Courtney walked down the village paths, making her way to the market. Queen Heather had sent her to go fetch some red wine, as a gift for her uncle's appearance. This was Courtney's first time being outside the palace walls in a while. It really felt good to breathe in fresh air. She felt bad that Beth, Ella, and Lindsay didn't get to come along, but Courtney was still glad it was her who got to go into the village. She hadn't even been to the market, let alone the village, in such a long time. Her mother would always walk with her into the market when she was a child, buying her loafs of bread.

"Good memories…" Courtney smiled to herself.

She finally reached the market area, and walked up to a man selling fine wines behind a stand.

"Good day, ma 'dame, how may I help you?" The man smiled at her.

"Um, I'm looking for a good red wine," she told him.

"Well, you can either get the Octavia wine, which has more of a tangy taste, or the Bloodmoon wine, which is sweet but a tiny bit bitter in the aftertaste," he held up the two wine bottles.

"I'd go with the Bloodmoon," a voice spoke from behind her.

Courtney turned and saw a man leaning against the stone wall right by the stand she was at. He had odd hair that was black and shaven short at the sides, but then spiked up at the top of his head, and the tips of the spikes were green! Courtney had never seen such a hairstyle.

"Why the Bloodmoon?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "It has a bitter taste, and from what I hear, it will match the Queen's bitter attitude."

The man behind the stand sucked in a breath. "Better not insult the queen 'round here, lad. Ya never know what ears could be listening."

The green-haired man shrugged again. "I don't really care. I've been in those dungeons before, they don't scare me." He looked back at Courtney, "So, what shall it be? Bloodmoon?"

Courtney blinked. "Uh… I'll go with the Bloodmoon please."

The man smiled. "Alright, Bloodmoon it is." He shoved the wine into a paper bag and handed it to her, while Courtney gave him three coins in return. "Have a good day, lass."

"Thanks, you too," Courtney smiled and started walking away.

The green-haired man suddenly appeared by her side. "So. What's a fair maiden like you doing out and about in the village?"

"You heard me, I'm here to pick up a wine for the Queen. And now that that's done, I should be heading back to the palace," she sashayed ahead of him.

He caught up and did a little side step. "This your first time being out?"

"Of course not. I lived in this village when I was a little girl."

He chuckled. "No, I meant since you became a maid for the Queen."

"Oh… Well, this is my first time in a while," she sighed.

"And now you have to go back."

She glanced at him. "Who are you, anyway?"

"The name's Duncan. And you are?"

"Courtney."

Duncan grabbed a piece of bread off a stand they just walked by and took a bite out of it.

Courtney gasped. "Duncan-! You can't just steal someone's bread!"

He grabbed her arm and started moving her away from the stand when the lady selling the bread looked over at them, but Courtney pulled away.

"Excuse me, get off me!" She hissed, "Go give the bread back to the woman."

"It's not like anyone noticed," he shrugged and stuffed more into his mouth, "Besides, it's already in my mouth."

She scoffed. "You're such a pig. And a thief."

He rolled his eyes. "I probably need the bread more than she does."

Courtney crossed her arms. "Like I'm going to believe that."

He looked at her for a while and then shrugged. "Alright, I'll just be on my way, then."

She watched him walk away and was about to turn to go her own way, but then she stopped and ran after Duncan. "Wait a minute, what you said was a lie, right?"

"What?"

"When you said 'I need it more than she does' or something…"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would I lie?" He continued walking.

Courtney caught up with him again. "Wait, so you're saying you have no bread in your house?"

He let out a sarcastic laugh. "I have no anything in my house. I don't even have a house."

They walked in silence out of the village and into the Woods of Eve.

Courtney then spoke. "Oh… I'm sorry. But stealing is still bad."

He rolled his eyes. "I promise I won't do it again, princess."

She huffed. "Yeah right, punk. I'll have you know that I could report you to the Queen, and then you'll be back in those dungeons."

Duncan looked down at her and a smirk formed on his lips. "You're pretty tough, princess."

She blinked. "Huh? That has nothing to do with-"

He held up his hand. "Wanna just take a walk through the Woods of Eve for a bit? Or do you have to be back right away…?"

Courtney blinked again. She did kind of have to be back right away, but did she really want to go back to scrubbing floors and getting yelled at by the Queen? This was her first time outside the palace in years, and probably her last time too. But she didn't even know this guy. What if he was going to kill her? She looked at him. He was very handsome…

"Oh hell, sure," she told him.

He grinned. "Alright."

The two ventured deeper into the Woods of Eve, telling each other a little bit about themselves. Courtney knew she was going to be in trouble when she got back, but what the hell. This was her first and last day of freedom. She was gonna make it count.

"I cannot believe you actually have the guts to come back here again!" Heather hissed at the werewolf sitting on her window sill.

Alejandro smirked and placed his arms behind his head. "I'd do anything just to see the Queen again."

