Cole brings her to a different room because he thinks it will be safer for them. He walks her to a small-ish room. It is completely empty aside from a small bench that the two of them sit on.
"I'm glad you're okay," Viviana says to him.
"Thanks. I have to help the people in my kingdom. Especially you." He tells her.
The silence is comforting for the first time. She knows she isn't alone and that he is there to help protect her. They are once again the only two people in the room. She leans onto his shoulder. They sit like this for a moment. He looks over at her and she sits up.
"I hate having to fight." Cole tells her.
"I know, why did they start this war? Why are we rivals with them?" Viv asks him.
"I think it's because we have to be," Cole says.
"What does that mean?" Viviana questions.
"A long time ago the kings of the two kingdoms were brothers. Before they were the kings they were not only brothers but best friends. But then they both fell in love with the same girl. The queen of our kingdom.
She loved them both and couldn't bear to choose between them. They promised not to let this get in the way of their friendship.
But when she picked one of them, they got married and the other brother came. He seemed so happy for them. In reality, he was angry. He wanted the queen. He believed she was the love of his life. So he wanted to get revenge on them both.
He made the queen of Jelston fall in love with him so he could become the king of that kingdom. They then got married and now he was in total power.
He used that power to get revenge on his brother and his brother's new wife. He started a war against them and the two brothers were fighting each other.
Ever since then the tension between the two kingdoms has been so intense that no one from our kingdom can enter theirs or a war will begin." Hearing this surprises Viviana.
"So they hate our kingdom because of something that happened so long ago?" She asks.
"Sadly, yes," Cole tells her sullenly. The silence begins again. Viv needs time to process all this.
Her father was drafted for war against that kingdom. Who were these two brothers? Now this rivalry those two had for love ruined her life. If those two hadn't been so petty she might still be in her small house with her mother and father. Perhaps even her younger sister would be there. But none of that was a reality, so why dwell on what could have been? She needs to focus on now.
It seems Cole has been having some time to think too. He looks over at Viviana and one last time, leans in. Viviana closes her eyes this time. She feels him pull her in. He kisses her. And when he does if feels like a million little fire bugs are crawling up her legs. The feeling of when someone tells you that they want to be with you forever.
They pull apart. Since they are appreciating the moment, they don't notice the guy that Cole stabbed coming up. They notice just a split second before a flash of light comes on and king Kendrick come in.
Everyone is standing or sitting in silence as the king scopes out the situation from the place he stands in the doorway. Cole looks at his father and looks like he saw a ghost.
The man Cole stabbed before in the small battle grabs Cole and pulls him to the ground. He holds his sword to his throat. The man looks at the king.
"Don't come one step closer or I will slice his head off." The man threatens.
Cole's father stands still, afraid to move. He knows he can't, but he also knows that if he doesn't do something the man will kill him anyway.
Viviana is clearly terrified. She wishes that none of this was happening. She shuts her eyes in fear. She feels a hand grab her arm and pull her to the ground. She opens her eyes and sees that she is on the floor next to Cole with a sword pointed directly at the two of them.
She freezes and notices that Cole does the same. He tenses up. She can feel him reach for the sword he has on his hip. He grabs it and waits. He can't pull it out and attack yet. It will ruin the surprise factor.
Viviana accesses the situation. Too much is going on. There are way too many factors that could go wrong if Cole pulls out his sword. They might both end up dead. But that might happen anyway.
Cole slowly draws his sword. He moved slow so that the man won't notice him pulling it out. As the sword he has is pulled further out he waits for a moment. And then clashes it against the man's sword. They have to fight again.
