Many Questions

She was laughing happily with her lion friend in the endless grass field. Erin growled. Ashlyn scrunched her nose and leaned close to his face.

"My beautiful kitty, I love you so much!" she said, softly stroking his long golden greyish mane. Erin started purring loudly. The girl closed her eyes smiling.

But when she opened them back again, she saw Armand's face instead.

She gasped, backing away. Careless, she didn't notice the black hole that swallowed her as she fell, seeing Armand reaching for her, before she regained consciousness.

*******

Ashlyn woke up in a bed. Still covered in sweat from her dream, she quickly realised that both the bed and bed chamber weren't the cozy ones she was used to open her eyes in, back in the family cottage.

And certainly, there wasn't any yelling between her parents, something she had to get used to recently.

She frowned, analysing her dream. Erin.. Armand? Impossible. If that was true, Armand would have to be the banished Crown Prince, the only one that could shape shift into a feline. A lion, in this case. Nonsense! Her mind brought her back to the day before, where she remembered she spent some time with Erin at the forest... Till she fell.. Asleep?

She quickly analyzed her surroundings.

"Fancy room... Very fancy."

Her eyes gazed at the majestic chandelier hanging in the ceiling.

Just when she was about to stand up, a maid entered the room.

"Oh! The miss is awake! Shall we inform Master Stefan?"

She blinked. Stefan? How was this possible?

"Stefan? Oh, sure! Let me just, uhm, dress up!"

The young maid nodded. "Sure thing! Your clothes are in the closet, miss. Feel free to pick anything of your choice!"

As soon as the young woman closed the door, Ashlyn stood up and ran to the closet in front of the bed, opening it.

"Damn! There's so... Many."

She didn't know which one to choose. Her head was starting to hurt. Suddenly she felt an electric-like spark going from her whole body to her index finger.

"Ouch!" What was that? She didn't know.

She was wasting time with this. She turned her head, noticing her old clothes piled up on top of the drawer. Her eyes lighted up.

The girl quickly put her shirt, pants and long boots on before she walked outside the room.

Stefan greeted her.

"Heyyy how are you feeling Ash? Didn't even appreciate the whole dresses I had for you".

"I'm..fine! And I sure did! It's just, you know, I'm comfortable enough with my own, so thanks for keeping them haha!"

She then gasped remembering all her questions.

"Stefan! Where- What am I doing here? Is this your house? What happened yesterday? I'm-"

"Okaaayyy slowww down gurl, I will answer all your questions, but first, shall we have breakfast?"

Ashlyn took a deep breath and sighed, nodding.

"Alright! Follow me!"

The young girl followed her best friend to the room, where a big table was prepared for breakfast. Stefan pointed with his arm for her to sit in any of the chairs. She was so busy staring at the Stefan's family portraits, so she didn't notice Armand eating quietly at the dinner table as well.

She saw him and her face turned pale. The dream, now this. What the hell was happening to her? Why was he there now, and didn't come to the ball, back then? Internal screaming. Armand also seemed to be quite shocked. He certainly did not expect her to wake up THAT early.

He got up, bowing to her. "Miss Volkova".

An internal mess of emotions as she was, Ashlyn quietly did the same. As mad, upset and sad as she was with him, she did miss that deep voice of his deep down.

"Oh please! Drop the formalities you guys! I'm sure you know each other already" he chuckled and winked to both. He sat on a chair and invited Ashlyn to follow him. The dinner table was big enough and there we're many chairs left out, so girl ended up sitting between Stefan and Armand. She was clueless on how to react, so she focused on her own mind and started to quietly eat.

"So Ash, what were the questions?"

Ashlyn looked at her best friend. "I uhm-"

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore Armand's blue eyes, piercing her soul.

"I just.. I just wanted to know how I ended up here. That's all."

Stefan nodded, smiling. Before answering, he looked at Armand. The prince gave him a death stare, begging him to not give him away. Stefan smirked. He was having so much fun. He turned to Ashlyn.

"So Ashlyyyyn. What happened was basically that after you fell asleep in the forest, I just happened to be around that area at that time. You know, I was going for a walk with my friend Armand, and we saw you laying down so peacefully. As much as you love staying outdoors, you need a bed for your beauty sleep. So we carried you here".

The girl opened her mouth to say something, yet things seemed to be ok for her rational thoughts. It made sense.

She looked at her porridge and then at Stefan. "And.. My parents? They would surely ground me after this..."

"Oh, no worries. A letter was sent already this early morning. I'm sure they received it by now".

Ashlyn nodded and looked down. Now that all her doubts wer clear, she wanted to kill Armand. Not literally. Just have a little chat, of course. She looked at him. He stopped staring at her, and was focusing on finishing the porridge.

And to think, she dreamt of him this morning.

Suddenly her eyes met his gaze. She slightly blushed and turned to her plate.

She stood up. "Well, I'm finished! Stefan, I'm going!"

"Perfect, no need to get the dishes, my maid Sarah will take care of it, shall I accompany you home?"

"O-oh, no need! I-"

Armand walked to her. "Ashlyn, I can go with you, if you'd like to...". He smiled.

The girl looked away for a second before turning her attention to him again. "Sure".

Few moments later, Stefan saw them both gallop towards the girl's house.

"Aahh... These lovebirds.."

*******

Ashlyn's POV

The journey was quiet. I wanted to make him talk, I wanted to kill him with questions, but his focus now was basically carrying me back home, where my parents would be waiting for me... And I don't imagine their reactions would be good enough. Me, a young lady, in a mansion with two men. Horrible. Disaster. Terrible. The worst of the worst.

It seemed as if he felt my tensed body. "Ashlyn, shall we stop for a bit? You seem to be tired.."

I sighed. "Okay" He helped me get off from the horse.

He calmly sat on the ground and looked at me. I didn't know what he wanted from me. From his expression, clear enough he was expecting something from me. When I was the one expecting answers. From him! The fire inside me was boiling already, getting hotter the second I thought about it. I couldn't bear it anymore.

"Armand."

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you show up at the ball?"

"Ooh, did m'lady miss me?"

He was smiling. The damn bastard was smiling.

"None of your damn business".

He sighed and stood up, walking towards me. "I did come, Ashlyn. But.. "

"But?"

"You were already with a another gentleman. You seemed entertained. I didn't want to be of bother to you, my lady".

I frowned. "But that doesn't have anything to do! I was waiting for you! I thought you were coming!" I didn't notice my eyes were getting watery. I had to calm down myself. I turned around so he wouldn't see me.

I heard him behind me. "I'm very sorry Ashlyn.. I didn't know".

"You never know... I.." This discussion was pointless. I didn't belong to him, now he did to me. We didn't make any promise. Who was I to him anyway? My mind is so stupid, constantly imagining fantasy stories.

I looked up. Enough of this. My parents were surely missing me.

I turned around, going back to the black horse. "I have to go. My parents are waiting for me."

He silently nodded, helping me to sit back. He then sat behind me, and we went through the whole journey without talking or saying anything, until we finally reached my home.

Armand waved to us, and galloped away. To hell knows where. I didn't care. Did I?