22

"Ouch! That hurts." Sitting on the carriage floor, Gwen looked up only to see the devil still sitting pretty and looking as calm as ever.

"Stay here." He ordered as he glared down at her as though she was the cause of whatever happened. She groaned when he stepped out of the carriage without bothering to help her.

"A little help would do," Gewn whispered to herself as she struggled to get back up.

When Gerald walked up to Robinson, he talked to some men, "What's the fuss about, Robinson?"

"Your Highness, this path is blocked. We have to take another route. I think something happened here."

Gerald looked around, not seeing any problem at all, "I don't see any problem. Well, get the men to remove those tree trunks so we can continue our journey."

Robinson cleared his throat, "Your Highness, Not that it is impossible to do that, but I am sure the men as well as the horses are tired. They need to be fed."

"I need to get to Almor in the next two days, at most. Get them to remove those trunks and get the carriage moving." His jaw ticked in impatience.

"Your Highness," One of the guards walked up to them, "I am afraid that we can't proceed as planned," All it took was a little tilt of his head for the guard to continue, "One of the wheels of the carriage was caught in a trap I believe was set by hunters." 

Wanting to see for himself, he walked towards the carriage, inspected it himself and saw it was true. "Get the available horses,"

Gwen dragged herself out of the carriage to see what was happening. She hoped they were not in any kind of trouble in the middle of nowhere. 

"Your Highness, what about Princess Gwendolyn?" Robinson asked, 

Picking up the sound from behind, he said, "She will survive." his voice a little higher than usual so that she would hear him.

Gwen stopped in her tracks, her hand tightly fisted as she tried so hard not to wrap them around the man's neck. Considering her physical condition, she doubted she would succeed, but it would be worth the try. How can he be so inconsiderate and insensitive? He made her sit for hours, now he was going to leave her alone in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers.

Robinson frowned, "Your Highness, we can't leave her here alone with the guards, especially not in her condition."

Gerald raised one of his brows, "Who said anything about leaving her here? She is riding with me."

"When you say, 'she is riding with me,' what exactly does that mean?" Gwen asked with a look of disbelief all over her face. Ignoring the pain in her leg, she limped forward enough to see the man's face, "What? No way I am doing that. I don't mind walking down to your kingdom if that is what it will take," 

"Suit yourself," Gerald turned around and grabbed the rein of the horse that was brought by the guard. He dragged the horse closer to where she stood.

"Excuse me, Sire, I am talking to you!" She yelped when he suddenly grabbed her, hoisting her up in the air and down on the saddled horse. 

"You son of a bastard—" That was as far she could get when she felt his presence behind her on the horse. "What in the devil's name are you doing? Let me down, right now!" She attempted to slide off the horse but the strong grip on her waist made it all futile.

"Stay still, young girl," He commanded in a low voice that fell on deaf ears as the little witch continued to wriggle in his hold.

"I said let me down!"

Pressing her body to his, against her will, of course, he said in a voice low enough for her alone to hear, "One more move or word from you, I will push you off this horse right now. You are free to ride with any of these men."

Gwen's body stilled, "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me and see for yourself what I would and WOULDN'T dare," 

Gwen looked around, seeing all the men looking at her expectantly, "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"

"I thought as much," He loosened his grip on her and turned to Robinson, "Get the men and the horses to the next village, we would be resting there for the night."

"Yes, Your Highness," Robinson's voice was lost in the wind as they rode off to only gods knew where.

Gwen's body was stiff and rigid as the horse galloped through the woods. She didn't dare risk her life all in the name of relaxing on the man's strong body despite how weak and tired she felt. She would save her pride and remain ramrod straight just like the rider. 

Would it be bad if she used all her strength to push him down from the horse and run away with the horse? And kill me further? No thanks. She hated herself for not coming up with any brilliant plan. Even if she manages to overpower him in the middle of nowhere, how would she survive in the woods alone in the dark? She squirmed on the horse, feeling her bottom and injured leg hurt from the long hours of sitting. 

"Hold tight, we are almost there." She heard his voice from behind and internally sighed, not liking how his breath fanned her neck.

"Like how long are we looking at? How far is the next village we are supposed to be resting at?" She asked, her tiredness slipping into her voice, 

"Four hours away?" 

