Hashih

The Betrothed

History recorded a planet that was more pleasantly inhabitable before humanity’s greed overtook rational thinking and nations sought to destroy each other in a war that brought mighty civilizations to their knees. There used to be seven continents with its unique flora and fauna, vast lands and tall mountains, seas and oceans that harbored life, and islands like the one they were on. Fueled with the ever present hunger for power and dominance over its neighbors, nations rose against nations in a destructive display of supremacy through their advanced weaponry and military technologies. Unknowingly punishing the planet that was their home.

A century after it had ended, when the war was just words in recorded history, Luke would like to believe that Earth had somehow recovered from the undeserved punishment. It was meant to be a survivor like its human inhabitants. The island they were on, an unnamed patch of land sitting on the Tyrrhenian Sea, which he fondly called the donut, was a testimony that Earth was fighting for survival.

And so did Rhiane Black, who had stumbled more than once, pulling Luke down with her, only to struggle back to her feet and test the sand again. “You have no idea,” the prince muttered when she teased about him being desperate enough to have her as his companion for the afternoon. If he was either of the twins, he would have already followed that statement up with reasons why he wanted to fly away from the capital even for just a few hours. The pressure to perform under tight scrutiny of people within the royal court, his peers, his critics, and the world, who were waiting for the next big slip of New Rome’s heir. He was aware of how the kingdom had become during the reign of his mother. Not that Luke thought himself a better leader, or that he cared that the poverty rate had increased in the last two decades, but that it was the expectations that he would undo policies that slowed down the economy, build strategic relationships, bring investors back into the kingdom to open-up new job opportunities, suppress the rebellion, and above all, as Ms. Viscomi articulated much to his annoyance, be a relatable persona to the masses. His future wife was supposed to help with that through propagation of lies, he imagined.

The water lapped his toes, then his ankles, soaking his pants. It made him shiver a little, like his feet was being pierced by a thousand needles, and yet he thought it would be such a waste not to swim in the turquoise water. “I do have that reputation, don’t I?” He mused, looking proud rather than worried about the image he was projecting to the public. The queen would not approve, but she could do nothing about it. She should not expect her son to not have an outlet of sorts.

He craned his neck to the rock formation behind them. It was a semi-circle formation around a deeper body of water that made up the donut hole. He suspected that there were underground caves that connected the circular interior with the sea. A few trees lined the top of the cliff, but it was mostly rock. There was a way to climb without the aid of technology, but it might make the princess elect’s ankle worse. Inside was a hidden beach of sorts – deep enough for cliff diving on the side closest to the cliff and shallow on the other end. He said that they would not attempt cliff diving that afternoon, but well he changed his mind.

“Let’s see if you’re as brave as you say you are.” Luke tugged at her hand. He was leading them back to the hovercraft, which he planned to land on top of the cliff where he would dare her to jump. “We’ll take a ride up that rock formation.” He pointed at the not so distant plateau. “Then make the jump. You’ll find a hidden beach behind the semi-circle formation. I’ll climb back up after we’re done to pick up our transport and you wait at the other side of the island.” Luke stood at the driver’s door with one hand on the latch with a cheeky grin on his face. “It’s not too late to back out now princess. Just say, ‘Luke is the most awesome person I have ever met’ and we won’t need to mention to anybody that you chickened out.”

The Betrothed

“This is one of the places I go every time I need to relax,” he corrected, watching her face as one foot touched the ground then the other. Was she amazed, disappointed, or perhaps the experience was not entirely new to her? The princess elect’s reaction was not the reaction he envisioned, but there was nothing new to that. In their less than twenty-four hours of being acquainted, he had learned that Ms. Black was prone to reactions that was opposite of his expectations. Instead of exclamations and wide-eyed excitement, she was staring quietly at her feet asking questions. To which, his default answer would have been ‘It is none of your business,’ but instead the prince just shrugged. He did not want to spoil his afternoon by picking a fight with Rhiane, which he knew based on experience, was something she would not back down from.

