Day: 9

Morning

It's been a week since I've last seen the prince. Or well, he's been out doing whatever errands he needs to do as a prince for the past week. I couldn't care less. I'm just enjoying my time here!

'Playing music for Adria, talking about herbs and plants and magic with Luca, eating delicious meals cooked by Kace- It couldn't get any better!'

I roll around the bed unable to contain the joy I felt in such trivial things.

"Riselle dear? Are you awake?" I hear Adria's mother, head maid Aline knock on my door. We've also grown pretty close, she addresses me by my first name now and I call her aunt Aline!

"Yes I am!" I rush to the door ans gently open it. Still barefoot and dressed in a cream white nightgown. "Good morning Aunt Aline!"

"Goodmorning Riselle! The prince is requesting your presence."

"Eh? What? The prince is back?"

"Yes, he returned around 2 in the morning."

"Ahh ok! I'll just get ready-"

"No need sweetheart, you can go visit him as you are now!"

"Will do, Aunt Aline." I sigh and inch forward so I can close the door behind me.

"Don't look so glum Riselle, he won't bite!" Aunt Aline chuckles and I make a dissatisfied face. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did bite.

"Oh uhm, Aunt Aline- where is the prince?"

"His quarters."

"He's... Requesting me to his quarters?"

She nods her head and I bid her a quick thanks. Now that I'm making my way to the prince's quarters, I'm forming a cold sweat. Maybe even more chilly than Kace's gaze when he's staring off into the distance.

'the prince's quarters should be at the end of this hall...' I continue walking forward, until I reach the room at the very end with larger, highly decorative doors, and give it a small knock.

"Enter." I instinctively flinch at the sound of the Prince's voice. But rather than his usual dignified tone, he sounded tired.

Carefully opening the door, and closing it behind me, I see the prince seated on a sofa infront of his king sized bed. In front of him was a simple looking table and bottles of wine. It appears someone had a lot to drink.

"Sit." He pointed at the sofa opposite of him.

I walk over to the sofa he was pointing at and sat down. "Are you okay?"

"Being a prince is stressful." He lifted his hand and brushed it through his hair. "Dumbasses... Those dumbasses really have to be under my jurisdiction damn it."

How am I going to respond to him... Should I just stay silent? It's better than saying something and putting myself at the risk of upsetting them.

"I get called all the way there just to find out they've been panicking over one of the units coming down with a flu." He continued.

"That... Sucks."

"Do you want a drink?" The prince stopped ranting and lifted the bottle of wine.

"No thanks, it's a little too early for me."

He pouts at my response and proceeds to chugging down the bottle of wine by himself. That's quite a lot of money gone down in a couple of seconds.

"So... Why did you call me here?"

"Felt like it." The prince put the now empty bottle of wine down and responded nonchalantly.

I felt chills down my spine once again, with the way he looked at me. His face tinted red while he stared so intensely as if thinking about what to do with me. He was- I guess you could say a hot mess. His hair black like the night, scattered strands like static, seeing him like this made me feel slightly less vulnerable.

"Move here." He signalled to the extra room beside him on the sofa he was seated on.

"You want me to sit beside you?"

"Yes."

"Uhhh okay..." I get up and then sit where he wanted to. The next thing I know he turns towards me and pulls me into an embrace with his hands tangled in my hair.

"Prince- er Rowan what... What are you doing? I uh do you. Do you feel sick? I can go get Kace-"

"Shh."

I shut myself up, while trying not to go rabid. My heart is beating so fast no doubt he could feel it but hey, I'm pretty shocked right now?

"You always let me hug you like this when we were younger."

His breath was warm. His body was warm. And he's talking about something confusing. He's drunk.

"I'm sorry?"

"Whenever I had a hard time with the things I was forced to do as a prince, you'd comfort me and let me hug you like this."

Ahh, for goodness sake. He's probably mumbling about someone from his past because of how drunk he is.

"I still can't believe you can't remember, Riselle."

"Rowan, you're mistaking me for someone else. I was never acquainted with you in the past." I tell him softly.

"No, no I'm not mistaking you for anyone else." The prince breaks the embrace and pushes me down, the sudden movement making me gasp.

"Prince Rowan, please stop this, you're drunk!"

His face inches closer to mine despite what I said. Best course of action, mash the potatoes.

"Please remember..." A tear drop fell onto my cheek, before I planned to kick his nuts and leave him.

He's crying?

"I'm really sorry Rowan. But I just don't understand what you're talking about but, you need to get some rest. You're probably tired from all the travelling and things you did the past week."

He bites his lip. "Yeah."

The drunk prince frees me from being stuck under him where both his arms caged me, and I leave his quarters without a word. Sighing in relief the moment I was out of there.

Man... Looks like the prince had a rough childhood. And that little thing there? That was a close call!

I better start forcing Luca to teach me magic in case the Prince starts forcing me into being his concubine.