Crowns and Cloaks

Embarrassment

It was a week after her second encounter with Blade Undermyre, and Xaveria was peacefully slumbering underneath one of the trees that grew beside the bank of the river. The days were getting even more stressful as her mother was constantly angry with everyone, not to mention that her father was bringing in wanton's by the minute. So, whenever she could, she would be lying there, trying to escape the duties of royal life.

Blade was coming back to check on the traps that were lurking underneath the water. The river was a popular place for salmon and other types of fish, which is why that it was a great place to set up and get food for himself and his family. He removed the cloak from off his shoulders, and took off his shirt and dove into the water to start collecting the fish.

Xaveria chose the perfect time to wake up.

She yawned, before stretching her arms and standing up. She checked the time on the pocket watch that she had taken from her father's study, and realised that it was almost time to head home. She turned to return on the trail when she sees movement in the water, and she turns around to see what is going on. Blade emerges on seconds later, carrying two boxes filled with crab and salmon out with him. His black hair was slicked back, wet and dripping from the water, not to mention that his pants was soaked through. Blade carried the boxes up with ease, showing off his muscles and with them glistening from the water made them all the better.

Xaveria screamed and covered her eyes.

Blade saw where the scream came from and he dropped the boxes on the bank, before racing towards her. "What the heck, are you spying on me?!" he yelled, and Xaveria cowered and hid her hands. "No!" she cried, and blindly took a few steps back, refusing to let her hands drop from her face. However, there was a stone in the way, and she almost fell over and had to remove her hands from her eyes to break her fall. She looked up at Blade once again and shrieked, and covered her eyes again.

"Its not like I look like I've been mauled to death! Come on..." Blade rolled his eyes and gripped her elbow tight, and helped her up from the forest floor. "I knew you were sleeping behind the tree the entire time, so you can stop acting like it's a big surprise that I caught you."

Xaveria sheepishly peeled her hands off her face. "Sorry." She muttered, a small tint of pink tracing her cheeks. "I didn't realise that you were here yet."

"Well, next time don't act as if I came to kill you, alright?" he asked, before returning to his cold stature, and pulled away from Xaveria, before walking back to the traps he left on the bank.

Without his cloak on, Vera felt as if she could see more about him. He wasn't as muscular as she thought we was, but more lanky and lean. He had a small scar that ran from the tip of his spine and ran diagonally to his waist. The more she looked at him, the more he became an enigma; clouded in mystery and darkness.

As Xaveria daydreamed about what he had to endure to receive such a nasty scar, Blade had already placed back on his shirt and cloak, and walking away with a bag full of fish. Half way down the path, she broke out of it and ran up to him. "Do you need any help?"

"What could you possibly be able to help me with? Look at you, you're as small as a twig, and no muscle. You'll be no help to me." Blade shrugged off her politeness rudely, and it hurt Xaveria to hear those things be said about her.

"Well, aren't you just the charmer? Have you ever thought that the words you speak can actually hurt a person?" Xaveria growled at the Ranger, which made Blade stop in his tracks, and turn around with a deadly glare, his eyes seeming to be a black colour. However, Xaveria didn't back down. "The only thing I wanted to do was help. You could have simply said 'no' instead of pointing out my flaws. Your arrogance hurts my feelings, Blade. See you around." Xaveria turned in her heels and stormed out of the forest, and Blade watched her retreating figure disappearing into the green of the forest. He sighed, before continuing on his way down the wood path.