Heart Of Gold [Book 1]

Chapter 4 - It's Not A Game

Chapter 4 - It's Not A Game

Having not enjoyed a single minute of sleep, Dania watched the sun slowly rise from the small window in her bedroom. She felt scared, alone, and most of all, ashamed. None of it was her fault; she knew that. And yet, her insides were foiled up like an old piece of parchment ready to be burned to a crisp in a fire's grasp. 

A part of her was ashamed because she had been completely helpless. She had depended on the prince to save her, and now she was undoubtedly in his debt — but what could a girl like her ever offer a prince in payment for her honour? 

This thought plagued her for the better part of the day until, at last, she came up with a solution. she could not depend on others for protection her whole life — especially not when her own kin was insistent on regarding her as an outsider — and thus came to the radical solution that she must learn to protect herself. 

After a long day, she waited for the cover of darkness before leaving the comfort of her chamber. She walked quickly but silently towards the armoury, not wanting anyone to know what she was up to for she would undoubtedly get in trouble if someone found out. 

Slowly opening the door, she winced at the creaking sound the door made, which would probably be heard by anyone passing by – not that there would be many people here at this hour. She closed the door behind her but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard someone in the other room. She shook her head and cursed herself for even thinking of coming here in the first place. Why had she thought this was a good idea?

The thing to do would have been to turn back and run back home as quickly as possible, but her curiosity clouded her better judgement. Slowly, she peeked around the corner to get a glimpse at who was there. A quiet gasp escaped her when she saw Prince Thorin's naked chest covered in sweat as he swung his sword around. Quickly, she hid behind the wall and covered her mouth with her hand. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, which felt strangely warm, as the image embedded itself in her memory. 

The sweat-glazed muscles of his sculpted chest. The deep frown of concentration on his face. 

Oh, Mahal. 

Stop, she told herself. He is your prince, you cannot think of him like that! But she could not help it.  All she wanted was to take another look. Scandalous. Utterly scandalous. 

But, oh, Mahal, was he gorgeous. 

Then she realized she could not hear a thing and her heart began to beat even faster, though for other reasons entirely.

"Hello?" his deep voice said from the other room. "Is someone there?"

Dania turned around quickly and started to run towards the exit but felt her foot get trapped in something and the next thing she knew she landed flat against the ground in a terrible sound of clashing metal. From the other side, the prince raised his sword in the direction of the sound. 

"Who is there?" he asked in a more authoritative tone. Dania sighed in defeat before standing up, careful not to get tangled up in the mess she had created. There was no point in hiding now, he knew very well she was there. She took a careful step out of her hiding place and into the torchlight, revealing herself to him. The harshness that had been painted over his features faded away instantly as his eyes landed on her.