A Crown and A Curse

Chapter 5

Zora

I couldn't quite believe what was happening as we trudged through the woods back to the cave where we had made camp. The prince of Drimore was standing only a few feet away from me. As a girl raised in a small farm village that had felt thousands of miles away from the glistening capital city, the royal family had always seemed elite, untouchable.

I remembered a time, before the coup, one of the elder princes had come to visit, to earn favor as a possible heir, I was barely old enough to remember it properly, but I vaguely recalled people falling to their knees, an extravagant carriage made of more silver than I had ever seen in my life, and the prince's chocolate brown eyes. Much like the eyes of his younger brother who had come searching the forest... for me. It was nearly too much to wrap my head around.

Kian wasn't anything like what I had expected, most of the Vietta kings had been warriors, generals as princes before they took the throne. Even Kian's father, a known peacemaker, had been high ranking in the military. At first glance most people would likely think Kian the runt of the warrior litter, with his pale skin, slim build, and gently handsome features, he certainly looked it. The pretty but weak and forgotten prince who had somehow survived the odds and made a path for himself. I saw the intelligence behind his soft eyes, the cunning. Perhaps he was a bit naive, but he was also good with words in a way I had never seen before. And when he actually spoke to his men with authority there was an inkling of kingly potential in his voice. He studied people, and found their ticks. Even when I was holding his life in my hands he had watched my every move as if he were the one interrogating me.

Yes, there was more to the prince than what was on the surface.

"Ugh. Not another cave," Joni, the man who had thrown the knife at me earlier, groaned. He had a dark sort of beauty about him, with his brown-black hair, hazel eyes, and sharp features. The way he moved so silently unnerved me in a way. Only predators walked like that.

The other man, Ensio, was gentler, with sandy hair and light eyes that were filled with humor as he said, "If that's the only thought you have about today then we have bigger issues."

"Sorry about them," Kian whispered to me in his rich voice, flashing a charming smile, "We don't get out much."

I smiled softly, still not sure what to make of the trio. I wondered what Tyra and Asa would think about the situation. I could only imagine the sarcastic remarks the former would have in store for us. It was strange, the thought of the three outsiders sleeping in a cave with our little family. Although, to be honest I wasn't too keen on sleeping in a cave at all. I had always been a bit claustrophobic.

"Wait outside," Ari instructed them, pulling me behind him into the opening.

"What took you so long? I was getting worried," Asa quipped at her brother. Tyra sat on the floor, picking at her nails.

Ari and I smirked at each other, they had no idea.

"Tyra, Asa, there's someone I'd like you to meet, come on in boys." Kian entered the cave, his neatly trimmed brown hair looking near black in the dim light. Ensio and Joni flanked him, both looking a bit underwhelmed at all the dramatics. Tyra and Asa sat back in silence, looking at Ari and I like we'd lost our minds. Perhaps we had.

"Would you like to elaborate at all why these strangers have found their way into our cave?" Tyra inquired, raising a skeptical brow.

Kian, proving himself to be a showman more and more with every action, bowed, "My name is Kian, and this is Ensio, and Joni," He motioned to each respectively, "I had the pleasure of being trapped in your friend's snare."