“My sister nearly convinced me to tell her where I am disappearing to whenever they couldn’t find me,” he admitted, watching her sink her fingers into the white powdery sand. “I could have brought her here, except that I didn’t because then somebody would know where I go whenever I don’t want to be found. And if you knew Cally, you’ll know what I mean. I love that girl, but she is not good at keeping secrets from mother.” She would keep their secrets from everyone else, but not from the queen. The queen confirmed that the rumor about her son and Sophia Keller was true because of the princess. He clearly remembered opening his suite’s door to a crying Calista the night that she admitted that it was her who told the queen. Then again, it didn’t stop him from sharing most of his secrets to his sister. She was the only person in court that he could really trust. “Besides,” he added, turning his attention to the waves gently reaching up to the beach. Just its sound was enough to calm his head. “If even just one person spoke about this place to another person, even in confidence, there is a high probability that the news will reach the media. And if people knew where I fly off to during my free time, it will be an instant tourist destination, then I will have to look for another spot where I can brood in peace.”

Luke offered his arm to her. “Come on, let’s have a walk. Forget Godzilla. I’ll be your Prince Charming this afternoon, princess.” She might that it was a little more difficult to walk on sand than on solid ground, and her ankle might take more strain than it should. The doctor would certainly not approve, and Luke was definitely being selfish by asking too much of her given her condition. It might be the reason he was being nice to the farmer girl. “How did you know about Godzilla?”

He walked beside her slowly, patiently. The wind blew his hair away from his face, its smell was of salt and sea that he loved. Once he was ready to retire, he thought, he would build his home on that island. It would have the best view of the sunset and the kingdom he served all his life. He would sit on the beach and watch the sun on its final descent turning the sky into hues of yellow and orange, then slowly merging into purples and dark blue and gray, until finally the day would succumb to the night and stars would light the sky. Stars were more numerous in number away from the bright city lights. He looked forward to the day when he would once again be able to camp for a night away from the capital.

The sand was wet beneath their feet. Some of the granules clung to their toes. Luke led them on until the cold water touched their toes. It sent a jolt of awareness to his brain, a sensation he relished for a moment. “Was it modest of me to suggest that we should not go swimming naked?” He asked remembering her earlier comment when he recounted the reasons why they could not go cliff diving that afternoon. “You’d like that, won’t you?” Smirking, the crown prince turned to her face as the water retreated into the sea. “Don’t worry your pretty head, you will have the chance. That is one of the non-negotiables in this arrangement. But I’m in the mood for a swim if you are.”

The Betrothed

“Then I hope that you will enjoy the view as much as I do,” Luke boasted, glancing sideways at his passenger who seemed to find every bit of the capital amusing. It might be a new perspective that she was viewing New Florence from above like a mythological goddess, instead of a mortal craning her neck up at the skyscrapers yearning to reach the heavens. Everything was small and seemingly insignificant from a distance. As if the capital had found its equilibrium, a balance that allowed an invisible hand to guide the perfectly efficient mechanisms that made markets move. It was why he loved flying, even on a limited altitude that a hovercraft was allowed.

“But we will not go cliff diving today,” he continued. “For one, we don’t have any change of clothes. Second, I don’t think you have it in you to jump off that cliff.” It was at least twenty meters drop from the edge of the cliff to the water, then fifteen meters more to the sea bed. Rhiane didn’t seem the type who had a fear of heights, given that she kept looking out the window and to the city below them. She even bravely stared out the city view from his suite. However, the fear of the sea and its depth was a different issue all together. It was one thing to hear about the vast stretch of blue water, but another to experience its seemingly limitless reach. And for his passenger, it would be her first encounter with the gigantic body of water, therefore a crucial moment when she would decide whether she would fear it or not. “Maybe another time, when your ankle is healed, and when we find that you will not panic when your feet cannot touch the ground, we can make the jump, but not today.”

Nevertheless, Luke would not want her first impression of the sea to be unpleasant, else the princess elect might forever reject his request to come with him to the beach. The crown prince wouldn’t be able to bear with it. “As for swimming, it’s a necessary skill for survival. I might be able to find time to teach you, but,” His smile was lopsided, and he kept his eyes averted from her. “But I cannot assure you that I have the capability to be a patient instructor.” Luke remembered when he volunteered to teach Calista to swim and made her cry several times, almost pushed her to the brink of hating the water. She was just an adorably curious five-year-old then, and he was a know-it-all teen.

The craft followed a pre-programmed path. Slowly, the landscape changed from the city of skyscrapers and a few trees to a land of lush greenery and rolling hills. Probably the landscape that she was familiar with. There were residential buildings, low-rise commercial buildings and such that jutted out from the face of the earth, but nothing compared to the sprawling metropolis of New Florence. The presence of flying cars significantly diminished, traded by the rural dwellers for conventional four-wheeled vehicles, the much slower cousins of hovercrafts. The advantage for a lone flying vehicle was that he could accelerate without caring about either aerial traffic regulations or colliding with another hovercraft.

