TBATE-ONESHOTS

A Royal Heart 2

Tessia Eralith POV

His deep azure eyes were locked on the paper before his brows raised in surprise. His gaze tore away from the quest sheet and settled on me. I couldn't help but stare into those eyes of his, which were like an ocean where you could go swimming and get lost in them.

His mouth went slightly agape, and his azure pearls studied my face for a second before his cheeks turned slightly red.

He took his hand away from the paper, looked to the side, and cleared his throat, "Ah-em. Sorry about that." His eyes flicked to me, and his lips curved into a kind smile, "You can have it."

I stood there for a second with my eyes looking him up and down. His medium-length auburn hair fell freely down his head and rested just above his deep eyes. His soft-looking lips were complemented by his flawless skin, which he had hidden under a hood from the black cloak he was wearing over his black leather armor.

His brows scrunched up in confusion, "Are you ok, miss?"

I tilted my head to the right, a little bewildered at what he meant. My eyes suddenly widened slightly when I noticed I had been silently staring at this poor guy this entire time.

"W-what?" I stuttered out.

I mentally face-palmed, 'By the stars above, he probably thinks I'm an idiot.'

He gave a euphonious chuckle, and he smiled again, a smile that almost seemed to make his eyes shine. "I said you can have it," He repeated, gesturing to the quest.

I looked where he was gesturing, seeing I was still holding onto the paper. I took my hand off the paper and looked at him with a smile, "No, that's okay. I would hate to take it from you."

His eyes flicked to my smile, and his cheeks turned slightly red before he looked back into my eyes and smiled in return, "No, please, I insist. We grabbed it at the same time, and I'm offering it to you."

"Well, if you're offering," Sarah said behind me. "Then we'll take it."

I looked at her as she reached out and took the paper off the corkboard. She stepped up to me, handed me the paper, and whispered in my ear, "Just take the quest so we can get away from this human."

I mentally signed at her words before I looked at the man who was looking at Sarah curiously, "I apologize for my teammate."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sarah's brow raised like she was offended by my apologizing on her behalf.

He looked at me and waved away my apology with a smile, "No worries. I did say you can have it, after all."

I nodded and looked down at the paper, reading it over. My eyes fell on the requirements listed at the bottom, and my stomach dropped.

"Dang it," I breathed out.

The man looked at me curiously, "What's wrong? If you don't mind me asking."

"She does mind," Sarah snapped.

"No, I don't," I retorted, giving Sarah a side-eye.

I looked back at him as his eyes were darting between me and Sarah inquisitively. His eyes settled on me as I held up the paper.

"I don't meet the quest requirements," I said dejectedly.

He looked confused for a second, "Really? What are they?"

I shrugged, "You either need to be a party of three or more B-class adventurers or have an A-class adventurer with you?"

His eyes widened in surprise, "You're not A-class?" I shook my head in response. "Wow, I would've pegged you as A-class," he chuckled.

I looked at him curiously, "Why's that?"

He gestured to me, "With the presence you give off and the fact that you're light yellow, I only assumed." He smiled, "And you look like you can take care of yourself."

My lips curved up slightly at those words of someone who actually saw me as a capable person and not some glass sculpture princess. Curiously, my eyes fell to his chest, and looked at his core. My eyes went wide, seeing he was initial silver.

'How strong is this guy?'

I quickly composed myself and smiled, "Thanks, I appreciate that. In truth, my companion and I just got our adventurer cards. They said they couldn't give us A-class because we're new."

"Ah," He said and nodded. "Yeah, that's a stupid stipulation they made a while back. B-class is the highest you can get at testing now." His eyes flicked to the paper, and he reached his hand out, "Can I see the paper?"

"Sure," I said and handed him the paper. "Not like it's any use to me anyway," I shrugged dejectedly.

"That's not entirely true," He said, eyeing the paper. I tilted my head slightly and looked at him curiously. He looked up at me with a smile, "Feel like teaming up?"

My brows raised in surprise, "What?"

His smile faded, and he waved his hand in front of him, "I don't mean to overstep and come off too strong. It's just I could see you were disappointed about not being able to do this class. And, since we're A class and you're new, I thought we could team up."

"We're?" I said, confused.

He nodded and gestured behind him. My eyes fell on the figure standing behind him, who I had only just now noticed. He was dressed similarly to the man in front in front of me, with his hood up as well. He had short-trimmed, jet-black hair falling low across his forehead and dark eyes which were locked onto Sarah and me. However, the thing I took notice of the most was how he stood close to the man in front of me, almost protectively.

My head snapped to Sarah when I heard her scoff. "And how do we know you aren't just trying to take advantage of us?"

"Sarah!" I snapped with a glare.

"No, no," The man chuckled, and I looked at him surprised. "Your friend," he looked at her, "Sarah, is it? Is right." I looked at him cautiously and confused before he looked at me with a smile. "There are adventurers who would try to take advantage of newbies. She has every right to be cautious. But I assure you I'm not trying to take advantage of you."

I looked at the man up and down, seeing no signs of deception or malicious intent. Slowly my lips curved up into a small smile, "Very well, we will accept your offer."

"What?!" Sarah protested, and I held my hand up, silencing her.

"But that doesn't mean I trust you," I added with a slight head tilt.

He chuckled, "You'd be a fool to trust me right off the bat." He looked me up and down, "And you look like no fool." He gave a kind smile, "Hopefully, we can learn to get to know each other."

The corner of my lips twitched a little as I hid a smile, "Perhaps. How about we start with each other's names?" I held my hand out. "I'm Cecilia," I said, using my cover name.

The man took my hand and shook it, never breaking eye contact with me, "It's nice to meet you, Cecilia. I'm Grey."