Potions, Power and Pain

Chapter 7

Rowan woke up long before the sun had risen. In fact, the sun was nowhere near ready to rise and he had only just gone to sleep. But for some reason, he had jolted awake. His eyes were oddly and unreasonably itchy.

Choosing a room that was built into a hillside, had seemed like a great idea at the time, but Rowan was already regretting his choice. He should have chosen a room in a giant sequoia tree; they were by far the best. He was beginning to feel slightly uneasy in his room, where only the slightest bit of moonlight was able to shine through a tiny window.

Rowan felt like he needed to go for a walk. He needed fresh air and he needed to clear his head. After putting on his shoes and cloak, he stepped outside and was finally able to truly admire the camp site. There were small pathways lit up by little lanterns that connected all the rooms to the main campsite.

He began walking when he noticed someone sitting on a bench. He could not make out who it was, but he could tell that she was exquisite, so beautiful that he couldn't believe he had never noticed her before.

He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to talk to her, to get to know her. So, he walked over to the bench and sat down next to her.

Startled, she put her book down and looked up at him. She was simply drop dead gorgeous. He looked at every single one of her features in close detail and then realised: it was Reena Tansy.

A strange feeling crept over him. He never felt anything like it. Everything just felt so right. Her brown eyes glowed gold in the faint light of the firefly that was buzzing near her head. Her silky blond hair glistened like hundreds of strands of gold. Her skin was so smooth. Her red lips seemed so remarkably perfect just like every other part of her.

Rowan had no idea what was wrong with him. For him to be thinking this about a girl was unusual to say the least, but to be thinking it about Reena Tansy? That was almost unimaginable for him. But it was happening. He could not take his eyes off hers. At least until he realised that he had walked over to her in the middle of the night, sat down next to her, and just stared at her.

"Uhm are you okay?" Reena asked hesitantly. Rowan immediately snapped out of his trance.

He did not know what to say. Could not find the words to say anything, or at least not anything he desperately wanted to say, like how fantastic she smelt or how breathtakingly beautiful she was. Instead of all the compliments and flattery that he wanted to blurt out and praise her with, the words "You know you are supposed to call me 'Your Royal Highness', right?" came out of his mouth.

He regretted them the second they slipped out. Sure, he said it in a playful way that would have most women fawning over him, but they were not the kind of thing he wanted to say to Reena.

But all she did was scoff. "I will treat you with respect the day you treat others with respect and stop walking around acting like you own every single place you go to."

"But technically I do own this entire Kingdom, I am the Prince of the earthly Kingdom after all," Rowan grinned.

Reena laughed, actually laughed at his statement. "No, you do not own it, your parents the Queen and King simply rule over it. Also, you are not the Prince of the Earthly Kingdom, you are one of the Princes of the Earthly Kingdom, and you're not even first in line to the throne."

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" was Rowan's only answer. He watched surprise and confusion coat her features, till anger and disgust replaced them both.

"Oh god, are you drunk or high? Or is this some kind of stupid joke? Either way just stay away from me. I really don't have time for your bullshit." Reena said as she stood up to leave.

"I meant what I said," Rowan continued earnestly.

Reena's eyes narrowed in on him before saying sarcastically "Yeah right," turning on her heal and marching off to bed.

The Prince of the Earthly Kingdom stayed on the bench for a long time after she had left, still staring after her trying to make sense of all the odd and foreign emotions he was feeling.