~You Belong To Me~

{Chapter 11}

"It seems quite full," The market area had all kinds of people crowding around. 

It was hard to get by them is there some event? Was everything being sold cheap? Whatever it was it was making it hard for us to move, I held my hood. I didn't want my hood to fall but it but making it hard to see what was in front of me, Should I just push them all? As I struggled to decide I felt a hand at my waist. 

"We can go through the alley," Arthur's voice whispered. 

His body was close to mine and pushed me as we made our way to the alley, after making it I could finally look around freely. I lifted the hood sighing in relief at the open space, my open space ruined as I felt Arthur's arm pull me into him. I gasped frozen in shock, my mind racing with disbelief. 

"Hey don't get ahead of yourself," I warned glancing up to meet his gaze. 

He grinned down at me, his arm tightening around me. "I'll take this as payment for helping you out of the crowd," His gleaming eyes were as mischievous as his grin. 

I sighed rolling my eyes, he did help me and it would only be for a second. I relaxed my body giving into his embrace, my hands moving up to rest on his chest. The cold and hard touch of his golden jewelry reminded me too much of the jewelry I once wore. My eyes widened as I thought of the palace, I had completely forgotten about the letter I sent to my father, what if he wrote back? 

"Hey did you find anything?" The voices of some men walking into the alley made me tense up again. 

I pushed Arthur back, his arms wrapping tighter around me. I groaned continuing to try to get him off but it seemed like he wasn't planning on letting go, I stepped back applying more force. His body moved with mine until I finally stepped back into the wall of the building, I huffed out. I would have to use a more violent tactic to get him off, even if they couldn't see my face or even knew who I was I still felt flustered at the thought of being caught in the arms of a man. 

"I haven't found anything at all, are they sure she would be here?" I stopped, my ears perking up as I listened to what they said. 

"Why did you stop I was starting-" I placed my hand on Arthur's lips stopping him from talking. 

Had someone gone missing in the harbor? If that were the case wouldn't they clear the crowd to look for them? It was rare for something like a kidnapping to happen in this city, even us being in the alley would be considered suspicious. This raised another question, where were the guards? I had seen some on our way here but now that I looked back on it, there were way too many of them around the docks.

 The few in the city also seemed too focused on those arriving from the dock than those going to them, If they didn't find their person it would make it harder for me to escape. They would find me too suspicious if I went through the alleys and Arthur would find me way too easily because of my cloak. I had nowhere to go and didn't have any money on me, I could take some from Arthur but I didn't want to give him more of a reason to come after me. 

"I'm sure of it, His Royal Highness has even been put on guard so it must be true that she will appear here I doubt her uncle would lie considering the severity of the situation." I felt my entire body stiffen. 

His Royal Highness? That was Gilbert, he was here? They even mentioned an uncle, and I suddenly came to a realization. The missing person that would make it hard for me to escape was me, They were looking for me here? How did they know I would be here, there was no way they could have known. My uncle must have told Gilbert or even worse the king that I had been taken, but that didn't explain how they managed to figure out Arthur would even stop here.