Her head hurt. That was the first thought that went through Elena's mind when she woke up. The second was a slight rawness of her nasal cavity. Elena groaned as she shifted her head, which felt like it was laden with lead. She did not remember much of the previous night after her third cup of wine, she had no memory of leaving the dining hall and retiring to her bedroom.
Elena opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. She was wearing bed clothes that she didn't remember putting on and they were slightly damp between her legs (and with her bladder fit to burst she couldn't fathom the reason why). Elena stretched her aching muscles, bringing her arms over her head, her toes curling, taking in a deep breath. As she relaxed, she let her hands drop back onto the bed- except that one landed on something warm and solid and was punctuated with a sharp cry, making Elena jump a foot in the air.
She looked over in shock and spotted Henry next to her on the bed, rubbing his nose. Adding to her shock was the fact that Henry was completely nude, the blanket that usually covered her, wrapped around his ankles. Elena couldn't help herself, her gaze roamed the sharp edges of his toned muscles, trailing down his abdomen to his morning erection, so unabashedly masculine.
"Do you like what you see, Princess?" Henry purred, reaching out for her arm.
"Do you mind?!" Elena spat as she inched a little out of his reach, overcompensating for the blush that radiated from her face, embarrassed at being caught ogling the naked Prince. "Would you cover yourself please?" turning her back resolutely on Henry's smirking face.
"So prim and proper, my Princess," he groaned with a laugh, "You really need to relax a little - I could teach you."
"I'm sure you could " Elena snapped sarcastically.
Elena straightened her clothes and ran her fingers through her hair. How did I get here, she wondered.
"Fine, I'm decent. OK? You can turn around now" he said.
Elena turned around and narrowed her eyes at the sight of him. Apparently he had different ideas of what was considered decent, for Henry was sitting in bed, with a single sheet bunched in his lap, covering his raging masculinity but nothing else. Henry laughed at her obvious disapproval but was not perturbed.
"So my deliciously pink Princess, what shall we do today? It is Sunday and the -" Henry began before Elena cut him off.
"I want to go outside" she said flatly.
"And I want a flying horse" answered Henry, laughing at his own joke. "The moment you step one foot outside you'll run. I know you will, don't try and deny it" he said, his dark eyes piercing hers.
"If you don't trust me," Elena said, ignoring Henry's scoffing noise, "then allow me to go to visit one of the gardens behind the castle. It is still within the castle walls so I am not really outside" she shrugged.
Henry cocked his head to one side, a smirk playing around the edges of his lips. Did she really think he was stupid enough to let her venture freely within the castle?
"If you don't believe me, why don't you escort me yourself? If I am allowed a glimpse of sunshine, your presence may be a small price to pay for it" she concluded.
He stared at her. He was somewhat amused by her gall. She has just begged him one moment and in the next was insulting him. Then an odd thought struck him and caused him to smile. "Alright, I agree. You seem to have outgrown this room anyway, I shall meet you in the courtyard later in the afternoon."
"Thank you" Elena said, before she could stop herself. Henry raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn't comment. He stood up quickly, the sheet falling to the floor. Elena looked away, her face turning bright red for the second time that morning. Henry smirked as he made his way over to the chairs by the fire and pulled on his pants and shirt from the previous evening.
"I will send for Catherine" Henry said, looking over his shoulder at the Princess, before exiting the room.
*
A few hours later, hardly believing her luck, Elena found herself standing in the sundrenched garden of the castle. She stood with her eyes closed, her skin soaking up the rare warmth of a winter's day. "Sorry I'm late," said Henry's voice, interrupting her silent contemplations, "the council meeting ran longer than expected."
Elena opened her eyes and fixed Henry with a steady gaze. She wished that he would have stayed away- she was having such a pleasant time all by herself (even though she was aware of her personal quartet of guards lurking in the shadows). However, for the first time in long time, she held her tongue and merely nodded at him.
Henry took her arm in his and walked her around the gardens, pointing out a bush or tree and reminiscing about some trivial fact that it reminded him of. At first she thought to fight his hold on her arm, yet argued against it, for it was a small price to pay for a little sunshine. Elena spent a good part of the afternoon ignoring him completely, nodding whenever she felt he expected some response from her. As the sun glared in the afternoon sky, they stood under the shade of a very large tree, the name of which Elena was not familiar with, it's branches only as thick as her neck and the height dizzying. Henry started to tell Elena of the mischief he used to get up to as a younger prince, but halfway through his tale of lighting the kitchen on fire, Ethan came to notify Henry that the King requested his presence for a small matter. Henry sighed and told Elena that he would return shortly. Her response was a shrug of the shoulders, expressing her usual haughty disdain.
