A/N – Welcome back to another chapter! Been a while, hasn't it? I've been busy, what with work, an emotional breakdown about not working, and finishing up a novel's draft. On the bright side, I finished the fourth draft of the novel version of Blood Tree Pass – that story on here that's gone unfinished – which I'm aiming to published maybe in the fall of next year (2018).
Anyway…here we go! Thanks for coming along for the ride!
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Chapter 10
Hiccup stood in the hallway, looking worrisome and excited. At the sight of her, he smiled. Astrid felt a smile break over her anxiety, too, and then she remembered her father's words.
"Get in," Astrid said. She latched onto his sleeve and yanked him inside. She closed the door.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked.
"If my father sees you with me," Astrid said, nervously, "he'll remove you from the squires."
"What?" Hiccup said. His excitement from the moment before vanished. "Why?"
"Because Eret and his big mouth let it slip that you were with me that night," Astrid said. "And now my father knows that you've been training me."
Hiccup panicked. "I-I should go, then."
Another hand knocked on the door, this one smaller. Hiccup's face paled.
Astrid motioned to the adjoining bathroom, and off he ran, stepping as quickly as he could. He vanished into the shadows of unlit room.
Astrid answered the door to find the servant girl with her platter of tea and cookies.
"Thank you," Astrid said. She took the tray and the girl ran off again. She nudged the door closed with her foot and walked the tray over to the small table beside the bookcase.
Hiccup ducked out from the bathroom.
"It is safe," Astrid said. "I asked for tea."
"Oh," Hiccup said. He swallowed. "I-I…noticed there were guards standing at the end of the hall, and so I used the servants' passage."
"There are guards?"
Hiccup nodded. "Two of them. They're on either side of the corridor. You can't see them from your door, though, so I think I made it without them knowing."
"He's put guards on me," Astrid said. Her father didn't trust her enough to let her alone in her own bedchamber! He thought he could control her.
"Astrid?"
"It's infuriating to be treated this way," Astrid said. "I am a princess, a future queen, not some invalid or common criminal to be locked away."
"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, stepping out of the bathroom and to where she sat.
"You have done nothing to apologize for, Hiccup," she said. "Please, sit with me for a while, if you've the time."
"Can I? Will we get into trouble?"
"Not if we don't get caught," she said.
Hiccup sat down in the chair beside her. He wrung his fingers together. "Astrid, I-I don't think you understand my position. If I get kicked out the squires, I-I don't know what I'll do. I couldn't face my father after that, and I'm hardly good at anything else. This…this is all I've got, Astrid. I can't lose it."
Guilt emerged in her chest and squeezed tight. She poured herself a cup of tea before she answered, "I understand. If you no longer wish to see me, I understand." The idea of pushing him away felt like a sickness rampaging slowly through her, like poison. "I don't want you to feel obliged or imprisoned. Do what you feel you must, Hiccup."
Astrid took a drink of her tea, but it did nothing to quell the panic rising steadily in her hands. Without Hiccup…what would she do? Go back to daydreaming about dragons from her bedroom window? Plan her wedding with Duke Eret?
He sucked in a breath, but she held her eyes on her tea. She couldn't look at him. She would fall apart.
"Astrid," Hiccup said gently. He made the smallest of movements.
She waited for him to touch her, but it never came.
Maybe he didn't feel the same.
"Look, Astrid, I-"
"If you're going to leave, then just leave," she spat, biting back the welling feeling of worthlessness that bubbled up behind her eyes, forcing out hot tears onto her cheeks. She bent her head down so he wouldn't see them.
Don't cry in front of him.
He stood.
She bit her tongue to keep herself from letting out a sob.
Hiccup took slow steps to the door. Astrid squeezed her eyes shut tight. He left. She listened to the sound of his soft steps across the hall, to the secret passage, and couldn't hold it in any longer. She choked on a sob, spilling her tea. She half-dropped the cup back onto the platter and buried her head in her arms, pushing her palms into her eyes.
