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.