Her eyes widened, "You can't be serious! What do you take me for? A beast that never gets tired? Well, I am not. I am just an ordinary girl trying to survive in this cruel world. Do you hear me? An Ordinary girl that is what I am."

"I would have never guessed."

The bastard, "It's dark. We might run into a tree soon." No response, "Your mouth should be hurting more. Stop talking, young woman." 

"You are a heartless bas—" Her mouth snapped shut when she noticed the change in the environment. It had less woods and looked less creepy, and was that a human being she was seeing?

"Thank your stars you didn't finish that word." came his calm voice from behind, sending those bad chills down her spine.

"You tricked me! You said it was four hours away," She didn't know if it was her imagination, or did she hear something akin to laughing. Impossible. The man didn't have humour in him. 

A few minutes later, to her surprise, Gerald gently helped her down the horse. She had half expected him to drag her down the horse or leave her to come down on her own. She thanked him for his surprising kind gesture and got no response in return. 

"Wait here, I would be back," 

"What if there are no rooms for us in the inn?" She asked before he could fully turn away.

"There will be when I am done." He marched into the old building, leaving her all alone with the horse. She looked at the inn and sighed, the building looked thousands of years old, one wrong move and it is down to its foundation. She prayed to the stars that they made it out alive without the inn crashing down on them while they slept. 

Though not dressed in his royal apparel, he had a demanding aura that drew people's attention without him asking. He was born that way. He has lived that way. The in

Gerald's eyes roamed the hall that had few people littered around it. He walked towards the wooden counter where a young boy not older than fifteen stood scribbling on his record book with his thin glasses perched on his old nose. Noticing his presence, the boy looked up. "I need eight rooms. Quickly."

Surprised by the demand, the boy straightened up on the stool, almost falling from it, "Good evening, sire," His fingers quickly shot up to adjust his glasses after he got no response, "I am sorry, sire, but there are no available rooms for you at the moment." He quickly added again, "The house is full, and eight rooms are too much." The young boy looked around in search of the people who would be occupying the eight rooms.

"Make them available," Came Gerald's voice, eyes locked on the boy.

The boy's eyes darted from left to right, looking helpless. Something about the intruder made him weary, "Sire, I am afraid I can't do that right now. I doubt anyone would want to leave their room at this hour of the night,"

Gerald's head tilted to the side, "It's either you go in there and make them leave yourself or I would do that myself. Trust me, you wouldn't like the former one bit," 

"Sire, How about checking another inn? The one on the east. People rarely go there."

Gerald raised one of his brows, "You have two minutes," 

"But sire, I can't send these people out because you asked. They paid a good amount of money to spend a night under our service." The boy defended his customers,

Gerald turned away from the boy, ready to enter the hallway and do what was on his mind. He stopped in his tracks when someone stood in his way, "You can't go in there, sire."

"Out of my way," 

"No, sire. I can't do that" It happened so fast that the next second the boy was dangling in the air. 

"You sure know how to run your mouth, don't you?"

"Put me down, sire, please."

"Thought you were a brave one," One of his hands rested on his sword, "Your pretty little head will look good on a spike, don't you think so too?" He unsheathed his sword

"You would do no such thing! Let him down right now." Gwen gritted out. All heads snapped towards her direction. Her anger knew no bounds as she watched the man intimidate the little boy. How did they go from finding them a room to satisfying the monster's blood thirst? Was this the type of man he was? Intimidating those he knew he was stronger than. How ridiculous! 

"Why should I do that?" Gerald asked, still holding the boy in place who kicked and struggled to free himself from the devil's clutch, but nothing seemed to work.

"Because you have to. He is just a child."

"A child who knows how to run his mouth?" 

"I am sure he didn't know what he was doing." 

"What is happening here? Kingsley boy, where are you? What trouble have you gotten yourself into?" a gruff voice called out, 

Gwen turned around to find an old man who could barely stand straight even with the aid of his staff. The strands of hair on his head could be counted and his skin as wrinkled as his age could allow.

"I am up here Grandpa," The boy called out with a glare directed at Gerald

"Huh?" Gwendolyn shifted to the side to grant the man access to the drama that was being directed by her husband-to-be. "Boy, what are you doing up there?"

Ah, his sight wasn't that great as well, "This man came here causing trouble," The boy pointed an accusing finger at Gerald.

"Long time no see, Rod," Gerald called out from where he stood and to everyone's surprise, the old man fell on his knees.