The Selected

Adeline's POV Pt 2

Rowan walked back into the room and let out a wolf whistle seeing me in the new commoner clothing he had bought me. It was a simple salmon pink colored dress. I couldn't help but smile to myself upon first seeing him buying it, he knew my colour.

"Ha, ha, very funny," I scowled at him.

A smirk threatened to appear on his lips. "Really darling, you look great. If you didn't then who would believe you were my wife."

If he wasn't crazy enough now, he then had the audacity to wink at me.

My frown grew deeper as I scowled at him.

"What's with that look? Come on, smile for me princess, I got a surprise for you," he smiled sweetly, for once no ounce of teasing in his tone.

My ears perked at the words surprise. "What is it?"

Rowan shook his head. "I won't tell you 'til I see a smile darling."

I gave him a pointed look but he shrugged me off. God he was stubborn. I gave him a fake smile making him laugh and shake his head. "No, I want a real smile."

I couldn't help but laugh at his persistence. It was sort of sweet. A wide smile took over his face as he saw me laughing. "There we go! There's that lovely smile."

A blush covered my cheeks not used to his sweet side. "So will you tell me what the surprise is?"

Rowan shook his head. "I thought you were an intellect. Do you not know what the word surprise means?"

I glared at him making him laugh at my disappointment. He gestured with his head to follow him.

"Is it going to take time away from the mission? We already lost a lot of time with the unexpected early exit," I recalled the fiasco with the train.

Rowan shrugged his shoulders casually. "You almost died, I want you to live a bit. We will make it back to the castle in due time, I promise."

I sighed in defeat before leaving our cramped room. Outside he offered me his arm which I took to erase any suspicions since we were supposedly "head over heels newlyweds".

I let Rowan lead me to wherever. I noticed we were going to the village square where they were setting up little lights and lanterns. People were started to gather around as food stands began setting up. A small group of people began playing music making me smile widely. This indeed was a wonderful surprise. It was a small village celebration. I've always wanted to go to one of these instead of those dreadful formal balls. At least here you could laugh without being judged. For once, no one knew who I was. I wasn't a girl from a rich family, I wasn't royalty, I was just another girl, a stranger, and I loved it.

"You seem excited darling," said Rowan with a twinkle in his eyes. If I were correct, he looked excited too. It then dawned on me that we weren't so different after all. We were both royalty and lived with the burden of keeping the court happy and needing to follow rules for everything. How we stand, eat, breathe-- it was exhausting! We both lived through war, him as a general of his father's army and me as the hunted princess. For once, there was someone who understood me.

"I am excited, thank you," I offered him a smile in which he returned. People had begun to gather in the middle to dance to the cheerful music being played. I took Rowan's hand in mine before I started dragging him to the center to join. He didn't object, but rather laughed as we began dancing. The beat was fun and cheerful instead of the conserved music back in the castle. Dancing was so much more free rather than choreographed. I couldn't help but throw my head back in laughter as Rowan spun me around enjoying our time. His eyes were twinkling with an expression I couldn't put my finger on as he danced with me. The song had started to come to an end as another one had begun to play. I was ready to have another dance with Rowan but a man stopped us. He was young, around my age or younger. He was handsome, not like Rowan's hard and dangerous looks but this man had a soft beauty.