A/N So you guys are so awesome! I kind of rushed the last chapter to get it out to you, so this one will be a bit longer to make up for it, also that little competition I did a while back, we will be saying hello to the winner's character very soon, if not in this chapter, then the next.
Thank you all once again for great reviews and for being so understanding and patient. Love, kittens and Klainebows.
Singing. Kurt's not sure where it is coming from or why, but he liked it, the voice was soft and strong. At first Kurt thought he was dreaming again, but then, as he woke more and more and his consciousness got stronger, the voice got stronger with it. A male voice. Yes it was a man singing… and it sounded more like a lullaby… or maybe a love song. Kurt strained his ears to listen closer but the song was over and the voice had stopped.
"Don't stop." Kurt said his voice rough from sleep but still clear enough to be heard. Blaine smiled to himself. "I'm glad you liked it, but you cannot stay half asleep all day listening to me sing. You need to wake up fully and eat something and let Santana check you over." Blaine says brushing his fingers through Kurt's hair.
The younger prince groaned, "I don't want to wake up, I want to listen to you sing to me forever." He complains, getting a laugh from Blaine. "If you don't get up and eat then I won't be able to sing to you forever, but if you do as I ask, then I will sing for you every day if you wish." Blaine says trying to bribe Kurt into cooperation.
"Every day?" Kurt asks creaking open his eyes and peering at Blaine over the covers. Blaine nods, "Every day." he confirms. Kurt smiles and sits up with only a small wince. "Ok, but I also want fresh flowers at least once a week." He jokes. Blaine purses his lips. "Once a week, that could be tricky, I'm not sure I could do that." He jokes back. "Then I'm afraid that you are not the man for me, Blaine Anderson." Kurt smiles.
"Oh, shut up." Blaine laughs kissing him. Kurt hums, "But then again, the kissing could make up for the flowers." Kurt says leaning in for more. "Ok I've had enough of this; if you act like a lovey dovey couple any longer then I will be sick all over you." Santana interrupts, walking up to Kurt and checking his wound. "Not bad." She says to herself, and then presses a hand to his forehead. "Fever has gone." She comments. "You just need a little bit more rest then you'll be good to go." She tells Kurt.
Blaine brightens at this news and Kurt smiles widely before blinking and looking at the female in front of him, "It's good to hear that, but who are you?" he asks. At this Blaine jumps up like he had been bitten. "I'm sorry I was so relieved by the good news that I forgot my manners. Kurt; this is Santana, a healer. Santana; this is Prince Kurt." He says introducing them.
Kurt bows his head and holds out his hand. Santana looks like she might laugh but just bows slightly and lets Kurt take her hand and kiss it. "Thank you for saving my life." Kurt says. She waves a hand, "It was nothing really. But you own me." She says. "What do you want?" Blaine asks her, "We have money or land, or anything else as payment-"he says. "No, I don't want any of that." Santana cuts Blaine off. "Then what do you want?" Kurt asks wearily.
"I'm coming with you." she states and then walks from the room. Blaine and Kurt are left to look after her in surprise and then, when they turn to look at each other, it's a while before either of them says anything. Kurt's first words are to deny her, but Blaine just wants to know why. "It doesn't matter why, Blaine." Kurt says sounding almost annoyed "It's too dangerous keeping everyone alive as it is." He argues. "We have trained men and a guide and we still had to find a healer and rest." Kurt continues.
"But I don't think Santana is going to take no for an answer." Blaine said, sitting down on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "Couldn't we pick her up on the way back?" Kurt asks, listening to the sounds of what he was sure was half the shack being packed, it was clear that Santana wasn't planning of coming back here; soon or ever. "I'm not sure she will go for that." Blaine mutters as he closes his eyes, giving Kurt a moment to really look at him.
Now that Kurt takes in more of Blaine's overall appearance he can see that he is wearing the same clothes as the day before, still stained in blood, mud and grass. His hair is unruly even for its natural curl, he has bags under his eyes and his shoulders are slightly slumped. He looks exactly like a man who has had little to no sleep; and it occurs to Kurt that Blaine must have stayed up all or most of the night. That then brings Kurt to wonder, if he was the source of Blaine's lack of sleep.