Elena ran her hands over the tree trunk, feeling the crevices of the bark between her fingers, noting the ease that one could climb the tree with it's plethora of branches. She knew that climbing the tree would amount to nothing but ridicule, as there were no neighbouring trees to jump to, however it didn't stop the almost natural curiosity that was ingrained in her after two years of sleeping in the treetops. Just as she was reaching up to a low-hanging branch to test it's weight bearing capabilities, she felt a cold hand grip her shoulder. She whipped around prepared to confront whomever had touched her, but her voice died in her throat when she realised that it was Lord Caspian who had grasped her shoulder.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, the sound of his voice causing goosebumps to erupt on Elena's bare skin.
"Unhand me" she said, her voice coming out a lot weaker than she intended.
Caspian let go, but stepped closer, causing Elena to back up against the tree trunk. She looked around but her guards were nowhere to be seen, nor was Henry (as reluctant as she was to seek his help, she didn't favour the alternative). His eyes swept over her trembling figure as he stepped even closer, pressing his sharp body against hers and whispered in her ear, "I made a promise, Princess - do you remember?" he said as he pressed her harder into the tree, causing the bark to bite into the exposed skin of her back.
Elena could remember his promise as if it were yesterday:
Caspian and Elena were walking quietly through the forest of Lorrea while on a hunt, his low voice talking of his estates and his fortune that would be hers should she consent to his proposal of marriage. Elena replied sparingly to his questions, as something about him made her stomach ill at ease, however she knew not the cause. He was handsome in a lean and sharp manner, yet she found that it wasn't his looks that bothered her, nor was he uneducated, it was something else, unseen, that caused her to be apprehensive with the young lord.
The reason for her unease became apparent as they came across a deer whose front leg was snared in a crude trap. She pushed her bow back over her shoulder and knelt down to appraise the injury. Blood covered the leg below the wound, yet it was dry, indicating that the deer had been in that position for some time already. Elena noted the dryness of the animals tongue and it's apparent lack of concern or fear of the humans around it.
"Hand me your sword please, Lord Caspian" she asked, holding out her hand.
"My sword?" he asked dumbstruck. "Why do you need my sword?"
"I am going to put the poor creature out of it's misery" she answered.
"Why would you do a silly thing like that? If we leave it, perhaps a wolf will happen by and we can hunt it! That would be a fine kill" Caspian said smiling at her, excitement in his eyes.
Elena frowned at the him, as she folded her arms over her chest. "The creature has been trapped for days- it's dying, and the compassionate thing to do would be to help it as much as we can. I'm sad to say that in this instance, it means to kill it, before infection or something else does." She reached out again, awaiting his sword - yet he showed no inclination of handing it to her.
"I still think it is a waste of perfectly good bait" he said sullenly, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
Anger coursed through Elena at his refusal. She understood now, what trait the Lord possessed that bothered her so- his cruelty. Sighing, she unsheathed a dagger from her waist. Elena preferred the use of Caspian's sword over her small dagger, for a cleaner and instantaneous death, as opposed to the slow death from blood loss. She reached under the deer's neck and with a quick and forceful swipe of her dagger, severed the creatures main arteries. Within a minute the creature had stopped breathing and lay still upon the forest floor. Elena wiped her dagger clean on the blades of some tall, wild grass. She stood abruptly and started to walk back towards the castle.
"Wait Princess, where are you hurrying off to?" Caspian cried out, hurrying to catch up to her as she returned the dagger to it's sheath. "Where are you going? We haven't caught anything yet" he said, reaching for her hand.
Elena pulled her hand from his grasp. "I've had enough hunting for the day, thank you, Lord Caspian" she said, lengthening her strides.
"Alright," he said dejected, "lets go back up to the castle."
"I think that would be best" Elena said, walking as quickly as possible without actually running.
"Yes, I can request an audience with the King and Queen, informing them that you have accepted my hand in marriage" Caspian said as he hurried alongside Elena.
Elena stopped abruptly, looking over at Caspian in disbelief. Did he honestly think that she was going to marry him? He was a cruel and unkind man - she did not like the idea of spending the rest of her days with him, or even worse, bearing his children.
"Lord Caspian, I'm afraid you misunderstood my intentions. I did not give my consent" Elena said slowly, opting for a diplomatic approach over the one her heart was demanding, one that demanded the use of her balled up fist.
Caspian looked at her, confusion spreading across his face. "Surely Princess, you jest. You and I both know that a marriage between our families would create a great kingdom of endless wealth and power."
