83

                                    

                                          

BRAN 
She saw him the moment he arrived and her posture relaxed, a smile creeping to her face. 
"Your Majesty, please ask your men to stop harassing me." Her eyes flicked towards said men and she threw them a glare. "I have no idea why they're treating me like a common thief."
None other than the fact that she showed up at his castle unannounced.
The guard restraining her from going forward quickly spoke up, defending himself. "We were merely telling her to stay put while we informed you of her presence but she insisted on entering the house anyway, and that was why we had to take matters into our own hands." The man explained with hard eyes. "We weren't harassing her, Your Majesty. We were just stopping her from going in." He glared at Elizabeth. "Physically."
Bran realised two things then. 
One—For his men to disrespect Elizabeth so openly in front of him, then there was obviously no love lost between them. And that was surprising because even if they didn't respect her, they should at least make effort to respect her in front of him. The fact that they didn't, just showed how much they hated her. 
Two—Had his men not intervened and stopped her from going inside the house, she would have come up to his room and barged in on him and Maria, and that would have been a very uncomfortable situation. 
Three—well, there wasn't supposed to be a three and it was more of a question than a realisation—what the fuck was Elizabeth doing here?
"You may return to your posts," Bran told the men, waving them away, and as soon as they left—with one last glare at their backs, of course—Elizabeth prowled towards him, all hips and legs. "Elizabeth."
Her lips stretched in a wide smile. "Your Majesty, it's been so long." She lifted her hand and made to touch his chest but Bran saw the move coming and quickly took a step back, putting space between them. 
Her smile faltered a bit, but in classic Elizabeth fashion, it was back up like it had never left in the first place, except that this time, it looked a bit forced.
Bran clasped his hands behind his back. "You show up to a king's castle unannounced and you don't expect the guards to stop you from coming in?"
A brow quirked up at that. "It is not my first visit to the castle and not once have your men stopped me from entering."
She pushed her hair behind her ears, something that Maria did a lot. But on Elizabeth, it appeared fake. Forced. Unnecessary. Maybe even annoying. 
Shocking, because it had never annoyed Bran before. But had she ever done it? If she had, Bran couldn't remember.
"All those times, you were invited," he told her, giving her a pointed look that said 'what the hell are you doing here?' "This time however, you were not."
Her smile crumbled under the weight of her insecurities and Bran was positive he saw a hint of fear creep into her brown orbs. "You said you were going to send for me while you were at your friend's house. Imagine how devastated I was when I learnt that you had already returned to your castle." She took a step closer and her scent wafted to Bran's nostrils. It was strong. Too strong. Nothing like Maria's soft, welcoming scent that made him think of all the bright things. "I thought that I should visit you. Surprise you."
Bran cocked his head at that. When had Elizabeth ever decided to surprise him? 
She usually always remained scarce until he requested for her. True to her words, she had been here several times before but Bran had always requested for her. Never once had she decided to surprise him, and Bran couldn't help but think that it was odd.