"I don't know what my father thinks. He... hasn't returned yet. None of my family has. I'm not sure if I should think the worse or if the guards we had at the temple managed to get them safely out of this city. Either way, it'd be the best idea if we leave soon. I..." He felt horrible, having to tell her what he was about to but it was the only way. "I can't send you back to your family just yet. I had the best intentions, saving your life, but now that I know who you are I'd be a fool not to keep you here. Maybe you can be the key to peace, since the original plan... failed."

The way she looked at him made him feel off balance. It was hard to think with her staring at him with those eyes. "I have more questions for you than I think you care to answer, Princess. I suppose the first of them is if you're hungry. All that running and the excitement has left me starving."

Grimacing when she brought up marriage, he shook his head. "I'm also next in line for the throne now. With what happened today I am the oldest son in the Duarte family." He didn't say the words murder, massacre, or attack. Talking about it was the last thing he wanted to do right now. She didn't need to see him cry.

Pensive as he considered where to begin with his questions, he started walking with her again, taking her right into the kitchen and to a small, worn wooden table. When he was a very young child it had been the table from his parent's bedroom. Their breakfast nook recycled to a kitchen table where the servants ate and where he took his meals more often than not. It didn't occur to him that a princess might not want to eat in the kitchen itself and it also didn't occur to him that there was a door standing open, offering her freedom if she chose to run for it.

"For starters, how would you like to be addressed while you are staying with us? Because of your status and because you have shown no hostility as of yet I don't plan to have you locked up like a common prisoner, but I want you to understand that you are not here as a free guest."

((I might not be online much until this afternoon. I have to leave town to run an errand. It might take a couple of hours))

"Lina?" He smiled a little, liking the sound of that name. "You're welcome to call me Nikolai... or Niko in private." He turned to sit down and heard her take off and the guards after her. Swearing under his breath he turned and ran for the door as well. "Let me try and get her," he snapped at the guards, though they stayed flanking him as back up.

There was nowhere for the Princess to run to. The walls were high on all sides and the gates were heavily guarded since the news of what happened had reached the manor. Sprinting, Niko felt his muscles protest after all the running they had done earlier, but kept on it and sped up with Lina in his sights. He lunged at her, hoping to pin her to the ground and knowing that if he failed the guards would do it in an even less pleasant manner.

Adalina could hear him running behind her. She was still sore from having to run so much earlier but she pushed herself to run faster. She was nearing the high wall fast, her eyes darting back and forth looking for an escape. "Crap..." she muttered, about to make an attempt to jump the wall when her legs were pulled to the ground by a pair of rather strong arms. She landed on the hard ground with an 'oof'. Flipping over, she saw that it was Nikolai that had caught her, not a guard. She knew she would be killed if she tried to attack him but she lifted her skirt and pulled out her dagger anyway, attempting to scare him to let her go. She didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want to be forced to stay there either. "Let me go Nikolai." she said sternly, her eyes piercing his. She squirmed and tried to get out of his arms, getting grass stains all on her dress.
((That's fine. I'm at school anyway. ^^))

Nikolai couldn't even muster the breath to say 'oof' when he and the princess toppled to the ground. The wind knocked out of him, he simply shook his head at her request. When he saw the dagger his eyes widened and he moved to pin her more securely, pressing on her arms so she couldn't use them for stabbing him. The light seemed to go out of his eyes as he looked down at her, glaring.

"I can't do that," he said with the first breath he could manage without pain. His voice sounded raspy but there was no masking the venom in it. "Drop the dagger and come back inside or we'll have to resort to less humane methods of keeping you here. I assure you, you won't like the feel of chains against your skin, Princess." He uttered the title as if it was filth, the lowest rank a person could have rather than one of the highest.

Adalina squirmed under his grip, her eyes not leaving his. She glared back at him, not willing to give up easily. She gripped the dagger even harder, moving her body back in forth in attempts to flip him off of her. "Why can't you just let me go?" she asked. She relaxed for a moment, analyzing her situation and how she could get out of it. One thought crossed her mind that she was thinking might throw him off, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to have to resort to that.

