𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍 || 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 [ I ]

Chapter 37

The stone under her hand felt cold, as if the sun hadn't grazed the grey walls with her presence for quite some time. Like metal, which no matter the heat, stayed as cold as ice and was relieving to the touch of sweaty palms. So were these walls, cool to the touch of her burning fingertips.

The heat traveled through her body, trickling from her fingers to her arms, through her torso untill even her legs began to tremble. Her heart pumping warm blood through her veins at such a fast pace she could feel it hammer against her chest.

Wind blew her short brown hairs against her cheeks, tickling her skin. It felt harsh compared to the soft breeze it usually presented itself as below in the courtyard. It made her shiver as her hands clamped tighter around the stone.

Quite the contrast to the cool and collected Darrin that stood little ways down.

His arms were crossed over his chest, his head tilted upwards and a cheeky grin on his lips. All the wind did for him was tossle some of his hairs and cool him down from the excitement he felt within.

It was hard to contain his smugness, the victorious feeling making him laugh out loud once again.

"Why are you laughing?"

The sweet voice of his fiancée, which was usually a pleasure to his ears, sounded very suspicious this time. She knew her husband-to-be quite well and a laugh like this could only mean one thing.

"Reepicheep mentioned you were standing here menacingly, what are you up to?"

Darrin smiled sweetly when Ellyn walked across the courtyard to stand beside him. Her eyes mirrored the suspicion in her voice, squinting. But, except for brushing his hand against hers in greeting, Darrin did nothing to explain.

Ellyn frowned at this. She'd learned to see the signs when it came to his ways of getting into trouble and causing mischief. This was exactly how that started. Yet, Darrin hadn't moved and thus she followed his gaze.

When she finally spotted Muriel in one of the high windows that looked over the courtyard, she raised an eyebrow. From Killian's stories she knew there was nothing unusual about seeing the princess sit there, but standing?

She nudged her fiancé, who was now looking at his sister with a smirk on his face and was yet to answer her question.

"She's going to jump."

"What?" Ellyn's eyes widened and flickered back to Muriel again. She absolutely didn't look like she wanted to jump. "Who gave her that idea?" Her shocked reaction only made him chuckle more. "And why are you so happy about this?" Continued Ellyn her questioning, squinting at her husband. "What have you done?"

Muriel who could just hear their conversation echo of the walls surrounding them answered, her voice sounded strained. "It was a bet!"

She saw how Ellyn crossed her arms and mumbled something, probably about how she wasn't even surprised, causing Darrin to laugh. Muriel looked down again, seeing how big the difference was between them and her, she gulped. "A stupid, very stupid bet," she whispered to herself.

"Well, come on then, Squirt!" exclaimed an excited Darrin when he saw his sister take a step back, "I don't have all day!"

Ellyn rolled her eyes and jabbed him in the side, making him groan. She glanced up at the girl, who she felt a sisterly love for even though it had only been a short period of time since they'd met, and bit her lip. "You don't have to listen to your stupid," she jabbed him in the side again when Darrin scoffed, "stupid, brother, Muriel! I don't care what the bet was about, this is dangerous!"