Adalina fought hard to not blush when his hand closed around her. "You mean we're going to sleep in here tonight?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him as the carriage kept moving closer to his family's house. She bit her lower lip and looked at him, mimicking him as he crossed his arms infront of his chest. She cocked her head to the side, deciding to play nice since she was going to be stuck with him without a break for the whole trip.

Lina then decided to lay down since he wasn't going to allow her to look outside. Since there was no one else in the carriage, the laid down and took up her entire half of the carriage, closing her eyes so she wouldn't think about kissing him again. This was going to be a long trip for the both of them.

"Yes. We're going to sleep in here. I know it's not exactly the four poster bed you had in mind, Princess, but the seats are padded and both lift up to chests beneath them. There are pillows and a few blankets in there. If we're lucky there's a deck of cards or dice-" He grinned. "I don't suppose a well brought up girl like you knows many gambling games, do you?"

He stretched out on his own side of the carriage, positioning himself where he had a very nice view of her and her low cut dress. The next time he talked to Elisa he'd really have to thank her for having such a good eye for how to dress an attractive woman. As silence fell between them his thoughts went back to their kiss as well. Would she try to stab him with her dagger if he tried that again? Or maybe he could kiss her and steal the dagger once and for all? Both options were tempting, no matter the outcome, because they meant kissing her again.

Adalina looked at him. "Well I suppose a blanket would be useful." she said, standing up and getting a couple out from under her seat. She saw there were also some pillows. "No, I do not know anything about gambling.." she said, frowning slightly. Lina was busy looking through the contents under her seat as she spoke to him.

The worst thing that could happen to her, well maybe not the worst at all, the carriage turned rather abruptly and she fell over into the middle of the carriage. Sitting on her rear, she looked at him with a pout. "Ow..." she said softly. Once she felt that the road wasn't so bumpy for her to fix up her side, she stood up again and laid out the blankets on her side and placed a pillow at the top. Much to her "luck" the carriage hit another large bump and she fell backwards and right onto Niko, her cheeks turning bright red.

"I'll have to teach you a little something about it during our trip then. Since all you have is what we give you I'd be willing to play for a boon..." If she ended up owing him anything he knew exactly how he'd want her to repay him but didn't dare tell her that he wanted another kiss for fear of upsetting her.

He had to bite his lip when she fell on her butt when the carriage jounced the first time. The pout on her lips was adorable and her offered to help her up. The second time she fell, however, there was no laughter. He wrapped his arms around her protectively, without a second thought. She was so close to him and her blush... Without thinking he leaned in and let his lips press against hers again.

Adalina's eyes widened as soon as he wrapped his arms around her. Her hands went to his chest so that she could try to push him away. She blushed even more when his lips pressed against her. The world around them seemed to melt away as soon as their lips touched.

Lina couldn't help but allow her eyes to flutter shut as she kissed him back. Her heart pounded in her chest as they kissed each other. She slowly moved her arms up and around his neck. There wasn't a single thing she wanted to do but lay there in his arms with his lips upon hers

Nikolai was expecting nothing more than for her to push back and slap him in the face. When he felt her kissing him back, the way her body shifted to stay close to his... he was beyond himself. He held her tenderly and let the kiss deepen naturally between them, his eyes closed to the fire brewing inside of him.

Their perfect moment was ruined by another bump in the road. He lunged forward a little too much and his nose knocked against her forehead and he straightened up in pain, praying that he hadn't just broken his nose. Tilting his head back, he tried to open his eyes to see if his fingers came away wet with blood but they seemed clean... the pain, however, was intense. "I think you broke my nose," he told Lina, one arm still wrapped around her, holding her on his lap.

Adalina relaxed more in his arms when he deepened the kiss. She sighed gently and held onto him gently. She gasped as soon as the carriage hit the bump. Feeling his nose hit her forehead, "Are you okay?" she asked. She was knocked out of her senses and looked at him in shock. She sat up, slightly pushing away from him.

"I think you broke my head." she told him in an almost playful like tone, holding her forehead. She then stood back up and moved back to her own side of the carriage. "I uh...." she was speechless. There was nothing she could say, he was the one who had kissed her first and now she felt guilty and confused. She laid back down and stared towards the ceiling of the carriage, unsure of what to say now. She bit on her lower lip the entire time, waiting for his reaction. The carriage rolled on.

((Cute new outfit by the way. ^^))

"I guess we're even, then." For hurting each other and for kissing, he thought ruefully. As the pain cleared the awkwardness began. He cleared his throat as she moved to her side of the carriage and laid down again. It was mean, but he kind of hoped she would fall again. Assuming she'd fall onto him again. If not for that bump he would have happily kept her where he had her for hours... or days.

As silence stretched he grew more and more uncomfortable. He laid down on his side of the carriage and looked up at the ceiling. "Sorry... if you... didn't want me to do that. I'll try and resist next time if it'd make you more comfortable."

