With every passing hour in the lush green forest as I trudge behind the king trying to match his long strides, I feel more and more annoyed. My eyes narrow at the sight of the blood-soaked tunic of the king.
It is obvious that the dagger must've sliced through a whole lot of his skin. The angry tear in his doublet is a proof of it. But the man keeps acting as if it's nothing.
He should really clean that up if he wants to heal faster.
Although I follow behind him quietly, not voicing my thoughts. What do I care? He can do whatever he wants. But when it's apparent he isn't going to halt or mend for himself,
"You should clean your wound." I chew onto my lips wondering whether I should've really voiced it out loud.
Valerian stops on his parade as he turns to me in one single movement, "It's on my back, Miss Winchester. My hands can't really reach there. It'll heal by itself."
Oh.
Oh. Right. Why did you even speak, you idiot? Ofcourse, he would've cleaned it up if he could. And there was no need for you to point it out either!
I keep my mouth shut for the rest of the way. We walk and walk in silence through the muddy, rocky path as the enormous trees tower over us like giants. We halt only for having snacks we got along with us from the carriage. Within few hours, the sun sets but there's no sight of the kingdom yet.
Short cut, my foot. I'm tempted to roll my eyes.
When the dark clouds gather over our heads, Valerian finally halts in front of a cave carved in stone. I raise a questioning brow his way when he turns to me.
"Let's stay here for the night. By tomorrow morning, the gates will open and we'll be in the castle."
"What gates?"
Valerian gives me a hooded look, "You don't think castles have secret passageways?"
My eyes widen momentarily, "Is this. . ."
"Yes, one of them. But they're enchanted to avoid anyone barging into the castle at the dead of night. These passages only open in the day when the guards are stationed. They're shut down at nights."
Not having any words, I follow behind him silently. An involuntarily gasp escapes my mouth when we step through the stone borders of the cave and into it's interior.
"What is this place?" I ask in wonder taking in the interior of the huge cave which had an otherwise small entrance.
The curved walls are carved in grey stones and the floors in rough cement. The cemented ground starts dissapearing into muddy land after few yards where a beautiful lone cherry blossom tree stands in the middle of the vast clearing. Unlike other cherry blossom which has soft-pink petals, this one has silver petals that glows luminously in the dim lighting of the cave. Berries of translucent colour hang from it's branches like diamond earrings dangling from a maiden's ears.
"It's called the willow tree." Valerian's voice snaps me out of my ogling.
When I look at him, he's pointing to the sparkling tree, "It is believed the tree was grown out of a farie plant seed that accidentally dropped here by the hands of a pixie."
"Just a faerie seed can grow into such a beautiful tree. Imagine how the faerie realm would look like." I didn't realise I had said it out loud until I catch the look of surprise on Valerian's face.
"The faerie realm is enchanting, Miss Winchester. So are the fey creatures. But when you look past their beautiful faces, they're one of the most cunning creatures."
"Are they?" I quip my head to the side, "I thought they can't lie."
His lips quirks up at the sides, "One can do so many other things without lying."
"True." I say looking around once more before setting my gaze on him.
"Why don't you have a seat?" Valerian gestures at the clean cemented floor as he himself settles down.
My eyes takes into the way he's seated cross-legged on the floor. I fight back the smile threatening to pull on my lips at how much not-kingly he looks sitting like that. But before I can relish in the light feeling it brings, my vision catches the little trail of blood around him.
"There's blood oozing out of the wound." I point at the puddle around him with an alarmed look.
Valerian just stares with those beautiful green eyes and annoyingly blank face, "It'll dry up in a few minutes."
My gaze immediately snaps to him in a sudden wave of annoyance, "It's not about the floor. You are bleeding. The floor won't file a petition if it gets stained."
His brows raise in amusement at the tone of my voice but I can't seem to be bothered. A sudden unexplainable surge of worry gnaws at my insides when the little puddle of blood keeps growing larger.
Without having any control over my actions, I find myself walking over to him and kneeling down to where he's seated.
"Remove your shirt."
Valerian's eyes snaps to mine in surprise and shock?