"Chains huh? Being forced to stay here is already making me feel like a caged bird, might as well throw chains right ontop of it, Prince." she told him with the same venom and hatred dripping from her voice, finally turning away from him. She glared when he said 'princess' with such distaste. She kicked her legs again and squirmed under his weight, slowly loosening her grip on her dagger. She had one last attempt up her sleeve, she faced him and waited for a moment. "Let me go...." she said one last time, knowing he would say no. As soon as he did, she growled slightly before giving him her sweetest smile. She then leaned up and pressed her lips firmly against his. 'I hope this works....' she thought to herself, hating herself for doing this.
((Hope that's okay. ^^))

"You know why I can't let you go. We're at war and it's dangerous out there." For a moment he was distracted by the mental image of her being a caged bird. Beautiful angel wings and a dress of flowing silk behind a gilded cage... chains ruined that picture but so did the fact that he couldn't imagine her smiling. Had he even really seen her smile yet? Why did it even matter? She was trying to escape!

Niko didn't even get a chance to say no when she told him once more to let him go before she was kissing him. His eyes widened in shock and his grip did loosen... but only for a moment. Then he was pressing her to the ground for a different reason, pinning her as his eyes slid closed and he kissed her in return. Slowly his hand smoothed down her arm until his fingers wrapped around the hilt of her dagger, pushing her fingers away from it so one of the guards could take it.

Both guards were too dumbfounded to move, staring in an unflattering way at the prince and princess kissing on the ground. When the kiss had gone on long enough one of the guards coughed gently. Hearing him, Niko pulled back from the kiss, keeping Lina pinned against him and opened his eyes. They seemed hazy, as if he'd forgotten where he was and who he was with for a moment there. Looking down at Lina, a smirk spread across his face.

Not sure how it happened, Niko suddenly found himself pinned... and somehow all he could think about was how her dagger was going to get in the way of him kissing her again. It wasn't even a conscious decision, wanting to do it again. There had been a spark there and the turn of her lips into the smirk was insatiable. He wanted to taste them again.

"You win," he said, lifting his hands, palms facing her, in a sign of defeat. "Take the dagger from my throat and you can go." There was no telling from his voice or expression that the guards had both come to flank her from behind. The moment she lifted the knife from his neck on the guards would seize it and the other would capture the princess.

One guard followed the Princess, knowing she had nowhere to escape to but not wanting to lose her in the gardens. The other helped Nikolai up, brushing off his back. A small grin crossed his face. "Kind of a fiery girl you've gotten yourself involved with, there."

"I am not involved with her! She... used her... womanly charms against me. It wasn't fair. Why didn't you take that knife from her when she dropped it?"

"It looked like you two were having fun kissing in the grass. I didn't want to spoil the moment by sneaking in and snatching a knife," the guard said with a shrug.

Niko shot him an annoyed glance. "You're lucky that I like you as much as my family does or you'd never get away with that attitude."

"I know, that's why I'm the prince's keeper." The guard reached out and ruffled Niko's hair as he'd done a million times since the prince's childhood. "Come on. Let's go wrangle and disarm your angel princess."

"She's not mine," Niko grumbled, heading off to hunt Lina down again.

~

The guards at the front gate saw Lina skidding to a halt and the guard who approached her behind. The prince and his own guard weren't far behind. It was Niko who spoke.

"Lina. Come back inside. There isn't a way out for you right now, right here. Give it a little time and you can have your freedom."

Anger flared inside Niko again and he turned to his guard. "Give me your knife and come after me in five minutes or if you hear anything that sounds like a death wail. I'm going to get her." When the guard hesitated he rolled his eyes and took the dagger from the man's belt sheath and took off at a jog after Lina.

"Princess," he called, slowing as he had lost sight of her. "You're being entirely unreasonable and living up to almost every stereotype we demons hold for your kind. I have given you no reason to distrust me. I've been open and honest about everything because I hoped you'd prove me wrong and act in a calm and mature manner... instead I get a knife pushed against my throat. If you keep running and playing this game I'm going to get bored and just give the signal for my guards to capture you... and I promise you they won't be so nice when they push you to the ground."

Nikolai sighed and ran a hand over his face as he walked forward into the garden. "I am not asking for your forgiveness, Lina. I am not asking for anything other than for you to respectfully stay here with us until things can be sorted out. You might want to rush back out there, but there are men out there who would just as soon kill you as give you half as many chances as I've already given you."

Coming into sight, he didn't notice right away that she was crying. "You're not the only one with trust issues here, you know. I'm not thrilled to have an angel in my house. But it can't be helped for now. I saved you and I cannot set you free just yet. Someday, you have my word- no matter if that means anything to you or not- that I will set you free and send you home. The very first chance I get."

