Dimitri stood stock-still in awe when they arrived at their new dwelling. Hrym was known for its generally rural villages and towns, certainly not for its architecture. Because of this, Dimitri knew they had been walking to a castle, but he hadn't known it would be a castle castle.
And oh, what a castle it was.
Smack in the middle of an open and sunny field, its sandstone walls reached high into the sky like tongues of flames grasping at the sun as it stretched across the land unoccupied by the forest. Light wooden beams, inlaid with elegant carvings of flora and fauna, interspersed with the vines and flowers that crawled along the dull tan brick boasting vibrant colors. Though seemingly out of place, even the cobwebs lacing the windows retained an air of vividness through the light reflecting off dewdrops in rainbow patterns.
Beside him, Lilliana's face lit up just as brightly as the sun smiling down on them from above.
"I know this place," she breathed, clasping her hands together eagerly while she drank in the view. "I've been here before."
"You have?" Dimitri asked dumbly, unable to pull his eyes away from such a lovely scene.
She nodded, turning at last to smile at him. "Mother and Father took us here one summer. Faye was just a baby, but we had so much fun!"
"Ah." With great effort, he shook his head. "I hope you understand that you're a captive, though, and you're not here for fun."
"Oh, I know that," she covered a giggle with her knuckle, then reached out and took hold of his far shoulder, pointing to the uppermost window of the castle. "Here, do you see that? If you climb out from the right angle you can spring onto the viga just off to the side, then keep going with that until you can get onto the platform on the rooftop. The best part is the balcony-sort-of thing underneath it so you don't fall all the way down,"
Dimitri's jaw dropped. "Your parents really allowed you to do that when you were fifteen?" He stared at her incredulously, forgetting about the hand on his shoulder.
"Father was always fine with it, and Mom never really came outside anyway so she never checked. I only got in trouble once when I was up on the roof at some ridiculous hour of the morning." She gave him a strange look. "Are you telling me you never did anything dangerous when you were that age? It sounds kind of boring for a prince, if you ask me."
He crossed his arms. "I am not boring," he protested loftily. "I was left on a mountainside in deep winter when I was fourteen. It's much more dangerous than climbing up on a roof, in case you think otherwise."
"Ah, and there's the difference," Lilliana held up her index finger. "I climbed up there of my own free will. From the way you phrase it, you got ditched by someone unceremoniously. Therefore, I was doing the more dangerous thing voluntarily, and you're still boring."
Dimitri bristled, struggling to think of a response. "Well... my retainer did it as a practical joke. He woke me up sometime at night and told me to grab my bow, then shoved me outside on the mountain and told me not to come back until I had caught a deer. It... it was fun, just I don't think someone should do that to a child of that age."
She studied him for a brief moment. "So you were tricked?"
Frowning, he answered, "Yes... what about it?"
"I guess I was wrong about you having a boring life for a prince," she said, with a sly tone. "You're not really that boring. I just think you're gullible now."
His cheeks went red with embarrassment. "I am not... I am not gullible! I was a child, and we've all made mistakes. Especially since I trusted my retainer."
Lilliana shrugged. "I still have a firm belief you may have internalized that stupidity, though. At least if your plan to kidnap us is proof of anything."
"It's not," he snorted, "And if I'm stupid, you must still be an infant by such standards."
"Aww, what are you trying to say, Dimitri?" Lilliana cooed mockingly, leaning forward slightly and giving him a wink. "Are you going to start calling me 'baby' now?"
The prince grunted crossly, looking back to the castle. "Of course not. That's never going to happen, so stop imagining some world where I actually find you tolerable."
She ran a hand down his sleeve and managed to twine her fingers with his before he shook her off. "Come on, sweetheart," she crooned in a high-pitched voice, "admit that you've wanted to since you met me."
Dimitri shot her a glare, stepping away. "It would do you well to remember I have my lance back now. It wouldn't be very safe or smart to keep provoking me, understand?"
"Puh-lease, Highness, don't be so cold," she rolled her eyes. "There's only one way I'm provoking you right now, and you know it's not the one you say it is."
He stared at her with an expression simmering with anger just barely held back like an old dam containing a tidal wave. "Do not speak to me any more, witch," he spat.
Lilliana matched his gaze with her own mildly-irritated attitude. "Real testy today, aren't we? Maybe it's all that heat. Have any lavender with you?" She replied snarkily.
The dam broke. Dimitri whipped his knife from its sheath and reached out to grab her. Nimbly dancing aside, Lilliana escaped just quickly enough to evade his strike.
