Chapter 5

Lavinia's POV

I closed my eyes, petrified, waiting for the intense pain that was to inevitably envelope me once the arrow lodged into my body but it surprisingly never came.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw Prince Rylan standing a few metres away from me, a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows hung around his shoulder.

He held an apologetic look and I turned around to see that I was standing in front of the target. The arrow was embedded directly in the bullseye, which meant that it had missed me only by a few inches…..

The arrow was never meant for me but I had unknowingly gotten in the way and was almost hit. Thanks to the goddess for the prince's perfect aim.

"My lady, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" The maids soon clattered around me, checking my body for any signs of injury but they found none.

Prince Rylan finally approached me. "Are you OK? Please tell me that you're fine." He asked, worry and guilt etched on his face.

"I'm….. I'm fine, just feeling a little shaken." I replied, stuttering a little. Due to the massive amount of adrenaline in my blood, my heart was still beating rapidly despite the fact that the danger had been averted.

"I'm glad, I would never have been able to forgive myself if I had caused you any harm. Are you sure you're fine?" He asked again. 

"I'm fine, really." I clarified with a smile.

"The pack house was starting to feel stuffy, I got bored and decided to come out here to practice my archery because I thought no one would be around. I aimed for the target but then you suddenly showed up right after I'd released the arrow. I was worried that I had hurt you but you're fine by Selene's grace. I'm truly sorry." He apologized profusely and in that moment, I started looking at the bright side of things. Maybe this incident isn't all that bad, it's only given me an opportunity to spend some time with Rylan.

"It's OK, you don't have to apologise because it's really my fault this time. I was so distracted by the beauty of this place that I didn't look where I was going. But you'll have to admit how funny it is that we always seem to meet under such strange circumstances. Earlier today you attacked me and it seemed like you were going to rip me to pieces and now this arrow incident.

Should I assume that you keep attacking me on purpose?" I asked jocularly, trying to lighten the mood but my joke only seemed to have the opposite effect on Rylan as he quickly assumed a grim expression.

"Why would you even think that?" He asked, his voice conveying that my words had deeply hurt him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I was just messing with you and trying to lighten the mood." I tried to explain.

He turned to a hurt look and my heart panged with guilt, I was just about to apologise again when he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, leaving me completely dumbfounded.

He laughed so hard that tears rolled down his cheeks. He wiped them away before quickly regaining his composure.

"I'm sorry but you should have seen your face, it was hilarious. How was my acting?" He asked, and I was unable to answer because my mind still felt hazy with confusion.

"I knew that you were joking, I just wanted to give you a little payback for making me worry so much just now. And you fell for it completely, I got you so good." He said and started laughing again and everything finally clicked.

"How could you play such a cruel trick on me? I was actually worried that I'd offended you." I complained and hit his arm playfully in mock anger.

"I'm sorry my beautiful mate, I won't do that again but I'm tempted to because you look so much more beautiful when you're angry." He tried to ingratiate me.

"R-Y-L-A-N…."I drawled in mock annoyance.

"Alright, I'll stop troubling you now. I'll just get back to practicing my aim. I wouldn't want to interrupt your tour of the garden." He surrendered.

"No, it's OK. I'd rather just watch you." I stated.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I have an even better idea. Are you skilled in archery?" He asked suddenly, taking me by surprise.

"No. I haven't even touched a bow and arrow in my life, to be honest, I'm actually seeing it for the first time. You'll come to know that there's a lot of things I don't know about." I divulged, trying to hide my chagrin.

"Perfect." He chimed.

"What?" I asked, having been thrown into more confusion.

"This is a perfect excuse for me to spend even more time with you. Come on, I'll teach you how to shoot an arrow."

"No, no. There's really no need to bother yourself with that, I'm perfectly fine with just watching you." I swiftly declined, afraid of making a fool of myself.

"No, I insist. Unless you don't want to spend time with me……" He coaxed, leaving me no choice.

"Fine, let's do it but I assure you it's a waste of time. It's impossible for me to learn to shoot like you in a day."

"That might be true but it's not going to be a waste of time because I'll get to be close to you and it'll be a great start. If ever you want to learn to do something, you're gonna have to start somewhere." He cajoled and finally managed to convince me.

He stretched forth his hand and I took it. He pulled me towards him and I found myself flush against his hard chest. I could practically hear his heart and it was beating in sync with mine.

"Do you hear that? This is what you do to me. My heart goes into a fit of acrobatics everytime I'm around you, my body swirls with emotions that I can't even name or fully understand. You fill me with so much desire and you really don't know how much I'm holding back." He whispered into my ear and I felt my skin grow hot under his touch. I flushed helplessly and closed my eyes as his hand pushed back my long hair and slowly caressed the skin of my neck, slowly, agonizingly.

I couldn't understand what was going on with me but I felt myself getting hotter and a tingling sensation arose in my lower belly. 

He finally let go of me and turned me around, bringing my back to meet his chest.

"Please open your eyes so we can begin the practice. If you keep behaving like this in front of me then I promise I won't be able to hold back anymore because it's giving me the idea that you're giving your consent for me to touch you." He warned and my eyes quickly flew open.

"Now before we begin, you have to first take the correct stance. Line your body up perpendicular to the target, just like this." He demonstrated and I copied his pose.

"Good. Now stand upright and keep your feet and shoulder-width apart." He instructed and helped me assume the pose. He handed me the bow before continuing.

"Now you have to point your bow down and attach an arrow to the string." He gave me an arrow from his quiver and I tried to do as he had said but I couldn't. 

"No, not like that. You have to place the shaft of the arrow on the arrow rest." He guided but stood behind me and helped me attach the arrow.

"Perfect. Now you use these three fingers to lightly hold the arrow on the string." He said and I could feel his warm breath on my neck, easily distracting me from my goal but I tried hard to stay focused. I didn't want to let the fact that he was so close to me get to my head.

"Now we point the bow towards the target like so, then we pull the bow’s drawstring back toward your face with your three fingers. Now you're ready to take an aim at your target. Since it's your first time, you most likely won't hit the bullseye but you can try. Just take your aim and remain steady, are you ready?" He asked me and I took a deep breath, trying to do away with my nervousness.

"Yes."

"Great. Now all you have to do is relax your fingers on the string hand and fire!" He ordered and I released the arrow in one fluid motion. The arrow projected in a straight line, hitting the target straight on the bullseye. I could hardly believe it.

"I hit the bullseye! I hit the bullseye!" I screamed happily, jumping around like a mad woman.

In my elated state, I didn't realize when I jumped on Rylan, holding him tight in a victory hug.

When I came down from my high and finally returned to my senses, I quickly stepped away, embarrassment washing over me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to….." I began but he cut in. "There's no need to apologise, you have excellent aim, you did perfectly on your first try so you should be proud. I only wish that hug could have lasted longer." He said and I giggled.

"Thank you." I showed my gratitude.

"No, thank you, for letting me spend time with you." He returned.

"Princess Lavinia, I apologise for the interruption but the Alpha requests your presence immediately." A maid suddenly arrived and said, cutting short our moment.

"Right now? Is it something urgent?" I asked, feeling reluctant to go.

"I have no idea my lady, I'm just relaying the orders of the Alpha." The maid said and I sighed defeatedly.

"You should go now, we wouldn't want to keep the Alpha waiting. We'll continue this some other time, I'm pretty sure that we'll have lots of time after our mating ceremony." He comforted me, his voice taking on a dark edge at the end of the sentence. I felt those sparks again but I tried to ignore them.

I looked at him one last time before following the maids out of the garden.