With its optimized speed, they reached the end of the main land in about forty-five minutes. Sooner than later, there were no more land beneath them. In its place was the calm blue sea off the coast of the kingdom. Not too far away from the main land was a spattering of green like freckles on the blue water, which was among the crown prince’s favorite places in the kingdom. It was his retreat, his sanctuary, where he would not be found by life’s stressors.

“There,” he pointed towards an island which looked like a donut, because it seemed to have a hole in the middle.

They landed on the beach far enough in the island so that the waves would not reach the hovercraft. The sand was pristine white and fine that it was a shame if he would not take off his boots and let his toes sink on its powdery texture. He did free himself from his boots before exiting the craft. The chill of the coming winter was already in the air, especially that afternoon. He grabbed his coat from where it rested on the backrest of the driver’s seat then draped it over his shoulder. After which, he walked to Rhiane’s side, unlatching her door, then offered, “Take-off your shoes.”

Spiritum - Reborn

“Cowards,” Kitty snorted as she passed a half-filled plastic cup to Lee.

Wisps of black hair escaped the short ponytail tied at the base of her skull, whipping around her face as she turned at an angle from Zimmy’s mobile phone and smiled. Was she taking a photo or a video? It didn’t matter, because the truck jerked as it ran over another pothole. “Cheers!” she cried merrily raising her cup to Lee but said cup didn’t get the chance to touch her lips before the truck jolted again and Setzer was swerving like a mad driver afraid to miss a pothole. He didn’t. The wheels screeched and traced a tight S on the high way before diving into a rather significantly deep rut that sent the passengers swearing and the bottles of beer clinking.

“We can’t do this,” she conceded, turning to Lee after only the first drink. “We can’t refill the cup faster than Setzer can find the next target.” Kitty had to give it to the man. When it came to finding dents or fissures or depressions on the road, he was an exceptional marksman. Possibly better than Gideon. Drinking from cups with equal amount of alcohol to avoid cheating just won’t work.

On her knees on the truck bed, with one hand on the window for support, she pulled the cooler’s lid open and grabbed a beer. When her hand came out of the container, so did a can with a white and red label. Printed on it was an outline of a big cat, possibly a tiger, and characters largely different from the alphabet used in Rassvet. The assortment of beers came with the latest shipment of goods from somewhere else in Yerin to be sold in several of her father’s establishments. If she was going to take over his business in the future, considering that she did not die in the front lines, Kitty would have to know about geography better and where in Yerin did her father import the alcohol from.

Pushing the thought aside, she assumed her place behind the cabin. Struggling for balance and with the wind on her hair, she opened the can and tipped it to both her room mates, then to Gideon, then her drinking buddy that afternoon, Lee. “To our driver and to the motherfucker who authorized his driver’s freaking license,” she grinned then passed the time consuming more and more of the intoxicating liquid with every bump and pothole, laughing and swearing, and losing track of time.

Until the truck finally pulled over under bright LED lights. The smell of gasoline lingered in the air even though there were no trace of recent use. Gasoline was made of the same stuff as that of what they were drinking, she thought. It should be, especially Lee’s vodka, because it tasted the same.

Barghest Squad seemed to share the same sentiment when the engine sputtered and died. Kitty stretched her legs and downed the last few gulps of the can she was holding, which was the can number whatever. “We did it,” she grinned brightly at Lee, feeling a silly. They didn’t necessarily follow the rules she set, but they did consume alcohol at a faster than average rate. Her eyelids felt heavy, but there was nothing a cold shower couldn’t fix.

---

A cold shower, an hour of sleep, and a whole lot of water was what it took to fix her. Thankfully it hadn’t yet come to the point where her drunken condition would require magical attention, and if it did, she trust that either Lori or Lee would do something. Almost a decade training together as a squad and they learned to entrust their lives to one another. She loved this crazy bunch, the family that she chose, and she didn’t even need to verbalize it. None of them did. Besides, it would be mighty awkward if she walked up to Galahad and told him she loved him. Kitty choked her laughter, which she hid with a fake cough, at the thought. The memory of Lee flirting with the amber-eyed WARDEN came to mind, but as far as she recalled, Galahad didn’t even blink.

That night, Katarina sat on a collapsible stool beside Lori. Both women were holding a bottle, though Kitty resorted to a bottle of water instead of beer. Her hair was still a bit wet from her recent trip to the shower meant to both help sober her up and wash away the dirt and grime from the day-long trip. She had left her jacket in the room and instead went to their makeshift fire pit wearing a plain crop top shirt, shorts, and an old pair of standard issue combat boots.