"Did you stay up all night with me?" Kurt asks softly, reaching out a hand to rest on Blaine's arm. The older prince looks up with tired but still beautiful eyes and gives a sheepish smile. "I couldn't leave you alone." He says just as soft and quite as Kurt had asked him. Kurt felt something in him shift, maybe even break, as Blaine gives his answer and he can't help the whisper of, "Oh honey." As he pulls Blaine to him so that they are both lying on the bed; Blaine wrapped in his arms, his curly head tucked in Kurt's neck, where he breathes deeply and relaxes into him.
"You are so silly, Blaine." Kurt say with a small laugh as he strokes his fingers through Blaine's hair and presses a soft kiss to the top of his head. "Why did you do that? You need rest just as much as anyone else does." Kurt tells him. Blaine gives as much of a shrug as he can; being pressed to Kurt's side it wasn't very successful. "You looked so small and pale in this bed, I didn't want you to be lonely, plus I wouldn't have been able to sleep without you there anyway." He explains.
Blaine's words made a smile grace Kurt's lips as warmth spread through him. "Go to sleep, love." He soothes, pressing another kiss to Blaine's head. "Yeah 'k" Blaine mumbles already half asleep and slipping deeper the more Kurt plays with his hair and the joined body heat encircles them. Kurt counted to three breaths before he was sure Blaine was completely asleep and allowed his hand to fall back to the mattress with a small wince of pain.
"He's loyal and kind of cute when he acts all worried about you." Santana says from her spot in the doorway, she looked like she was pointing out a bad thing, but her eyes had softened and the ghost of a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. "He's so much more than I thought he would be." Kurt tells her. "I came here to fulfil a contract, but when I look at him I feel something trying to burst out of my chest and it's almost painful to be near him." He adds with a smile "And I can tell from the way he looks back and the way talks to me, that he feels it too. I never meant to fall in love with him so fast, I was sure it would be awkward and something we would have to work on and just live with. But it's like he fits the part of me; that I thought I had lost when I found out I had no say in to who I was to wed." Kurt tries to explain, "Like I hadn't lost it, it had just been given to Blaine to look after until we were together and he could make me whole again." He laughs.
Santana raises an eyebrow at him, "It sounds stupid and romantic doesn't it?" he laughs again. "I wouldn't believe it either, if I wasn't the one it was happening to." He says. "Yes. It sounds stupid." Santana says before tuning and starting to pack again. It sounded stupid and perfect and like everything she couldn't find! She almost hated them for being so happy and so, so… so freaking in love! But she couldn't really hate them, not when she watched them together; she couldn't feel anything but longing.
Shaking her head Santana blinked away the wetness in her dark eyes and shoved things into bags. It was no good thinking about such things, she was moving on with her life, going onto better things. "I Think we should stay here just until we need to, if we stay in one place for too long then the wolves will find us with no trouble at all." she says changing the subject.
"I don't think you should come with us, we can come back this way and then you can travel with us." Kurt says. "Let me guess, you think that will keep me safer." Santana says; Kurt nods. "Well you're wrong, they will come here anyway, because your scent is all over the place, and what will happen if they show up and I'm here alone?" she asks him.
Realisation and embarrassment took over Kurt's face. Why hadn't he thought of that? "You have a fair point. Ok you can come with us, but you will be at just as much risk with us as you would be alone." Kurt tells her. She just rolls her eyes. "The way I see it, is that you have lived through three of their attacks and have even killed off a whole pack of them, my odds of survival go up if I stick with you." She says. "What makes you put so much trust in us?" Kurt asks, then what she says finally sinks in. "wait how do you know how many times they have attacked us?" he asks, it could be possible that someone told her, but she didn't seem very sociable.
"The answer to both of them questions is that I've seen it." She tells him. "I'm a healer for a reason; do you really think you can heal people through seer skill? You have to have something to back it up." She huffs. "Y-You're a witch?" Kurt stammers his eyes wide. Santana rolls her eyes again. "Yes. What of it." She asks irritated. "I-I, nothing." Kurt says in a slightly higher pitch than normal.
"That's what I thought." Santana says before taking hold of two very full bags and leaving the shack. Kurt lets out the breath he was holding, a witch; he was in – a witch's home. He had always been told that witches were bad people, evil and malicious. That a witch, would only make trouble and pain and death.
So why had Santana helped him? Why bother to save his life and let the men camp on her land? And surely Stan wouldn't affiliate with a witch if she was bad. Right? Kurt was pulled out of his musings by Blaine, who had made a small noise and was now burying as deep and as close as he could into Kurt. The younger prince watched him as Blaine wiggled and shifted to fix himself to Kurt's body and wrap himself around him tighter.
