were going to be a work hazard for these recruits. She had several of her own before as well. So she feared no punishment for her actions. Even if they were a little excessive, she had set an example that would never be forgotten.

"You're dismissed." Keturah was already turning her back to walk away as she heard Ashton's words. "Report to the royal family." She gave a wave of her hand, signaling that she had heard him before stopping to rearm herself and put her boots back on. With her assistance being dismissed from the training field, Keturah headed back into the castle.

Bring assigned to the royal family was an honor to anyone. This position in particular was one that she had held for years. Walking through the castle, she nodded her head in passing to others. She even offered smiles and greetings to friends.

Finding her charge within the castle was rather easy. Foxes had an great sense of smell and Keturah was no different. Stepping out into the inner court yard's garden, she easily found Amelia sitting under her favorite tree with a book open in her lap. "What are you reading today, Princess?" She asked, gesturing at the palace guards with a wave of her hand that they were dismissed.

"It is a book about the Nyderian clan." Keturah's let out a soft 'ahh' sound as she shared the information with her. She moved to sit next to the princess under the tree. "Father announced at breakfast today that the visitors from their clan are also including a suitor." With the last word, Amelia rolled her brown eyes before lowering her book to now look at her body guard.

The fox could tell that she was not impressed with this ploy by the King. "The Nyderian's value strength and fighting prowess. I have neither because he shelters me. Why is he even entertaining the idea of tying to marry me off to one of their clan?"

Keturah let the young phoenix princess continue with her rant. She clearly needed to get this frustration off of her chest. For a princess that was only fifteen years old, Keturah had come to grow very fond of and admire how intelligent she was. Unlike Maverick, Princess Amilia's skin was a pale snow white and but her wings were a bright vibrant orange. However, from lack of use, they were also not as macular as his.

"You sell yourself short, princess." She responded, leaning her head back against the tree to look up at the branches. "You're stronger than you know, but it's not your job to be strong in body. It's your job to be strong in mind." She reassured her.

Seeming as if to accept this answer from her body guard, Amelia nodded her head before marking her page and closing her book. "What shall we do today, Ket?" She asked, her mind moving over to things that were happier for her to think about. Especially things that her father didn't know her body guards allowed her to do.

Keturah was quiet for a moment as she thought. "Well, I broke a recruit's arm this morning." She admitted, a smirk sliding onto her lips. She had no remorse for breaking his arm. Even without consequences for her actions, she would still be pestered about how her actions were 'unnecessary'. "So we should probably make ourselves scarce before Kiera finds me." This time with was the fox who rolled her blue eyes.

"You're always making the healers mad." Amelia couldn't help but to chuckle. She had grown up with her body guard and was familiar with fox culture. So she knew that it wasn't an unjust action that was taken. Instead, she shook her head and set the book on the ground before standing up.

Keturah followed the princess's lead and stood as well. "She'll get over it. She always does." She responded, putting her hands behind her head as they walked towards the back of the castle. Of all of the places that they could go, they usually went through the back corridors to keep the watch guards from paying too much attention to them.

"By the way, did Maverick stay with you last night?" Amelia asked, a chuckle coming from her as she did so. Keturah simply smirked at the the question. She knew that this was all the confirmation that she needed to give the princess. It wasn't a secret that she and Maverick have a sexual relationship despite not being a couple. "Can you tell him to put pants on next time? I really didn't want to see his dick."

At this point, the fox couldn't help but to laugh. Oh, that must of been a sight for the princess to see! "I'll pass the message along." She agreed, her laughter beginning to die down. She couldn't wait to tell Maverick about the princess's message. "How about we go to the Valley today?" She then suggested, a smile on her lips as she adjusted their path to take a different back hall today. "The watch guards won't be able to see us there."

"Good idea." Keturah heard the excitement in Amelia's voice at the idea. She liked hearing that tone from her. It reminded her a lot of her the late queen. "I'll finally get to be able to stretch my wings!" She watched as the princess suddenly ducked into one of the last rooms. It was a storage room. She waited outside as she heard her shuffle items around. "I need to practice my flying more, but there are too many eyes in the palace that report back to my father."

Once the princess re-emerged from the storage room, Keturah took a peek inside to make sure that none of her fancy clothing or jewelry that she had been previously wearing could be discovered easily. It was easier to move around when the princess didn't look like a princess. That usually meant the princess would secretly change into clothing that was worn by commoners.

"Maverick has been working with you on your hellfire techniques, right?" Keturah asked, satisfied that her belongings were well hidden enough that they would be caught. Closing the door firmly, she escorted the princess out of the palace. She received a nod from the princess before continuing. "We'll practice more of using that while flying and trying to hit a target on the ground then."

With it decided, Keturah was enveloped in a dark blue blaze of flames. Shifting for fox demons was always an interesting thing to witness. Within the flames rose a white fox the size of a horse. Being in her fox form, she gave the princess a playful nip at her wings before taking off at a run into the forest. "I'm coming!" She heard the princess say before her ears caught the whooshing sound of the wind under her wings.

It was nearly night fall before the Keturah and princess Amelia returned to the castle. Managing to elude watch guards for the majority of the day before having to return. They couldn't be late for change of shift. That would really make other suspicious of where they had been all day.

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