Cry Me a River |✔️

Chapter 12- Chocolate Kisses

"I want my first kiss to be long but gentle, soft but glorious, but most of all, I want it to be with you."

Chapter 12

River's POV

I woke up to the sound of paper rustling and grunting.

I peered up from beneath the mountains of furs on top me and saw Alastair sitting at his desk, to the right of the bed, with a feather in hand peering down at a stack of parchment as if they had murdered his unborn child.

What's wrong with the paper..?

I sat up from my bed, causing the bed to moan unappreciatively at my actions.

Alastair looked up from the pile, eyes laced with stress.

"Good morning, love." He smiled a small, pained smile.

I frowned.

Why's he in pain..?

I stood up from the bed causing Alastair to tilt his head in confusion.

"What's the matter, love?"

I crawled into his lap and snuggled into his muscular frame, feeling his muscles expand and contract against my small frame.

He pulled me closer by my waist and laughed when I squeaked at the sudden movement.

I smiled.

He's laughing. He's no longer in pain.

I placed my hand gently against his cheek as he looked down at me with a soft smile, "better now?"

He gave me a confused look, "what do you mean?"

"You looked like you were in pain before, better now?"

He laughed as he kissed my nose, "no love, not pain, annoyance. Turns out I'm over a month behind in paperwork. I have to go through all the laws my advisors have asked to pass, all the complaints, all the letters from foreign kingdoms..." he trailed off, pulling at his hair anxiously.

I reached up, pulling his hands away from their cruel act and kissed him gently on each knuckle.

"Don't cause yourself unneeded anxiety, Alastair. I can help you if it'll make the load easier on you."

His eyes widened, "that would be amazing, my love," he squeezed my hand with a smile.

I squeezed his hand back with a small smile.

"Though, you're going to have to be a bit patient with me. I haven't had a complete education so there's a lot I may not know," I looked down at our entwined hands, "I've read a lot, but I don't-"

"You'll be fine, my love," Alastair pulled me close and kissed me lightly on the cheek, "whatever you don't know I'll teach you. It's mostly reading complete idiocy and questioning society, but for the issues that you have questions on I'm right next to you to ask," he smiled.

He's right. There's no reason for me to be nervous. I've been reading my whole life. I can do this.

"Let's do this," I exclaimed.

"Yes, let's." He smiled.

I spent the next four hours on top of Alastair's lap reading through heaps of letters and summarizing the ones which talked of foreign issues for Alastair to read through later.

I felt my eyes begin to close after reading through what felt like the five thousandth letter of complaints, which spoke of complete idiocy. Did these people really think Alastair would say yes to passing a law against owning pets? Like seriously? If your neighbor owns a dog that makes too much noise, then here's a brilliant idea, move!