Aiming Straight, Aiming True.

Chapter 4 - The girl with the green eyes

The girl that had just saved the prince's life, the girl that his best friend Hunter knew was sitting uncomfortably before him. Everything about her shouted different and possibly dangerous, Stephen thought. Stephen had been unwilling to travel the kingdom as he knew all the girls would throw themselves at his feet. He never wanted to be a prince but I guess it was the luck of the draw he thought bitterly.

His father wanted him to find a wife of noble blood of course or blue blood his mother called it. His mother didn't really care who he married as long as he loved the girl and the girl loved him. His father wouldn't stand if he brought someone like the girl that was sitting in front of him home.

But she was different, no girl could take out that many baddies and get away  with only with a scratch. It was fascinating, his own trained men fell at the hands of those cunning and deadly assassins and thieves but this girl hadn't. Her friend, the one who had helped could be heard laughing with the men outside.

Stephen heard Hunter's deep voice and smiled to himself. Hunter had been his best friend ever since his father had chosen Hunter's father to be the royal archer and hunter. His father's skills and knowledge was passed onto Hunter and when his father died, Hunter took up the job.

Hunter had grown up inside the palace but he wasn't royal and had more freedom than Stephen did. Stephen longed to be normal, actually go somewhere where no one would recognise him but he could not.

There were perks of being a prince such as doing whatever he wanted and getting whatever he wanted but there were cons as well. He was always judged, couldn't leave the palace unless on business and everyone treated him like another species. He had proof now that he was treated differently from the rest of the population.

This girl, Arena was his proof. She had acted what he had assumed as herself at the beginning of their unlikely meeting. She was fiery, cocky and arrogant. She acted like she could do anything she wanted and get away with it, just like a royal would. But she had a bright curiosity and intelligence he had never seen in a girl before except maybe a few nobles and his mother.

Then she changed slightly, not a lot but she was more stiff amd formal. Stephen could tell it didn't come naturally acting the way she did. I think she was afraid that I would punish her for her disrespect he thought. Punishment on acting rudely to him was the last thing on his mind, he was actually glad she treated him like any other person she met. He could hear Arena's friend directing the carriage the right way as it slowly tumbled along.

He kept replaying the scene in his mind.Being grabbed by the hooded figure and held at knife point. The other men killing randomly, killing his soldiers. He flinched, he would have to send letters to their families. At least I told my captain to have their funerals payed and their bodies shipped back to their families he thought sadly.

He felt horrible, that the young soldiers were now dead and blood on his own hands. The man that had taken him did deserve to be punished, maybe fined or whipped but not killed the way he was. I killed him, stabbed him in the heart in cold blood just because I valued my life over his, he thought angrily.

I watched the life drain from his only good eye. His eyes had been hazel coloured and shone with a fierce light. He might have had a family and was only doing his job, he thought. Will someone weep for him, will his family go hungry tonight he thought. Stephen felt a squirm of guilt inside his stomach.

Is it the same for Arena he thought as he watched her stare out the small glass window. Does she feel what I feel about the death we both caused. Or the other men she killed he wondered.

She might not think about it now but I'm sure she will, he thought. It was her first real taste of battle I think, I wonder if she liked it. He sighed in frustration but Arena seemed too preoccupied to hear him. She kept fidgeting and biting her lower lip. I might as well talk to her, she did save my life, he thought. She's just so hard to figure out, I can't understand her at all he thought frustrated.