((Thanks. I'm still working on this one but I like it so far. ^^ ))

Lina looked at him in shock. "I didn't mind..... I mean, why did you...... I mean... oh never mind." she huffed, her cheeks darkening even more. She wondered what would happen if he were to fall ontop of her. She bit her lower lip again, trying to collect her thoughts in the silence between them. "Why did you do it?" she finally asked, playing with the blanket she was covered up in. Her voice was soft, almost as if she didn't want to ask him but she was dying to know.

There was an even bigger bump that the carriage hit, it was almost like they had hit a giant hole. She was thrown off her seat and into the floor once more. "Dang it..." she muttered, rubbing her rear slightly. "I think the road wants me on the floor and not the seat." she told him, pulling the pillow and blanket to the floor of the carriage with her.

((It looks good. ^^))

Nikolai quirked an eyebrow at her and smirked. So she did want him to kiss her? Interesting... Of course, both times they had kissed he ended up in pain. The first time because she held a dagger to her throat and the second because her forehead smacked his nose. Kissing her was dangerous. Mostly so because each time their lips met he wanted more.

"Because..." He meant to explain to her but the next bump in the road came too soon and so his one word was all the answer she got from him before he was laughing at her. "I think you're cursed, Princess. You can't kiss a man without causing him some sort of injury and you can't stay on a carriage seat for anything." He stood and opened up his own bench, fishing out a pillow and a couple blankets. "Mind if I join you down there?"

Lina looked at him with a glare. "Well, Prince, you're the one who smacked your nose into my forhead. If you wanted me to get off you could have just said so." she replied, raising her eyebrow at him mockingly. "Who said you were a man?" she then said, turning on her side.

"If you want to you can." she answered about him wanting to lay with her. "You seem to be doing fine staying on your seat though." she added, slipping her dagger off of her leg. She stowed it away under the seat she was supposed to be sitting on. She then stood again and used the extra blankets in her seat to make a cushion for her to lay on.

"Come on now... surely you're not so scorned by the mishap that you have to insult my manhood." He faked a pout at her, as if her jab had hurt him. He waited for her to get settled before he added one of his blankets to the floor and flopped down onto it, pulling his pillow and second blanket down a moment later.

He turned to face her, admiring her for a long while. The carriage bounced back and forth a few more times but it seemed steadier from the floor. "Do you really want to know why I did it?" He asked her quietly.

She couldn't help but smile at his pout, though she tried to keep it hidden. She turned over to face him, backing up slightly at how close he was. She hit her head on the seat from the sudden movement. "Ow.." she whispered, rubbing her head slightly. "Will you really tell me?" she asked, looking into his eyes. It was a little embarrasing how close they were on the floor of the carriage but she kept her composure. 'I wonder what excuse he has..' she thought to herself.

Lina pushed her hair out of her face as she waited for his answer, their bodies moved in just about the same rythym with the jerking and bouncing of the carriage. Back and forth, back and forth.

"I'll really tell you, but I doubt you'll believe me." He watched the way she squirmed away from him. It was a futile effort as they kept being bounced toward the center of the floor, and each other. It was almost comical. Every inch the carriage gave him to get closer to her she took as a mile and tried to back up again. She was running out of room and he wasn't pushing himself back toward his half of the carriage. He liked how close they were. The carriage was a nice excuse to invade her personal space.

"But first I need you to tell me something," he told her quietly, baiting her to see two things. Firstly, the answer to his question, and secondly just how badly she wanted to know his motives. "Why didn't you stop me?"

Adalina smirked. "Try me." she replied about her not believing him. She continued to squirm away from him without any help from the carriage. Everytime they hit a bump and he moved closer, she moved back and kept this chain reaction going until her back was pressed against her side of the carriage.

Lina was surprised by his question. She hadn't really thought about why she didn't stop him. "I, um..... didn't want to." she finally answered, unable to think of an excuse. Angel's like her had a difficult time with lying to people's faces, especially if they felt a connection to that person. She looked into his eyes and waited for his reaction, though she had a good feeling at what it might be. Before too long, the carriage had bumped him closer to where he was merely six inches away from her.

A smile spread from one corner of Nikolai's mouth to the other at her answer. That was exactly what he was hoping she'd say... but he still wasn't so sure he believed her. The kiss in the garden proved she wasn't above kissing to get what she wanted in the end... but here, in the carriage, with no one watching, what was there to gain.

"I see," he said quietly, bouncing a little closer to her. His hand rested above her hip on the ledge of her seat. The carriage bounced again and he didn't move closer but his hand 'fell' to her hip. He didn't move it away from where it landed. "That's very good news... because I kissed you for the same reason."

