Princess Elise

Chapter 8: Meeting the Stranger Into the Woods

Chapter 8: Meeting the stranger into the woods

Elise's Point of View:

It's sneaky sneaky time. No more acting like a dumb doll, aka a princess. I've had enough of being composed and elegant all the time just to please the people around me. Women are not just dolls without brain for men to play with.

After I jumped the gate and landed on the other side I ran away, not looking back to see if someone saw me, but they couldn't anyways, the forest is too thick for them to see something at such a distance. I ran as fast as my legs let me to, heading to the glade to see if the stranger was there tho I doubted that. And just as I thought, he was nowhere in sight.

I started walking away from the glade and left for the public square, maybe I'll have more luck in a public place like that. While walking thru the forest, the smallest sound of a wind, rustling of the leaves or cracking branches startled me and got me looking around to see if anyone follows me, but every time I looked back ... there was no one.

I kept walking until I reached the public square and I had no idea where I should began my search for him. I haven't changed my clothes from earlier, hoping that it would be easier for him to spot me if I get close enough to him. I began looking at every stall that I came across to see if he's working or buying anything from one of those. I kept looking for him like a lost pup on the streets and checking every alley for at least 30 minutes when I felt a hand on my shoulder and I got startled, thinking it could be Michelangelo that has found me and would took me back to the castle, but when I turned around, it was the boy that I have been looking for.

I opened my eyes big as I saw his handsome features from up close now in the moonlight. I kept staring at his face with my mouth open and then looked down to see the rest of him and I surely am not disappointed by what I'm seeing right now. He doesn't have any expensive clothes on him but d*mn ... he doesn't need them with those packs and broad shoulders, muscular legs and that strong jaw ... King William, known as my forever angry father, has some of a bulky figure, but clearly he can't compare himself with this boy. He's the only man with such traits I've seen before, expect for some of the knights, but neither one of them have his gorgeous green eyes ... and those full lips ... God ... is he even real?

Then I pinched myself to see if he would disappear or he's  for real, but as soon as I pinched myself I woke up from the trance I was in and I realized that I was staring at him like he is a juicy steak and I was on the verge to start salivating, but this is not the worst part. The worst part is that he was watching me the whole time I checked him out and was smirking at me. 

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish in an attempt to come up with something to distract him or at least apologize, but I couldn't find any excuse for that so I placed my eyes in the ground to avoid his gaze and I felt the b*ood rushing into my cheeks and I'm pretty sure I look like a tomato at this point. I bit on my lower lip and he put his hand under my chin to lift my gaze up at him again. I looked into his eyes, still biting on my lip and he broke the awkward silence for me.

-" Stop biting on your lip, that's not your job to do.", he said in a husky tone, putting his thumb on the lip I was chewing on, freeing it from my teeth and I felt so embarrassed, not because I was betrothed ( 'cause I've never agreed to that ), but because I felt like I've done something dumb in front of him. " Hey, hey! There's no need to get embarrassed. I'm sorry princess, I was inappropriate.", he said again, this time with a tender tone, lowering his head.

-" I still don't know your name, and I also want you to call me Elise, not princess. I hate being called that by friends.", I said smiling and trying to change the subject to make him feel better perhaps. D*mn ... he's beyond handsome.

-" So ... we are friends?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

-" You don't want to?", I asked, feeling a little sad at the thought of him not wanting to be friends with me. ' What am I talking about? Get a grip girl! Are you gonna fall for mister handsome over here just like that? No, no you are not!', I thought to myself. What's wrong with me??

-" Not really ...", he said looking into my eyes and my smile dropped immediately, but then continued. " I would prefer being yours, not just a friend. If only I would have been born a prince."

-" To h*ll with titles and ranks. Come with me.", I said getting a grip of his wrist and trying to drag him with me, but to no success and he stopped me.

-" Go where? What about your friends and parents?", he asked, looking concerned at me.

-" Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you if that's what you're afraid of.", I reassured him, placing my hand on his left cheek. He, then, put my hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the back of it.

-" If I would have been afraid of such things, I wouldn't have fed you when you told me that I could be e**cuted if I do it. I meant it ... don't you care about your friends and parents?", he asked, frowning.

-" Why should I? C'mon, we can talk when we get there.", I said, trying again to drag him with me, but he just doesn't move.

-" Something wrong happened today?", he asked taking my hands in his and looking into my eyes.

-" I'll tell you everything if you come with me ... now.", I tried to hurry him. 

-" Alright, lead the way ... Elise.", he smiled at me and let me guide him.

I took him back into the forest to a cave that I came across a few times while on my rides and every time I looked at it, there were no traces of wild animals or any other dangers so it should be safe to spend the night there, and perhaps a few more days if I'm lucky. Or I could just run away forever and never go back to the castle.

When we got there he told me to wait while he left to get some branches and light up a fire as it was already dark outside. 