"What?" He asks as if he didn't hear and that makes my annoyance fuel more.
"Remove your shirt. Let me tend to the wound." I repeat only for him to shake his head.
"It's fine. I won't die." He holds up his hand dismissively.
The word die makes my heart clench for some reason. I shake my head against the odd feeling and scoot closer to him.
"You will if you don't clean that up. So remove." I say sternly this time.
Valerian's lips quirks at the side in clear amusement, "You do realise ordering around the king is not really a peasantly thing to do."
"I'm not your peasant. I'm your guard. Your safety is my duty." I shrug as if it changes the fact that I'm still a peasant of his kingdom, "And what's a king if he's no more?"
"A minor bleeding can't kill me, Miss Winchester." He gives me an amused smile.
I blink and then blink again. Did he just smile? For the first time since I met him?
I shake my head again against the giddy feeling that withers inside me like a creeper coiling against a rod and focus my attention on him.
The smile on his face isn't there anymore but there's a glint in his eyes as they access me. My own eyes peer into his wordlessly.
Time seems to still for a moment with both of us just staring before he looks away and runs a hand through his hair.
He does that a lot, doesn't he?
"Fine." Before I can comprehend fine about what, he pulls the torn tunic over his head.
I stop my mouth from hanging agape as my eyes feasts upon his half naked torso. His skin is toned with hard abs and tight muscles at disturbingly right places.
I quickly avert my gazes anywhere but him so as to not gawk. My goodness, I hate to admit it, but he has one hell of a sexy body.
"There. I did what you asked." The deep voice has me looking back at the king.
Clearing my throat, I fix my sight back on him, "Ah, right. Let me do my work now."
I suddenly felt like a fish out of the water as I walk over behind him to examine the wound. My lips part in shock as his back lays in full display for my bare eyes.
"The wound looks terrible. . ." I murmur staring at the deep bloody gash down on his back but that's not the only thing that catches my attention.
With every inch my sight moves down his back, I see different scars on his skin. Some big, some small, some deep, some shallow. Most of them are faded but they are there. Where did he get all these from? They're all definitely not from today.
Feeling as if I'm invading some personal space, I focus my attention on the wound alone.
Scooting closer to him, I gently place my hand on his back where the slice from the dagger isn't there. Almost instantly, tingles erupt at the touch and Valerian goes stone still under my fingertips but I divert my attention fo the cut. That's one terrible slice. How did he even walk the whole day without fainting? Raven or not, anyone would feel pain if they couldn't heal. And he was bleeding.
"Do we have water?" I ask still not taking my eyes of off the wound.
I had a sudden strong urge to go back in time and kill that man myself. I don't understand why I always feel cranky about anyone hurting Valerian when I'm here for the soul purpose to do that.
I try to convince it's because I don't want anyone else to take my chance away from killing him. But deep down, I know it's something else and it has something to do with those crazy whispers in my head, except I can't figure out what it wants to tell me.
"I think we have some." Valerian scurries through the bag we bought along from the carriage and pulls out the water bottle, "Here."
I grab the bottle he holds in his hand making sure to make no skin contact. When I'm once again in display of his scarred back, I inch closer. Placing my palm flat against the part of his skin that is not bruised by the dagger, I open the lid of the bottle from my other hand and carefully pour the water on the wound.
Valerian doesn't as much as flinch as a plethora of blood flows down his back to the cemented ground, coating the translucent liquid in it's crimson hue. Soon enough, the water is finished but the wound still looks deadly. I sigh when the realisation of what I can do to make it heal better dawns upon me.
He'll kill me if I do that. But if I don't, he's going to bleed to death himself.
"Is it don-"
Valerian's words cut short when I lean in and run my tongue over the top of the wound. I can feel his muscles tense under my hands. His fists ball at his sides as he looks straight ahead, "What are you doing?"
My cheeks heat up as I realise just how weird all this might seem, "I'm sorry I. . .saliva is a natural healer. It kind of heals the wound quicker. Even after pouring water, you were bleeding. And I thought. . . I thought you'll heal faster if I-"
"Miss Winchester." Something about the huskiness in his voice makes my heart beat faster in my chest.