She felt her face heat up so she turned away. Good god, he was so damn handsome. "You have to leave."

"But do you really want me to leave?" He asked, standing up.

She crossed her arms, still not facing him. "I..."

"Or are you telling me this because your mother would be very upset if you broke the little law she made…?"

She could feel his breath of her shoulder. Heather shut her eyes. Did she really have to follow some stupid law? Who was she kidding, she was queen, she could do whatever she wanted. She could bloody well change the law. But changing it would mean disobeying her mother. Her mother told her when she was a child that if a member of the royal bloodline ever broke the law that she made, bad things would happen. What sort of bad things? Heather had no clue. Maybe she just said that to scare her. Her mother had always been a very intolerant woman.

"Mi amor?" Alejandro whispered into her ear, sending chills down her arms.

Heather finally made her decision. She spun around, grabbed his face and planted her lips onto his. Alejandro was surprised at first, but then he deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Once Heather pulled away, a hot tingly feeling was left on her lips. "That…"

"What, mi amor? Was kissing a werewolf everything you hoped for?" He rubbed her shoulders.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Maybe…"

Suddenly, Ezekiel came knocking on the door, breaking the mood. "Your majesty? Your dinner is served."

Heather shoved Alejandro out the window. "Of course, I'll be down in a minute!" She waited until his footsteps were gone and then ran over and looked down her window. Alejandro was hanging from her window.

He looked up at her. "Y'know, your majesty, there are better ways to get a person out of your room then pushing them out a window."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and then planted a kiss on his head, "Now leave."

He grinned and started climbing down. "I'll be back, but I guess you already know I will."

A small smile formed on Heather's lips. "I'll be waiting…"

"How in God's green earth am I supposed to read this!?" Noah held up the sheet of paper Izzy had written for him, but her writing was just a bunch of horrible scribbles.

She shrugged. "You asked for my grocery list, and so I gave you my grocery list."

He groaned. "You're brutal, y'know that, right?"

"Believe me, I'm well aware." She grinned and started skipping in a circle around him.

Eva grumbled and grabbed both their hands, pulling them forward. "Come on, you two rascals. Let's just go to the market tomorrow morning."

Noah pulled away. "But we need groceries!"

"Quit being such a mom, Noah. We'll just go get them tomorrow morning," Eva said.

"Ugh… You guys are so ugly."

Eva rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic."

Izzy wrapped her arm around Noah's shoulders. "Oh, my feet can't carry me anymore. It's too much weight…" She started leaning against Noah so he had to put one of his arms around her to keep her from falling.

He cocked an eyebrow at Eva. "And you call me dramatic?"

The red-head started falling over. She wrapped both her arms tightly around Noah's waist and let him drag her across the ground. "My feet are broken."

"Can you like, stop being stupid?" He asked in annoyance.

"Can you like, stop being ugly? Oh wait, that's impossible for you."

Noah's jaw fell open. "Um, excuse me-"

Eva burst into laughter. "Oh shit, she got you bad!"

Izzy giggled. "I'm here all day!"

Noah unwrapped her arms from his waist and let her smash onto the ground. "You should know that I had a bunch of girls crushing over me when I was little." He said after they had stopped walking.

Izzy lifted her head from the ground. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded. "One girl even chased me around the village one time."

Eva frowned. "And did this girl happen to have orange hair?"

"Yeah, I think she did."

"And did this girl happen to have a toothy grin?"

"I think…" Noah's voice trailed off, his eyes wondering to Izzy smirking at him from the ground.

Eva crossed her arms. "You're such an idiot, that was Izzy!"

Noah's eyes widened in disbelief. Izzy was the one who chased him around the village? He had been so scared that day, the little girl was trying to hug him, but Noah didn't want her to. His mind wondered back to that time. Little Izzy eventually caught up to him and tackled him over. But, instead of hugging him, she had kissed him. Then, little Izzy ran away and Noah never saw her again, at least until they became friends ten years later.

"You… You were that little girl?" He looked at Izzy.

Izzy shrugged. "I guess so."

Noah shook his head. "I never saw you again after that day. But then, ten years later, I became friends with you and I didn't even know you were… Well, you were you."

Eva made a face at him. "You didn't know Izzy was the little girl? Wow, and you call yourself smart."

He shot a glare at her. "I never really got a good look at her!"

"Yeah ok, stringbean."

Noah rolled his eyes and turned back to Izzy. "Are you proud of what you did? You were my first kiss."

She stood up and grinned. "I don't know if that's supposed to be something to be proud of. You weren't even a good kisser."

He huffed. "Excuse me, I'm a great kisser."

"Have you ever kissed a girl since that day?" She crossed her arms.

"Well no…"

Izzy giggled and began walking away from him, Eva followed her. Noah huffed again and ran after them.

"I'm a great kisser…" He pouted.

Izzy snorted. "I'm sure you are, Noah, I'm sure you are."