Chapter 3: Not According to Plan

He had hoped his little plan to get to know the Princess better would have gone... well better. But what did he expect, he had months to try and get to know her and he had waited until the they were on their way back to Albion to overthrow her brother.

No wonder she looked at him coldly.

"It's a little late to be worrying about my personal affairs." Those words chewed at him, and he couldn't shake the image from his head, what he saw in her eyes for just a split second. That look may haunt him for the rest of his life, she was lonely and afraid of what was to come.

What had he gotten himself into? Why was he trying so desperately to reach out to this woman who would be his Queen one day? Why couldn't he be happy in ignorance like the rest of them?

"I'm sorry." Her voice broke through his inner ranting. He honestly hadn't thought she'd want to speak to him and why was she apologising to him? He should be saying sorry not her.

"You did nothing wrong. I was out of line Princess." He looked into her eyes and noticed how they flickered when he spoke her title.

She was suffering and nobody had seen it. She had probably been suffering ever since she fled the castle and been pretending to be strong when inside she was broken.

"I shouldn't have been so cold. But you're timing couldn't be worse Finn. You needn't worry about me, I am fine and once Logan is taken care of so will the rest of Albion." She smiled weakly at him and then she was studying his face for something he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"But you're not fine." Ben didn't know why he spoke those words but it couldn't be good, breaking her line of defence when in a few short hours she would be attacking her brother's army.

Her eyes widened and she turned her head away so he couldn't see the tears that threatened to fall. She didn't say anything to challenge him for she knew he was right and really what was the point in hiding it anymore?

"No I'm not. But I will do my duty." She sounded like a broken soldier who would fight because it was the only thing left. She was supposed to be the Princess not the soldier, but being a Hero made her both.

Duty, yeah he knew that word. It was the kind of word that could make or break a man. It was the word that had given him purpose when he had nothing left to lose, essentially it had saved his life. But when he looked at his Princess, he knew that it was the complete opposite for her. It was a cage that no matter where she went or what she did it would follow her everywhere for her entire lifetime.

"I understand." Ben spoke softly and smiled weakly at her to try to show his sincerity however it didn't seem to work.

"Do you?" She snapped at him and her fists clenched tightly by her sides, restraining herself from physically lashing out at him. "A soldier can retire from duty and live a different life if he chooses too. A Hero however can't, it runs in their blood, my blood and there is no escaping it!"

The tears she had been holding back fell freely down her beautiful face and she did nothing to hide it from him. Her body trembled under the emotional impact but she continued to stare into his gorgeous blue eyes and Ben was immobilised by it all.

After what felt like an eternity of simply gazing into each other's eyes, the Princess merely shook her head violently before looking at him one last time. "I'm sorry." Then she ran out of the cabin into the silence of the ship.

Ben felt like such a complete idiot, he should be the one apologising to her... again. It seemed all he could do was hurt the Princess when all he was trying to do was reach out to her and let her know that she wasn't alone. He had probably made things worse and made her feel even more alienated.

Despite how it all turned out, it compelled something inside him to persist in trying to reach out to her more than ever before. If they survived the siege of Bowerstone and she took the crown like they all hoped then he would do anything to make her time ruling Albion as pleasant as possible.

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, been having problems with my laptop. Please let me know what you think and I will try and get the next chapter up soon.