The chill of the edges of winter could still be felt through the occasional whispers of the breeze. But more chilling for her was the voice of the reporter announcing the news around Rassvet. Soon it would be them on the news, unnamed soldiers dubbed as “brave” fighting an enemy stronger in number and more experienced than themselves. Granted that they had the advantage of the mist, but looking around, she saw the children she grew up with – the best of their batch, but the least in the front lines in terms of experience. Genuine war experience mattered. How many of them would make it back after a year, two years, three years? She took a swig from her bottle, anticipating the accompanying bitterness and warmth, but then realized with disappointment that it was water and not beer.

It was Lori’s sudden pronouncement that snapped Kitty off her thoughts. If there was one thing that angered the otherwise gentle Astran, it was anything Vangar. They all knew her history. Kitty reached out and pat the other woman’s back as if to remind her that she was no longer alone in her quest to kill all Vangar soldiers on sight.

“Barghest Bagels, or Barghest Bags, or Barghest Bar and Grill,” Kitty added to Lori’s ideas of business names. “Oh! We already have a bouncer.” Grinning, she tipped her head to Setzer’s general direction. “I can pummel you all so hard that by the time you wake up the war would be over.” She puffed her chest and imitated his voice, intonation, and expression as best as she could, trying not to laugh as she did so.

The gambling ring was different though. It was fun, but more than the fun and the easy money that financed the squad’s over the top parties, it brought a semblance of normalcy in her life, kept her sane throughout the decade of training at the Citadel. It was supposed to be the squad's legacy, but too bad that it was over.

The Betrothed

There was satisfaction in watching her turn to the table, take the glass, and pop the pill into her mouth. Luke would not deny the feeling of fulfilment in winning a round of their battle of wills that afternoon. If she looked close enough, she would notice a subtle shift in the intensity of his stare, in the set of his jaw, and even in the stiffness of his posture, which could only be credited to relief. After all that was said, their little tug-of-war was over. Granting that she conceded, he was glad that Rhiane finally listened to the voice of reason – which was obviously his voice.

The victory was not enough to ease the discomfort brought by the throbbing pain on his head, but it did make him realize that Rhiane was not uncapable of seeing things his way. It took more than a request to get her to take a pill that promised to ease the pain and swelling of her ankle, but to Luke, the important thing was that she got out of her default go-against-the-prince mode. Ultimately, the first part of the mission for that afternoon was a success.

He gathered the coat and folded it on one arm as Rhiane was testing her weight against her feet. The medication would not take effect immediately, but she would gradually feel the effect. Taking it would not be her worst decision for the day. As she was making sure that her legs would not fail her for the second time, she talked about her mother and father and how they “loved each other deeply until the day she died”. There were other words that completed the sentence, but she lost him at that. His father loved his mother deeply until the day he died. The same could not be said about his mother, who remarried too soon. Prince Alessandro was said to look a lot like the late prince consort. He had his father’s height, build, cold eyes, and most of his facial features, that when he looked at the mirror he would often remember the man whose arms carried him when he was too tired to walk, whose voice that chased away his fears when he was afraid of the dark, whose discipline he carried all the way to that day. When he looked at the mirror he often wondered what kind of man he would have turned out to be if his father was still alive. Could he had been more like his father, a person capable of love, or would he still be the same person who would marry out of duty like his mother?

“A cat?” Luke pushed his thoughts aside as he phrased the question rather absently. There was no point in dwelling on thoughts of what could have been. All the power, wealth, and authority the royal family possessed would not be enough to bring back the dead.

He reached for her hand and put it on his arm before he started walking. “Tell me when it hurts so we can stop and rest.”

It didn’t take long for them to be back into the road in a much newer hovercraft, but not Luke’s. Instead of taking his own, the crown prince chose at random from the standard air crafts used by the escorts of the royal family. It was easier to gain clearance that way, also easier to lose any tails. The notifications of his communication band were switched on in case there was any move from the palace to go after him. Fortunately, there was none.

It would take a clear head to be able to maneuver the craft. His migraine would have made it difficult for him to do so. Good thing he was able to excuse himself from Rhiane on the way out of the suite. The pain medication prescribed by the doctor especially for him was in one of the drawers of the bathroom. His migraine was perhaps the most pressing issue when it came to his health. It had rendered him useless for a day in the past when the attack was not tended properly and the medication, though readily available, was neglected by him. Only select people knew about it, and it was honestly not a serious ailment. A vast number of population had it, but then again, any form of weakness was bad.

