Goddess Of Wings

Ch. 3

Author's Note: Ok here it is! The next chapter! I am sooo sorry for the long delay. I got caught up with all mi finals and then summer. eheh..It's been busy and it was my goal that when summer came around I would update like every other day! ...Well as you can see that did NOT happen...but its all good cuz finally the next chapter is here! After allota work from me. I know its kinda short. but it was all I could get done. Anyways enjoy. Don't forget to review you guys! I love all of you. I wanna thnk each of you but I'm limited with time so next chapter I'll thnk everyone! Ok enjoy!

Smooth and silky legs stepped out of the marble bath. Humming an old folk song. Marlene quickly dressed her slim figure in a cream coloured silk nightgown. She quickly ran a brush through her damp thick blonde locks. With a small smile on her coral pink lips she stepped out of her personal bathhouse to be greeted with the plush carpets of her enormous bedroom. The balcony door was wide open welcoming the night air into the room teasing the curtains and drapes. She shivered slightly. The bed was empty.

'He's still not done?' she thought her brow furrowed slightly.

She stepped outside the room and into the castle hallways. She began tip toeing bare foot on the cold stone floors, although there was no need to look so sneaky for two reasons. One there was no guards around and two she was so light that there was not a chance for her bare feet to make a sound. She giggled slightly realizing her childishness sneaking through the castle late at night. Never the less she continued to creep through until she came across the door she was looking for.

Slowly she opened the large wooden door and poked her head through. There at the far corner of the large room was her husband, the Duke of Fried, sitting at his study drowning in documents and books. She frowned. He was still working.

Quietly she slipped through the door and made her way past all the shelved books and to his desk. Her husband was so deep in concentration with his brow furrowed, biting on his bottom lip that he didn't notice his wife sneak up all the way behind him.

Mahad Dar Fried felt his wife's petite hands cover his eyes.

"Boo." She whispered in his ear.

Sighing slightly the duke let himself drop his quill beside the piece of parchment he was writing on. He gently pried his wife's hands of his face and pulled her gently onto his lap.

"Marlene…" he began, but she interrupted him.

"You're still working dear?" she frowned

The duke sighed, "Being a king is a lot of work dear."

"Yes." Persisted Marlene standing up this time. "But there is some limit. You need to rest too. And what of your wife and children? They demand some time too."

Mahad eyed his wife and couldn't help but think how irresistible she looked standing there in her nightgown hands on her hip looking stubborn with a pout forming on her lips.

Letting out a gruff laugh as the duke gazed at his wife he replied, "You know what you're absolutely right."

And with that he pulled her back down onto his lap while Marlene let out a small squeal as his lips came crashing down on hers. It was at this romantic moment when the study's door came crashing open. The couple abruptly stopped what they were doing and turned to look to see a small seven-year-old boy rushing into the room followed by a distressed looking nurse.

"Mommy!"

Marlene stood up and held out her arms so that her little bundle of joy ran right into her. "Come here baby. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I wanna sleep with you mommy."

"I'm really sorry, your Majesty. Please forgive me. I was putting the prince to sleep when the little tyke just up and ran right out of the room."

"Chid." Marlene scolded with kind eyes as she ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. "You should listen to your nanny."

"I wanna sleep with you mommy!" The little boy insisted his blue azure eyes stared up at his mother's beautiful sky blue ones.

"Oh all right dear. Just for tonight."

"YAY!" cheered Chid in his mother's arms.

Marlene turned to face her husband still behind his desk. "How long do you think you'll be?"

The duke stared at the documents infront of him and then at his wife and child. "What the hell. I'll finish it in the morning!" He exclaimed while standing up.

"YAY!" cheered Chid again.

Marlene smiled as she turned to Chid's nanny, "Thank you Anna. You are dismissed for tonight."

"Yes your Majesty. Good night Chid."

"G'night!" He gurgled happily.

The Duke put his arm around his wife's slim waist as he led his family out of the room. He watched as Chid whispered something to his mommy, who in turn through her head back and let out a melodious laugh. The duke couldn't help but believe as he lead them out of the room that he was the luckiest man alive to have such a wonderful family.

"Van!" her mind screamed

"Shhhh!" her captor's voice hissed back at her.

Relaxing her grip on her captor's hands her emerald green eyes looked up only to see ruby red eyes blink back down at her.

"Van." She whispered as he released his iron grip on her. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? YOU SCARED ME SILLY-"

Van resisted in rolling his eyes in exasperation, but he did not stop himself from once again clamping his hand down on Hitomi's mouth so her screams became muffled.

