THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER

CHAPTER 14

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Beverly's POV:

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The next day, I could barely control myself. I was happy, ecstatic. Any other words used to describe the feeling of happiness. Asher is finally mine. I had begun to fear that our relationship would end before it even began. I had always known how I felt about him from the very first day I met him, even though I tried to deny it multiple times. I mean who would not fall for him? He is extremely attractive. He is also very compassionate- after his before towards my criticism of the royal family. He is the kind of man I had always envisioned myself ending up with. I know we have only known each other for a few weeks, but I feel like he is the man for me.

Since I returned yesterday, Mike, James and Ashley have given me strange looks. It is like they know something is up. I even know I'm behaving very strangely. I mean, no one can blame me. I have never felt this way before. I have never been in love with anyone. No one has ever made my heart beat so fast or skip a beat. I never knew it was possible to fall so deeply for someone in such a short period.

"What is going on with you?', Ashley asked me. We are all currently in my stall. It was almost time to pack up and close for the day. It was currently 6 pm. I will not be going for my shift at Angel's today. I normally go for an extra shift but I decided not to today because I wanted to make and prepare a few gifts for Asher and his friends as a home-warming present.

"Nothing", I responded, without stopping what I was doing.

"I-we- feel like you have been acting very strange lately", James said, looking at me with a frown.

"What do you mean?", I said.

"You have been hiding something from all of us", Mike said very bluntly.

"I have not", I said, trying to sound sincere even though my conscience was eating me up.

"You are lying. And we are extremely hurt that you would try to hide something from us and lie too", Ashley said.

"I am not, guys. I promise if something is going on with me, you guys will be the first to know", I said to them and they instantly had a relieved expression of relief and I felt my heart breaking.

"That's good to know. Come on, let's hurry. Mike and I have to guard the village's east border today and for double shifts in a row", James said.

"Is something wrong? There have been a lot of warriors posted at the east border lately", I asked, worried.

"Everything is fine. I think it's just for precaution", James responded.

I didn't believe them. I have noticed that recently, they have been posted to guard the east border, just like many other warriors too. Is it possible that there might be someone trying to breach our kingdom? If that is the case, then it seems there might be a war coming soon.

"Don't worry about it too much", Mike said, and I hummed.

"I also have to go soon too. Today is the weekly fire nobles meeting", Ashley said.

We began to hurry. In a way, I was happy they were all busy today. It means they won't hover around me today and I will be able to spend a lot of time with Asher. I couldn't wait to see what their cottage looked like. I have tried picturing it and, so far, I'm impressed with my imagination. I wonder where they had built the cottage, probably close to the red river or rainy woods. Well, it's pretty obvious why it is called the rainy woods. It always rains there, like always. It is the one place where the water creatures like the water nymphs, Ashrays (though it is extremely difficult to see them during the day as they are translucent and often referred to as the ocean ghosts), mermaids, tritons etc mostly hang out or live. It is also the one place you will never find creatures that do not like or dwell in the water.

We finished packing and we all went our separate ways. The moment I got home, I went to my room and took out the rug I had begun to weave last night. I started knitting it the moment I got home. It was a huge and wide white rug with a triton with a blue tail holding a trident and sitting on a rock stitched on it. Beneath the rock, with the tip of his tail in it, is a light blue ocean. All that was left for me to do was to add the finishing touch, like the moon and stars in the sky above his head. I was a little impressed I was able to finish it. I started around 11:30 pm and finished by 3 am this morning. I also bought a unicorn-moon flower. It is one of the most famous flowers in all the kingdoms and it only grows in our kingdom. It was a little difficult to get and it had cost me a fortune, but Star had obtained it for me. It is a very beautiful flower. When placed under the moonlight, it blooms, emitting different scents and colours according to the owner's mood. Its pollen is also very medicinal. I also baked a huge blue-leaf cake since they had liked the blue-leaf pie I baked for them before. When I looked at the clock, I realized it was already 9 pm. I got up and took a bath. Then I got dressed in a dark blue midi dress, with black leggings beneath. I put on my black cloak and finally left for the green river by 9:50 pm with all the gifts in a huge basket.

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By the time I got to our meeting spots, Asher and his friends were already there. Asher looked as breathtakingly gorgeous as always. When Asher saw me, his face lit up, it was certainly brighter than the blue moon. Seeing that look on his face made my cheeks hit up instantly. I was certainly redder than a fire dragon.

"I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting for so long?", I asked.

"Not at all, we just got here too", Collins said.

"You look really good," Asher said with a look of adoration on his face as he looked at me from my head to my foot.

My face was certainly burning, "Thank you", I responded as Asher smirked, fully aware of what he was doing to me.

"Well, if you guys are done acting all lovey-dovey, as we go?", Aiden said with a teasing smile as they laughed and I blushed harder.

"Sure", Asher said as he took the basket from me and held my hand with his other hand and I smiled.

We began to walk in comfortable silence. Asher and I kept stealing glances at each other and when we caught each other staring, I would blush and he would smirk.

"By the way, where is your cottage located?", I asked.

"Close to the orange river", Asher responded.

"Orange river?", I said in surprise, "I thought you would have chosen to stay in rainy woods or close to the yellow river"

"Yeah, we were also thinking of that, but we liked the location around the orange river. It's peaceful, private and quiet. And you know us tritons love our privacy', Asher explained.

I laughed, "true".

The rest of the journey was in silence. When we finally got to their cottage, I left like the air was sucked out of my lungs. It was so much better than what I had imagined. I had my mouth open in complete shock.

I heard Asher laugh beside me, "Wait till you see the inside".

The moment we got inside, I was speechless. The only thing I could say was,

"WOW."