“You will be the first person that I’ll be bringing to the island with me. You’re not supposed to share it with anybody. Have you been to the sea?” he said as they glided through the sky. Luke was in a better mood, he could feel the pressure in his head easing away the same with the blurriness on his vision. “There’s this place where we can have an unobstructed view of the sunset. If you’re somehow a little daredevil, there’s a cliff where you can dive from. The waves shouldn’t be as strong this time of the year. It’s relatively safe to do cliff diving.”

The Betrothed

“You are very much welcome to try. I’m sure her majesty will be most pleased, princess,” Luke shot back with a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes and that lopsided smile, daring her to make true her threat. “And I’m certain that after your interview, you will be enjoying more of my company and less of your privacy. Not that I can say the same for myself.”

If there was anything that infuriated Luke more than waiting, it would be finding out that his direct order was absolutely and expressly ignored. Had she just been a good girl like he asked her to be, he could have backed down, explained his sarcasm, and perhaps even gently remind her of his advice not to belittle herself. But as Rhiane was telling him how she would reveal to the whole kingdom his request for her to call him by his title, his eyes found the untouched glass of water and the red and white capsule lying on the bedside table.

Luke’s eyes darted to her face. As if she read what was on his mind, she explained about how taking the medicine or obeying him was against his advice not to trust anybody in the castle. It was applaudable that she actually listened, except that she was using his words against him. Not many people had the courage to do so, especially not to his face. It both amused and irritated him that a low-born farmer, whose good fortune was thanks to the generosity of the crown, would be so foolhardy to test his patience and deny him his will to leave the suite.

“I didn’t ask you to trust me, only that you listen to the voice of reason,” he ground out. The prince found the edge of his desk. He leaned against it with his back to the sky. The brightness of the afternoon cast shadows on his features, making it sharper, his eyes bluer. He let the coat drape on the desk as he watched the future mother of his children declaring mutiny for the second time that day. “You are in pain, and it is a pain caused by me,” he admitted, not in a tone that was even near apologetic, but just a matter of fact. “I ought to at least make sure that you don’t suffer from it, thus the wheelchair and the pain medication. But if you insist, then be my guest.” Luke shrugged. “I’m sure you’re proud because you are used to pain and suffering from where you came from and you can’t wait to rub it off my face. So, let’s begin, shall we?”

He was about to push himself off the table when he felt it, a sharp jab of pain that shot from his left temple then followed by a consistent throbbing. There it was. Lack of sleep, constant stress, and the unusually frustrating woman sitting on his bed must have triggered the migraine. The telltale signs had been lingering for a while since they got back from the restaurant and he should have taken his own advice and took the precautionary medicine prescribed by the doctor. But it was the only pretense that he freely allowed himself to do – to pretend that he was fine – because the nobility did not take weakness too kindly. A simple case of migraine, no matter how infrequent, can be used to dramatize any shortcomings.

These things he would not be able to hide from Rhiane, he thought. With the implant in place, she would know more than the sanctuaries that hid the crown prince whenever the kingdom and his duties had beaten him up enough. If he was not careful, she would know his weaknesses and struggles. Therefore, with a slight frown on his face, he finally pushed himself off the edge of the table and walked to the side of the bed. “Let’s go. You have made it unpleasant enough for me as it is. If you want me to pretend in public that we are civil, then fine I will give you that. But you can’t ask of me, or even want me, to lie to you when we are in the privacy of my suite. I was not raised by my father to play with a woman’s emotions.” It was half-truth at best. The public was aware of his reputation as a heartthrob. The fingers in one’s hands would not be enough to count the number of hearts that Prince Alessandro broke since he was twelve years of age. But perhaps because of pity for the grim future that was waiting for Rhiane, or for something else he would not acknowledge entirely, he had decided that she was not among the ladies he would pass the time flirting with. He shook his head. “Not a woman like you.”

The Betrothed

Luke got to his feet and turned his back as soon as she stirred. The glass of water and the pain killers were still sitting quietly on his desk, patiently waiting to be picked-up and be useful. An hour or so of rest might have helped ease fatigue, but it was not enough to heal the damage done to her ankle. It was accurate to say that the pain would only get worse as she would definitely continue to put strain on the foot because he would be dragging her along with him somewhere where a wheelchair would be more of a liability than help. Besides, Luke was not planning to carry her for the rest of the day. Therefore, if he had to, the crown prince would force Rhiane to take the medication with any means possible.

