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|Adara De Clare|

I look at the Prince, squinting my eyes at him. Is there something wrong with him? He just told me that I look fine the way I'm dressed right now.

I wish I could say I'm joking when I say I'm literally in pajamas but I'm not. I'm in pajamas. A loose, oversized, black shirt and a pink sweatpants. How is that okay attire for going out? Going out with the Prince, in fact.

He's in his formal wear. A royal blue suit with white cuff-links and gold streams going down the sides of it along with royal blue pants with gold streams going down the sides of it also. He's dressed formally and just told me that I look fine. Does he have no taste in fashion?

"I do have taste in fashion. Besides why are you worrying so much about what people think? I literally just told you that there's no people where we're going." He reminds me about that part.

"Oh yeah right, that weird part. Are you planning on killing me? What do you mean there are no people where we're going? Where are we going?" I ask him and the edge of his lips turn up in a smile.

He looks away from me then his eyes find mine again. This time he really is smiling. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd know. I'm a very vocal villain. Secondly, I can't kill sadly. You hold whether I become King or not in those tiny hands of yours." He tells me and I laugh.

"You don't really think the King was serious about that? He was just bluffing trying to humble you or something." I brush it off.

Me? Holding whether he becomes King in my hands? Hah! That's hilarious. If I did, I'd try to make sure that he didn't. Even though he is warming up to me and being kinder, he still is deadset on world domination and whatever. He still views humans as nothing but insects beneath his feet. Still views me as an insect beneath his foot that he can step on whenever he wants.

"Fine, change if you want. You get no more than five minutes." He says, looking away from me.

All playfulness that was there is now gone.

Of course he probably heard my thoughts. I'm not going to apologize though. I meant what I thought. I would not trust him as King, in fact I'd rather die before then. He'd be such a dictator.

I mean, why would he even be upset by me thinking that? Isn't that what he preached day after day about his irrattional hate for humanity?

I rush upstairs, rummaging through my closet to find a dress to wear. I flip through some dresses before finding the one that I really like. It's another green dress. What can I say? Green is literally my favorite color. Pastel green to be exact.

I put on the dress and it makes me feel so childish being in it. The memories it evokes is to go outside when it's raining and to jump in the mud and play with it. I like it.

I smile.

I put on grey flats, then I rush downstairs. The Prince stands there by the door. The exact place where I left him. He hears me coming down the steps and he looks up at me. His eyes widen just a little and his adam's apple bobs up and down.

I hop over to him. Whenever I wear this type of dress—the kind that flows with my movement and is bouncy—it makes me feel so childlike. I love it. It's awesome. I look at him but he says nothing.

I begin to get a little self-conscious about my appearance. Does he like how I look? Does he not? Is this dress small or big on me? Is the color right for my skin tone?

He smiles a little, "You look pretty."

I blush. Blood rushes to my cheeks and I hold my head down.

"Thanks, it means a lot." I tell him, and he offers me his hand. I eye it for some seconds then I take it.

He opens the door and I take the house's key off the rack. We walk outside and the wind gets the best of me. To the best of my ability, I hold down my dress. The wind tries to get the best of it but I hold it down with all my strength.

"Could you lock the door? Just push the key in and turn till you hear a click." I ask him and he takes the key from me, closing the door.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." He says to me.

As we walk down the steps to his car, I keep holding my dress down. I open the car door and I get in and so does he. He turns up the A/C and then he starts the car, driving off.

"Remind me where we're going again?" I try to bait our destination out of him but he's smart and he caught on.

"I'm not telling you, Adara. I promise, however, that you'll love it." He smiles at me and I crease my eyebrows at him.

"Ugh, fine." I give up. I guess I'll find it out when I get there. Two minutes turned into ten, then ten turned into thirty, and thirty into an hour. I groan, rolling my head against the head of the seat.

"You're literally going to kill me. There is no way that this place that I will 'love' is this far out. We're all the way past the city. Where are we going?" I ask him and the edge of his lips curl up into a smile.

Wow, usually when I ask him questions repeatedly, he'd get super upset at me. Now, however, he just cracks a smile. I like it. It's super nice. Like really nice.

A few more minutes pass by, and he goes off the road and onto a path trail. He drives further and further into the woods. "Are you for real going to kill me?" I ask him, dead serious.

He laughs, "I'm not going to kill you, Adara. Do you trust me?"

I look at him, squinting my eyes, "No, no I don't. Do you trust me?" I retort.

"I trust that you aren't going to do anything stupid."

I lean back, "Why would I do anything stupid? Why are we stopping?" I look outside.

This can't be the destination can it? It's just trees, trees and more trees. "Is this it?" I ask him as we come out of the car and close the doors.

"No, where we're going, we'll have to go by foot." He tells me, looking off into the distance. I look where he's looking, seeing nothing but trees and more trees.

Oh! Also, no path. Does he want me to walk where there's no path trail? What if we get lost? What will happen then? I don't trust him to lead me back. He'll probably leave me to fend for myself.

I look at him extremely wary. I really do not trust this man.

He smiles, "I know that you don't normally trust me, but Adara for this you'll have to." He tells me then he walks away from the path and over a fallen branch.

He extends his hand to me. I look at it then I take it. I lift my dress with my hand. Then I step over the branch without parts of my dress getting stuck on it.

I look back to the car then the Prince and I bite the inside of my lip. I have no idea if I should really trust him to do this. My heart says to trust him but common sense goes against that.

He lifts my head, making me look up into his light brown eyes. He uses his thumb to part my lips. I swallow, still looking up at him.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" He asks me, his voice deep. My eyes widen a little. I've never heard his voice go that deep before.

I shake my head, "No." I say, my voice getting squeaky. He smiles, clearly pleased by my answer. I blush a little.

He continues walking, still holding onto my hand. We walk pass similar trees, when I looked back I couldn't see the car anymore. We're very far out now. Where on earth are we going? I gulp. I really pray it's where he says and not anything bad.

We continue stepping over fallen branches and stepping over little puddles. Each time, he made sure to hold onto my hand, so I don't fall.

We come across a stream and I stop walking. The Prince removes his hand from mine then he jumps across the stream, landing perfectly on the other side. He turns around, offering his hand to me.

"Jump." He says and I look at the stream then I look at him. With my eyes wide, I shake my head repeatedly.

"No, no way, nuh uh." I deny and he looks at me with a small smile on the corner of his lips.

"I promise that it'll be fine. It looks way harder than it really is." He tries to reassure me but it doesn't work.

He sees the fear and denial on my face so he tries another way to get me to jump across. "Just jump and I promise I'll catch you."

I look at him, not sure if I should trust him. "You'll catch me?" I ask him.

He nods, confirming it. I inhale deeply, trying to gather my bearings. I breathe then I take a few steps back. I look at the distance between myself and the stream, then the distance from the stream and the Prince.

I inhale one last time then I leave everything up to the heavens and I run, jumping as I get to the edge of the stream.

My eyes widen as I realize that I wasn't going to make it.

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