Winter

I couldn’t help but look really shocked. I moved my head in Niall’s direction and he was smiling at me but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, which made me really nervous. He was planning something, you could see it in his eyes, he was probably only saying that, to keep the lord happy, as we didn’t have a way to defend ourselves.

“I don’t have a dress though milord.” I mentioned, going along with it until I had the chance to ask Niall was he was planning or why he agreed so willingly. “We can arrange a dress for you, lass.” He grabbed my hand and gave it a few pats, which seemed way to familiar, for the amount of time we have known each other and I was wondering what the other people in the room were thinking.

I glanced around the room and nobody was paying attention to what the lord did. It was strange because in history books and other books, this kind of behaviour isn’t correct but nobody seemed to care about that. “Everyone!” John yelled through the room and the room fell quiet. They were all looking expectantly to their lord and it was astounding to see the respect they had for him. “We have to prepare for a Christmas wedding, in two days lord Horan and Lady Blackwood, will be married.” He ended his quick speech and there were cheers everywhere. “Kiss her lord Horan.” Was the most frequent thing they were yelling at us and never in a million years had I expected him to do exactly that but he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me against him.

“Just go with it, please?” he pleaded in a whisper and even if I wanted to refuse there was no way my heart would allow it. It’s kind of weird, isn’t it, to feel like this about someone you don’t even really know. We were seated opposite of each other and I held my eyes on my plate and concentrated on what they were giving us. It was a good thing I wasn’t a vegetarian right now, because all that we were getting was meat.
I sighed and thought about this some more and the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it all seemed. We had to get back to the real world and fast because there was no way I was going to marry Niall, I mean He is lovely and all but I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me at all. I’m not even from the same continent and what if we get back, whilst married, how would that unfold. This was going to be a disaster. Why did I want to explore this castle to begin with, it was just stupid because now we were in this mess, which was still weird because we made a leap back in time, just by walking through a gate.

“Lass, are you okay?” The duke had grabbed my hand again and pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Niall stare at me worried and the Duke was sharing his expression. That’s when I realized that I was holding my knife way to tight. It took me a second or two to register what I had to do but when it finally caught up, I quickly let go of my knife.

“Gosh I’m sorry, I’m fine just a bit tired I guess.” I apologized to the duke and he smiled gently at me. “Then you are excused.” He said and I must look lost because he came a bit closer. “Go to sleep my dear.” He said softly and I couldn’t help but smile at him and nodded. I got up and with me every man at the table, which was a custom if I was correct, I nodded at all of them and quickly made my way to my room. There was Elaine already waiting for me to help me undress and to get me ready for bed. This was definitely not something I wanted to get used to.

The moment she had helped me with my corset, I dismissed her. “Thank you Elaine but from here I can do it myself.” I tried not to sound to harsh but I really wanted to be alone and I really didn’t need any help with changing my clothes. “Of course Milady, your clothes are washed and dried over there.” She pointed to a comfy looking chair and I thanked her, cueing her to leave me.

The moment she walked out of my room, I sighed and I let myself fall in one of the chairs in front of the fire. I missed the modern time, where you could fill every minute of the day with something to do but here all you could really do was stare at the damn fire, which was making me drowsy and muted my will to do something active.

I turned my head to the bed and decided that I really should go to bed and just sleep it off and tomorrow I would be waking up in my own room, amongst my friends and this will al just be dream. I changed my underwear to my own and pulled my shirt over my head and crawled under the sheets and to my surprise the bed was really comfortable and I felt myself fall asleep when the door of my room opened, showing Niall.

“Winter, are you still awake?” he whispered and I could ignore him but I don’t think it was really fair to him, as he probably also was really in need of some normality. “What’s wrong Niall?” I asked him, as I sat up. He walked over to the bed and sat down. “What are we going to do and how are we getting back?” I shrugged because I really didn’t know but the main thing we probably should do it to find a way back to the gate without one of us passing out and this had to happen before we were forced to marry.

“I guess we have to find the gate, I mean the moment we stepped through that gate, we ended up here.” I sounded as if it was nothing more than a minor obstacle but Niall was thinking back to the moment, when we tried to get back to the gate and it made him look even more worried, if that was possible.

“That is not going to be easy because you could barely breathe.” I threw my hands up in despair. “It’s our only option to get back to our world and we have to do it in two days, otherwise we will be married.” I urged but he didn’t seem to mind about that part and that was also something that bothered me. “Please don’t tell me you want to get married?!” I sounded harsher than I wanted but could you really blame me because again I didn’t even know him that well, except for what people write about him.

“I don’t see the problem; I don’t mind marrying you Winter.” He shrugged it off as if it was nothing and it made me feel angry but also a bit flattered because he was interested in me but this was going way to fast. I mean I prefer to have a few dates first before even mentioning marriage.

“we don’t know each other Niall and what happens when we get back to our own world? I fired the questions at him, which made him still for a few seconds but the smile never really left his face.

“You know, from the moment we bumped into each other I already knew I wanted you and this way I’m sure you’re mine, no matter what happens and we will get back but maybe not in two days.” My mouth dropped and he actually came closer and caressed my cheek. “Niall, what if we don’t have that kind of chemistry?” I leaned into his touch, I couldn’t help it, it was comforting.

“If you think that, then maybe we should test it with a kiss.” A smirk had appeared and I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes at him because I know what he did there and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it but why not try it. I sighed and turned my eyes on his. “All right, let’s get this over with but if nothing happens than we are getting back to that cate within the two days okay?” I asked him and he agreed with me, with a single nod.

He moved his hand gently to the back of my neck and that alone gave me shivers but they were definitely not the cold shivers, I was quite enjoying his touch. He began to pull me closer to him, he was really taking his time, his eyes not leaving mine. I felt the intimacy and I had to close my eyes because it was getting way too intense. The moment I closed my eyes he knew he had me and it didn’t take him more than two seconds to place his lips against mine.

Notes