I woke up to find my hands still captured by Mathew's, but that was not what really surprised me. No, he was awake just staring at me with that same odd look that was going to drive me crazy if I didn't know what it meant.

"Good morning," I whispered.

"Good morning," he whispered back. We just stared at each other for a few moments and I did not know how to react but one thing I knew for sure was that I enjoyed it a lot. This was so wrong.

"Before you say we should get going I think we should go to get your hands disinfected," he said with a serious face. "I know healers might be risky so I was thinking an inn, we can use the alcohol."

"I am okay Mathew, Garain is not that far I will get treated there," I shook my head. I knew it was reckless but the longer I was with Mathew the more reckless I could become.

"No, as your prince and future king I am giving you an order," he said sternly. I couldn't help but gawk at him. He had never given me an order. He also knew that my duty always came first so I never disobeyed an order.

The prince was displaying a winning smirk knowing he had won this argument. Sighing in defeat, I sat up taking my hand out of Mathew's. A blush covered my cheeks just at the thought of having held his hand a moment ago. I was hopeless.

"We should get out the forrest if we want to find a town. There's a river near here so it should not be hard to find one," I said walking towards the horses. "We can eat our breakfast there."

"Yes!" Mathew jumped up excitedly. "People! Civilization!"

A chuckle escaped my lips. "Are you sure this detour is for me or for you?"

Mathew rubbed the back of his neck. "For you of course."

I shook my head with a smile. We set off walking down a commonly used dirt road. It wasn't long until we had reached a small town. I could see the excitement radiating off of the prince. I guess it is kind of nice to be out of the woods.

Finding the inn, we walked in earning the curious looks of everyone. Strangers in a new town was always a red flag. So much for going unnoticed. Mathew put his hand on my back sending tingles to my toes. He led us to the innkeeper, an older woman who looked like she could handle herself. We sat down on the stools and ordered a warm meal along with some alcohol for my wounds. Mathew dabbed the alcohol onto a napkin before dabbing it on my knuckles. I winced but stayed strong. I have had worse.

"If you weren't a guard, what would you be?" Mathew asked all of the sudden but did not remove his attention from my knuckles.

"Oh... I have never really thought of that. I have always just wanted to be guard, nothing else," I said trying to think of something but not finding anything. Ever since I was a child my mind has always been set on becoming a guard like my father. I found it to be so noble and compelling. "What about you?"

"Well, as I said before, I have always liked biology. I have always wanted to be a doctor, to heal people, that would really make a difference you know?" he said with much passion. I understood the need to help people. It just felt good.

"Well thank god you aren't, we'd have a lot of young ladies hurting themselves to get treated by the doctor," I teased earning a rich laugh from Mathew.

"Yes, I suppose," he said finishing up with my hands. "There, now you have put me at ease."

"Thank you doctor," I winked earning a wide grin from the prince.

The innkeeper placed two bowls in front of us that we quickly began to devour. It tasted so good! Food that did not consist of me hunting it down! I finished my bowl fast but Mathew was taking his time. Of course he was. He probably wanted to be with civilization a little longer than I had in mind but I couldn't have that.

"Stop taking your time, we need to get going," I reminded him.

He waved me off purposely taking a very slow bite of his porridge. I groaned dropping my head down on the counter. A hand snaked around my waist making my head shoot up. Both Mathews hands were in front of him so who was touching me? I looked to my side to find a very bulky man. He was as tall as Mathew maybe even taller, making him very intimidating. One of his arms was the size of my torso!

"Leave him behind, I'll go with you wherever you want to go," he said with a creepy grin.

I winced at the thought of going anywhere with this brute. "I think you should remove your hand off me. Now."

The man raised his eyebrows in shock at my tone. He threw his head back in laughter at my murder face. He shouldn't take my murder face so lightly.

"Or what? You will have your man fight me? I'd like to see him try," the man challenged Mathew, eyeing him up and down sizing him up.

Mathew stood up right beside me. He had an amused look on his face. "Oh I won't do that much damage. She will."

I smirked at the man.

He sized me up and laughed earning the attention of a lot of people in the inn. They were all gathering around to watch.

"What will you do?" he asked me.

"Leave now and I promise not to break something, I promise I am pretty good at anatomy," I stated.

"That is true, she is," Mathew added.

The man laughed even harder while other's joined in on his laughter. "Oh this is going to be fun."

