With the diary tucked inside her dress pocket, Celina managed to sneak out. Her heart was thudding the entire way, fingers brushing against the pocket one too many timed. Just as she was about to make a turn, Javier cut her path in between.
Her eyebrows shot up to the hairline, breath hitching as she thought the worse. What if he found out about his diary and knew that she’s the one who took it? Sweat began to form, trickling down her forehead.
“My love.”
“Huh?”
“You look pale. Is everything alright?”
She chuckled, avoiding his eyes. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
&nbs
Something was off. The Prince could feel it in his gut as he's doing his usual rounds around the Castle. With his shoulders hunched, head bent down, Javier moved his feet as quick as he can without breaking into a run.A thick fog that crept up from seemingly out of nowhere soaked his clothes. What was happening? He thought to himself. The Prince was racing towards the gates as fast as he could.He felt faint, motioning towards the nearest guard. "What's going on?""I'll check, my lord."Before he could take a breath, the loud clang of the bell echoed around. His ears rang from the sound, goosebumps prickling across his arms.
When Celina came to a hallway not far from her room, she decided to walk through it, slowly opening the doors, looking inside for anything to preoccupy her time. As Javier was not in the Castle, they were free to do anything.They were already done with dinner, and it's only six in the evening. She would be a fool to enter the Prince room in his absence. And with Abel at that. Beth would blabber everything to Javier as soon as he returns. That's a risk the maid was not willing to take.Her friend was trying to find the Castle map in the library, just in case they missed some hidden route. They only had one night to search around as the Prince would be back early in the morning.&n
The moment Javier's car pulled up, the maid froze in her place. Abel rushed to the theatre room to tell rest of them about the Prince. She lingered in his room, her heart hammering in her chest. If they had not heard that car horn, then the Prince might have caught them in the act. Just thinking about it caused goosebumps to prickle down her arm.Few seconds passed by when she heard thunderous footsteps approach in her direction. Its Javier. She didn't have to second guess herself. Living along with him in the same castle all these months made her well acquainted."Celina?" He whispered, his voice out of breath, chest rising and falling. The Prince didn't let her have a second of own before taking her in his arm. She froze, her arms rigid by the sid
/Javiers POV/The spacious bathroom with the bronze tub, dark tiles filled with steam and warmth was so familiar to Javier at this point that he found himself slumping back. His hands remained by side, practically useless while shoulders hanging on to the coat.Finally, he let the material hit the floor with a soft thud, a sigh escaping his lips.Javier had to fight not to fall asleep in the bathroom, not to give in to his legs because they couldn't carry his body weight anymore.The Prince was just so tired. Both mentally and physically drained after hearing from Alfred the day before. Someone was still out waiting to end his life. At the bitter reminder, his brain
/Javier's POV/The Prince was tired. He's pretty sure he danced with everyone at some point, twirling so many familiar faces that he lost cost. Then again, it was his birthday, and Javier couldn't deny anyone that easily. He didn't drink anything, but he still felt tipsy by the end of the night, drunk off the laughter, giddiness of people and joy in the air. Primarily because of dancing with his dragon rider—Celina. She was something else—a vision.People around couldn't resist her, involving her in any and all kind of conversations. He was just tired of that. They couldn't have a moment alone. Javier wanted the birthday to be just his family and maybe include some of his staff. A year ago, she didn't even know him, but now Celina went overboard and made his birthday a celebration, inviting each and everyone she
Celina couldn't believe her eyes. The person she has loved all this along almost tried to kill another person—her friend at that. Just thinking about the state she found, Abel made a shiver ran down her spine. He was barely breathing, face pale and choking on his saliva. Leaning against the wall, fighting for his life Abel looked almost gone.For a second there, she thought Javier would kill him. Then he stopped.How could he do something like that? She kept on giving him the benefit of the doubt, ignoring all the red flags on the way only to have him show his true colours.She never thought he would begging in front of her, asking f
Abel was there, bundling her up into his arms right away, holding her hands, clasping them between one of his own. He let her cry until his shirt was more water than fabric and the sky outside had gone dark, the only light in the tiny room coming from the hallway.Eventually, the maid stopped crying, eyes slipping shut, slumped like a dead weight. She wanted to scream. Scream at Javier for hiding the truth, being a coward and such an insensitive prick, for ruining them all the way. “Come on”, Abel softly cooed, rubbing circles on her back. The touch made her sigh. “We need to move out of here.”“O-Okay”“I&rsqu
/Javiers POV/The Prince stood back, watching as Celina left with Abel. His heart was bleeding. He thought of the anger, of the confusion, of those cerulean blue eyes that had looked at him with a bonfire of emotions crackling within them, the heat of it seeping into his skin. Taking his last breath would have been a lot easier than having that stare on him.Javier thought about the moment a while ago when he tried to step closer to her, who turned her head to the side, scrunching up her nose, trying to get as far away from him as possible. It stung, his heart clenching at the reminder.For a moment, the Prince stood there, blinking in disbelief at the door, not even realising that Celina left a few minutes ago. The love of his