Dryads and Nymphs

Chapter 13-The Fight in the Study

Ariana woke up to a warm breath on her neck, tingling her hair. She looked down to see Aron holding her tighty as if he was afraid she might vanish, her back pressed against his chest and his nose rubbing against her neck, tickling her. It was almost noon yet none of the servants had woken them. She cranned her neck more and saw he was deep asleep, his hair falling over his eyes, jaw slack. The sight of him made her heart tender with love and she recalled last night, atop the bridge, before they had been inturrupted, and almost smiled. He looked so peaceful when asleep. Doing her best not to wake him, she turned to face him, brushing aside the fine strands of hair over his forehead. The ring glistened in the light, verifying that last night had happened. "I will protect you. No matter what happens, I will always keep you safe," she whispered to him before wrapping her arms around him and being lulled back to sleep.
***
Golden sunlight was streaming in by the time she regained consciousness again. A quick peek at the window confirmed that it was close to sunset, and she noticed the bed was empty now. Ariana got up slowly, and rubbed her neck; last night's exhaustion was ever present. It took her a while to register that she was in Aron's bedroom; a room he had never showed her before. As soon as the realization hit, the feeling of intrustion crept up on her, but he had brought her here himself last night. She held her breath and looked around.The room was neat and tidy. There was a writing desk in the corner, with a neat stack of parchment on it, waiting to be written on. She turned back to the bed that was huge and took up most of the room. The rest of the room was pretty mundane--plain almost. There was an armoire in the corner and another set of doors that Ariana assumed led to the a smaller chamber. Her curiosity ebbed and she sat back down on the bed. The motion made her feet push one of her slippers under the bed. Sighing, she knelt down to retrieve it and stumbled upon a curious sight: under Aron's bed were piles and piles of books. Ariana blinked slowly to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her and reached out for one of them.A thin layer of dust had collected on the cover and wiping it away she saw it was a book on the History of Idelia. She was about to open it when there was a sharp knock on the door.Startled she dropped the book and pushed it back under the bed with her foot before giving permission to come in.The cheerful face of Ethel appeared, who for once was frowning. "Are you okay, milady? I heard a noise from inside, sounded like you fell..." she trailed off, looking unsure."Yes, yes I'm fine. Thank you," Ariana replied hurriedly. Ethel still looked unsure, so Ariana added, "How is His Majesty? Is he still unconscious?"Ethel bit her lip, "I'm afraid so. He is still the same.""And where is Aron?" Ariana asked.Worry eclipsed all other emotions on her face. "His Highness has locked himself in the King's study and refuses to come out. He had a meeting with the Royal Guard, in the morning. After that he locked the room, and refused to come out. He hasn't eaten anything at all. Occasionally he sends for random guards, but no one else is allowed in."Ariana frowned. "It's well into the afternoon now, isn't it?"Ethel nodded."Take me to him."***A hallway and a short flight of stairs led to the King's chambers. The King's bedroom was on one side, the door closed with guards standing outside, and the study was opposite the bedroom.Ariana halted in front of it and took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts and the questions in her mind, before knocking on the ornate oak doors. The sound echoed down the silent hallway but there was no answer from the inside. She tried the handle but the door didn't budge. Ariana looked over her shoulder at Ethel who shrugged helplessly."Your Majesty, Lady Greene is here to see you," Ethel announced. Still no answer."Aron? Please open the door. I need to talk to you," Ariana tried, but no answer came from the inside.She frowned at the door, her anger boiling inside her stomach, before turning back to Ethel. "I need you to go inside the King's bedroom and cover His Majesty's ears, just in case."Ethel nooded timidly, before darting away. The guards at the door moved to stop her but one glare from Ariana had them hesitantly step back.Taking another deep breath Ariana turned back to the door, and bellowed, "ARON MAXIMILLIAN IVERS OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW."There was a shuffling from the inside and a moment later the door cracked open. Ariana saw a fragment of Aron's face, dark circles lining the hazel eyes as he peered dejectedly at her. "I'm a little busy right now. Can you please come back later?"Without waiting for a response he moved to shut the door, but Ariana was faster and jammed her foot in the crack. "No," she said, and pushed the door open and stomped past him into the room.Aron sighed and closed the door behind her. She surveyed the room. Papers littered the desks and maps were spread over them, with small markers and paper weights holding them down, the chairs were pulled away and discarded in a corner and more paper was strewn across the floor. It was truly a mess.Squaring her shoulders she turned to Aron, who was leaning against a bookshelf, staring at her. Despite the nonchalant posture, his jaw was tight and his eyes looked tired and weary. "What is this about?" he finally asked.She shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing."Another sigh. "Ari, I don't have the time for this. I'm very busy."Ariana gestured to the mess in the room. "Clearly."Aron said nothing, so she moved closer to him, and placed a hand on his arm. "What's happening, Aron? One minute you're perfectly alright and the next you're a completely different person. Why are you holed up in here and why haven't you eaten anything? You being like this is not going to help anyone."Aron shook her hand off and moved away. "I know. Thank you for your concern."She blinked in disbelief, at a loss for words. Aron bent back over the maps, avoiding her glare. "I guess you're too busy to be bothered right now. Just know that you don't sleep in the same bed as someone and then shut them out completely the next day."Aron flinched at her words, that she had hurled over in her own anger. A piece of parchment crumpled in his fist. "Fine. You want to know why I'm acting like this? I'm scared of what happened! I don't like that someone just invaded my home and tried to kill the last bit of family I have! I'm terrified of the idea that if my father dies I'll have to step in his place, not that he's doing a lot right now, but I hate to bear the full brunt of the role. I don't even want to be here! It's not who I am, and it's not who I want to be."Ariana pressed her lips together, frowning.Aron was on a roll now, running his hands through his hair, his eyes frantically searching around the room. "This is not what I want. No, none of this is what I want. I hate this place."He turned to her, and she took a step back. "You know what else I hate? I hate the fact that you had to save me from your father. I'm supposed to be king someday! And I couldn't even defend myself against a villager! And I survived because you showed up! A common village girl with no experience in weaponry! Do you know how humiliating it was?"She couldn't believe her ears. "I'm sorry. It was a lucky shot, that right now I wish hadn't been so lucky," she spat out, her temper rising. "Are you honestly so bothered by the fact that a girl saved you that you'll forget that I travelled for hours just to warn you and helped when I had the chance? You wouldn't even be alive today if I hadn't shown up then!"Aron clenched his jaw, refusing to speak."You know what? You can stay in here and sulk all you want. You can do whatever you want, because you're the prince, and I'm just a lowly village girl who has no place here. Have fun with your traitor hunt," she fumed and walked out the room, making sure to slam the door on the way out.Ariana bumped into Ethel who had been standing right outside the door, watching with wide eyes. "Milady," she started to say but Ariana brushed her off and stomped away, ignoring her calling after her. 

A/N:

Its amazing how sometimes the time period between mere sentences in the story can stretch into years in the real world and everything hangs undisturbed, waiting for me to return and resume everything; not a single mote of dust falls on the ground in that fictional universe unless Im there for it to fall.

It's been an awfully long time since I wrote like I breathed and I remember the bliss of it, but somewhere along growing up i lost it in the world of responsibilities and deadlines. I want to do it again and i want to start over again, now matter how gruelling. I dont promise much right now, but i can promise i will try with all my soul.Thank you for hanging around for so long, if you have, and if you're new, welcome.