Chapter 28 - I Only Kissed You Because...

Many answers to his question flowed through Eleanor's mind. Answers that she was not happy to have thought up.

"What I see in him is none of your concern. You should be concerned with the fact that he is better than you in every way. Personality, looks, and skill-wise. There is no way that you can outdo him."

The Prince's face twitched. "You should not say those things to me."

Eleanor scoffed. "Why not. It's not like I have any respect for you. Someone who is so desperate for the money and power of others even when you have the most out of all of us. Instead of drooling over what my family has, you should focus on the people of this country who are starving and dying because of your family's negligence."

Eleanor did not give Arthur time to respond, and she walked right past him. Although she did not want to be near Rowan, it was still better than being with the Prince.

She found him alone, in the tunnel, leaning against the wall and staring out into the arena. The spectators were filing out of the arena, the area becoming quieter by the second.

If Rowan heard her approaching, he didn't show it, and stayed against the wall, even when she stood next to him. "Are you hurt?"

Rowan finally looked at her, angling his head down at her. "I'm not."

"Good." Eleanor let out a silent breath. The awkwardness in the air made her fidgety. She didn't know what to say. How were they supposed to move on from the kiss? Or was she just to pretend like it never happened?

"Did your parents call for me?" he asked after a couple of seconds.

"They did." Eleanor nodded and stepped away when he moved off of the wall.

"Well then let's go."

"Let's."

Her parents took them out to celebrate Rowan's win. A private room in some fancy restaurant a couple of blocks away from the arena. After living with Rowan for so long, she definitely did appreciate the change of food and used that as an excuse not to look or talk to Rowan. Her parents were doing very well at that.

"Your fighting today was excellent. Did you really learn how to fight that well from being a gladiator?" Caine asked him, delicately cutting a piece of steak on his plate.

"Well it did take a while to learn, but since I was a child, I would say I picked it up quickly because of that. I had to learn how to fight to help my family so that's what I did." Rowan spoke carefully.

"Eleanor had mentioned something about that before when you two first talked. I guess you opened up to her about that quickly." Kathrine said.

Eleanor had forgotten about that. She just took the information her maids told her and ran with that. Rowan still can't be upset about that, right?

Not being able to stop herself, Eleanor looked over at Rowan to see his face. He was locked in on her, his expression almost smoldering. If he continued to do that then Eleanor was sure that she would melt into her seat. His expression was nowhere near the annoyance or anger she thought that she would have seen. But after all that they have done, would he still have held onto that? It seemed like he didn't.

"I did. She seemed like a good listener." Rowan responded, not breaking their eye contact.

Eleanor's stomach did a somersault and she had to look away. He was going to devour her at this point.

"Yes... I'm glad that you felt that way." Kathrine said slowly.

It was obvious that her parents knew that there was something going on there. It seemed that one second there was tension between them and then it was awkward again. For the rest of the meal, they didn't speak to each other and only shared a few passing glances that seemed to end quicker than the last.

When they were going back to their carriages after the meal, her mother finally decided to ask her.

"Are you finally done fighting against Rowan?"

The way she worded it made it seem like he was forcing himself onto her. Even if in the beginning, it did feel like that.

"The kiss was nothing. Just a kiss. It's not a big deal, mother." Eleanor looked at Rowan who was walking ahead of them.

"Has it happened before?"

Eleanor groaned, her face flushing, "No this has not happened before."

Kathrine hummed. "And yet you kissed him back as if it wasn't."

"This is the end of the conversation." She walked away, squirming.

"Eleanor-"

"The end, mother."

The last thing she needed was to discuss it with Kathrine. That was beyond weird. Eleanor would prefer if no one ever mentioned the kiss and the world moved on as if it never happened. That would have been what had happened, but Rowan had to mention it when they got home.

"Eleanor," he called her, just as she was about to climb the stairs. He had stopped in the main area.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around. "What is it?"

"I hope that you aren't too angry with me." he started. "I only kissed you because I wanted to get on the Prince's nerves. Get him angry and make him lose his focus."

Eleanor figured that much, she just didn't want to admit it. But it didn't bother her any less. "I know, that's why I kissed you back. Your plan seemed to work. But you would have won regardless."

Rowan offered her a small smile. "I thought that if I told you before then you would not have wanted to do it. I didn't mean to force myself on you like that."

"I kissed you back because I understood why you did it. Even if it was sudden."

"Then you're not angry."

Eleanor was far from angry. She wished she could be. It would have been easier. "I'm not angry, Rowan."

"Good," He exhaled.

The two of them stood in the main area looking at each other. Even after addressing it, things would not magically go back to the way they were. Why did he have to kiss her? Why did he have to confuse her and have her thinking all of these thoughts? Why did she want to kiss him again?