Blood King

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Six

            Xavier had not taken them home, instead he had gone on a detour and stopped the horse in a nearby field close to the castle but still aways' away from actually reaching its grounds.

            "Brother, why are we here?" Celina asked as she leaned up against a tree as the autumn wind blew gently through the trees and her hair.

            Xavier had just tied off the horse to a nearby tree branch and smiled. "You don't like detours Celina?" he asked as he slowly made his way over to and braced an arm over her head as he stared down at her with a loving gaze. "I thought this would be far more pleasant then dealing with all of that boring royalty stuff."

            "That's beside the point Brother and you know it,"

            But he didn't seem to care.

            "Mmm, really?" he said in a soft voice as he leaned in closer and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head while he kept one arm braced on the tree while his free hand cupped the side of her face, thumb running back and forth.

            "Yes!" she proclaimed only to frown a moment later. "Brother you're acting really strange today."

            "No I'm not," he said as now nuzzled the top of her head then tugged her away from the tree to lift her into the air spin her around in circles and then set her down again which made Celina even more confused than before. "I've just really missed you..."

            "You were the one avoiding me remember?"

            He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, her back pressed against his front, he hadn't done something like this in a while he nearly forgot just how tiny she was. Gods he missed doing this on a regular basis, just being with, being close by was enough but...

            Celina glanced up at him as he kissed the back of her head softly. "You really don't seem to be alright." She said to him and he sighed again.

            "Have I become that transparent to you?"

            "No, it's just I can tell when something is really bothering you, besides the fact that we may have war on our doorstep, there's something else."

            He kept his chin resting on the top of her head as his eyes glanced towards the direction of the castle. "The people at that tavern..."

            "What about them?"

            "I wish we were like them," he said. "The common folk, if we weren't royalty, if it was just a normal family I wouldn't have to worry about people constantly pestering me to find a wife or for you a future husband. We could just live our days like this with no fear or worry, side by side hand in hand. Just the two of us together with nothing holding us back, how I wish that was the case, I wish we weren't royalty."

            "But we are." She whispered.

            "That we are," he agreed as he moved away long enough to grasp her hand and lead her into the nearby field. The wind blew casting over the silence which the two now shared.

            Celina looked to her brother's back, she had seen it countless times before yet for some reason looking at it now she couldn't help but feel that somehow he looked lonely. Like before their father and stepmother died, his back looked the same.