She wanted to run into the corridor after him, but she didn't. She shouldn't. She had a kingdom to think out, a people, not just herself.
X
Astrid watched the next few days pass in a blur. She attended her lessons. She spent time in the library. She spent as much time away from her parents and their guests as possible. When asked, she claimed not to feel well. Her mother knew it a lie, but she didn't pressure Astrid into the truth.
A week passed and then another, and soon it had been nearly a month; Astrid couldn't bare it any longer. She snuck through the servants' passage to the squire's practice. One or both of her parents attended each session now, and she couldn't watch from the king's box. But she could squeeze through the servants' passage, up into the rafters of the king's box, and watch with a bird's view of the training.
It was not ideal, but it was better than sitting in her room staring at the window, or rereading about Headless King Herald, who beheaded eighteen servants and six wives during his five year reign as king. (His son, who'd go one to rule a peaceful kingdom for the next seventy years, killed him in his sleep.)
From her hidden perch, she watched the squires practice footwork, armor care, and stances. She picked out Hiccup, tall and gangly, from the crowd of them. At the sight of him, her heart panged.
It's how it must be, she told herself.
Astrid left the rafters of the king's box before the practice ended. She did not want anyone to wonder where she'd gone. After finishing her lessons and having dinner with the guests, which she was again forced to sit beside Eret and listen to him talk about how great he is, Astrid used the servants' passage to sneak up to the tower were she and Hiccup had often practiced.
She waited a while, but he didn't show. She didn't know why she expected him to. On the way back to her room, she decided she'd gone because she'd hoped that he felt the same sort of longing to see her.
Perhaps he didn't.
Twilight had fallen while she'd gone. Through her bedroom windows she eyed the endless forest. The tress barely stood out against the inky sky.
Astrid was gazing without looking at anything particular, when something caught her eye. Something moved along the tree line, something dark, almost black – she squinted. The thing rose up and for a moment the barely-lit twilight framed a black dot. Wings moved from the dot, massive wings, up and down, and then the thing vanished back into the forest.
Astrid's heart rose into her throat.
"A dragon," she whispered; her breath fogged her window.
She stood, and fell against the glass. She flattened her hands on it, watching the spot where the black dragon had vanished. She waited, but it did not reemerged from the forest.
She'd seen a dragon. There was no other explanation for it. A dragon, in her forest!
Without thinking, she grabbed her cloak and dashed out into the corridor as silently as she could. She peered either way, but saw no one watching her. Like Hiccup had said, the sentries were posted far enough away that she couldn't see them from her door. Luckily, her father didn't know she used the servants' passage.
Astrid raced along the passage, keeping an eye open for servants, and to the kitchen. She eased out into the cupboard, through the empty kitchen that still smelled like the roasted mutton they'd had for dinner, and out into the darkness of the still night. The air had gone a bit muggy and Astrid's dress started to cling to her back.
Astrid made it to the edge of the forest. She paused to glance back at the castle, but no one made a fuss to run out after her.
She heaved a breath, then she heard it – footsteps. Soft, casual, cautious footsteps, one after the other – human.
Who would be sneaking around the woods at this hour?
Astrid snuck closer to the footsteps, until only a massive tree separated her from the walker. She tiptoed to one side to peer around, however, unbeknown to her, the walker on the other side happened to use the same caution; as Astrid peered around the other side of the tree, so did he. Their noses came within an inch of one another.
Astrid jumped back, as did he, but her breath caught back up with her shortly.
"H-Hiccup?" Astrid gasped, hand on her chest.
Hiccup glanced her up and down, both startled and relieved. He shook his head at her, and said, "What are you doing out here?"
"What are you doing out here?" Astrid demanded.
"I-I went for a walk," Hiccup said, obviously lying.
Astrid narrowed her gaze. Hiccup twitched. Smiling, Astrid said, "I know exactly what you were doing."
"You do?"
"You saw that dragon, too, didn't you?"
