A... Date?!

It was now the day after Kye woke up and had his talk with Vanessa. Alicia, Vanessa and Kye all made their way down from his room to join the family for breakfast. The family was already seated and eating when they walked in. Frey smiled when he saw Kye with his wife and motioned for them to sit down, while Vanessa stood behind Kye's chair. Signus was less than happy that his brother had woken up and openly sneered only to have the back of his head smacked by Rose. Over the past month, Signus had begun acting up again and the family was sick of his attitude. They had grounded him until his fifteenth birthday in two months upon when he would get his crest and then shipped off to the knight academy in the capital city in an attempt to fix his trashy behaviour.

After Kye was seated, the servants brought out a plate of food for him and he began eating. While he had gotten somewhat used to quillboar meat over the past month, he had to admit that fresh produce from the local farms was much better tasting. Suddenly, The doors to the dining room opened to reveal Nadiya and her two knights. Upon seeing Kye, her eyes widened and a big smile grew on her face.

"Elena, be a dear and let Nadiya sit next to Kye, would you?"

She nodded and went to move but before she could, Signus spoke up.

"There is a seat next to me father, why not sit the pretty lady next to me?"

"You know exactly why Signus, now be silent."

Nadiya took her seat next to Kye and the two looked at one another and smiled. Signus ground his teeth when he saw his younger brother being so friendly with such a pretty woman. Ever since Kye woke up, he had been feeling more and more inadequate about his position in the family as the leeway he was once afforded as the heir to the Runewalker house and the most gifted child had been passed to his immature brat of a younger brother. He had always believed that he was better than Kye, even though he was healthy now, Signus never put him above the level of a cripple in his mind. To him, it felt like all his hard-earned achievements had been given to some trash child of the family.

Kye was well aware of his brother's animosity towards him but it didn't bother him. To Kye, as much as Signus was older than him and had more years of training under his belt, the man was so slovenly and depraved that Kye couldn't see him as anything but pitiable. Despite the obvious glares being sent his way, Kye ignored him and began chatting with Nadiya.

"How have you been enjoying Runia? I haven't been to any other cities in the kingdom but I really love this city."

"Oh, it's wonderful! There are so many things to see around here and the city is so wonderfully laid out! I would love to have a look around with you Kye."

"Sure, we can do that after breakfast. I need to get moving again, even if it is just for a walk."

"Great, then it's a date!"

Kye smiled but internally was in a panic at her words.

'A... Date!? What, I've never been on a date before! Sure I've gone out with female colleagues after work for drinks but that was only to be courteous! Oh gods what do I do!'

Vanessa noticed that Kye was in internal turmoil over the prospect of this being called a date. She sneakily touched Kye's shoulder to transmit a message into his mind.

'Don't worry master. Going on a date at this stage is nothing. Just treat it like you did with your former colleagues.'

'Okay. Thanks Vanessa.'

Now that he had composed himself, Kye thought of places he could take Nadiya when they went out. Meanwhile, the family were starting at Kye in amusement. His mothers knew exactly what was going through his head despite the normal look he put on. His father just sighed in his mind as he knew that he would have to explain to Nadiya's father, who was a close friend of his, that his daughter was attracted to his youngest son. Kye's sisters looked at Nadiya as if judging her silently on if she was worthy of Kye's time. Although they could not stop it if Kye agreed, they felt it their duty to make sure that Kye was not tricked by any malicious women.

Nadiya had a big smile on her face as she began to hurry up her eating. She felt her heart start to beat faster when she thought about the fun they would have on the date. She was aware of her feelings towards Kye ever since the night he came back with all his wounds. Not many girls could resist the charm of a man who was willing to put his life on the line for them and due to Nadiya's sheltered upbringing, Kye was almost the spitting image of the princes she read about in stories.

Kye reflected as he ate, doing some introspection on what areas he lacked in. The big one right now would be his social skills by far. Even though he was a shrewd negotiator, his normal conversational skills left much to be desired. It was a gap he only experienced after his chance meeting with his newest friends, Callum, Drake and Felix. His connection with the boys felt strong and comforting to have, something he didn't know he was missing until he had experienced it. This would be Kye's new immediate goal, to get better at socialising. This date with Nadiya was an important step in this goal as she was his friend.

Although Kye wanted to change, that didn't mean that he could see into the female heart immediately and didn't know that both Vanessa and Nadiya now held romantic feelings towards him. They were simply waiting until he understood such relationships before making their move proper. It would take time for Kye to understand such relationships and how to interpret his feelings towards others. After all, he had only just gotten his first friends two months ago.