Seliels POV

Songs of crickets chirping fill the crisp night air. The chill of the night gives me goosebumps even under my cloak. My body slightly shakes from shivering. However, this coldness is matched with the heat of adrenaline. For the first time ever, I'm going against my fathers will. Im breaking the rules, and it feels so good. Now, I understand why people get addicted to it.

"Do you want to go back to your room? We can train quietly in there," Cole offers from next to me. My hand is intertwined in his as he leads me through the dark, quiet halls towards the courtyard. With everyone else in bed, I can fully immerse myself in the moment. His firm grip, his sexy smell, his strong presence, his soft heart, they all draw me closer to him.

"No, no. I want to train in the courtyard," I insist. Both of our voices are quiet. He seems a bit nervous at all of this. "Have you ever done something this rebellious?"

"Believe it or not, I have. Don't let the word get out though. I need to keep up my reputation," he jokes at the end. I can feel the smile appear on his face.

"Oh, now you have to tell me what it was. Did you go streaking or something with your bros?" I question. A light chuckle comes from his lips.

"Streaking? "

"You don't know what that is? I'm a princess, and even I know what that is," I ask him in shock. When I tell you you're an old man..."

"What would you do if I told you I was 811 years old?" he asks me in a playful tone.

"I would tell you that you look surprisingly good for your age," I play with him, nudging him in his side. "If anyone is immortal, it's you."

"But really...what is streaking?" he asks as we enter the courtyard. The courtyard is large and spacious, the perfect area for training. It's lined by rose bushes, the shrubs making a nice square around the outside. There is a large slab of vengestone against one of the walls that the elemental masters of creation would use while training. All of the kings over time never wanted to put in the effort to take it down, so it's stayed up.

"It's when people get completely naked and run through a public area," I inform him. His face instantly changes into one of pure shock, his eyes wide.

"People do that?"

"Yep. Its become a common thing. The guards keep having to fine people," I say as I shrug off my cloak, letting it fall to the ground behind me. The hood messed up my hair, so I pull the strands of my hair that fell out of my ponytail out of my face. "Hey, if you did, I could finally see your tattoo."

For the past year, I've been trying to convince Cole to show me his tattoo. Tattoos are unique to each person. Seeing Cole's would help me see a little more into him and deepen our bond.

However, tattoos are a taboo. People don't mention them much, and everyone has to keep them hidden. It was mandated quickly after the incident with Princess PIXAL. The king reasoned that if he never let the elemental masters get close to his daughters, the entire situation never would have happened. He blamed it all on the tattoos.

Cole laughs, shaking his head. "Was all of that just to try to get me to show you my tattoo?"

"No, but it would've been clever," I answer honestly. Jumping up and down, I shake out my arms to warm me up. "Alright boss, show me how it's done."

When I look up at him, I see the most adorable smile on his face. His eyes are slightly squinted, a glimmer sitting behind them. "What's that smile for?" I ask.

"You," his words make my heart flutter. My knees go weak as I try to regain my composure. If the lighting was better, the red of my cheeks would be obvious. I try to keep it all together, but he makes it so hard.

"So um..." I manage to regain myself. "What are we going over today?"

"It's a surprise. I need to ask you a question first. What is a fighters best asset?"

"Their ass, duh," I joke. His shoulders slightly shake with laughter. I managed to catch him off guard. "That's easy, their strength," I answer quickly after, immediately knowing the answer. "If you're strong enough, you can withstand anything."

He tilts his head slightly to the left. "Hit me as hard as you can then," he orders.

"But I'm not as stro"

"Please do it," he says, and I assume it's to teach me something, so I decide to listen.

Pulling my arm back, I ball my fist. His face shows no sign of fear, and I don't blame him. He's definitely experienced worse. I release my fist, shooting it out towards him. I expect it to hit something rock solid. Instead, a firm grip takes a hold of my wrist. My world turns upside down, him spinning me in the air. Instead of slamming me down on the ground like I would expect, he sets me down.

"Strength means nothing without skill. I never thought that was the case, but then I met a guy who wasn't the strongest, but he was so smart. He used skill to defeat me every time, but then I was able to beat him some of the time when I started using proper technique against him. People miss the mark every time they only try to make people strong. A strong punch means nothing if you can't land it," he explains before helping me onto my feet. I wipe the dirt from the ground off my butt.

"That makes sense. So when do I get to learn how to punch someone in a way that will make them drop to the ground?" I ask him eagerly. All I've wanted to do is fight for so long. Putting those skills in action will be so refreshing.

He laughs and shakes his head at me. "Well first, you need to learn the proper fighting stances."

"Dang it, this is just like my stupid etiquette classes. Why does it matter how I stand?" I groan.

