*Once again I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any of the characters. I don't have a beta reader so if there are any mistakes I'm sorry. More notes at the end of the chapter. *
Skye woke up feeling warm and protected. Strangely enough she was lying on something that was hard and seemed to be radiating heat. Glancing down she saw that Ward's shirt had once again slipped off her shoulder. Pulling it up to cover herself again, she didn't want to flash Ward, she was sure he would want to look anyway. He had practically run out of the room when she had entered the bath. Checking her top to make sure she was fully covered she noticed that their was an arm around her waist. Squinting upwards she found herself looking into the face of her SO who she was currently lying on.
Oops. How had she ended up lying on him? She was afraid of this when she found out she had to share a bed with him. What if she had said something? She knew she spoke in her sleep. What if she had said something? Also what was she going to say to him now? How had she ended up on his chest?
"Morning." Smiled Ward, looking down at her. He gently brushed some hair of her face before continuing, "Glad to see you awake. You looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake you but it coming up towards the time for me to go to the training ground. I didn't want to move and wake you, but I definitely need to train."
OK. So they weren't going to talk about the fact she was lying on his chest, bare chest! She had also clearly slept in his arms. Also he hadn't wanted to wake her even though he had to get up. The more she found out about her SO, the more she was falling in love with him. God she hoped she hadn't said that last night.
"What am I supposed to do? While you are training I mean."
"You could always come with me? I don't mind you coming. Plus company is always nice."
Smiling Skye gazed up at her SO and nodded in agreement. Who was going to miss an opportunity to sit and gaze at him, especially when he was training. He often got hot and took his shirt off, giving Skye plenty of time to gaze at his abs. He had good abs. Skye just wanted to touch them. They were so well defined.
Sitting up and stopping her thoughts before she said or did something she would regret. With her SO around she found herself doing that more and more. She was going to have to be careful at the banquet tonight. Drink always made her more impulsive and people here drank wine like it was water, she had noticed at the meal last night. One glass of wine could make her tipsy. She had to watch what she drank or she was liable to do something stupid, such as kiss Ward!
Moving from the bed, she headed towards the clothes and grabbed a simple dress from the pile. Turning towards the cordoned area so she could dress in peace, she spoke to her SO,
"Come on then Robot. Seeing as you need practice we'd better get a move on."
Skye sat watching her SO train. She was right, he had taken his shirt off and it was a fantastic sight. Just watching his muscles move as he trained made her want to swoon. Hang on swoon? She really needed to get out of here; she had never used the word before now. This place was having a bad effect on her.
She became aware of someone standing beside her, taking her concentration away from her handsome SO.
"Do you mind if I join you?" asked the lady standing beside her. Skye recognised her as the lady of the castle, Isabel. She had met her last night at the meal and immediately liked her. She had made her feel at ease and tried to help her meet other people.
"Of course. Company is always welcome." Skye replied smiling at the other women.
Isabel sat down beside Skye on the cushioned benches that were placed so you could watch the training ground comfortably.
"I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you make a fantastic couple. I have never seen people so much in love. Not many people would sit and watch their husband train like you do. I remember when I first married William I used to do exactly the same. It's nice to see someone else in love. So many people marry for convenience, seeing people in love makes me so happy."
Skye smiled awkwardly at Isabel. She was so lovely but she had to be wrong. Neither her nor Ward had been acting any differently than what they did on the bus as they had agreed it was going to be the easiest way to act and it would draw less attention as they didn't know where they were being watched. There was no way anyone could think they were in love from that. She knew her SO liked her, but he didn't love her. True she was falling in love with him but she hid that from everyone.
"My Lady. What a pleasure to see you." Talk of the devil and he shall appear. Ward had pulled on his shirt before joining them Skye was disappointed to see.
"Sir Ward. I hope you don't mind me being here. I was just saying to your lovely wife how nice it is to see a couple so in love as you are. It is so rare these days." Skye couldn't look at Ward for the fear of what she would see there.
"Anyway I was just passing through and wanted to say I'm looking forward to seeing you at the banquet tonight. I will leave you two to it. I know how valued alone time is when you are newly married, so I won't intrude on yours." With a smile at them both she left.
Skye refused to look at Ward, unsure how to react to that. When in doubt stick to the basics.
"So how do you think the training is going? You ready for tomorrow?"
Glancing up at him she would swear he almost looked disappointed at the questions. But that had to be her imagination.
"Not well. Even spending the whole afternoon training this is not going to go well tomorrow."
