Revenge

Chapter 2

I wake up to someone smacking me in the face. 

"Do you know how many rooms I had to check before I found you?" Fumed Lyle. His face was redder than the wine I drank last night. 

"Why does it matter?" I groaned, turning my face into the pillow. He was making my already throbbing headache worse. 

"It matters because you could have been dead! Do you know how I felt when I opened your bedroom door and you weren't there? I thought of all the millions of things that could have happened to you!"

"Calm down," I snapped. "As you can see, I'm fine."

Lyle blinked and for the first time, I notice the wetness that had gathered around the edges of his eyes. "I was afraid for you, Elliot. You're the closest thing to family I have, the only family I have left. I just didn't want to find you the same way that I- I found-"

I'm up in an instant, pulling him into my arms. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. Next time I need to occupy another room, I'll tell you."

I hear a sniffle before Lyle was pulling away to give me an amused smile. "Why are you in here, anyway?"

I scowl as my thoughts turn to the guy from last night. "Well, I had  intended to spend the night doing unspeakable things with someone I met at the celebration, but the ass didn't want to do any of those unspeakable things with me."

A laugh burst from my friend. "You got rejected?"

I glared at him. "It's not funny. I had to suffer in here alone and take care of-"

"Enough! Please. I don't need to hear that." Lyle made a disgusted face at me. 

"My point is, he's one of those romantics. He's probably saving himself for marriage or something ridiculous like that."

"It's not ridiculous to want to be in love with someone before you're intimate with them." Lyle frowned at me. He was also one of the romantic types, waiting for his true love to find him and whisk him away into his happily ever after. 

I didn't believe in fairy tales and I planned to enjoy my freedom while I had it. 

~

It wasn't until noon that I finally get away from my teachers and had the stable boy ready my horse. I hated being cooped up in the palace all day, especially when the weather would soon make it impossible to go anywhere, then I really would be trapped. 

Once my horse was ready, I take her into the forest surrounding the palace where I used to go hunting with my father, or rather, he would try to teach me how to hunt and I would try to sabotage him. 

I loved being outdoors, surrounded by nothing but the gentle breeze and animals. They couldn't gossip about you like people could. 

I find a spot near a stream, far enough away that I couldn't see the tops of the palace peaking above the trees. I feed my horse an apple before plopping down on the ground, back against the trunk of a tree. I lazed in the afternoon sun, letting the warmth sink through my skin. My eyes were slipping shut when I hear a voice.

"You really shouldn't leave your guard down out here."

My eyes snap open and I would have jumped if I weren't sitting. Dante stood a foot in front of me, arms crossed over his chest and regarding me with a lot less hostility than he did last night. 

"It's rude to sneak up on people." I said, leaning back and pretending as if he didn't nearly give me a heart attack. 

"It's dangerous," he said, referring to his earlier statement.