Hiccup's eyes widened and his brows shot upward into his bangs. "D-dragon?"
"I saw it fly over the forest. Black as night!"
Hiccup twitched and glanced anywhere else. He stuttered, "Yes, I-I saw a dragon."
"You ran out to see it, too," Astrid said.
"That I did," Hiccup said. "But I-I didn't find it."
"You didn't?"
"Nope," Hiccup said. "By the time I got to where I thought it was, I didn't find anything. I wandered around, but I didn't see any sign of a dragon. It must have been just one of those giant freak birds. No dragon."
"I know what I saw," Astrid said firmly. "It was no bird. It was a dragon."
"Whatever you say, Princess," Hiccup said with a bow of his head. "But, seeing how late it is, we both should be getting back to the castle."
Astrid huffed. "You don't need to worry about me, Squire, I'm not afraid of a dragon."
"You may not be, but I am afraid of your father, and of mine, and I must insist we return to the castle," Hiccup said, taking a step toward the castle.
"But why pass up this chance to hunt a dragon?" Astrid pressed. "Surely, you see the grand opportunity here?"
Hiccup sighed, opened his mouth to speak, when another, deeper male tone filled the air: "Who's there?"
Instantly, as if jumping from a fire, Hiccup and Astrid jumped to hid themselves behind the massive tree. They stood close together; Astrid felt his warm breath on her nose. For balance, he rested a hand on her waist; she grabbed onto his shirt. In fear of being spotted or heard, neither made the slightest move or sound.
"Blasted squirrels," muttered the sentry, who sounded to be on the other side of the very tree they hid behind. "King needs to open the season back. Kill off about a thousand of them blasted demons. Stealing a man's biscuit...I hate squirrels."
The sentry stomped away. He didn't carry a torch, which Astrid figured is why she didn't see him first.
Neither of them moved. They listened to the sound of the sentry's slow steps fade. Astrid kept her eyes on his chin, the fine auburn hairs there, but as the steps grew quieter, she chanced a glance; she met his eyes, which had been resting on her hairline. As her eyes flickered upward, his flickered down.
Astrid could no longer hear the sentry, but she didn't want to move.
"I've missed you," she whispered.
His hand on her waist twitched.
"Tell me you missed me," she said, her voice barely audible.
"I have," he whispered. "A lot. More than I realized I would. But, Astrid, you're a princess, soon a queen, and I'm just…"
What he was, Astrid didn't pause to find out; she pushed herself upward onto her tiptoes, and pressed her mouth against his. He hummed his surprised, but returned her kiss.
When they parted, Astrid said, "You're you, and that's all that matters to me."
Hiccup made a strange sound, like a choke and a gasp. The hand on her waist twitched, and he slid his touch around to her back, pulling her closer. Astrid returned his embrace.
She said in his ear, "We can't meet every night, but I want to see you. Once a week, at least."
"I will try my best, M'lady," he said.
"The normal spot in the tower," she said. "We don't have to train. We can just talk, or we don't have to say anything at all."
"As you wish, M'lady," he said.
Astrid was reluctant to let go of him, but she did as she must. They parted with a longing look and went their separate ways back into the castle. Astrid paused at the kitchen door, but didn't seen him through the growing gloom of night.
The sentry's footsteps approached once more, and Astrid slipped back into the darkened kitchens. She snagged a muffin as she headed back to her room via the servants' passage with a lightness in her chest she hadn't felt in a while.
Hiccup. A dragon.
She'd seen birds. She'd seen pictures of dragons. That was no bird she saw flying over the forest. It was a dragon, no matter what Hiccup said. He undoubtedly felt that stubborn sense of pride and protection that men felt toward her, the princess, as if she couldn't handle herself outside the safety of the castle walls, as if she needed rescued.
Her ancestor, King Rogger the Revered, had hunted a dragon as the crowned prince; he'd hung the skull over his throne as a warning to all those who entered. How incredible, how formidable would it be, if she, Queen Astrid, had a dragon's skull hanging over her throne?