Charmed

Chapter Eleven

The sun beamed onto me as I rolled over in the spacious bed, slowly rousing me from my sleep. For a moment, I was confused as to where I was. Then last night replayed in my mind. A childish grin imprinted itself on my mouth at the memory. I was curled beneath the sheets in Darius' bed, in his chambers, with my clothes discarded on the floor beside his where we'd thrown them last night.

I looked to see if Darius was still asleep, but he was no longer beside me. I sat up, using the covers to hide my bare chest. My eyes scanned the room - there was little places he could have been hiding. My stomach dropped as I realised what last night must have been to him - just a fling.

I waited for a few minutes, but he didn't come back. Slowly, and with a heavy heart, I slipped out of the bed and began pulling my dress back on. I shoved my hair into a ponytail, placed Darius' clothes onto the bed once I had changed the sheets, and began walking back to the servants' quarters.

"There she is." Lisa winked at me as I sat down next to her on the kitchen bench. I winced at the unexpected soreness. She spotted my movements with her curious brown eyes. "Where were you all night?"

I sent her a glare and reached her an apple. "Just... places."

"Places?" She raised an eyebrow. "What did you do in these places?"

I bit into the apple, ignoring her. I had never felt so disgraced and disappointed in myself in my life. All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and cry into my pillow like the weakling I was. But I couldn't do that, because I had work to do.

"I have to go or I'll be late," I told her, taking the apple with me. She didn't say anything else, obviously picking up on my mood. 

I wanted to avoid Darius as much as possible, so I grabbed my cloak and headed towards the stables so that I could take Chuck for his daily ride. I collected Dany on the way, and she trotted obediently beside me as we entered the stables. I couldn't even enjoy the ride as I normally would have because of my mood.

Soon after the ride I was cleaning Darius' clothes. I scrubbed at the material, my knuckles turning red from the heat of the water and the force of the scrubbing brush. I didn't care.

"Gwen?" A voice behind me made me jump, dropping the brush and shirt into the water. I swore a little. Kane came up beside me with a smile on his face and his hands behind his back. "Hey."

"Hi," I muttered. I was in no mood to talk to anyone, let alone him. "What can I do for you?"

"I wondered if you would be free at some point today," he said. I flashed him an angry look, hoping that he would understand I was rarely free thanks to the long list of chores Darius had given me. "After your chores, of course."

"I don't know when I'll be finished, Kane," I started to tell him.

Kane grinned anyway and pulled something out from behind his back: a rose. No flowers had bloomed in Glydale for months because of winter, apart from the magically tended gardens in the castle. 

"I got this for you," he said, handing it to me. I took it hesitantly with soapy fingers. "I lied to you yesterday. I wasn't going for herbs and plants. I was really going to another village. Their plants have already bloomed."

I smiled down at the dainty flower in my hands. The petals were a deep red, reminding me of the ones Pa would sometimes buy Mother during the spring and summer seasons. I met Kane's eyes with a genuine smile on my face. "Thank you. It's beautiful. But you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble just for a flower."

He shrugged. "It was no trouble at all. I had to fetch a few other things, too. Things that are only useful if you'll come with me when you're free?" He had slipped the question into the conversation again, and I felt bad for having to turn him down a second time.