Chapter 1

LEVI 

"Listen Levi, you don't have a choice in this matter." My father spoke to me, his expression cold and dismissive. "We are leaving soon." 

'When do I ever?' I said nothing, my expression matching his coldness. My father smirked triumphantly as if he won some argument. 

"You need to go get ready," my mother chimed in. She's always just been a pawn in my father's game, never defying him or expressing another opinion regarding anything he said and did. "Make sure he looks presentable. And for everyone's sake today, do something with that hair of his," my mother addressed the maids of our household with a look of disgust on her face. 

Of course she was talking about my hair. My hair was down to my shoulders, and such a dark shade of brown that it looked black. I got the color from my mother so I never understood why she always acted so appalled when she saw it. 

I was quickly whisked away by the maids and into my bedroom to get ready. They picked me out a simple dark gray suit and a pin of my family crest meant for my chest. The crest was silver and dark blue and had a detailed cross between two wings. Before I could dress myself, the maids sat me down in a chair and put my hair into a low ponytail. I didn't understand how that made it more presentable, but who was I to have a say in my own hair? After they finished, I dressed myself in the suit. The last thing was the family crest. I picked it up and looked at it. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw my mother enter the room. I turned my gaze to face her and straightened my posture. She scanned my appearance with scornful eyes and scoffed. 

"Good enough, I suppose," she stated. "I didn't come here out of the goodness of my heart, I came to explain about the disgraces of people who we are seeing today. First off, their family is held in high esteem by our society. Their family name is Leclair, a gold family crest consisting of a shield and roses." 

'Wow, a gold family. No wonder my parents are so distressed about this situation. I wonder how their idiocy got them into this mess this time.' I thought to myself. My parents get into messes, but never with gold families. Usually it's just the copper families. I guess their misfortune has finally caught up to them. I would be smiling if I hadn't been dragged into all of this. 

"These conniving scumbags have some information about your father that would be... less than favorable if it got out." 

'So they got blackmailed. Wonderful. It was about time someone found out about the many 'secret' affairs with women he was having.' I sighed heavily in my head. 'I'm so tired of this family.' 

"The reason we must go to these maggots' household is because they have given us an ultimatum. We have no other choice, but I don't expect you to understand anyways." My mother scoffed and rolled her eyes. She exited the room and I remembered the crest in my hand. I pinned it onto my shirt, grabbed the suit jacket, and exited my room. There were too many things in my mind that I couldn't do anything about.

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Our vehicle made it to the Leclair mansion. It was just as grand as one would imagine a gold crested family would have. We were led into the home by the butlers and maids of the household. Everything was perfect and stiff and practiced. 

As I stepped into the entry room my eyes were bombarded with intense decorations and extravagant interior details. None of this even had anything to do with me, and yet I was dragged into it. 'Pointless politics of the rich and powerful.' The only reason any of this was happening in the first place was because of my parents' stupidity. I decided to pay closer attention my surroundings. 

The room we were brought into was a grand entryway, large with tall ceilings and not short of gilded decor on the walls. Gold sconces and light fixtures littered the walls and a grand chandelier hung from the ceiling. 'These people have a little too much money,' I thought to myself. 

"Remember, Levi, be on your best behavior. You know what will happen if you cause trouble." My mother stated harshly. "That's right, listen to your mother. If you mess anything up, there will be... unfavorable consequences." My father spoke demeaningly, a sour look on his face directed at me. 

'They act like this is all my fault. I'm not the one who got blackmailed.' I kept my cool. No emotions were detectable on my face. 

"Yes, father." My father searched my face, that same sour expression visible. When he was satisfied, he scoffed and looked away from me and towards the grand doors directly in front of us with two maids stationed at either side.

Seconds later, the large doors opened and two adults, a man and a woman, entered. The woman's arm was linked with the man's arm in a formal manner. I assumed it was the two people that, once again, had nothing to do with me and everything to do with my parents. 'Why am I here again?' 

"Kane! I see you are in good health," the man addressed my father as he approached us. My father gave a curt bow and tight smile. 

"Ah, Evangeline, how wonderful to see you again!" The woman smiled as she addressed my mother, but it was far from friendly. 

"Yes, yes, you as well." My mother returned the smile somehow even less genuinely than the woman. 

"It's always good to see you Charles, Lillian." My father spoke. The man and woman, Charles and Lillian, smiled curtly at the formalities. After they were content with their less than authentic greetings, "Charles" turned towards me. 

"You must be Levi. I've heard a lot about you." 

'And I've heard nearly nothing about you, conveniently. What does any of this have to do with me again?' I fought against saying my true thoughts. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir, ma'am." I bowed to Charles and then to Lillian as I had been instructed to for many years. My eyes locked with the man for a moment as I straightened, making my expression placid. He looked away from me quickly and directed his attention back towards my father. 

