Chapter 2.

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I sighed as I shut the car's backdoor and my dad put my suitcases in the guards' hands. He came over to me and smiled as he put his hand on my shoulders.

"Look at you... all grown up and on a lone mission." He said.

"It's not my first, Dad." I rolled my eyes.

"That's why it's so hard to believe. See you next month. Be careful, alright?" He kissed my forehead.

This happened every time I had a mission, he acted like I was moving away or something. Maybe it was because of my siblings - well one of them, or my mom.

"I will." I smiled at him.

He gave me a hug before telling me to be careful again as he climbed into his black Bentley and then drove off.

"Alright, Aria -" Kendall began.

"Jessica." I cut him off giving him a smile.

Every guard that worked at this palace already knew who I was; they worked at out agency, most of them level one, so entry levels who knew the basics.

"Right. Jessica," He smiled and with that he began to explain more about what the file I had read over hinted at. Maximilian's every-day movements, who his best friends were, his favourite girls to mess with, his favourite cousin, which of his brothers he preferred to hang out with most, his favourite food and a bunch of other details he thought 'necessary'. By the end of it, I was just nodding barely listening as we reached the palace's massive oak doors.

"Hey, Ken." I finally cut him off. He looked at me. "I think I know enough about him now." I laughed. He chuckled as did the other guard, Jessie.

"Believe me, you don't." Jessie patted my shoulder as she frowned. I groaned.

"Let's just..." I knocked twice before the door was pulled open when I was about to knock again. "Arthur." I smiled at another of our guards.

"Ah, Jessica, how I've missed you." I shot Kendall a look and he rolled his eyes. I hadn't even spoken to Arthur and he had the name down already. "The King and Queen await your presence in the living room. I'll show you to your room when you're done making their acquaintance."

I nodded and followed him to a massive living room where the Queen sat drinking some tea and the King paced slightly with a mild frown on his face. The queen's blond hair was tied back in a neat bun and I instantly caught her green eyes as they moved from the book in her hand to me. She gave a friendly smile and I returned a polite one. She looked young... probably a lot younger than she was. The king, however, didn't really bother hiding his age. His hair was grey, combed back neatly, and his icy blue eyes were framed by wrinkles.

"You must be Jessica." He spoke.

I gave a bow nodding my head. "Yes, your Majesty." I said.

"Please, if you are going to be working here, Magnus." He said, "This is my wife, Elsa." He motioned to her as she stood up. I gave her a bow as well, "If I may, you look a little young..." he drifted.

"That's just so that she blends in at school, Sir. She is one of our best intermediate agents." Arthur said. Intermediate. Another reason I so desperately wanted to do the third test, the word made me sound like a rookie... It was used to describe people on their 2nd level.

"I trust your word, Arthur. Well, we have a meeting to get to. We will probably be seeing you at dinner, Jessica. For now, Max should be home soon, I trust you know what to do?" The king looked at me.

"Yes, Sir." I said.

"See you later, then." The queen smiled at me and they walked out.

"Well, that went well." I said.

"Yes, it went well. They like you, luckily." Jessie said.

I raised my eyebrows but all of them brushed off an explanation.

Okay...

I followed Arthur up a row of marble stairs to a long hallway, and apparently the hallway went in a square. This place looked huge from the outside, but inside it looked even bigger. He led me to a black door and pushed it open to reveal a large room decorated in shades of grey, gold and brown.

"This is why when someone comes to work here, they never leave." I laughed at what Arthur said as Kendall and Jessie smiled. "I'll let you get settled in. Maximilian should be here in about thirty minutes." He added.

I nodded and they all left.

I sighed grabbing the smallest of my bags and pulling my laptop out. I opened my notes folder and ran my eyes over the specifications of the mission for probably the fifteenth time since I got them. Alright, it's an intermediate level mission. All I have to do is keep crazy people away from him, there will be no bombs involved, he just needs a basic body guard.

Geez, where's the fun in this for me? They couldn't just give him to a first level agent?

"I am going to guess that you are my new cleaner?" I smacked my laptop shut and jumped to my feet before turning to face the blue-eyed, blond haired boy I and seen in most of shots in the portfolio I had gotten. He raised his eyebrows at how quickly I had closed the laptop when he spoke.

"Cleaner?" I raised my eyebrows, "No." I said.

He ran his eyes over me. "Body guard?" he asked slowly.

"If that's what you'd like to term it." I said.

