Princesses Don't Perspire - Ch. 12, Sweet Ocean Breeze
reader226: thank you for the review, sorry I took forever to update.
Guest 1: Sorry I took so long to update! Thanks for your review
animechick9000: me like you for your review.
RandomAngel123: You find out who the voice is finally!
CammieSarah51: Thank you!
Pokemonchen: THE VOICE IS VERY BAD. YOU SHALL FIND OUT BELOW!
c.a.s. 1404: He's not the brightest light bulb.
Be Rose: Thank you!
abster983: oops.. better late than never?
ZenaraTheDragon: That's kind of the point, Rosalyn is a bit of a pushover but Nathaniel dont take sh*t from anyone lol
ladyAlyafaelyn: I love that phrase "chinese firedrill with their heads" - it made me chuckle.
McKenzie Vallir: your review reminded me to hurry up and update. I finally stopped being lazy after reading your nice long and sweet review. Thank you! Also I think that Rosalyn's fault is that she never stands up for herself, she sort of let's people be rude to her and walk over her.
Thank you to So this is real life, Ice Sorceress, animechick9000, CappuccinoLover001, Sydnexdey, reader2266, bluemonster090, CammieSarah51, WolfWarrior Beatlesfan Hippie, McKenzie Vallir, Randall Boggs, and ladyAlyafaelyn for favorited/alerted this story! :D
Enjoy - Jenn
Rosalyn POV:
The cold cool voice comes from the wizard we had met earlier, Anthony. He looks much scarier now, his voice reverberates across the clearing, it bounces off of trees and comes straight back at us.
"What do you want?" Prince Nathaniel demands in suspicion. I again find myself having to intercede and be polite. What is it about men that prevents them from being kind to one another?
"Anthony, it is a pleasure to see you again but it is strange running into you like this." Mistrust tints my voice slightly, which I hope he won't notice. Luckily he doesn't seem to perceive it at all. Instead he grins widely, rather evilly. Any pretenses he'd put on earlier of being kind and caring now completely disappeared.
"I did a little research on all you fou-" He stops and glances around, searching for Prince Gregory. "You three." He corrects himself.
"And?" Nathaniel sounds unimpressed and raises one eyebrow in disinterest.
"And it seems the Princess here is looking for a husband." My eyes widen slightly and slowly, cautiously I respond.
"So?" Anthony cackles.
"So?" He mimics my voice, high and squeaky. "So I'd love to be a king." He grins cruelly. My mind goes blank. I have no clue what to do. What should one do when an evil wizard wants to marry them for power?
"No way! You aren't even royalty. The princess would never chose you. You are not nearly as noble or handsome or-"
"Silence boy!" Anthony's voice thunders over Prince Andrew's braggings. Prince Andrew takes a few frightened steps backwards. The forest was shaking with Anthony's yell. Panic begins to overwhelm me, how can I fight off a powerful wizard? My mind spins with panic, causing me to stand frozen.
"You'll have to go through me to get to her. " I glance up in shock to see Nathaniel calmly position himself in front of me. His face reveals no fear and his shoulders are stiff. Anthony cackles.
"That won't be hard boy." With a wave of his hand I feel the ground begin to shake again. In fright I grasp at Nathaniel's shoulder tightly. The world swirls around us, the ground dropping and swallowing us. We are descending. I scream. Loudly. Everything is black and spinning. I squeeze my eyes shut tight in fear. Finally the falling sensation stops abruptly as my back and butt slam into the ground, my head is cushioned softly by something.
"Ouch!" I cry out. Beside me I hear a groan.
"Ge-off." I hear the moan slightly from under me. I quickly jump to my feet away from the moving body that I had half landed on moments before. I grasp my head in pain as the world seems to tip before me, black dots fill my vision. I shouldn't have stood so quickly.
"Are you okay?" The voice speaks again, actual words this time. First I steady myself against the scratchy wall to my right and then glance at the person I'd landed on. Relief cocoons me entirely when I register that it is Nathaniel slowly rising to his feet. I sprint forward, momentarily forgetting that I am dizzy and give him a full force hug. Nathaniel, who had only just stood up himself tips over and brings me to the ground with him.
"Oomph." He winces in pain.
"Sorry!" I stand quickly and dust myself off, I can feel heat slowly rising to my face. Princesses do not behave this way. I hear the Queen's voice again.
'Princesses do not run, leap or hug random men Rosalynn'
"It's fine." Nathaniel stands slowly to his feet. He looks as if he is going to topple over at any moment, I offer a hand to help steady him. "Thank you." He gladly accepts, leaning against my shoulders instead and rather heavily. I almost stagger from his unexpected weight, my strength having not fully returned yet either.
"Are you okay?" He reiterates with concern coloring his voice .
"It seems I should be asking you that." I glance at his arm across my shoulders. He grunts and begins to move his arm away. My shoulders feel cold where his arm no longer rests. However as soon as he attempts to take a step his arm returns quickly. This prevents him from pitching forward on to the ground. I grab at him in worry, helping hold him upright.
"Are you alright?" My voice reflects concern especially in the word 'you'. I await his answer nervously. What if he can't walk? I am not strong enough to carry him and protect us and... and do who knows what else we might need to do. He doesn't give a satisfying answer, instead he switches the subjects from himself and successfully distracts me with a question.
"Where are we?" For the first time I glance around at our surroundings. We appear to be in a dark cave of some sort. Stalactites protrude from the ceiling, dripping brown water droplets that fall and splash to the ground, the walls are built harshly, random brown rocks jut from the surface and point out dangerously. Only one exit exists, a black hole that is nearly impossible to see deep into. My eyes blink trying to get past the darkness. I shrug in confusion.
