Castle Of Secrets - Arranged Marriage Love

Chapter 2

I was sat downstairs on the couch, reading again. I see Cedric come downstairs with a fishing rod and a tackle box. "Wanna go fishing?" He asks. "not really" i reply, not taking my eyes off the book. "Go, Elara" my father says. I sigh and put my book down. "Fine" I say. I walk with Cedric out to the boats, not saying anything. He was making small talk with me. I was still not too impressed with anything he did, although i did still appreciate what he had told me yesterday, so i tried to talk to him like a normal person, and not make small talk with him. We get the boat started and head out to the middle of the water. We fished for a little, talking about random moments throughout our childhood in which we had thought shaped us as people. I was bored and we had stopped talking when i decided to push him in the water. "Elara!" he yelled out as he fell in. As he emerges, water clinging to his clothes, I can't help but notice an undeniable attraction. It's not just the physicality; there's a magnetic quality to seeing him in this moment. I quickly shrug it off, not letting myself think of him in that way, because after all, this was forced, and there was no love between us. "I can't believe you did that" he said, getting back up onto the boat. We headed back to the castle for him to change, all while he was laughing and couldn't believe I did that to him.

A few days later, as we were sat in my room, doing our own things, Cedric asked me out of nowhere, "You good at archery?" I nod, "I'm decent" I say, partially lying. I have many medals stored in my dresser filled with first place from my archery skills. "Well, later today, at around 3pm, me and a bunch of my friends are doing a little archery challenge together. We do it monthly to get up our archery skills or whatever, but i thought you might enjoy coming with us, especially because your father won't stop nagging me about how we need to publicly be around each other more often." I smile, "I would love to, and yeah, that definitely sounds like something my father would say." He smiles back. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, how have you dealt with him for this long?" I smile and get back to drawing.

"Elara! C'mon!" I hear Cedric scream down the castle corridor, I grab my other elastic and braid my hair as i run towards him. I pull down strands of my vibrant fire red hair. I grabbed my bow and arrows from my father before bounding out the door. My beautiful horse Aurelia, or Auri as i liked to call her, brought us to the meeting place. Auri was a majestic steed with a coat as black as midnight, and a flowing mane as silver as the moon. Her eyes spoke so many words, yet none at all. Each stride she took spoke of grace and strength, making her not only a means of transportation, but a noble companion in our journey through our duties. We arrive and I tie up Auri to a tree so she couldn't escape. She never would, as she is so loyal, but she was known for wandering and I didn't want her to wind up in front of the archery target. "You must be Elara." I see a burly, bearded man say. His broad shoulders and easy smile comforted me immediately. "Yes, and you are?" I ask. "Oh, my apologies." he says, a hearty laugh coming out that must've stretched miles, although gave me comfort. "The name's Gareth." he says. I nod. "Nice to meet you, Gareth." I watch as Gareth gets pushed to the side. A woman, who couldn't be much older than I, was suddenly standing in front of me. Her silver hair cascading down her body like moonlight, and her eyes were a mesmerizing shade of sapphire, capturing the essence of a tranquil ocean at twilight. "Hi! I'm Lysandra! I've been dying to meet you for ages now! I can't believe I'm actually mee-" she was cut off by Cedric, pushing her away from me, rolling his eyes. "That's enough, Lys. She doesn't need to be overwhelmed by you right now." He says, a stern tone in his voice. "No, it's okay, Cedric." I say. He smirks, "I want to begin to play, anyways." I sigh, "Gar, you're up first" Gareth goes up and just barely hits the target. "I swear I'll hit that target today!" He says. "You say that every time." Cedric says, a huge grin on his face. It was nice to see this part of him. He hadn't really shown me he had a soft side this whole week. "Elara, you're up" Cedric said. I sigh, heading up to the line. I get in place and shoot, hitting the bullseye first shot. I hear Gareth and Lysandra cheer as i look over. I see a subtle curve grace Cedric's lips, his eyes momentarily softened, betraying a quiet admiration for me, yet guarded the warmth behind his gaze. "You forgot to ask if I had any experience." I say, smiling as i walk to him. I stand next to him, shifting my gaze towards the target. "I was a professional archer for many years." Lysandra smiled, "Really?" She asks. I nod. "Yeah, i mean, i don't mean to brag or anything but I won many championships for my archery skills." Gareth's jaw drops, "You need to teach me how to do that."