She gave a low wolf whistle. "My, my, you're a bit slow for a warrior prince, you know that?"
Dimitri growled and lunged again, fingertips brushing her skin as she spun away yet again.
They circled around each other tensely for a moment before she blew him a kiss and called in a sing-song voice, "Oh, handsome prince, come catch me!"
She then squealed excitedly and took off sprinting through the grass as he grabbed his lance from Webbs and gave chase.
A couple of the children, namely El and Octavia, understood this to mean that they were now playing tag-you're-it. While the the Crown Prince of Faerghus raced after his oldest captive, the kids began their own game where boys chased girls. Lizzie promptly sat down on the ground, not wishing to play, and Espen joined her after a second to make sure she wasn't lonely.
Gael pointed at Octavia and announced bravely, "I can run faster than you. Boys chase girls isn't fair."
Octavia lifted her chin. "No you can't," she shot back. "I bet the girls won't get caught."
Frederich stepped up and put a hand to his chest respectfully. "Octavia, I think you girls are really fast. Can I join your team since the boys are so mean?"
Octavia ignored him completely and ushered Cassie to her side. "El, you better tell your team that they're going to lose. We have Irene, and she's super-duper fast."
"Oh yeah?" El challenged, grabbing Lucas' shoulder. "Well, we have Lucas, and he has long legs, so he's really super-duper fast."
Olivier watched Lilliana dart behind a tree and poke her head out to mock the furious prince. "I don't think we should play with them. Mister Highness has an actual pointy stick."
Irene, who had long fancied Olivier's gentle and bookish nature, nodded. "Yeah. That wouldn't be safe or anything. Should we tell Lillie not to play with him?"
El rolled his eyes. "You're all babies. We're not gonna get hurt, he's just trying to scare her."
"That's not very nice, though," Faye pointed out, miffed that she hadn't been included in the conversation. "He shouldn't try to scare her. She isn't trying to make him mad at all."
"Well, it's not really working," Octavia observed. "So we shouldn't worry. The only thing we need to worry about is how many times we beat the boys,"
Posey nodded with great conviction. "Yeah. They're really really slow,"
El sniffed disdainfully. "Am not! Start on three,"
Cassie looked at him angrily. "Hey! We're not ready!"
He began his countdown and everyone prepared to start running.
When he hit one, Posey took off like a flash and made it to the middle of the open field before anyone had the chance to process that the game was starting. Then there was a flurry of motion as the girls rushed away from the boys with joyous shrieks.
Frederick, unsurprisingly, abstained from actually tagging any of them, pretending to just barely miss them so they could get away. Octavia, already actively avoiding him, wished he wasn't playing.
While the children frolicked around the field in good fun, Dimitri was still chasing Lilliana in a much more grave manner.
Lilliana skidded to a stop and pulled herself behind a startled Webbs. "Can't get me now, Highness," she taunted.
Dimitri grimaced briefly and straightened. "Major Webbs, please stand aside. I would hate to have to push you in an attempt to get to her."
"With all due respect, Your Highness," Webbs glanced behind himself to see Lilliana. "Perhaps chasing her with a lance in your hand is cumbersome. I expect it would be easier if you forgo the weapons."
"I didn't ask for how to improve my method, Webbs, I asked for you to step away," the prince snapped. "But fine, sure, maybe I could instead rip her to pieces with my bare hands instead."
Lilliana quailed slightly, but made a joke of it by fanning herself for a moment and mouthing 'kinky'. Dimitri glowered at her again and advanced.
Webbs shielded her with his arm. "Now hold on, Highness, we can't forget your behavior the last time you got this angry. Perhaps you need some lav—"
Dimitri cut him off by shoving him roughly to the side. "I'm getting tired of this," he snarled, snatching at Lilliana's sleeve and finally closing his fingers around her wrist, yanking her towards him.
The girl yelped when that cold silver nicked her throat as he jerked her back. Teetering off-balance, she fell backwards.
One more cry of surprise and Dimitri was on her in a flash, raising his knife above his head and holding down his lance on her neck with his knee.
"W-wait," Lilliana gasped, eyes wide. "Wait... don't actually—"
He pulled himself upright, lifting some weight off his lance. "And why not, von Elway? What could you possibly offer to sway me from this?"
Her vision went out of focus for a couple seconds as she regained air in her lungs. "A... a lot of things, actually."
Dimitri rolled his eyes. "I don't want to her any more of your filthy innuendos. I just might kill you quicker."
She breathed increasingly easier and even managed a sly smile. "Coming from a particularly handsome young prince sitting on top of me, I genuinely wonder how you'd do that."
