Guarded ✔️

Chapter 5

"I would if I could, trust me!"

"Leave, then!  Get out!"

"Maybe I will!" he yelled.

"Fine by me! Maybe once you leave I'll be poisoned so you never have to see me again!  I bet you'll love that.  No more pretty princess to bother you, right?" My voice rose several octaves as I began to hyperventilate.

"That's not what I-"

"If you hate me so much then why don't you kill me yourself? You wouldn't be the first to try.  It would make everyone a lot more happy, right?" I took the book that was closest to me and threw it as hard as I could across the room.

My breaths were coming in short gasps.  I couldn't see through my tears.  I was hysterical.

I threw myself onto the desk chair and put my head down. 

The tears didn't stop, and no one came to stop them.

My sobs echoed around the room until they were the only thing I could focus on.  Slowly, they became less frequent until I was just hiccuping.  I slowly lifted my head up and wiped my eyes and nose with the back of my hand.  I looked behind me to see Maddon sitting on the floor, his knees pulled up to his chest.  He was messing with a chip in the wood.  In this light, he looked incredibly boyish.  His lips were set in a pout I couldn't help but chuckle at.

He looked up and immediately began to stand. I motioned for him to stay and sat down on the floor across from him.

"I'm-"

"I-"

We both started our apologies at the same time, causing us both to laugh.  Maddon's sounded more nervous than amused.

"Let me go first," he said.  "I mean, I yelled at the princess of Thanes and all."

"Okay."

He took in a breath and opened his mouth.  Then he closed it.  And opened it.  And closed it.

"I don't know what to say," he confessed.  "I just can't believe I said those things to you.  I don't think they're true at all.  I just- I'm just...jealous I guess."

"Jealous?" I asked.

"No.  Not really.  I don't know! I just got so...so annoyed and I let myself go.  I am so, so incredibly sorry, Braelynn. So sorry."

He looked at me straight in the eyes and I knew he was speaking from his heart.

"It's okay.  I'm not mad at you.  In some ways, I think I needed to be yelled at.  I guess.  I needed a reason to get angry.  I'm sorry it had to be at you." I said and played with the ends of my hair.

"It was my honor to have a book chucked at me by a princess; the highlight of my life," he said with a slight laugh.

We fell into a comfortable silence, both lost in our thoughts.

"Do you want to know the real reason why I didn't eat my breakfast?" I inquired.

"Sure.  It's not what your mother said about being fat right?  Because that is so not true."

I laughed.  "No, no! Thanks though, I guess that was a sort-of-compliment."

"You're welcome.  So what was it then?"

"That nightmare I had last night.  It wasn't wine that poisoned me- it was eggs.  Scrambled eggs.  So I guess when I saw it, I just freaked out.  I don't know, it sounds stupid when I say it out loud."

"Now you're making me feel really bad for yelling at you about not eating your breakfast.  It's not stupid at all.  I would be freaking out too," he said and looked at the ground.