"Is this a joke?" He asked. My turn to raise my brows. "What? We are paying that much for a child? Not to mention you are a women. You expect me to believe you can fight off flies? Let alone murderers."

I clenched my teeth and opened my mouth to respond but someone beat me to it.

"Yes, we do. She is indeed one of our best agents. Skilled far beyond her years." Arthur stepped into the room.

"I will take your word for it," I looked behind Arthur at another guy, from the portfolio I recognised him as Edgar, one of Maximilian's twenty-year-old twin brothers.

"Yes, and if you want to make sure she is skilled, Max, you could always head down to the gym." Edward spoke from beside his twin. I knew which one was which because even though they both had blond hair and looked incredibly similar, Edgar had his mother's green eyes whereas Edward had his father's blue ones.

"And beat up a girl? Why, would be shameful." Maximilian responded as they all turned to leave.

"If shameful is what you would like to term being afraid to fight a girl, then yes, it is." I said casually as I slipped my laptop back into its bag.

"Oh, I like her." I smiled to myself hearing Edward.

"Dinner is at six, Jessica." Arthur said, I saw Maximilian's glaring blue eyes behind him as he shut the door. Well, he started it. And I was not one to back down from a fight, be it verbal or physical.

I quickly pulled off my blazer laying it on the bed before I unclipped the gun from my waist and sipped the knife out as well. What? I was prepared...

I slipped them both into the secret compartments in my bags created for weapons before I pulled my hair out of its ponytail. I wasn't very hungry, but I had to go to dinner to get to know my client personally. Right now all I knew was that he was a sexist little shit...

I decided changing wasn't necessary. I wore a black shirt and black pants that matched its formality. I knew this look was not going to be appropriate for school, but it was our general uniform. Formal, black. Hence what Arthur - and every other palace guard - was wearing.

I tied my hair again after fixing it and went back downstairs. Dining room... I swore I saw chairs somewhere... Oh, right.

I made my way to the living room I had met the king and queen in before I made my way to the dining room, which was connected to the living room by an opening.

I smiled as Edward met me with a greeting, he was already seated. I thanked a man that pulled my seat out for me before I sat down.

"Just a warning, my little brother can be a bit of a loose cannon... actually so can Edgar - but he is still a really nice person... once you get to know him." He said.

"Thank you, I'll try not to hurt him." I said earning a laugh from him.

"Do not take him too lightly either, Jessica. We are not completely helpless." He raised his brows and took a piece of bread from the centre of the table.

I smiled. "I'd like to test that... your level of helplessness." I said making him chuckle.

"Perhaps tomorrow." He winked as Edgar, Maximilian and the King and Queen came into the room.

"What were you two talking about?" Edgar asked as he sat down beside me.

"Pandas." I laughed at Edward's first choice of word.

"Pandas? Alright." Maximilian shrugged as he took his seat. I guess his brothers were used to this weirdness...

"How is your room?" I smiled at The Queen.

"It's great, your majesty." I saw Maximilian roll his eyes from beside his mother, and I didn't miss the jab Edward gave him in his side.

"Please, Jessica, call me Elsa." She said as food was laid before us.

"That would be disrespectful, your majesty... If I'm not speaking out of turn, aren't there four princes?" I asked.

"Does not really matter seeing as you are only here for one." Maximilian spoke up.

"Max!" The King glared at him, "Yes, our eldest son, Adrian, is currently on some personal business, he should be back tomorrow." He said to me.

I nodded looking down at my food. If I judged how the next one and a half months were going to be based on my impression of Maximilian right now, I'd say one of us were going to get hurt before the end of the week... And it would be at the hands of the other.

As everyone began eating, I had to force myself to converse with Maximilian, trying to find out things Kendall and the folder had not told me about him.

I found out - or, rather, I assumed - Maximilian's closest brother was Edgar, because they had the most in common. They spent most of their time together either skiing or partying. Apparently though, Maximilian never got into trouble when Edgar was there with him, which recently hasn't been a lot... explaining why Maximilian was creating such a name for himself in tabloids and all over the internet...

"So, Jessica, where are you from?" Edward randomly asked.

"Kingston, she's a cousin of ours. She's not from the king's side of the family so her family isn't popular, which is why you've never heard of her. Her parents were in an accident, both currently in intensive recovery which is why we've moved her in here, and because it's too far she had to transfer schools. So, here she is." Maximilian answered.

"Huh... good job." I said. I hadn't expected that he had already memorized all of that. He gave me a bluntly fake smile before he returned to his food.

Gosh, this child... Yes, he's older than I am, but still...

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