My Way To You

They wanted to know everything, her world, her previous family, the cause of her death and most importantly who Owen was. To her utter horror apparently it wasn"t only Cayden that had heard her call out his name in her sleep. With a beat red face she explained every detail of her life. "Will you keep bringing in your ideas to our world?" Lady Zula asked with sparkling eyes. Ariana couldn"t help but nod her head, the excitement everyone felt was contagious and she couldn"t help but feel like she finally found the family that would let her live a somewhat normal life.

When she finally wrote to Edlyn that she was feeling better and wanted to go see her mother"s shop, the girl came flying in as if she was on wings. They busied themselves everyday with walks in the Capital, crashing tea parties, lounging around, reading books, helping Rin with her baby and finally modeling their new uniforms for everyone to see. In almost no time at all it was finally the day that Ariana had dreaded, her visit the Grand Council.

She could barely sleep the night before, she tossed and turned for hours before settling on reading a book. She turned on her bedside lamp and cracked open a book Edlyn had recommended. To her horror she was so absorbed into the book when she finally looked out her bedroom window, it was already daybreak. She quickly closed the book and tucked herself under the covers, hoping that sleep would claim her. Even if it was only an hour it was at least something.

No luck, her mind was working overtime and she needed to get up. She jumped out of bed, stretched out and walked over to her closet. She decided to put on a deep maroon dress. It had puffy black, lace sleeves, puffed up ruffles around her waist and hips that went down to mid thigh while the rest of the dress was sleek. The collar of the dress went up her neck and was trimmed with black lace. She had a black lace shawl to go over top and a fancy black hat, decorated with maroon and white roses accompanied with two black ostrich feathers. She felt fancy.

She then walked over towards her vanity, she thought she might as well do her hair. It was still ridiculously early and she had nothing better to do. Even if she wanted to go back to her book she was afraid that she would be to absorbed again and forget about the meeting. She parted her hair into three different sections, two small sections in the front and a ponytail in the back. She then teased her hair in the front and pulled them towards the sides pinning them into the ponytail. She then did a simple rope braid with the ponytail and pinned the end to the base, making sure all stray hair was pinned in place.

It was so simple and beautiful, perfect for the era she was now living in, she was sure that the Grand Council would find no fault with how she looked. With a heavy sigh she started to walk towards the door. "Master you forgot your ribbon." Vasu said casually. Ariana stopped for a second and looked back at her vanity. She knew she didn"t forget it, purposely leaving it behind but she was too scared to actually wear it in front of the Grand Council. As far as the Academy"s history no one ever scored a perfect. She wondered if the thing she thought would help her keep her safe was really a curse in disguise, making sure that she would fall.

"Master... don"t forget your ribbon." With a heavy sigh Ariana went back to her vanity and did what Vasu instructed. Out of all her Lumas Vasu would always be neutral but today he had specifically asked her not to do something so she listened. Now that she tied on her bow she was ready to leave, she walked up to her door again and placed her hand on the k.n.o.b. Her hand shook as it layed on top of it.

"Master everything will be alright." Davita whispered causing Ariana"s eyes to turn red. "How are you so sure? I"m going to meet the people who are selfishly working to run or ruin a kingdom for their own personal gain." For a while no one said a thing. Ariana stared at the door helplessly and could feel the anxiety take over her body. "Master... a long time ago your mother said there was a man on the council who wasn"t like that... that he worked for the people... could he not be your ally along with your grandmother?" Duko said with a pitiful voice.

The anxiety washed away, something wasn"t right. Her mother said that a male ran the military forces but that wasn"t true... it was a female and it was her grandmother. She turned the door k.n.o.b and yanked open the door. She rushed down the hall and tried her best to not trip down the stairs. The dress made it very difficult to run and was very impractical. She stopped by the kitchen and saw that no one was there. She quickly went to the drawer with the cutlery and pulled out a small knife. She looked down and decided to hide it with the seams if the ruffles. She cut some thread and slid the knife into place.

She then turned around and started to speed walk towards the study. She knocked on the door and heard her grandmother telling her to come in. The Countess was leaning over a desk, looking over doc.u.ments spread out everywhere. When she broke her concentration to look at who walked in she was completely surprised.

Ariana was up at a ridiculous hour and completely dressed, ready to go and get the meeting over with. "Grandmother what happened to the man that had your job." She said hurriedly that the Countess had widened her eyes in even more shock. "Why do you want to know?" She said trying to calm herself down.

