<div class="floatleft"><strong>Isabella de`Guignes </strong><br/>(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd394/Vithe_rothe/Isabella-Pathfinder_zpsdkjrmzmz.jpg)</div><br/>The season of Long Nights was on the wan and the day was bright and sunny, with just a hint of chill in the breeze. Silent footfalls led her along a path that she knew well. A path that she, as a child, had been chased or had chased others along, a path that led to The Royal Gardens. The gardens had been a childhood place of dreams and adventure for her, her brother Arthur and their best friend Cameron, then Prince of Euro.<br/><br/>Isabella's mind saw memories of a time when ribbons of many colors, hanging from trees, blew in the breeze. It heard again the laughter as the three of them played bandits and Law keepers. So much had happened since those years. She was now an adult, at times a worry to her parents that she had yet to find a nice man of high standing to marry, she had grown from a gawky girl and teenager into a very beautiful young woman and it was time to do more with her life then she had so far.<br/><br/>She nodded to a guard standing by a tree and as she stepped past she could see another only a few feet ahead with his back to her. It was an impulse, almost as if she could not help it as she slipped between some shrubs then ducked under a low tree and slipped between some roses. This way was their way to the pond they had slipped away from guards and attendants many times. As she stepped around a long high hedge she came face to face with a man.  A man that stood there with crossed arms, shaking his head with a small smile on his lips, a man that had the same blue grey eyes as her own. Arthur had grown as well no longer just her brother but now part of the King's personal guard. His voice had a touch of amusement, "I figured you would come this way" a quick tilt of his head toward the far end of the path near the pond, "He is expecting you....Mary!"<br/><br/>Bella had always hated to be called Marie, so naturally Art and Cam had taken to teasing her by calling her Mary, yet as the time went on it became their name for her. Art, Cammy and Mary the terrible trio of the palace.<br/><br/>Her feet were silent as she moved toward the pond. It seemed smaller then she remembered or maybe it was just that she had grown up. The area opened up, a broad area with soon to be green grass sloping slightly to a pond, more of an inlet from the river outside the walls but here the three of them had in many ways made their own. It was around the pond that they had laid after dark and watched the fireworks of midsummer, it was here that they had played pirates with Sergeant Myers always the pirate and always being defeated by some ridiculous plan they hatched. Over there under the big oak was where she had held Cam as he cried in her arms when he found out his mother, the queen, had died. It was something they had never spoken of afterwards and she would never tell anyone else about. There was the alcove they thought was so hidden where Cameron, Arthur, and her had first shared kisses giggling afterwards and where the first fumbling attempts at sex or what they thought was love had been happened. That was when they were all still innocent. So many years before, yet it really was not that many.<br/><br/>She turned toward the man she had known as Cammy, but was now King Cameron. In her mind she still heard his voice daring her....daring her to dance naked on the king's throne as he watched and how much trouble it had caused when they had been caught. Five years had passed since that night. She had been forced to leave the palace to go into training as a spellsinger and a white witch. There had been a few times she had come back to do research in the library and had passed Cameron. He had been always surrounded by some such people and so they did no more then nod in passing. The most they had spoken was at his wedding last year. She had been invited but had played flute with the music troupe and had sung with her mother to entertain the ball. Somewhere in there they had managed to say hello and smile.<br/><br/>She had to wonder if she had chosen her gown because it was of high quality and proper for meeting the King or was it to impress Cameron with how it fitted her showing off her bosom and small waist and long wavy black hair.<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">dress</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd394/Vithe_rothe/private/borgias11_zps4l4qill9.jpg)</div></div><br/>As she stepped to the man  that had been her friend and maybe more her mind wondered if she now would except such a dare from Cameron as she once had... she thought for a moment and decided that no she would not....a command from the King however...well that idea sent a tiny shiver up her back.<br/><br/>She dropped into a very proper curtsy and her lovey musical voice spoke as she lowered her head in respect, "Your Majesty"