Regal Renegades

Chapter 16

Daniel's POV:

I found her something decent enough to wear... not like I just somehow planned in the back of my mind to bring something just in case or anything...

In that dark green that matched her eyes, or the black bottoms like what she wore when we first met.

She didn't question it too much, and I thanked her for it.

Half of that may have had to do with what I'd offered her.

Regardless, I still needed to get ready and introduce both my plan and Caroline to my mother.

I had a special shirt I wore on occasions when I felt like it was needed. One both backless and sleeveless, but came about halfway up my neck, and hugged tight everywhere else.

Then with a loose jacket overtop. Just in case I ended up needing what this shirt was built for.

I turned back towards the bed once I was dressed, spotting her sitting there with her hands fidgeting ever so slightly in her lap with a wide, faraway look directed at the wooden floor.

These nerves still didn't suit her, but with what I'd just put on her mind, I couldn't blame her.

Then there's the notion of seeing her parents when she's supposed to be elsewhere.

I wondered if they'd noticed yet. Or cared enough to track her back here.

I guess we'll see, but for now...

"I'm gonna go make sure she's awake," I spoke soothingly, making my way to the door that connected to the room my mother was staying in.

Caroline straightened quickly, but gave me a nod before I went in.

Surprisingly, but also... not, I stepped into a well-lit room with my mother already dressed, sitting expectantly in the lounge facing my direction.

The feeling that she'd expected me made me pause for only half a second before I continued in and gently shut the door behind me.

"Well?" She asked before I could get a word in.

"I found her," I rejoiced quietly as not to sound too boyishly excited.

Her grin was telling and knowledgeable hearing something she must have obviously already known. It's not like these walls were thick enough to deter her royal ears.

She stood and elegantly brushed herself off, before the click of her heels on the wood approached me.

"Good, and did you happen to accomplish your actual job in the meantime?" She jabbed in her typical playful manner.

"I did, I sighed out. Almost one in relief that the hard part of this trip was seemingly already over. That, or I was just more rejoiced over what had come out of it already, "Or at least I think I did. I wanted to run it by you first, a-and introduce you to her, but I know we don't have much time before we have to meet with them again."

Her eyes switched to the door I came from, and softened under the notion of who was on the other side.

"You better tell me quickly then.

I did just that, getting on with an abridged version of everything that happened.

How and where I found Caroline, her relation to the Ardigans, her explanations and pleads, my own thought process shifting and changing as she did, and then finally, the conclusion I'd come to after it all.

My offer... my plan to give them what they wanted in exchange for letting their daughter go from the confines they'd created for her, and the weight they refused to take from her shoulders.