"Sure is," I said before I pounced on him. Sending multiple jabs to the pressure points on his body, he was groaning while trying to protect himself. I kicked, punched, elbowed using my skills to bring the big man to his knees. I brought up my fist to bring down the final blow but Mathew put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. If he was going to tell me to stop for some moral code I swear I will--

"Can I?" He asked looking sort of excited.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Yes! Of course! He's all yours!"

I moved to the side to give him space. The brute looked at Mathew with a scowl but the look on Mathew's face had to be even scarier. "Don't you ever disrespect a woman like that again."

With his final word, Mathew punched the man right in the face having him drop unconscious. A proud smile consumed the prince's face before he turned to me looking all sorts of excited. "Did you see that! I just--- oh... Clary... I don't think we are welcome here any more."

I looked around noticing the unamused look of the people here as it looked like they were about to attack us. I grabbed Mathew's hand. "Hey nerd, run."

We ran as some started chasing after us. We had to punch a few people and jump over tables to make it outside. Even outside some continued to chase us, someone even threw a chair and to our luck missed. We ran to a stable where we had our horses and things stored. We quickly jumped into one of the stalls ducking down as the men ran past the stables.

Once the commotion passed by we both looked at each other before bursting into laughter.

"That was amazing!" Mathew said flopping his back into the haystack we were crouching on. I lay beside him trying to catch my breath.

"Did you see what I did? I totally knocked him out! He was unconscious! I did that!" Mathew was now on his elbow looking me in the eye with this wide grin.

"Yes, you did! That was great!" I agreed. I loved seeing him this happy. It was like a refreshing breath of air.

"And you... you were amazing out there. Holy cow, I don't want to get on your bad side," he said with all seriousness making me laugh.

"Nah, it was nothing," I waved him off. I've taken large men down before, this was just more practise. I was pretty sure that man was all talk.

"No, you really were amazing," he said tucking a loose strand of hair that had managed to escape my braid behind my ear. The smile on his face was gone now and replaced with a more serious look. He trailed his hand down my jaw and to my chin where his thumb torturously traced my lower lip. I forgot how to breathe. It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. The prince's eyes shot down to my lips.

If I was right, Mathew looked like he was going to kiss me.

I really wanted him to kiss me.

His face inched closer to mine, it felt like time had been slowed down. His lips were dangerously close to mine. I turned my face to the side. I couldn't kiss him. It was wrong. Faraine always came first.

"I-- We--" I cleared my throats trying to form a sentence. "We really should get going before those men return."

I slipped away from Mathew trying my best not to look at him in hopes of keeping my walls up.

"Clary, we should--"

I kept my back turned not wanting to see the expression behind the pained voice.

"It's a good thing they didn't check here yet although if they were smart they would keep this place on surveillance," I cut him off trying to talk about anything but that.

I heard him sigh from behind me. "Okay, I understand. Let's just go."

His saddened voice broke my heart. He couldn't understand how hard this was on me. I just wanted to cry, I haven't cried since I was four. Why couldn't anything be simple?

I just didn't understand how he could like someone like me. Was he missing female contact? He hasn't seen one other than myself in a week. That had to be the only reason. So the look he was giving me the whole time that I couldn't decipher was lust. He had to be confused. I have seen the type of girls Mathew entertained with, I was not that type at all. None of this made sense.

We mounted our horses and managed to get back on the track before anyone spotted us. We rode without talking for hours, the next set of hours we spent exchanging small meaningless sentences such as how the weather was, the awkwardness had never reached such a level like it had today.

The only good thing that came out of it was that we were almost at the Garain borders. Once we reached there we needed only one more day of travel to reach the castle.

"We are almost at the borders, Garain is not that far," I informed the prince.

"Great," he mumbled under his breath. He definitely did not sound great. His eyes suddenly widened before a worried look took over. "Clary... is this road very popular?"

I gave him a blank look. We were in the middle of the forrest. We have been traveling an old dirt road that almost disappeared due to its little use. "It is not even on most maps."

He nodded his head and pursed his lips together. "Then tell me why there are fresh hooves marks going straight up ahead?"

My whole body tenses up going on high alert. Someone was here with us.

-----------------------------------------------

Oooohhh... so close. I know you all probably hate me right now but what can I do!

Don't be silent readers!

Vote and comment!

I love reading what you have to say!

Hope you enjoyed!

Love ya!

XO