He knelt before her, the dagger still in his hand. "Please, Lina." The tear stain on her cheek caught his eye and he suddenly felt very awkward. She was crying. Oh no. How did he make her stop? Did he give her a hug? Would she pull the dagger on him again if he tried? He just sort of... sat there. "Come back inside. It's been a long day and we can rest up and start this fight anew tomorrow morning. Okay?" He held his open hand out to her, offering her a hand up.

"I'll sleep with my bedroom door locked and my window shut in that case," Nikolai joked lightly. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the guards would be taking her dagger away. There was no way she could keep it after threatening his life with it earlier. His hand closed warmly around hers and he helped her up, caught for a moment of simply staring at her before moved to hook their arms together rather than hold her hand.

The guards all looked relieved to see them alive and without bleeding. If anyone noticed the princess' tears, they didn't mention it. "If you really want to be locked up I'm sure we can arrange it... but for now let's just have something to eat and have contrasting hopes about my family coming home tonight or not."

((Heading to bed for the night))

Adalina growled around his comment on the cage. "I was kidding, but that's the way I'm going to feel...." she said quietly, keeping her eyes to the ground. Her heart skipped a beat when he had closed his hand around her gently in the garden. She looked up at him and wondered why he had kissed her back earlier when she had tried to kill him. She placed her hand on the dagger under her dress and sighed once more, waiting on him to pick what they were going to eat. "How about you tell me about yourself?" she then suggested, sitting at the table and looking down still. There was a certain vibe around her now that made her seem that she didn't care about anything any more. Her brunette hair hid her face from him in trendles of curls.
((Me too. Night. ^^))
((You're avi looks awesome by the way.))

"I'm sorry you feel like that, Lina, but for now it can't be helped. I'll try and do my best to give you ever freedom I can until you can leave."

He sat down at the table, careful to pick a spot where he could see her hand resting on the dagger hidden beneath her clothes. The last thing he wanted was to be taking a bit of food and then find her dagger sticking out of his chest. There was no need to order food, the chefs had already began preparing a meal when they had first entered the kitchen. Now the food was almost complete, so their wait would be a short one.

"Do you really want me to sit here and talk about myself?" He looked at her, uncertain if he should volunteer any information to her. They were still rivals, no matter if she had kissed him... "I think I'd bore you to death. Why don't you tell me about your home?" He'd always been curious about the other country but the only people he knew who had been there were soldiers and they didn't have pleasant things to say thanks to the nature of their work.

((Thanks. It's my first full outfit on Mene. :) ))

Adalina looked at him strangely. "You want to hear about my home?" she asked, looking up at him. She sighed softly, going through the different sights from her home. "Well.... it's beautiful. I mean, everything about it is beautiful. Except for the parts devestated by war at least..." she told him. It looked as though she were off in her own world, daydreaming about being back home, closing her eyes as she did so. "Everything is full of life, the skies are always cloudless blue, there are waterfalls, gardens, a vast green forest full of life.." she sighed, pulling herself back to reality. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked at him. "So tell me about yourself, Niko." she said, slowly taking her hand off her dagger.
((Well it looks awesome! ^^ I have one more outfit but it's not really complete, I'm not sure what else to put with it.))

Niko sighed, feeling subtle guilt for bringing up her home. Talking about it was cruel when she couldn't return there. He didn't want to upset her any further than he already had. It was to his surprise that she seemed to relax and not clam up further when he mentioned it.

"It sounds lovely," he said, wanting so many more details than what she'd just given him but letting it slid for now. The topic turned back to him and he sighed.

"I'm not sure what to tell you. I was, until earlier today, the second oldest of my family and trying to be an ambassador to foreign lands, as a goodwill emissary and eventually going to return home to act as an adviser to my brother. Now it looks like someone else will get to take all those trips while I'm tied to the throne."

((That can be tough... I downloaded the avi maker thing but it's really outdated, apparently... so there are items that I have no clue what they are. It's also hard because the preview in the shops don't show the item with what you're wearing... so you can't be sure how it'll look sometimes.))

Lina nodded slowly. "As am I..." she told him quietly. "I was the youngest...." she said softly, her hand going to her dagger once more. She looked up at him, knowing they were in the same boat at the moment. She was accidently pressing the dagger into her thigh as she got more and more mad at herself for kissing him. Though now that she thought about it, she really wanted to do it again. "What about your land here?" she asked. "I've only see this much." she added, trying to get her mind off of his lip pressing against hers. "I haven't been in this far, only in the war zone." she told him.
((Yea, I was going to download it but I don't have much RAM on my laptop. I know, I wish they would do it like Gaia where you could try it on with your outfit. It would be so much easier.))