Personal nurse

"Have you ever seen a dragon before?" He asked, ignoring her.

"Yes," she replied coldly.

"Isn't it the most majestic creature ever?" he asked boyishly.

Levina ignored the question and instead turned her attention to a blue dragon in front of them, poised to take flight. She could remember the first time she saw a dragon two years ago, she had just come back from her training and joined the infirmary as a rookie nurse. The head nurse was giving her a tour of the premises alongside other nurses when the glorious creature flew over them, it had taken her a lot of willpower to stop herself from squealing in excitement. That is a day she would never forget in a hurry.

"Here take a sit," he tapped on the empty seat beside him.

"I was attending to a patient when you called, I was hoping for this meeting to be brief so that I can return to the infirmary."

Lucien gave her a weird look and then replaced it with a toothy smile, "Take a seat."

Levina hesitated, then she sat down, "How can I help you?"

"Soren was supposed to be here with me today, to keep me company, but he didn't show up." Lucien ignored her question.

Levina sighed, clearly frustrated by the prince's shenanigans, "What does that have to do with me?" She struggled to speak politely.

"That's why I called for you, to keep me company," Lucien replied smugly. He saw the anger flash in her eyes, she was struggling to maintain her cool, and he could see that.

"My lord," she began, forcing a small smile, "Unfortunately I will not be able to entertain you today. As I said, I have things to do at the infirmary."

"They wouldn't miss you, don't worry and besides there are other nurses to do the work."

Levina could see that it was pointless to try to reason with him, so she dropped the issue and fixed her gaze on the field stretched out before them. It wasn't every day she got to see dragons up close, so she might as well enjoy this.

Lucien stared at Levina for a while, even her stern look did nothing to dent her beauty. Her hair was packed neatly in a bun, and her full lashes did a poor job of hiding her eyes.

Her green eyes, he thought. Looking at them brought this feeling of nostalgia; a feeling that he had seen them before, from up close.

"What is your preferred element?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Sorry?" She asked, startled, she had been focused on a group of younger boys conjuring water that she had forgotten that the prince was still there.

"Your preferred element?" He repeated with a knowing smile.

He had caught her enjoying the practice. "Water. Water is calm and gentle and it's easily underestimated. But it is really powerful and can cause great destruction if provoked."

"That's one way to see it," Lucien shrugged.

"So are you a fire dragon or water?"

"Fire. The entire royal family are fire dragons."

"So there has never been a water dragon in your lineage?"

"None that I know of."

Levina nodded.

"Can a person have both?"

"I have heard stories of an extinct species of dragon," Lucien paused and straightened his back. "The Kraken, it's called. The Kraken is said to have both the water and fire element, they had dull green scales and were more powerful than regular dragons and more aggressive."

"What happened to them?" Levina asked, she leaned on her knee with her elbow.

"A war broke out between them and other dragons; and the other dragons, because they were more in number, killed all the Krakens."

"Wow," she muttered, looking at Lucien in awe.

He too had been surprised when his father told him the story years ago.

"Moving on," Lucien announced, the atmosphere was becoming a bit gloomy.

Levina reverted to her stern look, as though realizing that she wasn't supposed to be enjoying their conversation.

"I have great news for you," Lucien smiled mischievously.

"What is that?" she returned her gaze to the men training before them.

"You have been promoted!"

She eyed him suspiciously. What was he up to?

"You are to be my personal nurse from today. So you will be around me a lot." He made emphasis on the 'a lot'.

She stared back at him in shock, was this a joke of some sort? "What?" she jumped to her feet.

"We will be spending a lot of time together," he smiled even more.

"Only the royal physician can attend to the members of the royal family," she insisted. Her father would never agree to this arrangement, who knows he might even force her to leave Arvenia that very night.

"I choose who will attend to me and who wouldn't, and I choose you," he stared back at her, his smug smile never leaving his face.

"I will have to talk this through with…."

"There is no need to talk it through with Augustus. But if it means that much to you, I will talk to him about it." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"That will not be necessary." She could feel worry lines forming on her forehead. If only she could hide this from her father, but for how long? She would be spending more time at the castle, which would limit her visits to the infirmary. All she can do is tell her father and insist that he allow her to make her own decision. She turned away, wondering how to break the news to her father.

…

Augustus was arranging some medicine on the shelf when Levina came in. She had spent the entire afternoon with Lucien, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was a delightful person.

"Where have you been?" Augustus asked, he studied her expression for a while before returning to what he was doing.

"With Lucien. At the training ground," she plopped onto a bench.

Augustus back stiffened, "Why?"

"He wanted to talk to me about something," she eyed her father, she needed to find a way to break the news to him.

Augustus picked up a glass bottle and pretended to be reading the words on the label.

"I will be Lucien's private nurse starting tomorrow." Levina closed her eyes and awaited his response.

"What!" the glass bottle crashed to the ground and its content splattered all over the floor.

Levina braced herself.