Word Count: 1505

~Aven

I'm wary as I step out of my room this morning.

My hair is done, brushed out and laid carefully over my neck to cover the reddish purple mark that stains my neck. I'm not excited to face Stace this morning and talk about what happened last night. I'm not even sure if I know what happened...All I know is that I lost my senses and allowed him to quite literally sweep me off my feet.

Keeping my head low, I wander out from the private rooms and into the common areas, eager for a drink of something...Anything to distract myself long enough to avoid needing to go visit Stace's room.

"Can I just get a coffee?" I ask, sitting down at a small bar area, nestling between two unfamiliar people.

The server nods, turning away from me, leaving me to lean against the counter, haunted by my thoughts of last night. To my left, a man sits reading, drinking from his own mug of coffee. I examine him from the corner of my eye, curious.

"I love that book," I comment, rousing him from his concentration.

He looks up at me, seeming wary for a moment, before he smiles tightly. "It was just laying around, I thought I would read it."

He's a foreign looking as Stace is, although I imagine he appears normal in this Territory. His hair is stark white, scruffy and a bit too long over his eyes, which may be purposeful, considering the indigo smudge around his right eye and check, clearly having taken a serious hit to the face.

"Are you okay by the way? Your eye is all bruised."

He drops his book onto the table, running a tattooed hand back through his uniquely coloured hair. "Was in a fight."

My eyes widen. "On this train?"

"I took this train to get away," he muses calmly. His voice is deep, a pretty accent that I'm getting used to on this train entwined into his voice. "After I killed them."

"What..."

The edge of his lip quirks up, in contrast to my near horrified expression. I get the feeling Stace and Eryk would be mortified if they knew I was talking to a dangerous stranger with a backstory I'm suddenly fascinated in.

"Shh, I'm not going to hurt you or anything," he assures me. Strangely, I believe him, deciding that he surely couldn't turn on me in front of all these people.

"Are you from this Territory?" I ask, taking my coffee from the server.

"I am." He turns to look out the window, even thought most of the few is blocked by a snow storm. His dark eyes are sad. "I'm heading to my home village."

"You don't sound so happy about that?"

"I haven't been there in years," he shrugs, clearing his throat, although he can't conceal his solemnness. Curiosity burns within me, but I reign it in, knowing he is a complete stranger who I have no business demanding information from. "There are people there that will expect answers to where I have been..."

"And I'm getting the impression you don't want to tell them?" I ask uneasily. I can't imagine how hard his past must be for him to not want to tell the people he was once close to about it. All I want is to go home, considering all the chaos that has been involved with travelling here.

Instead of replying, he holds his hands out to me. "I'm Acyn."

"Aven," I say, before I can think better of it. Now Eryk and Stace are truly going to kill me. "I probably shouldn't have told you my name."

"Neither. Have a good day, Aven," he says finally, drinking the last of his coffee in one go. "I have a Princess to go see."

"Wait, really?" I gasp.

"Like I said, there are people expecting answers," he exclaims, giving me a final nod before walking off down the carriage before he disappears into the crowd. Is he really going to meet the Princess Stace was telling me rules here, or is he just incredibly good at lying? Either way, I doubt I'll ever see him again.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

Swearing, I whirl around, close to have a heart attack as Eryk comes to sit next to me, examining my person and then my coffee and then everyone else around me. Great, other than Stace, he is the last person I want to see right now.

"Getting breakfast," I grumble, running my hand back through my hair, wishing I could just melt into my seat and never return.

Eryk looks over my shoulder, gaze dark. "Who was that?"

"A kind stranger," I admit, trying not to escalate the issue. As much as I'm trying to see Eyrk as a friend, it's hard when he's willing to kill any person who comes in contact with me at any point. He's even worse than Stace, whose my mate. "Are you stalking me?"

He rolls his eyes as if it's out of the question. To him, he's just protecting me, although the lines are blurring between that and stalking.

I glare at him, and he glares right back, until his gaze shifts down for a moment, and his dark brows furrow. I know what he is looking at before I have a chance to cover it with my hair. The last thing I want is to explain to Eryk how Stace came to my room last night and for some bizarre reason I let him pin me in my bathroom to kiss me.

"What's on your neck?"

"None of your business," I snap back, drawing my hair over my shoulder to cover it.

He glances behind him. "Did that man do it?"

Opening my mouth to bite back at him, my gaze skims through the crowd, seeing an all too familiar figure. It's the girl I saw from the restaurant who I also saw at the graveyard in my home realm. Her hair is pulled up beneath her hat, as her back facing me as she wrestles through the crowd.

Getting to my feet, I ignore Eryk's protests, chasing after the girl. I need to talk to her, I have too many questions about who she is, about what she is doing here.

"Wait! I just want to talk," I call out after her, bumping past people.

I can hear Eryk calling out from behind me, although a passing section of people block him off from following me.

The girl keeps walking, clearly having heard me, but she continues to weave past people, through the common areas and into the more private parts of the train. She's trying to get away from me, I realise.

Just as I'm about to convince myself out continuing to follow her, a hard shoulder strikes my chest, jolting me back. Pain rattles through me, as I examine the culprit, who looks just as surprised at having bumped into me as I am.

"Everything okay?" he asks, rubbing his shoulder.

I clear my throat. "Just need to catch up with my friend."

"Not going to lie, it looked like she was running from you," he smirks, motioning behind him. The girl has vanished now, likely having gone into one of the rooms. My shoulders deflate, knowing that once again, I'm not going succeed in catching up to this girl. It's a mystery I'm going to have to add to everything else that's going on in my life at the moment.

"She wasn't, she's just playing a stupid game," I excuse.

I don't know who this man is, but he doesn't seem like he is from this Territory. His hair dark blond, is cropped short, eyes a gentle, soft blue. He's only spoken a few words to me, but he has an easy air about him, like he can conversate easily, having no issuing with charming people.

"Are you from around here? You're very pretty," he says, smiling warmly. I draw my eyes over him, unsure of why he complimenting me when I'm a complete stranger.

"No, I'm on holiday," I respond warily.

"I'm Castiel," he greets, holding his hand out to me. This time, I don't take it, deciding I've had enough of random strangers today. "Have you seen the view from the train at night? It's insane, all the colours light up the sky."

I glance back behind me, wondering when Eryk is going to show up and get upset at me. "No I haven't. It sounds nice though."

"I'm getting off at the next stop anyway, but I hope you have a good trip..."

Something about this doesn't feel right, but regardless, I give him a smile as he turns and walks away.

It doesn't matter. Because now, I have to go face Stace and Eryk.

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If you guys want to read more of KISSING DANGER you can find it 10 chapters ahead on Radish (:

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~Midika 💜🐼