Distinctly Different

Chapter 13 ~ The Meeting

This chapter is dedicated to shellbell232 because so far she's commented on all the chapters she's read and i love comments :)

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Chapter 13

A light knock interrupted his sleep and Rowan sat up quickly. He yawned and run a hand through his tousled brown hair. When he didn’t say anything the door opened somewhat and he saw Arabella’s eyes through the slit. Her eyes widened and she started to shut the door but he waved her inside. She did as he asked and entered the room with her head bowed slightly and her eyes carefully averted from him. A faint flush started creeping onto her cheeks. Rowan rolled his eyes and pushed the covers away before getting out of bed.

“Well? What do you want?” he asked smiling to soften his harsh words. Arabella fidgeted with her sleeve as a long silence followed his question. Rowan cleared his throat to break the silence which was about to become awkward and directed his gaze to the window.

“I was sent to tell you that your family want to see you,” she said. When he looked back he caught her staring at him. He smirked and she looked away with an annoyed expression. She hadn’t wanted him to see her staring.

“What for?” he asked curiously. She shook her head. He should have known his paranoid family wouldn’t entrust that kind of information to someone they weren’t fully confident about. He studied Arabella; the servant girl was hardly what one would think of as a threat.

“They didn’t tell me,” she said. He watched her walk over to the stool that he had some clothes lying over top and pick up one of the shirts. “Perhaps you should have put a shirt on,” Arabella muttered before throwing the shirt at him. He caught it and chucked.

“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable if I’m shirtless?” He inquired taking a step towards her. She stumbled back and then glared at him for making her do that. He just smirked back.

“Just put the shirt on. The castle servants don’t need anything more to gossip about,” she commented, meaning for it to be a simple, unimportant bit of conversation. It didn’t go the way she thought as Rowan became curious.

“What do you mean, anything more? What are they gossiping about?” he replied. Arabella grimaced as she realized he wasn’t going to let that go.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly hoping he would forget about it. Rowan shook his head and took another step towards her. She gasped and ran to the door.

“Arabella, you know I’m going to find out one way or another. It’s only a matter of when,” he told her. She nodded slowly and for a moment he thought she would actually tell him but then she ducked out of the room.

"Yes, but I’m not telling you now,” he heard her say before she was gone. Rowan groaned and slipped on the shirt he held in his hands.

He had to go meet his family, but afterwards, he would make Arabella tell him what she knew, he vowed. He finished dressing and then left his room. He paused for a moment, he didn’t actually know where he was supposed to meet his family; Arabella hadn’t told him. He sighed as he set off to find his family. With any luck it’d be over fast. Even as he thought that he knew deep down that this would be important and with his family, important things always took a while.

Just when he neared the throne room he spotted Gavin. Gavin was of course, talking to one of the servant girls. The girl looked uncomfortable and when she saw Rowan a look of relief flashed upon her face momentarily. He smiled at her.