He blushed, too dumbfounded to speak.
Her sly expression turned sweet. "In fact, I think you're just about killing me already. Take that lance off and you've got a pretty good-looking opportunity for... a couple things." Lilliana shifted her hands above her head.
"Keep your vile fantasies to yourself, you wretch," Dimitri hissed, pressing the lance against her throat once again.
He stared at her furiously, and she gazed back breezily. There was silence for several moments.
Just as Lilliana opened her mouth to say something, the prince's eyesight was overcome with red, his head pounded, and he roared something unintelligible.
Lilliana gave a fearful cry when he plunged his knife towards her, shutting her eyes in terror.
There was a satisfying thunk as it sank into the grass and dirt beside her head.
Dimitri let his own head down, breathing heavily.
Lillliana opened one eye, the pure panic in her system subsiding. "H... Highness?"
He shook his head fervently. "Don't... don't speak! Don't speak to me!"
Her expression softened and she brought her arms down from the provocative position they were in, keeping her palms facing up. "Dimitri..."
"Do not call me that!" he growled brusquely. "Do not..."
"Now... hold on a moment, Highness," Lilliana said softly. "If you calm down, I can—"
He scrunched his eyes closed again and cut her off with another stab at the ground, causing her to flinch. "Don't do anything. I hate you."
"I know, I know." She brushed his cheek while reaching around his neck. "Shh. If it's those pesky headaches again, listen to me, okay?"
"Don't touch me. I can handle myself!" Dimitri barked. "Who do you think you—"
"No no no, Highness, shush-shh-shhh." She brought his head down closer to her collar despite his violent and erratic shaking and let her other hand drift down to the side pocket of his pants, slipping the sachet of lavender out. "Don't worry about it, Dimitri. Stay quiet, you'll be fine."
He let out a long breath before suddenly burying his face in her neck. Lilliana stroked his hair, holding up the sachet for him. He snatched it from her greedily and held it to his chest.
"It'll be okay, Highness," she crooned quietly. "You're doing great. You'll be okay, I promise. I promise, I promise, you just need to calm down."
Warmth hit her skin as he let go of another shaky breath. "You don't need to treat me like a child," he grumbled.
Lilliana giggled, pressing her jaw against his. "Oh, but you are one! While these headaches are happening, you're like a little kid scared of the dark. You don't need to be scared anymore, and you don't need to be angry. Just take a second to simmer down, okay? You'll be right as rain soon."
Dimitri went red again, but inhaled deeply. During the exhale he opened his eyes and shifted himself onto his side. She sat up on her elbows beside him and kept smoothing his hair while he brought his knees to his chest.
Most of the soldiers that had either been amusedly watching the two chase each other around or warily supervising his second attempt to kill her had moved on by now, walking towards the castle doors and whistling like nothing had happened. Webbs was no different, but he kept glancing at them out of the corner of his eye to ensure no harm was done.
At last, interrupting Lilliana's gentle murmurs of comfort, Dimitri got up into a cross-legged position and shoved her rather weakly. "I'm fine now," he said gruffly.
She smiled at him. "Of course you are, just like I told you." She scooted closer to wrap her arms around him in a surprisingly tender hug. "You're perfectly all right, aren't you?"
Trying desperately to suppress the stupid grin he could feel trying to break through, he grunted. "I still dislike you, though. And this hasn't made your behavior any less excusable."
"Oh, but what can you really do to me?" Lilliana drew back to punch his shoulder playfully. "You've got a soft spot for me and you know it."
Dimitri pushed her again. "I think the first order of business is to figure out how many hours a day we keep you locked in your own room up in this castle away from the children," he lifted his chin, tucking the sachet away.
She hesitated. "...You're only joking, right? The children need me to be there,"
"Maybe you can think of it as a joke for now. But I think we've proven the children can be perfectly all right without you anywhere near them, haven't we?" He pointed to the kids, still racing around the field. "And they'll listen to me or Barrett if they need to. You're a bit expendable is what I mean."
Lilliana's face drained of color. "You... Expendable? Highness, I think you've just about passed your threshold of healthy condescension and waltzed right into pure haughtiness, you know that? In fact, what I mean to say is that you've just guaranteed that no one will want to help you reclaim that damn throne of yours should you get the opportunity."
Dimitri gave her a smug look and struggled to his feet. "I'll have you know I could take it back just as easily alone, von Elway. Perhaps you can reconsider that attitude when you haven't seen the light of day for a few hours, clear?"