The Kingdom of Kicia

Chapter Two

"You could probably get in trouble for this you know." Ariel said to the man who was currently leading her through a waltz. He happened to be the same soldier who seemed to know more about her than she liked. His name was Beckett, thats about all she had gotten out of him during the seven trips they had taken together around the dance floor.

"What do you mean? I'm only dancing." Beckett replied with a grin, that Ariel supposed he thought dashing, okay so maybe it kind of was.

"I don't think you're supposed to get more than one dance with the King's daughter, let alone seven."

He just winked at her, not saying anything. Why is he so infuriating? She thought. 

The song finally began to wind down. If he asks for another dance thought Ariel, I will refuse. But she didn't have to worry about that.

Beckett leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I won't ask you for another dance tonight, but you will meet in the library at 1:30."

"Oh I will, will I? I'm not allowed to leave the ball you know" Ariel said, raising her brow.

"You will."

"And how will I do that?"

"You'll find a way. I know you want to, especially because you want to know what I know about you."

"I won't break the rules." Ariel said, even though she already knew she would meet him.

"You will. You've already made up your mind, I can see it" He breathed in her ear before walking away.

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The rest of the night Ariel could not stop thinking about Beckett, and the way he whispered in her ear. What did he know about her? They had never met before, she'd never even seen him in her life! But she was excited to sneak out, if only to get away from the horrid ball.

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Ariel tip-toed down the hall as quietly as possible until she found the door to the library. Praying it wouldn't squeak, Ariel slowly pushed the heavy oak door. She knew there were gaurds making their rounds so she had been extremely careful. She closed the door silently and turned around to find Theo sitting at her great-grandfathers desk with his feet up.

"See, I knew you would come". Beckett smiled at her.

"Yeah, yeah you're oh so clever." Ariel replied, as she pushed his feet off the wooden surface."And keep your feet off of here, its worth more than you could even imagine."

He stood up and walked over to the fire place, and then to the shelves and began browsing through the texts.

Ariel was getting impatient and sighed loudly to get his attention.

He turned slowly and raised his brow, "Yes?" he asked her.

"Are you going to tell me what you know or not?" Ariel replied, a bit louder than she intended.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that."

"So?"

"I saw you..."

"Saw me? Where, When?"

"This morning, in the armory. You're quite good with a bow."

Startled Ariel replied, " Wait, that was you? That noise I heard, oh gods."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep and was out for a walk when I saw a conspicuous figure climbing down the wall. So of course I was naturally curious and decided to follow it. And then, there you were. You really are good, I'm not just saying that, although I do have some drills that could help you even more. And of course I didn't plan on startling you, I didn't plan on you seeing or hearing me at all really, that stupid bucket..."

"Be quiet!", Ariel shouted at him. "Listen to me, you will tell no one what you saw. In fact," Ariel said pointing at and starting to move closer to Beckett, "you will forget what you saw this morning. Do you understand me? No one must know."

Beckett grinned again and asked her, "What's wrong, you don't trust me?"

"Trust you? I don't even know you."

"Don't worry I wasn't going to tell anyone. Actually I was going to ask you if you would like me to train you."

"You, train me?" Ariel asked stunned.

"Yeah, I could make you great. I can teach you anything you wanted to know, sword, hand to hand, I can even improve your archery."

"Why do you think I would want to be trained? Especially by someone like you?"

"Well I figured if you went through the trouble of climbing out your window to shoot, then you obviously wanted it."

They were really close now, close enough Ariel could see green flecks in his eyes that she hadn't noticed before. She really did want to train, she was tough, she wanted to protect herself. But, she couldn't risk being found out, her father would kill her.

"No." She said firmly.

"No? Are you sure?" Beckett said looking around like he was bored.

"Yes I am sure."

"Okay, well I'll be at the armory at 4:30a.m. If you change your mind."

Just then Ariel heard the door start to squeak. Ariel grabbed Beckett and pulled him on top of her, landing behind the desk, and out of view. Just as he was about to ask what was going on Ariel slammed her hand to his mouth, and a guard stepped in.

"Hello, anyone there?" The guard asked, but the two kept as quiet as possible, not moving or making any sound. After waiting a moment longer the guard left the room and closed the door.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ariel turned her attention back to Beckett and realized her hand was still covering his mouth. She quickly removed it and tried to get back up, but found herself trapped under him. Ariel looked back up at him and suddenly found him leaning his head  down toward her. She tilted her head as well, moving to meet his lips. Their mouths encircled each other, and Ariel found herself wanting more, she was surprised when he was the first to pull away. He stayed on top her though, and gave her that self-appreciating grin of his.

"What?!" She whispered angrily at him.

"Oh nothing" Beckett replied, " I'll see you at 4:30".

"No you won't" Ariel replied heatedly. "Why are you so sure that I'm so willing to break the rules?"

He didn't say anything at first, he just began to get up and walk away. When he was about halfway to the door he turned to her and said, "You're wild, Ariel. I can see it in your eyes."