Forbidden Love

chapters 3: Hospitality

(Hey y'all, I am so so so sorry that y'all had to wait two weeks for this chapter, writer's block is annoying. Anyway, as you read this chapter keep in mind that Varian is practically brothers with Eugene so he's got a little Eugeneiness to him, if you know what I mean😂 enjoy)

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Eugene jumped at the mysterious traveler, the black rocks barely missing his back as he pushed her out of the way, then there was a blinding blue light.

Once the light faded, Eugene looked down at the person he just saved to see a beautiful woman with emerald eyes and a dusting of freckles. "Are you okay Miss?" He asked, trying to catch his breath. "Um, yeah, I-I'm fine," Rapunzel answered, looking at the rock wall then seemed to appear out of thin air. The man got up then extended a hand and the princess took it. They locked eyes as he helped her up.

"Who are you!" Cass exclaimed as she stepped in front of Rapunzel, protectively. Varian and Eugene glanced at eachother, as the archer came to his side, then looked at the two women. "You're not from around here, are you?" Eugene responded, annoying the swordswoman. "I said who are you!" She yelled. "Cass!" Raps exclaimed as her friend drew her sword and pointed it at Eugene's throat, making the prince freeze immediately.

"Lower your weapon!" Varian commanded. "Or what?" Cass replied angrily. Varian then pulled out an arrow. "Or this," he answered, touching the arrowhead to Cassandra's throat. The woman glared at the archer, who smirked in return.

"Lower your weapon, and I'll lower mine," Varian said as Cass looked at the man at the end of her blade. She then looked back to Varian and could tell he would honor his word, so she slowly lower her sword. Once the sword was pointed towards the ground, Varian pulled the arrow away and put it back in his quiver.

"I hope I didn't hurt you Ma'am, but you threaten him again and I will," the archer warned. Cass scoffed in response then Rapunzel put a hand on her shoulder, calming her friend a little.

"Who are you guys?" The princess asked sweetly, stepping towards the two men. "And why'd you attack us?" Cass added. "The name's Horace Eugene Fitzherbert." "And I'm Varian, son of Quirin, and we weren't attacking you," the archer added, crossing his arms.

"Oh really, I could've sworn I saw your buddy here tackle my friend," Cass growled. "Cass, he saved me," Rapunzel responded, giving Eugene a greatful smile.

The swordswoman stared at her friend for a moment before noticing the wall of rocks that wouldv'e hit Rapunzel. After a moment she looked back to Varian. "If you weren't attacking us why'd you shoot an arrow at me? You missed by the way," she asked making Varian roll his eyes. "I was trying to stop you, if I wanted to hit you I would've hit you," he replied.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Cass and Varian glared at eachother before the crackle of the rocks returned. All four of them looked towards the sound and saw another cluster of black spikes growing.

"What's going on?" Rapunzel inquired, earning a confused and curious look from both men. "Where are you two from?" The archer responded. "What makes you so certain we're not from around here?" Cass asked, annoyed. "Let's see, your sword is iron, you're out tonight, and you threatened the prince then asked who he was," Varian listed and crossed his arms.

"Are you always this smug?" The handmaiden retorted. "Only when someone's annoying me, or when I know I'm right, in this case both," the archer replied, making Cass glare at him again.

"Yeah, he's not usually like this," Eugene whispered to Raps as Cass and Varian started arguing. "He seems nice though," the princess whispered back. "Oh, he is, smart too." "Cass is like that too, only she has the tendency to rub people the wrong way." "Apparently, I've never seen Varian so annoyed," Eugene finished then the two of them laughed a little.

"I'm Rapunzel by the way, uh, Prince Horace," she said with a small curtsy. "Call me Eugene," he replied, looking into her eyes. The two just stood there staring at one another for a moment before their friends started yelling at eachother.

"Cass, calm down," Rapunzel said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Yeah Cass, calm down," Varian repeated, mocking Cass, earning an annoyed look from Eugene, "sorry."

"Do you ladies have a place to stay tonight?" The prince asked after a moment, looking back to Raps. "We're fine, just point us towards the nearest inn and we'll be out of your hair," Cassandra answered before Rapunzel could. "Happily, the inn's over there," Varian replied, pointing down a street that was littered with newly emerged black rocks.

"It should be closed right now though, you two can come to the castle, there's guest rooms prepared just for situations like this," the prince offered. "We'll take our chances with the inn, thanks," Cass responded. She was about to start walking towards the inn when Rapunzel stopped her. "Even if it's open, we don't have anything to pay with, we only have Coronain coins," she whispered to her friend. Cassandra sighed, realizing Rapunzel was right. "I'm not asking them," she said, glaring at the boys.

"Um, would we still able to take you up on that offer?" The princess asked sweetly.

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"I can't believe you talked me into coming Raps," Cass said, "we're literally in the Dark Kingdom castle right now."

"Come on Cass, they saw we didn't have anywhere to go and gave us a room," The princess responded, "a nice one too, I love the color scheme."

Eugene had given them one of the largest guest rooms. It had two queen size beds, both with matching tan and dark blue bedding. There was a night stand by each bed, a soft, tan rug covering most of the floor, and a large window on one of the walls.

As Rapunzel took off her cloak, the swordswoman began scanning the room, noticing two doors. "One of these is probably a closet," Cass said, opening one of the doors, "yep, closet, a big one too."

"I wonder what this one is," Rpunzel responded, going to the other door and opening it. "Cass, we have our own washroom!" She exclaimed then looked at the faucet curiously before turning one of the handles. "There's running water!" the princess continued, making Cass come to the bathroom, "hot running water!" "What!" Cass exclaimed then put her hand under the water.

"I did that," came a voice from the bedroom door, startling both girls. Rapunzel and Cass poked their heads out of the bathroom and saw Varian and Eugene standing by the door. "First of the eight kingdoms to have hot running water, thanks to me," Varian boasted, "and my mom."

"Yeah, very impressive, what do you guys want?" Cass retorted, glaring at the boys. "We just came to see if you wanted us to show you guys around a little before dinner," Eugene answered. "Dinner?" Cassandra questioned. "Yeah, dinner, you're guests, do you not want us to feed you?" The prince responded. "No, no, it would be great if you could," Raps replied, looking at Eugene, confused and a little flustered.

"Sorry, we um, we weren't expecting this much hospitality," the princess continued. "Most people don't, it's probably the rocks that make us seem so... unapproachable," Varian responded. "Well, that, and the fact our hot air balloon was shot down as soon as we could see the kingdom," Cass stated, crossing her arms. "Oh... yeah,  sorry, that was me," the archer said. "You?" The handmaiden scoffed. "Yep, I'm kinda the master archer around here," The boy answered with a proud smile.

"You, a master archer?" Cass repeated, "But you're like sixteen". "Eighteen!" Varian corrected. "Whatever," the woman replied, earning a glare from the boy. "Hey, before you guys start arguing again how bout we do that castle tour," Eugene suggested, stopping the bickering, "What do you say, Rapunzel?". He then extended a hand for the princess to take.

Once Raps took Eugene's hand, the princess's ring caught Varian's eye. Or should I say the symbol on it did.

(And no, y'all didn't read the tags wrong, this is a Cassarian fic 😏)