"Yes?"
"You're blabbering."
"Oh."
Kate, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly so speechless?
"And you're crazy."
Now, that gets me back to planet earth as I inch back with a frown on my face.
"Sorry?"
"Really licking me like that," He turns his head to me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Your intentions don't seem very right to me."
My eyes automatically narrow into slits at his words, "My intentions are clear as day, Milord."
"Your intention to jump my bones?" The bluntness in his tone laced by the quirkiness in them makes me feel like a deer caught in headlights.
"No!" I say a little too defensively, my face flustered, "My intention to clean the wound. It has nothing to with. . .jumping your bones or whatever." I raise my arms in exasperation.
Valerian's steady gaze remains rooted on me, studying my face with an intensity before he looks down at his hand in wonder. I tilt my head to the side as I see him trying to hold back smile.
Something about the action makes my insides warm with a tingling feeling and I find myself smiling despite the absurdity of the situation. At that very moment, his eyes shoots back to mine catching me red-handed. I quickly look away trying to hide my face. Thank the moon goddess the lighting is dim.
"So, are you going to lick the rest of the wound?" He quips his head to the side.
"I think the water actually did just fine." I say looking anywhere but at him.
"Right." He nods but I don't miss how his face goes back to the blank mask as he looks straight ahead, ignoring me.
And just like that, the light-heartedness in the air falls immediately.
It's as if the last few minutes, I just imagined that crack of emotion on his face, the quirking of his lips and the change in his voice.
Sighing, I take a seat a little away from him.
Valerian's head turns my way, "Do you want to eat something?" He asks but I shake my head.
We did have a meal-made by mixing Dulcamara's potions she'd handed us over for the trip-an hour ago before reaching here.
At my reply, Valerian nods, "Then I believe it's time we rest."
Not waiting for my reply, he lays down on his side that isn't facing mine. I stare at his bruised back that simmers in the faint silvery light coming from the willow tree. My heart clenches again at the sight of the scars marred on his skin.
I wonder how he got them.
Warding the thought aside, I lay down myself on the cemented ground on my back staring at the stony curved ceiling of the cave.
Somewhere along my drifting off to sleep, I hear a faint voice murmuring,
"Good night, Miss Winchester."
An involuntarily smile pulls to my lips as I keep my eyes on the grey stone ceiling.
"Night, Milord."
.
.
.
▪︎ Third Person's POV ▪︎
The coachman struggles against the clutches of the people dragging him along with them violently. Turning around to check if the king was still in sight and finding the coast clear, the coachman stops struggling.
"Leave me, you morons! They're gone. No need to pretend anymore." He huffs pulling out of the assasins hold as they let go of him immediately.
One of the assasins, Fredrick, takes off his mask to reveal a sculpted face with brown eyes and dark hair, "Did you get the information on why the king visited Dulcamara?"
The coachman looked around skeptically, checking one last time if anyone was following them. Once confirmed of no one's presence, he pulls out a chain from his pocket. The silver glints in the sunlight making the wolf amulet shine.
"What's that?" Fredrick stares in wonder.
"It's the chain Valerian bought along with him on the journey. You know what this means, right?" The coachman looked at the amulet with a wicked glint in his eyes, "The king visited the witch to inquire about the assassination and the owner of the amulet."
"How did you find out?"
"I spied on him just as I was told by you-know-who and stole this from Dulcamara's place at the right opportunity. Now this would get me a hefty reward, don't you think?" He shook the chain letting it dangle in his palm.
The another assasin leaning against the tree trunk took off his mask as he sauntered over to his team mates and pointed at the silver chain, "That's the amulet king Acheros had councilman Fenris make for his daughter."
The two other men audibly gasped at the man's words before the coachman turned to the man in shock.
"That means. . ."
"The owner of the chain might be the lost lycan princess of Lycor."
Any guesses on who this person might be who's sending spies behind Valerian?
I wrote this chapter in a rush. So sorry for any errors in typos. I hope you liked the chapter^.^
What do you think about Valerian and Kaitlyn?
Also, any guesses on how Valerian got those scars?👀