6 “My hero.”

"I thought I'll find you here."

Emerelda looks up and Floyd stood leaning on the doorframe in front of her. She closed her book with a load thud and raised her eyebrows smiling, "What is it do you need while I hid away."

"The real question is why are you hid away here?"

Emerelda clenched the book to her chest tight, "You already know why."

He cranes his head and looks back and forth behind him, "I thought I saw Mrs. Cruelface around the hallway."

"Carrie!" She snaps, "Mrs. Carrie. Don't be rude."

He looks back smiling at her, "Right, right. The name shouldn't be said from me, but from her victim."

"Oh shut up." She stood up and dusted her skirts, "I sat in this closet for a long while, I'm sure she left."

"Believe me when I say I was instructed to find you."

She sat back down.

"Of course I would never tell that I have found you in less than five minutes." He smirked crossing his arms.

She rolled her eyes, "My hero."

"Indeed."

She huffs, "I do not want to be tortured from her. Princess Emerelda of Garlin, forced to learn such feminine useless stuff. I should learn how to fight, protect myself, wield the Sword of Garlin, or most importantly, learn more of my powers."

"You're only sixteen." She glares at him, "That is, of course, not the point. What I mean is, perhaps you should emphasize."

"Emphasize?!" She repeats loudly.

"Shh!" He snaps, "I'm supposed to look like I'm speaking to the closet with no one inside."

She ignored that, "How am I supposed to emphasize when Father is a hard man to bargain?" she asks quietly.

He chuckles, "This doesn't have anything to do with Father, Emerelda."

She stares at his blue eyes, and she saw what he meant.