Covyn's POV:
I hate this kind of events, full of unnecessary dancing, boring conversations and annoying butt-kissing. I stood next to the wall, close to the throne, keeping watch on my father and his consumption of alcohol.
An old fool. Sitting there, drinking wine and drinking up all the attention he could get.
I allowed myself a glance around the dancing hall, checking the guards and catching shy smiles and eyelashes batting from behind the fans from the eligible ladies in this kingdom.
Ugh, women. Such simple creatures, with only one thing on their mind- catching the most suitable bachelor. Why do they have to be like that? Boring, predictable, easy.
Whenever I found myself stuck in an event like this, I couldn't help myself but to miss war. The action, surprises, danger. That's what I craved, not this useless court diplomacy.
I let my eyes wander across the hall again, this time letting them linger on a certain somebody, who had just started climbing the stairs.
Diana. She looked breath-taking in that dress, the dress in colour of blood and passion.
Oh, Diana, she was the worst of them all. Women, I mean. Unpredictable, temperamental and a great pain in the ass. She had the ability to strike my every nerve, making me lose my focus on things that matter. The crown, the power. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what did she plan for the night.
I secretly watched her most of the evening, strictly for professional purposes, of course, swallowing down lumps in my throat, whenever I saw a man touch her. But surely she didn't mind, that was a part of her profession. The lump in my throat became too big to swallow, when she got groped by the crowned individual
"Father," I called the man devouring my gi-, um, employee, who looked strangely relieved at my interruption. "It's time for your speech." I said as coldly as I possibly could, trying to catch an eye of certain somebody to show my displeasure. Is this what her plan was? Disappointing.
"Next time, don't interrupt me, when I'm in company of young beauty." My father commanded me and I apologized, not really meaning it.
"Come, my dear. Let's get this over with, so we will be finally able to focus on the fun part of the night." The king said to Diana and she offered him a strained smile. What is this girl planning?
--
From all the things imaginable, I would have never guessed. This little monster really dared to bare my father of clothes in front of everybody.
I stared at her in awe and shock, not believing the sight in front my eyes. But apparently the humiliation of the man wasn't good enough for her, she apparently also found it necessary to humiliate the authority by stealing the crown.
This, no matter how praise-worthy her actions were, they also presented an indirect attack on me. Still, her actions more amused me rather than irritated me, finally a challenge.
Game on, girly, game on.
I lounged in the crowd of people desperately grabbing for the red dress. Poor Diana, came this far all for nothing. Oh well, I've warned her not to get caught.
When I finally got my hands on the dress, I realized that's all it really was, just fabric. No obnoxious individual inside. I couldn't help but smirk, I guess I have underestimated her. Working with her sure will be interesting, but for now, where the hell did she disappear.
My eyes swept the dancing hall and stopped on a bit muscular female figure in a black dress. She just stood there, mimicking the women around her with an expression of over-exaggerated shock on her face. However, even from this far away, I have noticed the mischievous glint in her eyes.
I let her sip away and faked an investigation for my father's sake. Later on, I ordered the guards to sweep the kingdom and indicated that the woman may have changed her clothes. My father described her to the guards, although his description wasn't really helpful, since he didn't look at her face during their interaction.
I, too, went looking for the missing troublemaker, even though I had a pretty good idea where she was.
When I reached the house, I let my cold demeanour consume me. "Where is she?" I shouted as I entered the house.
"Who?" Melian asked, obviously annoyed at me for making this much noise this late in the night.
"Who else, Diana!"
"Who's…" She looked confused and then seemed to remember. Ugh, women, not even able to remember that they had a new roommate. After a moment, she realized what I meant and said that she has not yet showed up.
Just in case, I checked her room. It really was empty.
Where is she? She's left the caste over an hour ago, she should be long back by now.
The irritation I felt before was suddenly replaced with something, feeling dangerously like fear. Fear for someone.
But surely that wasn't it, why would I care about a lowlife like her. The crown. Yes, that's what I was concerned about.
Did she decide to betray me and sell the crown? My brain suggested to me and the thought frightened me, that wouldn't be completely unlike her. But no, she better didn't.
I have decided that the second place she might went to was the little dirty cottage she used to live in, so I mounted my horse and directed it towards the Elino forest.
As I closed to the forest, I saw a crunched body leaned next to a tree. Dressed in all black, I have almost not seen her.
"Here you are." I breathed, my heart beating hard from the ride and the concern…for the crown. "I've been looking all over the kingdom for you."
I saw she struggled and failed to open her eyes, looking all frail. Before I knew what I was doing, I reached for her and lifted her in my arms. "My god, you're freezing cold." A bit to affectionately than intended. "Don't worry, I'll get you home."
I mounted the horse again, this time having her shuddering body rest in my arms. As we started our way, I felt her move in my arms, snuggling closer to me and making soft sounds. "You're going to be okay, Diana. Just hang on some more." I tried to comfort her, feeling slightly ridiculous and unnatural in the role.
But I guess it worked, because she put her hands around my neck and smiled into my shoulder. Unable to resist, a smile escaped my lips, too. "We are almost there." I said, watching her closely.
As we got back, I carried the embodied trouble right to her bed, covering her with blankets.
"Please, stay." She whispered softly and I tried hard to resist her request, but just couldn't. She sounded so helpless, I couldn't just leave her. I moved her closer to the edge of the bed and laid next to her, gazing at her strong side profile. Was she always this pretty.
Before I knew it, my hand, utterly out of my control, reached out to her and caressed her hair. "Sleep now," I whispered to her, "You did good."
At that, she smiled again and snuggled closer. I let my arm hug her and pull her in. This one night, I thought as I fell in comfortable, dreamless sleep.