"We have much to discuss. Please, let us relocate to a more comfortable place." Charles stated. My parents and I were guided by our "hosts" and the maids through multiple halls just as grand as the entryway. After what felt like multiple minutes of walking, we finally made it to our destination. 

The room we were led to was as grandiose as expected, and had large floor to ceiling windows on the farthest wall. The room itself was quite big, and the fact that the only furniture it contained was a large rectangular table and chairs did not help. 

Charles sat at the head of the table, and his wife sat to his right. My father was guided to the seat across from Lillian and my mother next to him. I was guided to the seat beside my mother, basically cutting me off from where the flow of conversation would be. Then again, what did I expect. 

"So, as you know, there have been some rumors going around about an incident within one of the gold families. I am afraid that those rumors are true, and they have occurred within our own household." Charles explained. I had heard of these rumors, although information was sparse. It was a scandal about a man who had broken into a girl's bedroom in one of the gold family's houses. No further details were released. 

I was surprised to be included in such a conversation, given my age being only 14. 'This must mean I'm involved somehow. A man like this would never be so foolish as to include a kid in such a serious conversation.' 

"Before I continue, there is someone I must bring into this conversation for you to meet." Charles explained as he looked over to the doors we entered from and motioned to the maid standing by it. The maid nodded to Charles and left the room. A few seconds later, the maid came back with another maid and... 'Is that a girl? She looks way too young to be part of a conversation like this.' 

The girl had long, straight blonde hair that hung over her face like a veil. I could tell she was looking down at her feet, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room. The maids stood unmoving, standing by the entrance of the room with the girl in between them. "Let me explain," Charles began. "My dear 13 year old daughter,-" he motioned to the girl, "-Amaryllis, was the one involved in this incident. Thankfully though, she had no memory of the incident since it occurred at nighttime and she was asleep. Our guards were able to apprehend the culprit before anything bad happened to her. The fact that this even happened in the first place, though, displays our negligence in keeping our daughter safe from harm." Charles continued. 

'At least he's self aware, I guess.' 

"So, given these recent circumstances, we must employ your family's expertise in fighting. We cannot have this happen again. We- no, I am in dire need of your help in protecting my daughter." Charles proposed, looking into each of our eyes one at a time. His eyes lingered on me but soon left my face like when we first got here. 

My father didn't respond immediately, pretending to think about this conversation and act like he had a choice to make. 

"I see," my father stated, "I believe my own son would be a perfect fit for such a role. You see, he's finished his training and was in need of a real job to prove his worth to our family." I could feel my dad's sneer without even looking at him. Of course he would find a way to pawn me off to these people while he gets off Scott free. 

As soon as my father finished his sentence, the girl finally looked up from beneath her curtain of hair, and she was looking directly at me. 

Then I saw her. Truly saw her. 

Time seemed to come to a screeching halt when I locked eyes with her. She was beautiful, just like her namesake flower. She stood sheepishly yet dignified, not moving from where she was. Her light blue eyes were searching my face, although I wasn't sure what she was looking for. 

'With the life she's probably had being in a gold family, I wouldn't be surprised if she's distrustful of everyone,' I thought to myself. 

Her features were regal, and her expression seemed like a forced calmness. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. 

My parents were engaged in conversation with the Leclairs again but I couldn't hear them. I was looking at that girl, and she was looking at me. Her light blue eyes continued to gazed into mine. I shook myself out of the daze I was in and lightly averted my gaze from her to be back to the conversing adults in front of me. 

Why did the sight of her make me feel so weird? It wasn't a bad feeling like I felt when I was in danger or when I was fighting. I couldn't figure out what it was that I was feeling. It was unfamiliar; I needed to know more. 

'Snap out of it! I have to pay attention here. If I get side tracked now, who knows what will happen to me back home if my parents notice. I'm getting too distracted.' 

That's right. I was here because of the mess my parents got themselves into. My fate was practically already sealed because of my father's words. No matter what happened though, I was confident I had everything I needed to succeed in whatever it was that they threw at me. 

"Maids, seat my daughter immediately, it is dishonorable for the child of a gold family to have to stand for so long," Charles spoke. The maids bowed deeply and immediately whisked the girl into the seat beside her mother. 

My eyes followed her every movement without even realizing. She sat up straight and with grace, her hands neatly placed on her lap as she sat. Her eyes flitted to mine once again, but she quickly looked away. 

"So, about this job.." Mr. Leclair turned to face me, his face serious and eyes locked onto mine, "Levi Whitlock, protect our daughter Amaryllis and become her bodyguard." The girl then looked me directly in the eyes again and, for the first time, I was happy for the situation that my parents' idiocy got me into.