We light up the fire and sat down in the back of the cave and hugged me so I will be warm.

-" Now you wanna tell me what happened to you today?", he asked, looking down at me.

-" I have no friends to leave behind, only a*s lickers that I don't count as friends. And as for today ... Michelangelo slapped me for hugging you, but I don't regret it.", I said looking up at him and he caressed my face. " So, do you have a house in the city or anywhere else to live?", I asked and he frowned, then giggled a little at my sudden question.

-" Why does it matter where I live?", he asked, holding back his laugh. " Oh, I'm sorry ... would you prefer to go to my house? I didn't knew where you want to take me and that's why I haven't said anything."

-" Oh no, you misunderstood me. I'm perfectly fine here, I love the nature, it's just that ... I want to run away from here, from the castle. I thought that you may  want to come with me. I just want to be sure that you are not leaving your life behind.", I answered in a soft tone, looking down again and fidgeting in his big hands.

-" Why do you want to run away? What could be bothering you in such a manner that you want to do this extreme gesture?", he asked, amazed by my boldness to say out loud that I wanna be a traitor for not fulfilling my duty and leave a luxurious life behind.

-"I know what you're thinking, but my parents were the ones to betray me! They betrothed me to that beast I was telling you about when I was a baby! And they are trying to control every move I make ...I just can't do this anymore. I can't play 'dress up as a princess and follow the rules men made for you', I'm not a dumb doll they can play with. I don't want to marry that heartless beast!", I rose my tone at him without realizing and I rose my b*tt from the ground as well, placing my b*tt on my heals to face him now.

-" So ... you want to run away from this marriage?", he asked and for a brief second I thought that he was angry or something, but it must have been my imagination. It's not like he has a reason to.

-" I don't want to marry someone that I didn't chose.", I answered, crossing my hands on my chest and accidentally, making it look bigger as I left my cloak back at the castle, it would have slowed me down in climbing and my run. I put my hands back down around my body and turned my back at him, sitting on my b*tt again. He dragged me closer to his chest and buried his head into my neck.

-" You can relax then, I have no one left to actually be able to leave someone behind. If you would run away, I would come with you. Anywhere you want.", he reassured me, cupping my face and placing his forehead on mine.

-" You would?", I asked with my puppy eyes.

-" Of course I would.", he smiled at me and I leaned into his chest yawning and I locked my hands around his hips when he tried to take them away from his body and I whined in my sleepy baby tone.

-" Hush, hush now, let's lean back on the ground so we can both rest.", he whispered, carefully leaning on the ground and massaging my head to fall asleep. I was exhausted after such a horrible day and I fell asleep pretty quick in his arms.

***

The following morning he woke me up with a light kiss on my cheek and I stretched my hands out. When I opened my eyes I gave him a wide smile and he caressed my cheek he just kissed and looked at me with tender eyes.

-" You know ... you still haven't told me your name. It's not fair, you know mine.", I said playfully.

-" Yea ... my name ... my name is ... Nate. Yea.", he answered with an awkward smile and I frowned before I laughed out loud.

-" You have a beautiful name, why did you hesitated?"

-" I was afraid you wouldn't like my name?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

-" You're asking me if that's your reason?", I asked back with the same suspicious face as him and trying to imitate him and he smiled at me again.

-" No, sorry. I just can't concentrate when I'm looking at your beautiful face.", he said with a wink at the end and I rolled on the ground 'till I was at his feet. 

-" Oh, come on ... I've just told you yesterday that I don't like flattering.", I laughed as I stopped on my back, looking up at where he stands and he laughed too.

-" I was not flattering you, I was just saying the truth.", he stopped laughing and looked into my eyes, holding my hand and I melted.

-" You have no business being this sweet towards me sir handsome!", I said it as a joke, narrowing my eyes and he giggled. I laid back down on the ground, when he abruptly stood up.

-" They are coming!", he whispered.

-" What? How? Please, don't let them take me back there ... let's run away together now!", I panicked  and he brought me closer to him. They dismounted their horses and split up. Michelangelo took Nate and King William tossed me over his shoulder.

Despite my screams and punches I gave him, I couldn't free myself from his grip and I begged Michelangelo to leave my friend alone, but he wouldn't listen and punched Nate and the last thing I saw was that he fell down while Michelangelo took out his s*ord and placed it above Nate's head.

-" Noooo!", I yelled on William's shoulder while he carried me away from the scene. I can't believe this ... I promised Nate that I will never let anything happen to him. What have I done? This is all my fault!

I cried and yelled all the way back to the castle like a baby that didn't got his candy that he wanted so much and had a nervous breakdown. All of this is happening because of that beast and his proposal! I will never forgive him for what he did to me ... and Nate.

When we reached the castle I ran to my chamber without looking back while crying and hiccuping and William came running after me and yelling. 

