Alright guys, this chapter is the last one I'll do until I get in some actual requests for different pairings; I want to put most of my focus on Scars Unseen and the start up of Kiss Me Sane (title pending). It ties in with the medieval Au I have going, but can be seen as any sort of old timey au. (Bonus if you can figure out the pairing in here)

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The first time he saw her, he was planting red roses along the border of the great castle, and couldn't help but stare up at her, standing like a statue on her balcony. When she looked down at him with those emerald eyes, he could see that she wasn't really seeing him. He bowed quickly and left silently, sweet smelling dirt still coating his hands and her green eyes burned into his memory.

The first time she saw him, she was walking with her father, ignoring his constant babbling about how good it was to be with her. He was crouched among the trees, clearing away broken branches and dead plants to make room for a young sapling. He dropped an harmful of debris into a wheelbarrow, and he caught her gaze with deep red eyes that burned like a raging fire. She looked away first, unable to stand the intensity of his gaze. He watched her until she turned the corner with her father and he could no longer see her.

The first time he touched her, she'd approached him from behind, and quietly told him that a kitten had gotten stuck in one of the bigger trees. He'd straightened up and brushed dirt from his pants. He looked at her with those same red eyes, but now they were soft like the dying embers in a fire place. Her breath caught in her throat when he took her slim, unblemished hand in his own rough one, years of gardening and tough labor making them scarred and covered in calluses. He simply asked her which tree, and she led him there. When he left to go back to his work, she was reluctant to let go, and the warmth from his grip lingered in her fingers.

The first she touched him, a storm had ripped one of the oldest trees out of the ground by its roots. She found him cursing the bad luck and had gasped when he punched the thick trunk. His hand came away red and scratched, and she reached to touch the back of his tanned neck. He'd turned to look at her in surprise, and the anger in his gaze faded at the worry in her clear, warm emerald eyes. He leaned forward into her gentle touch, and they stood that way for what felt like a life time before they moved away and she softly asked him to check on the ivy outside her window.

The first time they kissed, he climbed the ivy outside her window and touched their lips together in the softest, sweetest way he knew how, and she asked him to stay with her, to chase away the cold and darkness with the sweet scent of flowers and the earthy fragrance of soil and tree sap. He had stayed, holding her in his scarred hands, and showed her all the piano he knew, showed her what he could in the little time they had in that one night.

The first time someone found out, the Prince had simply smiled and nodded at them, and told him to take good care of her. He'd given them forgiveness for their forbidden relationship, and had given them a way out. A country house in need of a new owner and a new pianist. She jumped at the chance to leave her overbearing father behind, and he followed her, leaving behind his plants and flowers and joined her at the new house.

The first time they said "I love you" was at their wedding, with her father giving her away, and the king giving them both his blessing. They had kissed then, for the first time in front of more than the night sky and the grinning moon. She'd leaned against him when they left on horseback. He had brought her to the very place they first met, when there had only been a longing and an intense, strange need to be within the other's orbit. There, he slid a rose behind her ear, the bright red contrasting against her blond hair, he took her hands and made her a promise he swore to keep until he took his last breath.

Forever would their love be as sweet as the first time they kissed, and forever would he protect with the intensity she'd first seen in his blood red eyes. That he promised her.

And that promise did he keep.