Beastly

My queen

She had thought that as they were about to get into the castle he would let go of her hand,but he did nothing like that and she made to slip her hand away from his but he gripped it a little tighter and she looked at him confused, what was he doing now?, she looked forward and she saw all of the castle workers lined up in a roll, oh no!,now they would actually think she was his mistress,was he doing this to spite her?,she stopped trying to free her hand from his grip when they were standing directly infront of them.

"I want to introduce you to the staff as it wasn't done on the day of your arrival."he said as he finally looked at her.

"Oh that isn't necessary,I have-"and her lips clamped shut as he sent her a look that said he wouldn't tolerate her disobedience this time.

"Introduce yourselves."he said to them and they stepped forward one after the other reciting their names to her ,was it expected that she would know all of them?,she didn't think so.

"I'm Richard, milady,the butler."a tall bulky young man in around his early twenties but the size of him suggested otherwise,he had dirty blond hair and black eyes.

"Miss Jones,milady,the house keeper."said a smallish looking woman,she had black hair and black eyes and she looked around her late thirties.

"Hertely,milady, head cook"she said,she was a chubby woman in around her late fifties,her hair was covered with a bonnet but few brown strands peeked out of it,she had freckles all over her face and some down her neck. Then there was Larrisa, Maria,Beth and the rest was history,it seemed like only the major staff were here as they weren't that much,she must say it was quite thoughtful of him to have done this.

"And this is princess Cathrianna winter."he said as he turned to meet her gaze. "My future queen."he said with a bright smile on his face,why did he have to do that?,how was she supposed to find a way out if he just referred to her as his queen?,now she wished they just thought of her as a mistress maybe then she would have found a way out of the gates without suspension,her heart sank at the thought of actually being married to him,what exactly did he see in her?,why did he want to have her?,it was no use, it made no actual sense,he could have had anyother woman that wanted him, even a harem if he desired, but he was hellbent on making her life a living hell,her heart felt so heavy and she looked down at her feet as her eyes clouded with tears.

"Come,let us have our dinner, I'm absolutely famished."he said still holding her hand as he lead her towards the dinning hall.

They sat for dinner ,she didn't have an appetite for food so she didn't eat much,it was good that he didn't make a note on it as she didn't know what excuse she would give, all she knew was that she was not going to be forced into something she didn't want to do,she laughed mockingly at herself wasn't she the one that agreed to the marriage,but she had this feeling that even if she hadn't agreed to it,she would have been either way forced by this formidable king.

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They had arrived late in the afternoon and Trice wanted nothing but to see Darion again and she knew he longed to see her just as much and she was sure that he would be waiting for her at their usual spot by late night.

Their belongings were carefully packed back into their rooms and they had a warm bath to relax their strained muscles and during the night time they all assembled together for their meal,the were unusually quiet, they all felt her absence,they wondered if she was doing okay and they could only wait for a letter from her but they all knew that it wasn't likely to arrive any time soon and as expected of the lord of Nightfalls ,he had already sent a letter to Frederick containing the actions he was taking towards fulfillment of their agreement.

After their meals they all retired back to their rooms in a gloomy state.

Trice didn't have to wait long as they were all exhausted from their journey,so as usual she took her cloak and donned it on, hiding hear hair with it's hood,she turned back to look at Tina who was still asleep on the bed before she left the room,she picked an already lit lantern on her way down and sneeked out of the castle and into the woodlet, people were not always seen in this part of the garden, except you got too close and they usually didn't get too close , that was why he had chosen this spot and for some untold reason this part of the garden had a beautiful overgrowth that made it seem jungle like and hidden,if she didn't know better she would have said that Darion wasn't doing his work as supposed. She saw his shadow from where she stood,then she dimmed the lantern lower than before and went towards him.

He had his back turned to her but as she got closer he turned around immediately and took one step forward with his long legs to catch her in a tight embrace,he took the lantern from her and lowered it to the floor and they stayed like that for minutes,they had missed each other so badly that it hurt,she knew that being caught with him would bring her ruin but what could she do when he was all her heart wanted?,she would never get married if it wasn't going to be him,after a few minutes of comfortable silence,she lifted her head from his chest to look at him,he caressed her face as he stared into her eyes,oh! how he had longed to see her and now she was here,he leaned in and kissed her,it was a slow sultry kiss that got her knees weak in seconds and she opened to him like the bloom of flowers in spring ,where one ended another began and when he finally let her go they were both heaving for air.

"I missed you."he said as his chin rested on her hair while she head was on his chest,it took her a few minutes to comport herself, before she muffled the words into his faded cotton shirt.

" I missed you too."