I locked my chamber's door and put one of those little wardrobes in front of the door to be sure that he won't enter my chamber. He banged on my door for 10 minutes and yelled something at me, but I couldn't understand 'cause of the sobbing. I made sure that before he leaves, he will hear me yelling out for him.

-" I hate you!", tho I'm not sure he would be hurt by my statement.

I sat there and cried my eyes out the all day, refusing to let the maids or mother in and give me food. I don't need their food. In fact, I don't need anything from them.

Nathaniel's Point of View:

I followed her all the way from the castle to the glade, but I didn't showed up. It would have been too obvious if she would have found me in the same place as earlier. Every little sound that was heard in the forest scared her. She was not this frightened usually, I wonder what happened after I left. When she realized I was not near the glade, she left and I followed her until we reached the public square.

 I let her wonder thru the square for a while now 'till she was walking down an alley with no one around to see us. I placed my hand on her shoulder and I can tell by the way she reacted that she was frightened, but then saw me and relaxed a bit.

She was checking me out, but I couldn't say that I didn't enjoy it. She looked at me from head to toe and then pinched herself. I find that quite funny, most of the times women don't check me out in my face, maybe from behind, but most of the times not at all. I scared out most of the women in my entourage. I'm not interested in w*ores checking me out. When she pinched herself and looked back up at me, she opened her mouth and widened her eyes, realizing that I'm watching her and Clyde snickered.

I was smirking down at her and she got embarrassed and I bet she wanted to come up with a lame excuse for herself to feel better that I caught her 'cause she opened and closed her mouth a few times before looking down and bit her lip. That's my lip to bite, not hers.

I placed my hand under her chin to get her attention and I probably made her even more embarrassed than she already was, while freeing her lip, but then apologized remembering that I should be a 'commoner'. Then, she told me to stop calling her princess and start calling her Elise 'cause " we are friends". ' What a nerve has this girl.', said Clyde amazed that she want to be friends with males ... ' Does she still not know that she's betrothed?', I asked myself and Clyde scoffed. And then, lady 'let's be friends with males even tho I'm betrothed' asked me if I don't want it so I thought about testing her.

-" Not really ...", I said with a pause while looking into her eyes and she looked like she was on the verge of crying ...' What's wrong with my mate?' Then I continued, " I would prefer being yours, not just a friend. If only I would have been borne a prince ..."

-" To h*ll with titles and ranks. Come with me.", she said, grabbing my wrist and trying to drag me away from that alley. She couldn't see it, but Clyde's eyes widened the size of on apple and his mouth fell open. ' Is she doing it on purpose?', asked Clyde, dumbfounded. 'Where the f*ck does she want to go with me? At such an hour too?? Is she thinking about ...? Oh, she better not!' I tried to look concerned and I asked her.

-" Go where? What about your friends and parents?"

-" Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you if that's what you're afraid of.", and placed her hand on my left cheek.

-" If I would have been afraid of such things, I wouldn't have fed you when you told me that I could be e**cuted if I do it. I meant it ... don't you care about your friends and parents?", I asked, trying to figure out what could possibly make her leave the friends she was talking about earlier behind, and her family also.

-" Why should I? C'mon, we can talk when we get there.", she tried to drag me again, seeming a little scared to stay there so I took her hands into mines and asked her if anything wrong happened to her today and she reassured me that she will tell me everything when we get there.

She took me back into the forest, the opposite direction of the glade we meet the last times. We reached a cave she told me it's abandoned and safe for us to stay and there were indeed no other traces or smells indicating any wild animal living there. Because it was dark outside I told her to wait for me 'till I come back with some branches to light a fire and warm up a little.

She left her cloak at the castle so I hugged her to be sure she's warm and I looked down at her.

-" Now you wanna tell me what happened to you today?"

She told me that she has no real friends and how her mother's knight slapped her after I ran away and my arms tightened around her small waist. ' Yeah, she was wrong to hug a 'stranger', but how could that f*lthy knight to hit her for that? Did he forgot who the f*ck is her mate? I am the one who will punish her if I feel like she did me wrong, which she did, but that's not the idea now!'

-" So, do you have a house in the city or anywhere else to live?", she asked and I frowned, then forced a giggle to don't look suspicious. 'Is she playing with my nerves on purpose?'. I asked her what's the matter with the place I live, but then I thought that she maybe would like to sleep on a bed or the night instead of hard rock floor so I apologized.

She told me that she loves the nature and that's a plus for me. I'm still a 'beast', how she calls me, I need to go out into the nature pretty often, to run into the wild and feel the grass under my paws, to hear the birds chirping and the course of the river, the smell of trees and prey. It would be nice to have her run with me. Then, she ruined my thoughts and admitted that she wants to run away and wants to do this with me ... I mean, the stranger, fidgeting in my palms. 

