Potions, Power and Pain

Chapter 22

Rowan knew that being seen in a restaurant with Reena was most likely not the smartest idea. If his father, or anyone from the palace, found out that he was hanging out with someone who was only a half-faery, he would be in for the beating of his life.

Everyone claimed that because Rowan was not the Crown Prince, he could do as he pleased and date whomever he wished, but that was not true. At a very young age his parents had made it clear that dating 'half-breeds' was not suitable for a prince. He hated that word, it was so derogatory.

His father had spies everywhere, so at that very moment, he was most likely being informed of who Rowan was at the restaurant with, but he did not care, Reena was worth it.

They sat down at the table in the private dining room. It had been elegantly set, and the cutlery reminded him of the ones used at the palace, the handles were made up of intertwined silver vines and leaves that merged to form the knives, forks and spoons. The waiter soon returned with two menus which he handed to each of them.

"Order whatever you want, it's on me," Rowan said casually. He would never ambush someone in a restaurant and then make them pay for the meal. Judging by the sheer size and quantity of Reena's shopping bags, she had most likely spent more than enough money for one day.

"Thanks," Reena answered with a tight smile.

There was an awkward pause before Rowan asked as he nodded towards her bags, "I take it you went shopping."

"Yeah, I did," Reena replied. "I needed a few things." That was the understatement of the century.

The waiter returned once more and they ordered their food. "Thank you by the way," Reena said suddenly.

"For what?"

"'Saving me from the rain'."

"Oh, yeah you're welcome. That waiter was honestly such a fucking asshole."

"You have a pretty foul mouth for a prince." Reena commented.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Rowan retorted.

"You just swear a lot."

"Trust me if you think I swear a lot, you must have never met my friends. And anyways if my mouth is so foul then why do you look like you desperately want to kiss it?" Rowan said with a cocky grin, he was not going to pretend that he had not seen her gaze flicker between his eyes and his mouth multiple times since they had sat down at the table.

"What? I-" Reena stammered. "I do not want to kiss you."

"It's okay, I don't blame you. I am a pretty good looking guy."

Reena laughed. "One of these days you might want to get over yourself, everyone else has."

Rowan loved seeing her laugh, it made his heart rate pick up a beat and brought a smile to his own lips.

"Your smile is so beautiful," Rowan admitted sincerely, he had not planned on saying that out loud, but it just felt right. He prepared himself for Reena to get defensive again, for her to pick up her things and leave, but instead she surprised him.

"Thank you, yours is not that bad either."

"Was that a compliment? Careful I am beginning to think that you might actually like me."

Even as their food arrived and they began eating, the conversation continued. Rowan would never cease to be amazed by how smart Reena was. She knew so much about so many different topics. Whether it was history, music, politics, art, potions and elixirs, or any other relevant topic, Reena was informed and had an opinion about it. They were able to talk about anything and everything.

None of his other friends cared about, for example politics, they had no interest in the subject and would call him out for being 'boring' when he brought it up. But not Reena, no, she on the other hand knew so much about the different politics and policies of each of the three Kingdoms. She was actually interested in current events and was passionate about the things she talked about.

They spoke for hours. And with every passing minute, Rowan found himself falling for her more and more.

They were so immersed in their conversation that they had not noticed the waiter return. "I do not wish to bother you, but the restaurant is actually closing soon. So I am afraid I am going to have to ask you guys to leave," the waiter apologised, a note of fear was clearly audible in his voice.

"Oh shit really? Yeah no problem, sorry we didn't see the time pass." Rowan said pulling out his money.

"No it's okay, the royal palace has a tab here," the waiter rushed to say.

"Well here is your tip then," Rowan placed a few gold coins in the waiter's hands. Tipping was not a custom in any of the Kingdoms, because business owners actually paid their employees decent wages, but Rowan always did it anyways.

"Wow, no. This is too much," the waiter said as he attempted to return the coins to the prince.

"It is okay, keep it." Rowan answered, refusing the coins. Without asking he picked up Reena's shopping bags, they said goodbye to the waiter and left the restaurant.

"Thank you for dinner," Reena said appreciatively and smiled. Rowan would never get used to how beautiful she was. "I should really head home now though, otherwise my aunt will start to worry." She attempted to retrieve her shopping bags, but Rowan pulled them away from her.

"I will walk you home," Rowan stated. "It's too late for you to be able to call a carriage, and this way I can continue to carry your bags for you." He held out one of his arms for her, which she grabbed onto while they walked home to her house in silence. But unlike the other times, it was a comfortable silence, they weren't speaking, but it was because they did not need to, somewhere along the lines, an understanding had passed between them and they now both seemed to actually enjoyed each other's company.