GianellaRose: I'm glad you like it! I DO update a lot, but I honestly just keep thinking of things and I know I'll forget them if I don't write it at that moment so…whenever I get the urge, I write a whole chapter :D

schoofie: I know, I love it too : ) Because I honestly think that that's how most people are when you stop to think about it.

its just lil ol' me: The reason I never told about her family (if you noticed in chapter 9) is because her people aren't family oriented. She probably doesn't even know her family (which does NOT reflect me in this case). It was a good point though! And I like the word you made up, "superawesometasticfabutatious" Ha ha ha xD

So here's what just happened in my life. I kidnapped my best guy friend with my best girl friend helping me out. Yep. You know why? (It's very sad really…) Because my good buddy, Andy, doesn't seem to have time for us anymore since mid last semester Sophomore year. I was sick of trying to find a time that was good so we just shoved him in my car and took off for some talking :D Gosh I missed him!

So I'm back now and ready to write!

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"Ugghhhh," I groaned as my brain slowly began to function again. I slowly opened my eyes and found I was in the dark somewhere, the moonlight shone in from the big windows at the foot of the soft thing I was laying on. Oh…it was a bed, right. I looked around the room and then my head snapped to the side at a sound that came from right next to me.

I took in the pale skin, the black hair, the broad shoulders…I smiled. Maybe I had gone to Heaven and an angel was sleeping next to me. I closed my eyes and listened to the "angel" breathe beside me. My mind was still foggy and not much was making sense.

But after a moment, my mind registered the fact that I was laying on a bed next to my good friend, I was not in MY room, and it was NIGHT. Then it dawned on me that the last thing I remembered was sitting on King Edmund's throne.

I looked back over at him. He was asleep. His chest was rising and falling evenly and his breathing was quiet and slow. I smiled at how his hair was sticking out all over again and that his mouth was open just slighty. I admired how his skin was so pale that he almost glowed in the moonlight that was streaming from the windows, and how his black eyelashes were so long and perfect that they rested softly on the tops of his cheekbones. I had a fleeting thought that if I was a sculptor I would find him to be an inspiration.

I knew it was weird, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I just stared and took in every bit of him. I admired the way his dark eyebrows arched into an almost constant sarcastic expression, I appreciated his firm, but not jutting, jawline and the way the muscles in his neck were tensed because of how his head was turned slightly, I eyed his muscular chest that rose and fell under the material of his royal apparel, I scanned over his flat stomach and his long legs which were actually dangling over the end of the bed. But my eyes finally settled on his right hand that was placed, palm down, on the bed next to him. I admired how long and graceful his fingers were and yet how hardened they were by years of hard work. Without thinking, I reached out and took hold of his hand in mine and ran my thumb over his palm which was calloused from sword training. I traced little circles absentmindedly around his palm, the back of his hand and down his thumb, my mind was wandering into a scenario of him fighting fiercely in the battle to come and how these very hands would be killing my people very soon. I felt tears threatening to make themselves known.

"Natani?" Edmund's whisper snapped me out of my reverie. I looked down at him and smiled. He smiled back. "Do you feel better?"

I nodded. I guess the stress of ratting out my own countrymen was just a heavy burden that my confused and burdened mind couldn't take. Edmund explained that I had simply passed out.

"But it's night time," I observed, "How long have I been out?"

"Natani, it was very late in the afternoon when you came in today," Edmund replied with a chuckle, "You've only been out a few hours. Most of that was an induced state anyway. The dryad in charge of healing and herbs gave you a sleeping tonic."

"Oh." I muttered. Then I realised I still had his hand in mine and meant to let go but found I couldn't. I looked down and found I no longer had a hold on his hand, he was holding mine. I glanced over at him and he smiled. But this smile was different, it was…soft and tender and it reached even to his eyes which were focused directly into mine, filled with an emotion I had no name for.

I couldn't move. For some odd reason, every inch of my body seemed frozen and it was driving me crazy! I wished he would just…look away or something because I felt like I was being hypnotized. I felt my breathing begin to speed up from sheer panic of not being able to control my limbs.

"Hey, Natani, what is wrong with you?" Edmund sat up suddenly, his left hand cupped my jaw and he turned my head slightly to look at me. "You just went completely pale!"

I shook my head and each of my limbs and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

"I'm fine now," I said, not wanting to tell WHY I had just about passed out again. "Just a dizzy spell or something."

He didn't look like he believed me but he let it rest and didn't press the issue. We sat in silence as the crickets and frogs outside my window sang us their special song of the wondrous night. I closed my eyes and listened.

"Natani," Edmund broke the silence.

"Hmm?" I murmured, my eyes still closed.

"I really need to tell you something," I noticed his voice was strained and I turned my head to look at him, but his eyes were focused on the floor. "I'm just…not sure how."

I cocked my head to the side and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath and turned to me, taking both of my hands in his and looking me straight in the eyes, he wasn't smiling this time, he looked more serious than I had ever seen him before.

"I…Natani…I wanted to let you know that…UGH WHY is this so HARD?"

I scrunched my eyebrows at him and wondered what he was stuttering about. Just spit it out, Edmund!

"Ok, here goes," he said quietly and I assumed he was talking out loud to himself. "Natani, I think I might possibly, very likely, extremely understandably…positively…be in love with you."

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Aawwww : ) I love love! I liked writing this a lot :D (All those things she was admiring about him, btw, are totally my favorite things too!)

Loving your reviews! They make me want to write more!