Keep Your Enemies Closer

A Day of Hopes and Dreams

'A beautiful person always sees the beauty in others' - Pietro

When Reyna woke the following day, she had a banging headache, every inch of her caked in sweat. She groaned, pressing a pale hand to her scalding forehead. At the very least, she had learnt not to get so drunk again. She had gone in the bath, washing her hair thoroughly, the water ice cold. She then tied her hair back into a plait and put on a pale peach pink dress, hanging off her shoulders and pooling around her feet. Reyna then staggered back to bed, hugging her pillow to her chest before falling back into a cocoon of sleep.

"Reyna?" A faintly amused voice said, infinitely near and yet so far away at the same time. She groaned, hugging the pillow tighter. She wasn't ready to wake up. "I'm sleeping, Juniper," she replied. Juniper sat down on the bed, the bed creaking with her weight.

Wait. That wasn't Juniper. She was nimble and thin. Which meant -

Reyna opened one eye, coming to face a blonde haired Prince, a smirk playing on his face as he watched her. She shot up out of bed, room spinning as her eyes adjusted. "My Prince-"

"You have something there." Donovan pointed out, hands going to the corner of his mouth. She mirrored the action, finding drool there. She wiped it away immediately, cheeks heating. He laughed at her embarrassment, causing Reyna to flush more. "Can I-" she made a gesture to the bathroom. "Yes. Go." He grinned at her and she hurriedly walked. As soon as the door locked behind her, she buried her face in her hands.

Great start. He'd seen her drooling. The blush deepened at the memory and she sighed, cursing to herself. Reyna rinsed her face with cold water, redoing her plait which had come loose. You can do this, she told herself. Deep breaths.

With a slightly sheepish smile she returned back to her room, finding the Prince sprawled out onto the bed. "Everything better?" He asked, a smirk still hovering on his face.

She nodded. "Yes. I'm perfectly alright."

"Great. Up for horse riding?"

Half an hour later, Reyna and Donovan were in the stables. It was at the back of the palace and the garden, leading to a small wood for horse trails. Reyna had only ridden Darcy, who was very well trained. Donovan's demeanour immediately put her at ease, though. "I've been horse riding since I was a boy." He explained as he saddled up a palomino horse for himself. "Father deemed it a necessary skill for me and my sister. This one - Kaiden." He said, running a hand through the horse's mane. ""You can ride Everly's - Aethelwyne." He pointed to a midnight black horse a few stalls away.

"Aethelwyne? That's an interesting name." Reyna commented. 

"It means noble friend." 

The horse was beautiful - a silky mane, eyes ebony black and watching her. "Fabian's is the grey one. She's called Apple." 

Reyna found herself smiling as she looked over to the dapple grey horse. Aethelwyne, Kaiden - then Apple. 

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Donovan asked as he swung up onto Kaiden's back. Reyna mirrored the movement, clambering on best she could, hair in her face. "As a matter of fact, I have." 

"I'm glad. I wouldn't want a Wife afraid of horses - or hating them." 

"Would you have kicked me out of the Palace if I did?" Donovan looked thoughtful at this as he readied the reins. "Perhaps."

"This was a test then." Reyna realised, heart sinking. How close she had been from her charade being over. 

"You don't miss anything." His eyes were on her, dark and intense. "I like that. Let's go." With that, Kaiden trotted onwards into the forest. Reyna tapped Aethelwyne with her foot and the horse obediently followed, tossing her head.