"I said be quiet. They can probably hear you yelling and when you were calling my name in the bushes. You just gave away our position to what might b dangerous people."

Hitomi immediately froze and her eyes widened in realization.

What happened if that the young lady who screamed was because her uncle's men mistook the lady for her! They could have thought that the girl was her! Her uncle's men could be out there right now looking for her, while some poor girl had been injured because she ran away!

Hitomi didn't notice it until now but Van had expertly and stealthily dragged her through the prickly bushes. Carefully the couple peered through the bushes to see two men and one young women standing among what looked to be the ruins of a carriage.

With out a warning Van stood up and began walking towards them.

"What the?" Hitomi wondered and began to follow Van as well.

She joined Van's side to hear him ask a very handsome young man with long blonde hair and azure blue eyes, "Can I offer you any sort of help?"

"No thank you." Replied Allen, "It seems that the only thing that those bandits were able to do was damage our carriage. Other then that we are relatively unscathed by the ordeal, and our few possessions seem to still be intact." He said this as he eyes Millerna and Gaddes picking through the rubble as they attempted to recover their belongings.

Allen then turned his attention to the young lady that had suddenly appeared beside the man he was talking to. He couldn't resist a small smile as he noticed her naive face forming a glare towards her companion.

"And who's this pretty young lady?" Allen asked eyeing her carefully

Realizing that he was talking about her Hitomi blushed slightly. "Oh..umm..Kanzaki Hitomi." She stammered

"Hitomi. It has a pleasant ring to it."

Hitomi's blush became deeper even more deeper when he took her hand and kissed it while bowing low.

"It's a pleasure to meet you miss Kanzaki. My name is Allen Shezar, knight of Austuria. What are you doing out here in the forest all by your self?"

"She's not by herself. She is accompanying me." Van interjected.

It was at this moment where princess Millerna entered the conversation.

"Allen" she cried as she flung her self by his side conveniently breaking the hand contact between Hitomi and him. "We're done looking for our belongings. Who is this nice couple?" She asked looking at Hitomi smiling widely.

"This is Lady Hitomi and the gentleman accompanying her I have yet to learn his name."

"That is not important." Van scowled looking away.

"Of course not." Allen smiled. "However it was very kind of you to offer to help us. You see now that I think of it, we are a little lost, and could definelty use some guidance. You look like a fellow familiar with the forest." Allen's gaze did not leave Hitomi at any point while he said all of this.

"Oh we're not lost Allen dear. Gaddes knows exactly where we are going still. I'm sorry to bother you two, but we'll be ok from this point on." Millerna added before Van could reply.

"Very well then." Van replied gruffly still looking away.. "We'll be off then." He turned and began to walk away, leaving Hitomi still standing there gazing at Allen starry-eyed.

When she realized that she had just been left behind her face turned bright red. She quickly turned to run after Van with out looking back at the strange blonde haired couple. "Hey Van! Wait up!"

The second that the couple had disappeared among the bushes Millerna's smile dropped, hands on her hips she glared at Allen.

"What was that all about? Why did you insist on asking them to accompany us? I would have expected better from you Allen. We can't just trust any random couple in the forest to lead us around. See this independent stuff isn't so hard. Even I could figure that much out."

Allen, still gazing at the spot where Hitomi last stood, and clearly not listening murmured, "Forgive me Princess. My mistake."

He turned to follow her to the wreckage where Gaddess was still prying and poking through.

'But that man.' Allen thought looking back at the bushes. 'That man looked extremely familiar. I wonder where I have seen him from?'

Hitomi ran as she attempted to catch up with Van.

"What was that all about Van?" she asked panting as she caught up finally.

Van shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean who were those people?"

"You heard him introduce himself. His name is Allen. I don't know about the other two." Van was still looking straight ahead.

"So you never met them before."

"No."

"Oh." Hitomi replied as she registered it in.

She couldn't help but think of how the dashing young man had made her blush so easily. Just thinking of her blushing was making her blush again! Shaking her head and the thoughts she wondered if she would ever see him again.

Not far from where Van and Hitomi were walking a figure was peering through the bushes. Grinning the person let the bushes snap back into their original position, hiding the malicious glint in their eyes.

'Things were finally falling into place.'

A/N: Ok there it is! The third chapter! I hope you guys liked it. please R&R! eehehe anyways I hafnt decided all the pairings..I'm totally undecided in this matter. So i wanan here what you guys want. Maybe it'll give me the push I need to keep the story going. lol With that said I'm off! Review!