"I know almost nothing about the Council and I"m meeting with them today... I want to be prepared. Gregory still hasn"t taught me anything and I am at a loss." Ariana said pitifully but the Countess just sighed. "It"s better that you don"t know anything about the Council... you being my adopted granddaughter is bad enough. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds tried to make me step out of the meeting because of the conflict of interest. As for the discrepancy from Zula... well I guess it was because her father was the original Council member not I... after his abduction I got close to them to get the truth but you provided me with more information in just a few minutes compared to the years I have been working for them."

"So me being unprepared will give us the best outcome... but what if it sours? What is the worst case scenario happens? I don"t want to go to that man or the church!" Ariana said as she paled thinking about what Romanoff would do with her. "Run... run to Edlyn"s and the both of you will go to the Academy at that moment, Caelan will be watching for the two of you." Ariana"s jaw dropped. "Edlyn?! Why would she be involved and what about everyone here?!" Ariana shouted but the Countess had enough and slammed her fist against the hardwood table.

"You are a child! Let the adults worry about the aftermath as for Edlyn... the members of the church have their sights on her. Zachary spent the night at their place to make sure that her family would be safe. She had been spending time with us because it was the only way to keep her safe! That"s all we need is a hostage situation where they force you to do what they want! Look Ariana, her family nows everything and I will not let that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Romanoff have another member of my family again! He can go suck a cod or something but I refuse to let them have the upper hand. So do as your told and play your part!" Ariana could feel her eyes sting and she dropped her head.

"You are already set that the worst case scenario will happen..." The Countess walked up to Ariana and hugged her tightly. "Your mom, brother, Rin and Sterling will be leaving shortly... I didn"t want them to say goodbye to you, just in case someone was watching the estate... sigh... but you always do get what you want. I"m having my best men escort them back and stay stationed at the cafe. I will not leave anything up to chance." Ariana nodded her head she needed to keep everything she felt at for the moment for her meeting with the Council.

After the Countess released Ariana they both walked out of the study and towards the foyer, meeting up with the rest of her family. "So it"s true your just going to leave..." Ariana said pitifully. Lady Zula took in a deep breath and tried her best to not cry. "It was Gregory"s plan to make the Council believe you were abandoned." Ariana shot a cold glare towards Gregory. "It"s the best way to make the Council think your unstable and weak."

"Why are helping me?" Ariana asked without letting up her glare. "I"m not, I"m helping my family... today can not have any room for errors or else-?!" Ariana torn her gaze from Gregory and gave him the cold shoulder instead. She was done listening to his same old excuses and decided she needed to show affection towards the ones leaving instead of having Gregory bring about a bad mood.

After everyone said their goodbyes to Ariana in the foyer she walked up the stairs and retreated to her room to cry. "Master, everything will be alright." Lorelei said in a comforting tone but it caused her to cry even harder. The Lumas decided to let her have her time to cry. It was still early and if Gregory wanted her to look her absolute worst then an ugly cry was what she needed to do.

Ariana wasn"t sure when it happened but she nodded off while she cried. She opened her eyes and saw that Breeze was observing her face, up close and personal. She tried to jump back but was blocked. "Good morning sunshine!" He said in a chipper tone that it caused her to groan in agony. "Don"t be like that! Do you know how hard it was to carry you from your bed to the carriage without waking you up?! Your pretty heavy for such a skinny girl."

Ariana turned a bright red as her eyes darted around her surroundings. Rain was sitting right in front of her, nose burried into a book t.i.tled 72 ways to capture her heart. Breeze decided to sit back down and he flashed her a million dollar smile. "I-I-I didn"t know, I mean I"m so sorry you had to carry me." She stuttered as she started to twist her fingers in embarra.s.sment. Breeze started to laugh uncontrollably and looked at his master. "Rain I think she thinks I carried her!"

Ariana"s jaw dropped and she gawked at Breeze. "If it wasn"t you then who?!" She shrieked in anger. Breeze pointed an accusing finger towards his master and waited for him to peak up from his book. He looked up and blushed before he burried his whole face into his book again. "I have no idea if you were heavy or not. I used magic to carry you from your bed to the carriage." Ariana turned a bright red and started to beat Breeze with her fists. "I can"t believe you! You tricked me!" She shouted as she continued her a.s.sault.

Breeze laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. "You know your quite beautiful when your angry." He said as he stared to lean in closer towards her face. It suddenly went quiet and Rain looked up from his book and dropped it with a loud thud. He saw Breeze kissing Ariana and her body was trembling. When Breeze pulled away he paled instantly as he realized what he had done.