Adalina continued to look into Nikolai's eyes. "R-really?" she asked, studdering slightly. She couldn't help be get nervous now, knowing what she did. Her heart skipped a beat when his hand landed on her hip, her hands were under her head to prop it up. The carriage bounced him a little closer to her now that his hand wasn't on the seat to hold him back from her. "W-why?" she then asked, their chests pressing together. Her voice had lowered to a whispered at how close they now were, their lips just centimeters from each other and her's brushed against his as she spoke to him.

((Gah I need to go to sleep since I have to wake up in 5 hours but I don't wanna! This is getting good. Hehe))

((I'm getting tired, too.))

Her stutter was adorable. It was fun to make her so uncomfortable, to watch the way her breath hitched and her chest rose and fell as her heart raced. He felt the heat of her blush spreading to his own cheeks as he drew closer. This time there was no easy escape for her.

"That..." He got a little distracted with the feel of their lips brushing against each other and their breath mingling with every word spoke. "... is a secret." He leaned in and kissed her properly, his hand sliding from her hip to the small of her back, pulling her toward him and into his arms again as he rolled half on top of her, pinning her in a similar way to how he'd done in the garden, but with very different motives in mind.

((Alright, last post for the night. I'll be able to reply again in the morning during my first class. Good night. =) ))

Lina knew she would not be able to escape him this time, nor did she want to. Her eyes closed slowly as he pressed his lip against her, she allowed him to roll ontop of her. Her hands went to his neck as she gently kissed him back, smiling slightly when he pinned her to the floor of the carriage. Her heart raced even more, feeling his heart beating against her chest. The things that made them so different didn't matter anymore. Their siblings were the ones who were supposed to get married and yet there they were, kissing on a carriage when the day before she tried to kill him after he saved her. Lina lifted closer to him and deepened the kiss slightly.

((*turns fan on* Is it getting hot in here?))

Nikolai supported himself on one arm as they kissed. It was easy to forget himself and everything going on in his life. It was even easy to forget that the woman he was supposed to be one of his greatest enemies. The fact she'd tried to kill him less than twenty-four hours ago didn't phase him. He had her right where he wanted her. His free hand slid from her hip upward, tracing the line and curve of her body all the way up until his fingers brushed against the bare skin above her neckline. He could feel her heart racing and his running to keep up with it as she deepened their kiss.

((Woot woot! *waves hand to cool off*))

Adalina shuddered as he traced along her body, longing for his touch. She hesitantly flicked her tounge across his lower lip, asking for entrance. Her hands slid around his hips to his back. Lina then came to her senses and pulled back, "Wait, what are we doing?" she asked, panting slightly as she spoke. She knew she wanted to kiss him but they were enemies. "Are we allowed to do this?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking into his. Her hands were on his chest as she pushed back slightly to look at him fully.

Nikolai had to give her some space as he'd left her nowhere to back up to. He sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling of the carriage. "I thought it was kind of obvious what we were doing," he said with a little smirk. His lips still tingled from their kiss.

Turning his head so he was looking at her, he frowned. "There is no one here stopping us... and last I checked neither of us was betrothed to anyone else... so unless you have a personal objection I think we're free to do this. At least until I have to send you packing back home. Then I'm sure you'll find a charming angel, fall in love, get married, and have lots of angelic babies."

Lina looked at him and glared. "I didn't say I wanted to stop..." she muttered, laying on her back as well. She shuddered when her lips tingled from their kiss and she closed her eyes, looking up at the ceiling as well. "I'm sorry, it's just... you make me nervous." she told him, embarassed.

"And what makes you think that as soon as the war as calmed down we won't be arranged to be betrothed?" she then asked, turning her head to look back at him. Her eyes stayed on his as they spoke to each other, both swaying back and forth with the carriage. "No, I do not have a personal objection.." she added quietly, her face still flushed slightly.

"The last time I checked, pushing away the other person meant you wanted to stop. No need to say it out loud and hurt their feelings any further." He half-laughed and turned it into a cough when she told him that he made her nervous. Her next question drew his attention.

"Do you mean me and you, betrothed to each other? Or me and you betrothed to other people? I'm not so sure my family is as ready as we were last time to marry into yours, Lina. It didn't exactly end well yesterday. It's a possibility but it's hardly one I'd hope for. Being married to you would be a pain."

((Look, Niko has foot in mouth disease! xD ))

((Hahaha yes, open mouth insert foot Niko! >.<))

"I hurt your feelings?" she asked, looking at Niko. "I was only doing it so that I could ask you about this...." she added quietly, moving a little closer to him but mainly so she could get comfortable again. She focused her attention on him, her head on the pillow as thier ride in the carriage continued.

"Well, since neither one of our families started the war in the temple, don't you think they will want to merge the family still?" she said softly. "Once they find out who the culprits are and detroy them, don't you think they will continue the negotiations about ending the war? With that said, we are the only two left in out bloodlines to get married to each other.." she finished, poking his side gently.