"It keeps you prepared for anything," he turns his back to me, looking at the wall of vengestone. "My friend, the smart one, he always said it was also metaphorical, having a proper stance. I didn't understand what that meant at the time, and I still don't fully, but he explained it by saying that it also means for the mind, not just the body. Both the body and the mind have to be engaged to be able to react quickly," his voice is even the whole time as he stares at the wall.

He stands there, frozen, as he stares. It's as if he's fully dazed off. The orange cracks that span through the dark rock seem to glow brighter than usual, the dim orange appearing more radiant. Maybe that's what he's staring at.

"When do I get to meet your friends?" I wonder out loud. That snaps him out of it, his head turning and looking over his shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, from the few times you've talked about them, I could tell that they mean a lot to you. I'm guessing that they'll eventually come into town, and I'll get to meet them," I say as if it's obvious. However, the more I talk, the larger his frown becomes. "I know that you all dont really talk anymore..."

My words seem to go right through him as he turns to look at the wall that seems to steal all of his focus. I stand there in silence as he just looks at it. His gaze only shifts when he looks across the courtyard to the buildings right next to it. The moonlight hits his face. It's only from its gentle shimmer against his eyes that I can tell that hes about to break down. His eyes look like they're going to overflow with tears. It happened so quickly.

"I'm not feeling too good. Can we pick this up another time?" he asks weakly.

My heart aches watching him like this. He is typically either happy or serious, never upset. This is a change of pace, and I dont know what to do. I've come up with ways to break his serious demeanor, but I have nothing for this one.

I can only remember him getting like this one other time. We were trying out the new lights in my room, and he got shocked by the switch. Something about it set him off. He immediately shut down like he did right now. The playful conversation abruptly ended, and he quickly left for his room.

"Of course," I accept it in an attempt to make him feel better. "Ooo, I can tell you some embarrassing stories about Seb. He wasn't always the perfect heir to the throne you know."

"That sounds good," he responds, walking over to me. I'm confused until he links his arm through mine to walk me back.

From this close, I can see the agony. His forehead has slight wrinkles, matching the steady frown on his face. However, the true indicators are his eyes. The deep, warm eyes that are usually there are replaced with shallow, empty counterparts. It's foreign and heartbreaking. My chest aches seeing him like this.

We start walking through the halls in silence, the weight of his feelings hovering over us. Our feet quietly hit the ground, and while earlier I was on edge about being caught, now I'm focused on Cole. His tense body and distant mind are clear. He doesn't try to talk, and I don't force him to. Something clearly got to him.

When we finally reach my room, he still is upset. When he opens the door for me (as usual), the smile that makes my heart leap is missing. I don't comment on it. Instead, I enter with him following me.

Because PIXAL was killed in her own bedroom, the kings have been extra careful ever since. Instead of our personal guards staying across the hall, princesses have a room attached to their rooms for their guard. That (in addition to the thin walls) makes it so the guard will be able to tell if anything is wrong at all times and spring into action. While I dreaded this at first, now I see it as a perk. It lets me spend more time with Cole.

Once the door closes behind him, I tightly wrap my arms around him. My head rests against his chest. He lets out a gentle sigh, returning the gesture. He rubs circles on my back with his thumbs, a gesture he knows I enjoy.

"I'm alright Princess; dont worry about me," he reassures me.

"You know you can talk to me when you're upset," I reassure him instead. "We'll have each other together and always."

There are so many other things I want to say, but I know that now isnt the time. Besides, my main focus is to make him feel better, not to pour my heart out to him.

"I just got reminded of home, and it made me sad. I'll be fine," he pulls me closer to him. With my face flushed, my stomach tingles at the closeness although my heart aches for him as well. "Thank you for caring. Its been...a long time since I felt like anyone really cared."

"I'll always care for you, Cole, and nothing can change that."

A/N: Oh my gosh, I'm SO SORRY to everyone who read that when the punctuation didn't copy and paste over. That was a mess. I think I caught it all, but I'm not completely sure. Sorry if I left some errors.

Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! I had this part ready last night, but my Wattpad wasn't working. Heck, it STILL isn't on browser (wattpad's support service sucks I sent in a request last night and they've left me on opened for at least 12 hours), but then I got the app. It won't let me look at my dm's, but other than that I think I can do everything else, so I'm not mad.

Also, sorry if this chapter seems a bit shorter than usual. It was supposed to be connected to next chapter, just with a POV switch, but seeing as this one was 2000 words in itself and the other part (that is currently at 3000 words and that I'm not even done with) was a bit bigger than expected, I thought I could just post them separately.

Thoughts? Cole had his sad hours

Thank you all so much! It means so much to me that you all continue to stick around. Don't forget to share and comment!