Ariana gave him the most deadliest glares as she removed her hand that protectively covered her lips. "There is only one living person and one dead person residing in my heart. If you even think I would allow another male to make an advance on me, they will be sorely mistaken." She said, then clenched her fist and pulled it back. She flashed him an innocent smile then sent her fist flying into his abdomen. Breeze instantly recoiled with pain.

Then she looked at Rain. "He is like this because of you." She hissed causing Rain to break out into a cold sweat. "You have no control over your own familiar and he is running wild with your l.u.s.t. Man up, forget the book and go talk to the woman you love or else I will separate your lower member from your body so that your l.u.s.t in under control. Just like an animal, do I make myself clear?" Rain nodded vigorously and tried to cover his lower member by crossing his legs.

"Look." Ariana said as she pinched the middle area between her brows. "From personal experience, the way into a woman"s heart is simple and will not be in a book." She then moved her hand from her face and bent over to grab the book. She skimmed the contents and sighed. "Yup no, you will not get to Ms. Hadley"s heart if you follow this c.r.a.p." She said as she threw the book out the carriage window.

Rain turned a deep purplish red. "How did you know?" He asked between his pursed lips. "Breeze gave it away." She answered nonchalantly but Rain gave a doubtful look. "He hung onto Ms. Hadlely affectionately, you also gave her fleeting looks during the examination... you"re not very subtle with hiding your feelings. Look, I don"t know Ms. Hadley very well but I know no self respecting female will be okay with that garbage. Show her kindness, have confidence in yourself and talk to her."

Breeze tried to laugh in between his gasps for air. "Kindness.... confidence ..... and communication? If he.... could figure out how... to even do.... anything like that.... he wouldn"t have gotten... the book!" Ariana shot Breeze a dirty look. "Start small, greet her every morning. Once you find your voice and can do it without stuttering or stumbling all over yourself, get a trim and make eye contact. After that come find me and I"ll tell you what to do next."

Rain bit his bottom lip as he contemplated over Ariana"s words. "Well you"ll be gaining some practice in confidence building soon, it looks like we are here." Ariana said with a sigh as she moved the curtain in the carriage. "It"s been a while since I"ve been here..." She groaned as she sat back into her seat. She then looked at Rain and stroked her chin. "But first I need to do something about all of this." She said then pointed a circling finger towards Rain.

"Ariana, I don"t think this will work." Rain muttered as Ariana was putting the finished touches to his hair. "Stop complaining already. You are Rain Yakov, a representative of the Academy and my body guard! You are stand tall and proud, can"t make eye contact fine look at the center of their foreheads and pretend your practicing a speech, they are not there and you are amazing, strong, fearless and loud! Besides you want those jerks to think twice about messing with you! So do what I say and everything will be fine." She smiled at her own handiwork and moved to brush out her own hair with her fingers. "Here let me help you with that." Breeze said as he stretched out a hand. "Don"t you f*cking touch me."

Breeze scooted further away from her, not letting a single sound out of his mouth as he profusely sweated. "Alright let"s go." She said then Rain opened the door to the carriage. They walked out, sun shining and a gently breeze pa.s.sed by. Soliders were patiently waiting for them to exit the carriage and blocked the surrounding area. Only leaving an open path to a giant, tan building.

The three of the walked down the cobblestone road silently. Ariana kept her head down, following behind Rain and Breeze only stopping to wait for the giant, mahogany, doors to open. "Welcome." They heard a overly friendly voice shout as they stepped into the white marble stone room. "Are you here for a tour, registration, payment of fines and taxes, judicial proceedings or appointments?"

Ariana looked up and saw a very pet.i.te, child like woman. She could tell she was grown because of her figure but her face and body proportions screamed child. She had midnight blue hair, yellowish-pink eyes and light, broze skin. "Appointments." Rain said with a dignified voice and present a letter. The woman read over the letter and handed it back to Rain. She then jumped down from her stool and opened a side door attached to her walnut coloured desk. Ariana"s eyes widened, the woman stood at most 5 feet in height, she wasn"t a dwarf but she couldn"t get over her sweet baby face and deep dimples.

"The Grand Council has been expecting your arrival. Please follow me." Ariana hesitated for a bit and Rain quickly grabbed her hand. "Come on we can"t let the Council wait." Ariana squeezed his hand and obediently followed, wishing that the b.u.t.terflies in her stomach would stop their acrobatic lessons.