Ever After: An Amourshipping and OC Story

Chapter 8

It is late in the afternoon and after a quiet lunch with the monks at the Kalos Monastery, Ash and Serena decides to hop back in Ash’s carriage and start riding back to the Yvonne estate. The two young adults continue to talk about the library and the hospitality of the monks until they ran out of things to talk about.

After a while, Ash began to grow tired and fell asleep while Serena is looking through the carriage window. When she finally turns to the prince, he is already out. Serena smiles and giggles quietly, as she finds the prince to look cute as he lightly snores. But after a few minutes, she begins to grow a little tired herself and she gets an idea that turns her cheeks red. She debates in whether or not to give into the temptation, but after a while, her desire gets the best of her. With her face turning red all over, she scoots closer to Ash and slowly rests her head on his shoulder. Goosebumps surround her body as she feels his shoulder blade on her cheek, but after a moment or two, she starts to feel comfortable and closes her eyes with a small warm smile on her face. She lets out a quiet sigh as she drifts into sleep next to the man she is falling for.

Suddenly, a violent bump shakes the carriage and both Ash and Serena fall off their seats nearly hitting their heads together. They immediately wake up and check their surroundings before they struggle to get out of the carriage.

“Your Highness, Comtesse, are you alright?” the carriage driver asks.

“Yeah, we're fine,” Ash says as he helps Serena out of the carriage. “What happened?”

“It looks like one of the wheels has broken off, sire,” the driver answers. “Probably lost a nail or something.”

Ash frowns at this news as he and Serena sees that one of the back wheels of the carriage has indeed come off.

“Can it be repaired?” Ash asks the carriage driver.

“I think so,” the driver answers. “I shall have to walk back to the monastery and ask the monks for some tools and nails.”

Ash sighs in disappointment, clearly displeased with the scenario. Serena looks at him worryingly and thinks for a moment before she gets an idea.

“Then we shall travel on foot,” she announces.

Ash turns to Serena in shock.

“Are you mad? It’s half a day’s walk,” he complains.

“Honestly, Your Highness, where is your sense of adventure?” Serena playfully taunts. “Besides, you look like a strong man with the stamina to travel on foot on a daily basis.”

Ash stares at the honey blonde woman befuddled as she begins to walk on ahead. He hesitates for a moment before he shrugs and catches up with Serena much to her satisfaction.

For the next hour, Ash and Serena walk down the road in silence. Every now and then, the two of them glance at each other and smile, glad to be in each other’s company. But as they walk further and further, they begin to realize that they are going deeper into the forest. Having never gone this far into the forest before, Ash, in particular, grows worried with every step.

“Grace, are you sure we’re going the right way?” he asks.

Serena tries to hide her own worry as she checks her surroundings.

“Uh, if I must be honest with you, sire, I think we might have missed a turn,” she confesses.

Ash’s worry grows at Serena’s words and he stops walking saying, “Then we better turn back and try to find a way back to the carriage.”

“We can’t,” Serena says. “We don’t know if we’re gonna go the same way we came. If we make one wrong turn we could be even more lost.”