When Blaine was satisfied that he was as close as he could get, he settled with a sigh and a smile. Kurt held back a giggle as he petted Blaine's curls lightly and smiled down at him. How could someone be so different and yet so the same and perfect for him?
Soon they were all packed, washed (well somewhat) and ready to go. They only had a few hours of daylight left so decided to take it slow and have a bit of a lazy walk rather than trying to cover as much ground as they could.
The slow pace was perfect as it was a nice day and the way Kurt saw it, what was the point in going on an adventure if you weren't going to take your time to enjoy it? So as they strolled along taking in the freshness of the forest around them, Kurt and Blaine walked hand in hand, talking and laughing with everyone and occasionally just to one another, in their own secret world.
At times like that, when it was just Blaine and Kurt, Kurt would laugh so much that his nose would scrunch up and his eyes would sparkle. Santana watched them, the way their hands would never part for more than a few seconds, or how they walked so close their shoulders bumped sometimes. It was one of the main reasons she was coming with them. She had to protect them, not just for the kingdom, but for the sake of what they had, just something as simple as two young people in love. But it was wonderful to see. Even if she did envy it; that didn't make it, any less worthy of a chance to live and thrive.
The day passed in that lazy way until the sunlight faded into the dull of dusk, they made camp and talked over dinner around the warmth of the fire. Santana was welcomed easily and even though she didn't know them well, she felt like she could belong here. Like, she would finally have somewhere that didn't shun her.
That night was peaceful, the wolf pack didn't come and everyone got a good night's sleep. They started early, just after sunrise. After about three hours the forest thinned out and then soon gave way to meadows and hills. The mountains were in the distance and the day was clear, warm for the time of year, but not too warm to make walking uncomfortable. The chatter was animated as the men told Kurt and Santana about the adventures they had all been on together, and how at one time, Blaine had lost a bet and had to do a forfeit. Said forfeit involving sneaking into the kitchens and rearranging the whole room so that the cooks couldn't find anything and then ordering a three course meal for lunch just to make them panic as the rest of the boys watched from the doorway trying not to laugh.
"We were only kids then, no older than ten." Blaine defends himself. "Eleven." One of them corrects him, "And it was all Jake's fault, he was the one that wanted to bet anyway." Blaine laughed. "What were you betting on?" Kurt asked smiling widely, his eyes keen with interest. "Something total embarrassing and that you don't need to hear about." Blaine says. "Oh, but I think I do." Kurt says in an overly sweet voice, making the others laugh, even Santana who had tried to keep up her guard found herself laughing alone with the men's antics.
"We had a bet on what colour underwear Blaine's crush had on." Jake tells them loudly as Blaine's face heats up and he looks down. "And how did you find out?" Kurt asks. "We had to stalk him!" Someone calls from the back. Blaine was getting redder and redder with every word that was said. "Blaine wanted them to be blue, his favourite colour at the time, but I was right. He was a plain white underwear sort of guy." Jake says. "Well what about that time when you wanted to woe that girl and so you got us all to sing to her, then her boyfriend told you to stop stalking her or he would beat you up?" Blaine retaliates.
Jake's cheeks go a light pink as everyone laughs at him. "Point taken." He mutters. "But still, Kurt should know what he is marrying into." He adds, making Blaine jump and swing at him, "See Kurt, he is violent and quick to anger!" Jake calls as he ducks and runs from Blaine, who gives chase. Kurt giggles as he watches them both run about with a fond smile.
The rest of the day went on as such, little jokes and teasing stories being thrown around by the men. At one point Jake demanded that his honour be defended and so a competition of best aim with the arrow broke out at about midday. Jake being the victor, slung his arm around Kurt's shoulders and bragged for half an hour about how he was the best out of all of them and that he didn't know why he wasn't married yet, because after all, he was a good catch.
Kurt humoured him with eye rolls and sarcastic comments until Jake got bored and ran off it talk to someone else at the head of the group. When they set up camp they didn't even get into their tents before the first few soft howls where heard.
The men drew swords and bows and started to move, but were stopped by Santana. "Don't bother fighting them. It's time we ended this for good." She says. "Stand back and don't disturb me. I'll deal with them." She tells them all as she tips the contents of her small shoulder bag out on the ground and then sits in front of it all. "Bring it on." She whispers to herself.
