Crimson Princess and Her Fated Lover

Shadow King

The trail they were on was now in an open field and coming towards them was a soldier from the Shadow kingdom. The soldier rode straight up to Alexander and took off his helmet. The man had hair the color of ebony that clung to the sides of his head from the helmet. His eyes were dark green and they were intently staring at Alexander. The man looked to be over 6 foot and had a very well built physique. Serenity glanced over at Leon to see that he had relaxed, obviously recognizing the man.

“It’s about time you got here.” The man said, extending his hand out to Alexander who grabbed his hand in return and shot him a big smile.

“What are you doing out here?” Alexander asked.

“I like to go out on the patrols and knew that this one was in the direction you would be coming from.” The man said.

“Aww you were excited to see me so you rode out to meet me, how touching.” Alexander joked.

Who is this guy? They seem really close. Serenity thought.

“If that makes you feel better you just go on thinking it.” The man said.

“Aww, Damien, I am touched….really I am” Alexander laughed.

So that's Damien? Serenity thought, as she stared at the two interacting. She has never seen Alex act so close with someone before and it was interesting to her.

“I see you finally got tired of that stuffy princess you are always visiting.” Damien said. “I bet you couldn’t wait to get here so you could get away from tea time and reform classes.”

Alexander chuckled out nervously.

Serenity practically choked on her spit. What was this asshole saying about her? Stuffy princess?! She shot Leon a shocked look. Leon looked at her a bit uncomfortable and cleared his throat nervously.

“Leon, my man what are you doing back there? You and Alex having a lovers quarrel?” Damien laughed out.

So this guy was close with both Alex and Leon. Serenity glanced over at Leon to see him smiling towards Damien.

“You know how moody he can get sometimes. I thought I’d give him some space.” Leon laughed.

“He was just missing having some good fun with his real best friend! Look don’t feel guilty about it next time and don’t bother visiting the stuck up snob so you can spend more time with me.” Damien grinned as Alexander shifted uncomfortably on his horse. “You a bit tired from the ride? Whats wrong with you? You aren’t saying much.”

“It’s been a long trip.” Alexander said clearing his throat again.

Oh hell no…..These assholes usually sit around and bash me? They have some hearty, macho, guy bonding experience and make jokes about me. Pffft, I’m anything but stuffy….tea time, reform classes….are you kidding me? You’re barking up the wrong princess pal. Serenity was boiling and she was irritated with Alexander for not correcting him on the assumptions. Serenity fixed her gaze upon the closest target, Leon, and gave him a deathly stare.

Leon felt her murderous intent with her stare and yelled “Let’s get going. I can’t wait to eat some real food.” Leon threw that last part in for Serenity hoping to get her thoughts off of killing him.

“Ride along with me and my guys. We have to make a quick stop at a nearby village on our way back to the castle.” Damien said.

Alexander agreed and followed Damien and his soldiers. Damien stayed by Alexander’s side and the two chatted back and forth catching up with each other. Alexander stole a few glances back and knew that his little bird was fuming. She shot him daggers when their eyes met. So much for first impressions, Alexander thought.

Damien looked over towards Alex and said “I have a few lady’s visiting me and they can’t wait to meet you. Well, technically they aren’t here to visit me, but came with their fathers for our land discussions. It’s a good thing you didn’t get stuck in an arranged marriage with that cry baby princess of yours. There are so many better options out there.”

Yeah….I don’t like this guy Serenity thought. He was a good looking guy and Serenity found him attractive, at least until he opened his mouth. She couldn’t believe that he would go as far to make fun of someone he never even met before. That’s just bad manners as far as she was concerned.

Suddenly, Leon’s horse began rearing and bucking. Serenity looked to see a long snake slither in front of the horse. Before, she could react her horse followed suit. Leon was bucked off and his horse nervously danced away. Serenity tried to get control of her horse, but with the snake still there it wasn’t about to calm down. Serenity decided that it would be best to jump off and roll instead of being outright bucked off. She waited for the horse to rear up again and then jumped off. She jumped away from the horse to the side and rolled with the fall, helping to break the impact. Her horse took off running and a soldier kicked his horse after it. This was an eventful day, Serenity thought. Almost immediately Alexander was at her side. His eyes were filled with worry and panic. “I wasn’t the one afraid of snakes.” She said quietly and smiled at him. He went to lift her up and Serenity held her hand up in front of him. “Would you act like this over any other of your soldiers? You aren’t even worrying about poor Leon.” Serenity said as she looked in the direction of Leon who was standing and rubbing his backside. She could see that Alex was still clearly shaken up. I guess he has had too much worry for one day. “Hey” she whispered “I’m fine so get your act together.” She quickly finished out as Damien walked up to them.

“Man, I haven’t seen you ever move that fast. You worried your poor fragile soldiers can’t handle getting thrown off a horse.” Damien chuckled and then bent down to look at Serenity. “You’re a new young face. This your first pony ride sonny?”

Aren’t you just a barrel of laughs Serenity thought. She let out a forced guy chuckle and painfully stood up. She winced at the pain on her side and reached her hand down to touch it. She drew her hand back which was covered in blood. She was relieved to see it wasn’t a serious injury just a light flesh wound.

As soon as Alexander saw the blood he grabbed Serenity’s shoulder and started to look at the wound. “It’s fine.” Serenity grumbled out. The last thing she wanted was to hear more baby insults from the jerk king.

Leon had made his way over to them and was also looking at Serenity with concern. This extra attention was not going unnoticed by Damien. “Whats with you two? Its just a scratch, right sonny?”

Serenity clenched her fists and then forced out a small “Right.”

“See? No worries. Treat him like the man he will grow up to be and not like your wimpy princess. She probably would have made a huge scene about this and cried for attention.” Damien let out a hearty laugh. He stared at Alex and Leon who didn’t join in on the laughter. The kid beside him had a stormy expression on his face. Probably tired of being treated like a kid Damien thought. “Well you two are no fun today. Sorry about them kid. Come ride up front with us, what is your name?”

“Wren” Serenity said in her fake guy voice. She kept it short though. This guy was an asshole and she really would have preferred to ride in the back away from him.

Damien gave her a light slap on the back “Dust yourself off and lets get going. Man Wren, you got dirt all over your face too. Hahaha it’s pretty unsightly.” Damien laughed returning to the front to his horse. “You guys coming?”

Alexander nodded and said “Give me one second.” and turned back to face Serenity. “Are you sure you are okay? I don’t want you being uncomfortable.”

Serenity nodded “I’m fine. It was just a scratch.”

“Okay, come get your horse and ride behind me.” Alexander said and walked back to his horse.

Serenity glared at Alex since she was still irritated but could only comply. She climbed back up on her horse, who had finally calmed down, and ignored her company. She patted the horse's neck gently to let him know she wasn’t mad at him. She followed behind Alex and Damien with Leon right beside her. The late afternoon sun beckoned them as they rode in it’s direction. Damien and Alex were talking and laughing. The two of them were like excited friends who were getting to have a sleep over. Serenity often wondered how Alex acted around Damien, who he also considered his best friend. She could feel the trust and respect they had in one another. She never had another close friend like she did with Alex, mainly because she never was around other people that much. She thought that it was probably because she never traveled that it gave everyone the impression that she was a fragile person.

Damien pointed down in the direction of a large open field. In the center was a small village. “We will be stopping there for just a little bit.”

Serenity looked towards the village in anticipation. Yay for warm food she thought. She was also excited to be able to interact with more people, especially now that her current company made her want to jump back into the river. She was curious to see how the villagers reacted around their king. She was really hoping to find something positive about him for her to work with, otherwise, it was going to be a very long visit.