"A cave?" I suggest. Nathaniel nods,
"Thanks, I figured that out for myself." I frown at his mocking tone. I turn my face away in anger, remembering that I was still upset with him from earlier.
"You asked." I mutter in defense. Prince Nathaniel chuckles loudly, the pretty sound dancing through the cave and echoing down the small black opening.
"I'm kidding with you, no need to take things so personally." I glance at his face and see the sparkle in his eyes, a smile twitches at my lips. His grin widens.
"There you go." He chucks me softly under the chin. "Now why do you suppose we ended up here but Prince Annoying didn't?" I frown at him slightly. His question is a good one. After thinking for some time the answer jumps out at me and does a little jig in front of my eyes.
"When he cast the spell I think it was only meant for you-" I start and he cuts me off in confusion.
"Why are you here then?"
"I grabbed on to you when the ground started to shake." I explain my eyes light up in understanding. "It must've been an accident and he's probably very angry by now." Nathaniel nods slowly at my logic.
"Well what do you suppose we do now?" I stare at the black exit and gulp.
"I suppose we explore?" My voice is shaky and unsure.
"I suppose so." Together we shuffle toward the dark and damp blackness. Nathaniel continues to lean on me heavily. Limping and wincing when putting weight on his left foot. I glance at his foot and then at his face. His expression is a full on grimace. His foot must've caught the weight of his fall when we had landed. He notices my examination and he straightens slightly, his face becomes a controlled and smooth mask.
"You don't have to act tough all the time." I whisper to him. He turned his face towards mine slightly.
"Oh?" His voice sounds teasing and cool again. I sigh.
"There is no need for you to pretend you don't feel things. Emotions are good, whether they are happy or sad or angry, it's good to feel." Nathaniel stares at me for a moment.
"Alright, my ankle hurts a whole bloody lot." He opens up slightly. I almost smile at the phrasing but then remember he's in pain.
"I'm sorry. Maybe we could try splinting it or something?" I suggest. He shrugs.
"It's probably just twisted. It'll feel better soon." I agree without much conviction and continue walking forward. He hobbles beside me for awhile in the dark, his panting growing louder and echoing through the dankness. My eyes had mostly adjusted to the dark surroundings but it was still nearly impossible to see anything. A couple times either Nathaniel or myself would bump into a wall or step in a small ditch in the ground. Both of us had discovered that it was safer to shuffle our feet slowly across the floor and keep one hand against the cold cavern walls.
"Let's take a break, sit down for a while." I suggest fretfully a few moments later. Nathaniel's breathing sounds more pained and he's been slowing down with each couple shuffled steps.
"I'm fine." He breathes out sharply.
"I'm tired." I say stubbornly. Nathaniel sighs and consents to sit for a couple of minutes on the uncomfortable ground. The silence between us feels louder and bigger than Nathaniel's pain had been moments earlier.
"So..." I break the silence with a small awkward word. I plunge further into the awkwardness. "Tell me about yourself?" I truly am interested to learn more about Nathaniel. He still seemed so mysterious, I knew practically nothing about him.
"There isn't' much to tell." His wall is still up and he continues to block everyone out with cold short answers and sarcasm.
"Fine." I start but before he can become satisfied I continue, "I'll talk about myself then." I hear him grumble quietly.
"I love the ocean." I continue. "The cool breeze from the sea, the smell. It's perfect and I miss it so much. The woods smell wrong."
"Smell wong?" At first I think he might be teasing me again but it seems he's genuinely interested. I nod. "Everything smells like dirt or animals here. Home smells like salt and like sweet... wind?" I can't think of a better way of explaining it but he doesn't request a stronger description so I proceed speaking. After talking for what must be at least ten minutes Nathaniel stops responding and his breathing slows. I scoot closer and peer at Nathaniel's closed eyes and even rising chest. I smile, he fell asleep.
I'm glad he is going to rest, he definitely needs to. I lean back against the wall close to Nathaniel, listening to dripping water and the echoing quiet around us. Slowly my eyes flutter shut and my head drops, falling on something warm and comfortable. Everything begin to drift away and slow bright dreams engulf me.
Small Bonus Nathaniel POV:
Rosalyn's voice weaves beautiful pictures of her home. The words vivid and excited. My eyes close in hope to more thoroughly imagine the pictures she paints. Her voice is lulling and no matter how hard I try to grasp at her words and stay awake it becomes too difficult. Sleep clutches at me and drags me down and away from Rosalyn's lovely stories. A peaceful darkness floods my brain and drowns Rosalyn's words entirely.
The dark doesn't last long though. Color commences painting through my mind. Aqua waves crash against carmel sand, and a microscopic boat rocks in the distance. A small laugh dances and twirls on the sea breeze, drifting to me. I spin around and Rosalyn stands in a white, flowy dress. She grins at me and grabs my hand. I pull her into a messy but delightful dance. We twirl together our feet squishing in the sand and splashing in the water. A large grin pulls at my lips. I inhale the sweet smell of the breeze. Perfect.
I added that little extra Nathaniel POV as a sort of sorry for taking so long, also because I usually do every other is Rosalyn but this chapter just felt more Rosalyn POV for me and I wanted to give you a little taste of Nathaniel POV until I update again. (which will hopefully be soon) Thanks for being patient and still following this story.
I apologize for how long this took me to update! If you like this story please check out my other ones. At the moment I'm also writing one called "The Thief Of Words", I think I like that one much more than this one, don't worry I'll continue to write this one too!
Thanks for the reviews :)
(PLEASE GIVE ME MORE, this was nearly 2,000 words!)
PeaceLoveSummer
Jenn