-" Why do you want to run away? What could be bothering you in such a manner that you want to do this extreme gesture?", I asked amazed by her boldness.

-" I know what you're thinking, but my parents were the ones to betray me! They betrothed me to that beast I was telling you about when I was a baby! And they are trying to control every move I make ... I just can't do this anymore. I can't play 'dress up as a princess and follow the rules  men made for you', I'm not a dumb doll they can play with. I don't want to marry that heartless beast!", she rose up her tone at me. At least she knows about our marriage. Too bad for her that she doesn't know she just asked her future husband, that she wants to run away from, if he wants to run WITH her. This would be quite a funny situation if it wouldn't have been mine. I thought about telling her who the f*ck is her stranger and take her to my kingdom in this moment, but I couldn't just blow my cover like that, not now. I tried to control my anger and don't let her see my eyes glowing red.

-" So ... you want to run away from this marriage?"

-" I don't want to marry someone I didn't chose.", she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest, making it look bigger and I glanced down at her chest and back up at her with a raised eyebrow, hinting to stop that and she got the message and put her hands back down and turned her back at me.

I dragged her closer to my chest and buried my head into her neck to breath in her scent and calm my nerves. I decided to stop worrying so much that she thinks she talks to a stranger and just enjoy my time with her while it lasts. At the end of the day  she's thinking about me, not a stranger.

-" You can relax then. I have no one left to actually be able to leave someone behind. If you would run away, I would come with you, anywhere you want.", I reassured her, now cupping her face and placing my forehead on hers.

-" You would?", she asked with puppy eyes and a pout and I couldn't help but to smile.

-" Of course I would.", I told her in a tender tone and she leaned into my chest, yawning and locking her little hands around my hips when I tried to lay down as well and she whined and buried her head into my chest further.

-" Hush, hush now, let't lean back on the ground so we can both rest.", I whispered, carefully laying down to don't disturb her and I massaged her hair. She fell asleep almost immediately and I watched her sleep for half an hour. I don't know if she's still gonna grow, physically, or not, but she already has perfect traits and sizes for me. Her cute small nose, pink lips that are not too big or too small, round brown eyes with long eyelashes that could get anything from me if she'd asked, a round big b*tt and small b*easts, but not too small, just the perfect size for my palm to cup it.

***

The following morning I woke up before she did so I went for a bit into the woods, (nature call) and I waked her up with a light kiss on her cheek. She stretched like a baby on the ground and slowly opened her eyes and looked at me and gave me a wide smile that I returned while caressing her cheek that I just kissed.

-" You know ... you still haven't told me your name. It's not fair, you know mine.", she said playfully and I had no idea what name I should invent. I liked my name, call me a narcissist if you want, I would still like it.

-" Yea ... my name ... my name is ... Nate. Yea.", I said with an awkward smile and she frowned at first, but then laughed out loud. She has such a cute laugh. It was quite an obvious choice for the name, but at least, when she will say my name I will think that she's spoiling me with a diminutive of my actual name.

We talked and played around for a few minutes until I heard 2 horses coming our way and it was too late to run away from them, at least for her, but I couldn't leave her this time so I stayed and put my hood on to cover me a little.

She panicked so I brought her closer to me to calm her down.

 They stood in front of the cave, blocking the way out with their horses, then dismounted and split to take us both. That knight came to me and William tossed Elise on his shoulder like a bag of potato! "And the award 'father of the year' goes to ... *drum beats*... William James of the Norway kingdom, wohoo!" She screamed like a little psycho and punched her father's back, but to no avail. 

This f*lthy knight punched me with force, not enough to make me fall, but I did it anyways. I had to keep the appearances up that I'm a weak human and she saw that and yelled for him to leave me alone and he took his s*ord out, placing it above my head and that's the last image of hers with me before her father took her away, ignoring her cries and screams. I remembered her sad eyes when she told me that she got slapped by that knight and I made sure to hurt him for that.

Before he got a chance of hitting me with the s*ord, I turned and got up behind his back. I couldn't use my claws on him as I have to let him alive for now and when he will return to the castle, they will know I'm not a human so I punched his lower back twice, right on the spine and he got down on one knee from the pain. I pushed and rolled him on the ground before I kicked his stomach and he was still conscious, surprised and hurt, but still conscious. I thought that maybe it's enough for that slap my mate got from him, momentarily, and I should leave him now. My mate is more probably going to cry all day, thinking that I'm d*ad. Hmm ... maybe one more kick will do it.

I have a feeling that she won't come out today so I am just going to try and hide for the rest of the day from all the guards that are gonna be on my tracks and I will try tomorrow to see if she'll be able to sneak out again so I can reassure her that I'm not d*ad. I bet they will tell her I am d*ad, just to make sure she's not searching for me.

I can't wait to see her face when she'll see that I'm alive!