“Okay. Let’s go.” I pulled him toward the door.
“I’ve got to grab something from the kitchen real quick. Meet me by the door?” Travis disengaged my hand from his arm before running down the hall.
“Okay?” I was puzzled. What did he need in the kitchen if we were going to the woods? He came back with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“Are you ready to go?” His eyes were dancing mischievously as he waited for my answer. I stared at him suspiciously for a moment before shrugging. I guess I’ll find out when he wants me to find out.
He took my hand and we walked out the door. He led me around the garage to a different path than the one we have always used before. The entrance was hidden behind an evergreen bush, and the trail was narrow. It was no bigger than a regular game trail. Travis caught my eye and smiled. “I’m going to take you to my special place. It’s where I go when I want to be alone.” Cassy followed us soundlessly. It was freaky how quiet she was, but after a few minutes, I forgot about her.
As we walked, Travis told me about his family and his dreams for the future. He didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps, but there was no one else. His older sister had renounced her claim on the throne and was living as a human with her husband. Travis hadn’t seen her in almost ten years, ever since the day she announced she would not take the throne. He had idolized her, and it seemed that he didn’t completely understand why she had turned her back on the family.
He talked about school, and his childhood. It finally dawned on me after a while that he was deliberately giving me the background that everyone else already knew. It was more than just getting to know him. I was extremely grateful. So many times in the past couple of weeks, I have felt completely excluded because I didn’t know the history between everyone. Travis was starting to fill that in for me.
We came to a clearing, and Travis stopped me just inside the tree line. The meadow was lit by stray sunbeams, and even though the foliage was mostly dead, it was a beautiful sight. The sun picked out the newly budding leaves on the undergrowth, highlighting it against the shadows behind them. Travis turned to me.
“Close your eyes for a second, please.” His eyes were still dancing.
“Okay?” There was a question in my words, because I didn’t understand why he would want me to close my eyes, but I did it anyway.
A strong gust of wind came out of nowhere from behind us, blowing my hair forward into my face. Travis laughed from somewhere ahead of me. I frowned. He sounded far away. A second later, he rubbed my arms, and started pulling me forward. I began to open my eyes, but he yelled at me. “No! Wait. I’ll guide you and tell you when you can open them.”
“Okay.” I began to giggle. This was insane. Travis had moved so he was behind me, guiding me with pressure on my arms. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him.
“Okay, open your eyes.” He whispered, his breath tickling my ear. I giggled again as I followed his instruction. In front of me, in the middle of the meadow, a picnic was laid out, complete with a red and white checkered blanket. There was a bottle of wine, as well as sandwiches and chips. I gaped as he kissed my neck. “Do you like my surprise?”
I turned in his arms and kissed him. “Yes, I do.” He smiled and took my hand again, pulling me to the blanket. As I spun, I glimpsed Cassy standing guard in the woods. It made me remember the danger we always seem to be in, as well as the fact we had an audience. My smile faded.
Travis brought me to the blanket and gestured for me to sit down. The melancholy feeling stayed with me as we sat and ate. I could tell that Travis knew my mind was elsewhere; he kept making jokes, attempting to bring me out of it.
Eventually, he sighed. “I give up, Babe. What’s wrong?”
I glanced into his beautiful eyes, which were practically glowing again. “I was just wondering if any of this is ever going to stop, or if we will have to deal with problem after problem our entire lives. I worry that my life is never going to be normal again.”
He was smiling widely, which struck me as weird. Here I am worried, and he looks like a kid that has just been given candy. “Why are you looking at me like that, Travis?”
He took my hand and kissed it. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you said, ‘our entire lives’.”
I was puzzled. “Yeah, so?”
His smile just grew wider, but now he evaded my question by going back to my original comment. “Honestly, Evalia, my life will never be normal. As the Prince, I always have security nearby, and there are always people who are unhappy with my father’s rule, and there will be people unhappy when I rule. That’s just the way of things.”
I sighed and looked at the ground. “So, this will never change, then. I just have to get used to it.” When I looked back up, Travis was hiding his grin behind his hand.
Fed up, I smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “Explain the grin, Travis. Why are you taking my concerns so lightly?”
He laughed, pulled me to him and proceeded to kiss the fight right out of me. “It’s not that I’m taking your concerns lightly. It’s that you are saying ‘our lives’, and you