He looked so distraught that Skye couldn't stop herself reaching out and taking his hand. She gently traced circles on it, trying to comfort and support him.
Five frustrating hours later they were both getting ready for the banquet. This time he had bathed first so as to allow Skye more time to get ready. The banquet meant that they both had to be dressed up and Skye had decided that she needed more time to get ready. He couldn't really complain about that. He only had to dress in a more elaborate tunic and leggings, where as she had to put on a dress and style her hair. He wished he had more to do to get ready. It would have taken his mind off tomorrow. He was convinced it was going to be awful. It would be fairly obvious that he had barely fought with a sword before. He could live with the embarrassment it would cause him but he was worried about what it would mean for Skye. It would become fairly obvious that he couldn't protect her here, which people may use to their advantage. He didn't want anything to happen to her, especially not because of him.
"Skye are you nearly ready? We really need to go. We are going to be late."
"Keep your hair on robot. Looking good takes time. It's even harder to do it without a mirror."
"You will look good no matter what. If I get you a mirror put in here will that speed up you getting ready?"
"Aww was that a compliment? Maybe I would. Now tell me what you think."
Ward turned as he heard her enter the main part of the room. He was right when he said she would look good. She looked absolutely stunning. The dress was a floor length, in a light blue material with a silver inlaid corset. It skimmed her shoulders with her curly hair threaded with blue and white flowers gently brushing her shoulders. She had never looked better. He knew he would kill any man who touched her. He wouldn't be able to help himself.
Knowing she was waiting for an answer, he strode over to her and took her hand. Raising it to his lips, he placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.
"My lady, you look simply stunning. It is a travesty that you cannot not see how beautiful you look. I will ensure that a mirror is place in the room so you can see how beautiful you look on your return."
"Tease." Skye retorted, blushing with delight. "But the mirror would be nice."
"Well shall we my lady? The sooner we leave the sooner I can ask someone to deliver a mirror for you." Ward continued to tease, delighted to see her smile and enjoying herself.
The banquet was just as he had expected. Lots of noise, food and drink. Skye was a big hit, with men flocking to sit beside her. It took all of his will power not to start growling at them. Instead he had resorted to just sitting and scowling at them. Most of them had got the point very quickly.
"Are you ok?" he asked as he noticed she was staring at one woman.
"Amateur." She muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"That woman over there. She has just fainted because of the tightness of her corset. She is an amateur. She needs to take slow gently breaths to stop that happening. Mine is tighter than hers and I'm fine. I even manage to eat. So hence amateur."
Ward just looked at her in disbelief. How could she just say something like that? Why would anyone put themselves through pain and the risk of passing out, just for an outfit? It never ceased to amaze him the things women would do. Before he could say anything in reply one of the guards ran into the room. Reaching his Lord he began to speak.
"My Lord the tournament area has been destroyed. There was a fire and it has destroyed everything. There is no way the tournament can be held."
A murmuring broke out a round the room after the announcement, with people voicing their disappointment. All Ward felt was relief. He wasn't going to have to fight. Skye was going to be safe. Peeping sideways at her he saw that she looked less than shocked at the turn of events. Seeing him looking she grinned mischievously at him.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about a fire occurring in the training grounds would you?" He muttered.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You are absolutely amazing do you know that?" Following his impulse he leant in and placed a kiss on her cheek.
Finally leaving the hall and returning to their room Ward felt happier than he had since they had entered this situation. Due to the incredible woman at his side he didn't have to fight and he was about to get to see her reaction to how she was dressed. He had arranged for a mirror to be delivered to their room so she could see how beautiful she looked. He couldn't wait to see her reaction.
She noticed the mirror straight away, throwing a grateful glance towards him as she head to it. Moving towards the clothes pile he started sorting through it trying to find something for Skye to wear to bed that wasn't as large on her. He had seen how she reacted this morning when she had noticed her shoulders out of the top. He didn't want her feeling uncomfortable so was hoping to find an item of his clothing that was slightly smaller so wouldn't be so big on her.
"Ward."
Glancing up at the sound of her voice he saw her looking into the mirror looking extremely upset. Not the reaction he was expecting.
"Come here."
Moving towards her he wondered what had upset her. Placing a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her he moved behind her.
"Do you see what I see?" She asked.
*Hope you all enjoyed this. Please leave reviews and make any suggestions of anything you want me to include in future chapters. Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions I'll try to include more of them in later chapters. Next time find out what Skye saw in the mirror. *
