Alphar And Elize (2)

Elize POV

I sneaked up behind him and just as I was a few steps from him; I grabbed him by the neck and lunged down the ledge into the lake, Alphar looked back to meet my gaze, confusion written on his face; but it was too late. We crashed into the lake, a thunderous splash reverberating through the air.

I moved my hands down his body, circling his waist with my hands, feeling the rippling muscles beneath the layers of soaked clothes. I opened my eyes; I had closed on reflex the moment we hit the water, Alphar's piercing yellow eyes were staring right back at me, his pupils in a long slit.

He clutched my straying hands in one of his own and pulled us up to the surface. I gasped for breath as the chilly air clashed against my skin. "HA... Ha.." I glanced up at Alphar with a smile glazed across my face, but instead of looking at me, he was staring down with a listless gaze. I ran my eyes down to direct my gaze to what he was staring at. The wooden piece was in his hand, soaked in water while he stared at it, unidentified emotions swirling in his yellow snake-like eyes.

"Alphar? What's wrong? Was that important?" I pushed my face in front of the carving to peer into his eyes, searching for any emotions that might flicker by.

"Nothing. It's about time we eat lunch, let's go," Alphar snapped out of his trance and his pupils swirled back into a normal circle.

"Okay! Alphar I've always wondered this, but why do your pupils turn to slits?" I asked while peeling my body out of the water and shaking the water out of my hair.

"That's just how it is," He answered while gathering his hair and squeezing the water out of it. He pulled down the red lapels of his shirt letting it land on his hips revealing the powerful toned body beneath. A blush zoomed across my cheeks, I placed both palms on my face, covering my eyes, the heat from my cheeks permeating my palms. I peeped through a crack in my fingers and glued my eyes to his abs and muscular biceps.

"Elize...Elize..... Elize!!" My body jumped when he yelled my name and my fogged eyes cleared up from their daze.

"Huh? What?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"I said that I already finished the food," Alphar said and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" I shot my eyes around to find we were no longer outside but we were in our 'room', a fire crackling in front of us while Alphar's arm was stretched out trying to hand me a piece of boar meat and a leaf filled with roasted wild vegetables.

"You don't plan on eating anything or do you just want me to wait with my hand here all day till it snaps?" A slight smile tugged at the ends of his lips.

"Oh... um.. yeah.. wait.. n.. no.." I fumbled and grabbed the leaf of food, the blush on my face only deepening as my fingers grazed past his. "Thank you, Alphar," I settled down with my leaf of food and gobbled down the food seasoned with wild herbs. Alphar sat in silence opposite me munching on his, each of his motions filled with a sense of grace and arrogance oozing from the pits of his bones.

"Alphar, where did you learn to cook?" I asked to break the silence between us.

"I ended up picking up a few things because my friend... she is a.... terrible cook,"

"Oh, really?" I said while chomping down on a piece of meat, the juices spraying over my face.

"Yeah,"

"What's your friend like?" He paused and stared at the crackling fire, swaying in a slow rhythm.

".... She's reserved.... and hard-working," He said after some thought.

"I see, is she your sister?" He looked up at me, an incredulous look gleaming in his eyes to which I met with confusion.

"No, she isn't.... she's just a close friend," He sighed, "Enough about that, tell me about yourself,"

"Well, I love milk," I tapped my chin, the juices of the boar meat wetting my skin leaving an oily sheen.

"Oh, why?" He asked and tilted his head. A blush flashed across my face and I crossed my arms over my flat chest and pouted with indignation.

"My father told me milk helps to grow big and strong," I said and opened one of my closed eyes to peek at his expression of realization. "Humph.... Whatever.... Well, my parents were adventurers, they were both very kind and gave me everything they could, but they died when they went on an expedition,"

"I'm sorry to hear that," He said and threw me a wry smile.

"It's not your fault, so you need not apologize," I assured with a smile. "After they died, I got carried to an orphanage when I was ten. While I was there, I got bullied because we usually divided work between the boys and girls over eight. The boys would chop firewood, things like that, while the girls would handle the cooking, cleaning and so on. But I was never the best at those things," I paused, looking up a grin on my face as the memories engulfed my mind. "They constantly called me a tomboy because I much rather play outside getting my face dirty rather than couped up dealing with chores, but no one cared about that and instead I was ostracized..." I trailed off.