1 Between the King an Aleene, short story.

King David stared at the eloquent cake for a moment before shoving it in Aleene's, the guard's, direction. "Here, you need to taste this for me,"

Aleene blinked in confusion. "Um."

David rolled his eyes, "Oh, would you rather your dear monarch be poisoned?"

She shook her head hesitantly before taking a bite. It melted in her mouth with satisfaction. "Oh my god." She muttered. It was amazing. She caught herself before saying anything more, or out of place. "I-um- I think it's okay."

He grinned at her slyly. "You should take a sip of the wine too." He added, placing his wine glass on the other side of the table. "Just to be safe, come, sit, sit."

Aleene looked around awkwardly before taking a seat across from David. As she and him ate, it took her too long to realize this was like a date, with him feeding her delicacies off of his plate.

As Aleene accepted whatever David gave her, he watched her with a warm smile. His head resting on his palm, staring at her face. She looked so cheerful to him, it was a nice change to the dreary theme of the castle.

"T-Thank you for the food, your Highness." Aleene said quietly, snapping David out of his romance fueled thoughts.

"Gosh, no need to be so formal around me, darling. I'm just, mmm," He took a sip of his own wine. "Letting you get poisoned before I." He gave her a cheeky grin as she smiled back nervously.

"R-Right," She let out an anxious chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. "This, err, seems kind of like a date. Don't you think?"

"Why, of course it is, my dear Aleene. I was sure you'd figure that out by now." He answered while leaning back into his chair.

She stumbled over her words for a second, embarrassed by the King. "Sure, I did, I totally did. It did not take me long...at all."

He muffled a laugh at her attempt to cover up her slight obtuseness. "It's quite alright, my dear. Now," He shifted in his seat. "Tell me a bit about you, love."

Aleene thought for a moment, not much immediate information came to mind at his question. She stared at the table for a moment. "Well, I like to be outside. Um, the bugs are a bit of a bother." She twiddled with her thumbs for a second. "I'm very awkward, as you can see. Obviously," The last part was really meant to be muttered to herself.

He only smiled at her as she mentioned her awkwardness. "Why, that's no bother to me. If anything, it's quite cute. With your little adorable face blushing as I speak to you. Reminds me of my young days, you tiny peach," In all honesty, David meant what he said but sometimes he could be terribly bad at flirting.

Aleene's face grew even more red at his odd compliments, that truly did warm her heart. "Thank y-you." She mumbled as if her mouth was full of marbles.

David enjoyed doing things like this, not exactly with just Aleene but she was wonderful, and beautiful. The other guards couldn't compare to how she made him feel or maybe they could, but for now Aleene was his only desire. If he could just lay with her an-

"Aleene! What are you doing! Come with me, your shift is over." The Captain shouted, barging into the room abruptly.

"O-Of course! I'll be right there." Aleene jumped to her feet and looked at David with a sad expression before running through the hall, following her orders.

The Captain looked down the hall and then back towards David. "Sorry about that, your Highness." He bowed deeply before walking over to the entrance, stationed for his post.

Next time, David would have to catch her somewhere else.