Almost caught

She shook her head, "It is meant for you."

"How am I supposed to finish this alone? Am I being fattened for a human sacrifice or something!"

Levina giggled, "What?"

Lucien grinned boyishly, "You look pretty when you smile, Lev." He said, his eyes dilating. Lucien chuckled when he saw her cheeks redden and her eyes looking everywhere else but at him; before he began to at.

Levina watched Lucien eat for a while and wondered what put him in such a miserable state. Whatever kept him locked inside his room for so long must have been serious.

"What is it?" Lucien asked with his mouth full.

"Hmm, nothing really," she shrugged. Lucien held her gaze for a while before returning to his food.

"Did something happen?" she finally asked.

"Where?" he asked feigning ignorance.

"You know what I mean," she scowled. There was silence for a moment before he spoke;

"My father gave the chief commander position to Zarek," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh," she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

He pushed the tray away, a frown returning to his face. Levina moved closer to him, "Why do you want to be the commander so badly? You have an even bigger position to look forward to."

"This is supposed to be an opportunity for me to prove myself to everyone." He looked at her, his eyes filled with hurt, "I got my dragon really late, and everyone questioned my capability to lead the people of Arvenia. I wanted to win this war to prove that I am worthy of the throne."

Levina reached for his hand but hesitated midair. She did not want to get carried away, she couldn't let herself lower her guard. It was too risky.

She was about to retract her hand when Lucien took her hand in his. Her heart flipped in a summersault; she struggled to breathe as the warmest emotions filled her stomach. She tried to push it away, to hold back the tears pricking her eyeballs. She pressed her eyelids shut; that was when she felt it. Initially, it was like a gentle breeze tickling her earlobes. Before she could stop it, a huge gust of wind broke in through the window, bringing the portrait and the sword hanging on the wall crashing to the ground. Lucien although startled, threw his body in front of Levina as a shield.

"What the hell!" He exclaimed as he looked at the items on the ground, wondering why they had fallen all of a sudden.

Levina jumped to her feet; her heart raced in her chest, threatening to burst out. Her eyes darted around in fear; how was she going to explain this? Would he call the guards on her? She should probably make a run for it, maybe cast a barrier spell, that will keep them away long enough for her to escape.

What about her father? It would not take them long to link her to Augustus, and then they will kill him for harboring her and worse, for birthing a witch. She clenched her fist as panic began to swirl inside her chest.

Lucien turned around and found Levina trembling at one end of the room, with her face contorted in a grimace of pain and fear.

He ran to her, and took her clenched fist, "Are you alright?" He looked her over, examining her for any injury.

Levina snatched her hand away, "I should go," she said in a shaky voice. She darted her eyes around the room, evidently still in shock.

"Levina!" He grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her forcefully, "Breathe!"

Levina nodded, fear still etched on her face. She took one deep breath and exhaled noisily.

Lucien urged her, "That's it, breathe."

Levina took steadier breaths, her blurred vision was beginning to clear.

"It was just the wind, it knocked down the portrait."

When she recovered from the shock, she broke free from his grasp, "I'm sorry, I have to go now."

She hurried out of the room, still shaken from the entire event and how it could have quickly gone wrong. It pained her to admit it, but her father was right. Being too close to the royal family was risky, a risk that was certainly not worth it.

She should never have allowed herself to get too close to Lucien, she knew that. But she went ahead and did it anyway, and as a consequence, she almost got exposed. She put her life and that of her father at stake for a complete stranger.

Levina was not sure if she would tell her father of the incident that occurred in Lucien's room, but one thing she was sure of, is that she would maintain her distance from the prince, from that moment on.

She owed him just one thing, nurse him back to health, when that is done she will return to the infirmary and live her life like she never met him.

_________________

Lucien picked up the swords strewn on the floor and proceeded to carefully arrange them on the wall. He sighed when he picked up the portrait, it had broken when it collided with the floor.

"And I really liked this picture," he whispered to himself.

When the door was pushed open, Lucien did not turn around. He moved the broken portrait to a corner before turning to see who it was.

His countenance fell when he saw Zarek lying on his bed, with his lips curled in a small, challenging smile.

"What are you doing here?" He growled.

"I heard you fell ill after last night. So I thought to myself," Zarek sat up and adjusted his coat, "Why not check in and see how my elder brother is doing," he grinned.

Lucien arched his eyebrow questioningly at him, "And since when do care about how I am doing." Lucien knew why he was there in his room, and why that cocky smile was plastered on his face. All he wanted to do was kick Zarek out of his room, maybe punch him a little bit before kicking him out. But like when they were younger, their mother would barge in seconds later to give him an earful.