The once cold glass of water had acclimatized with the room temperature leaving droplets of precipitate to form a ring on the smooth surface of the desk. He dispensed a pill from its container on one hand and held the glass of water on his other hand before facing the princess elect.

She was sitting on the bed still looking a bit sleepy. Perhaps if he did not wake her up, she would sleep until it was time for her to prepare for her interview. Her last question confirmed as much that the princess did not expect to be roused from sleep until it was time for her to face the press. Luke just shook his head. If he was at all remorseful of his decision to cut her rest time short, it did not show on his face. Maybe he didn’t even realize that, didn’t even consider that she could use more time to heal and be refreshed, because while they were linked together, her time and his were one and the same. Where he goes, she needed to be. And he needed that afternoon, for the sake of his sanity, to be away from the pressure of fulfilling expectations and public scrutiny.

So after she asked if it was time for her interview, he shook his head frowning. “It’s none of your business,” he articulated referring to the work that she was supposedly keeping him from. “And no, it’s too early in the afternoon for your interview, but it’s time for you to take your medicine, because you’re coming with me someplace nice and relaxing.” Or more appropriately, he cannot possibly leave the floor without her. He could attempt to call his mother and request to suspend the link for a few hours, but the queen would certainly not allow her son to fly into an island, though reportedly unmanned, away from the safety of the capital, and without his security detail. There was just one way to do it, and it was to bring Rhiane along with him.

Luke placed the water on the bedside table, then grabbed her hand, opened her fingers and deposited the pill into her palm. “Do yourself a favor, Rhiane, and be a good girl. This is meant to help you, not harm you.” He patted her cheek before turning to the direction of the walk-in closet, consciously using her first name as per her request. But he noted that the way she phrased her request to call her by her given name was self-derogatory and against his advice during lunch that she should stop belittling herself. Luke just couldn’t resist. He held on his tongue long enough to pick a black pea coat. When he emerged from the closet, the coat was slung over one shoulder. His stare was quietly inquiring about the pain meds.

“Oh and by the way,” the prince started. “You may continue to call me ‘your royal highness’ because a lowly peasant such as yourself doesn’t deserve to address your future king with less. That is just inappropriate, wouldn’t you think?” He cocked his head to the side. “Now, did you take the pill? Because we need to get going if we want to be back before the interview.”

The Betrothed

It was past three in the afternoon. Although the sun had sailed across the horizon and was hanging behind the crown prince like a single eyeball staring into the suite, it was not at all hot. The sunrays did penetrate the glass, but a special shutter filtered the heat and diffused the light so that it was neither dark nor too bright. It was a comfortable brightness for Luke, very conducive for work.

More than an hour had passed since the princess elect had fallen into the clutches of sleep rather unwillingly. If she had the chance, he thought, she would take an energy drink just so she could stay on her feet and count the possible ways she could make him mad. Therefore, it surprised him when she admitted that she was holding back her appetite to save them both from the misery of her having indigestion. It surprised him not because she had the self-control to hold back on a delicacy that she confessed was rarely available in the place where she grew up, but because despite her outward efforts to go against his will, she did consider him in her decision-making process. Maybe she thought that a miserable Luke was a more unbearably arrogant Luke, and she sought to save herself from that monster.

The crown prince paused from the text that he was reading. His eyes lifted from the screen and wandered on the figure in denim jacket lying on his bed. He deliberately left her to sleep on the sheets, without taking an effort to throw a blanket over her shoulder in case she was feeling cold. It was a gesture that could be misinterpreted by the farmer girl, and he would not have it. Their relationship was purely political. The prince was a little glad that she was not the princess elect he had been imagining, that her purpose was not to win his love, but to secure a fortune for her family. The fortune he could grant her, but his heart he could never give. After everything was said and done, Rhiane Black was a peasant girl who would sooner than later disappear from his life through an ‘accident’ much like what happened to his father. Whether he liked it or not, that was how his world operated. It would be easier if he did not have to be entangled with anybody outside his social class, because the reality was that to the people in power, those beneath them were dispensable.

Something she said as she was falling asleep bothered him. That it should have been her and not Edwin. It was then made clear that Edwin was a lost brother and not a lover. Pity that he too lost his blackmail material. Anyway, he wondered if her joining the contest and ultimately winning the title had something to do with a death wish due to a loss that until that moment she could not bring herself to accept. “He will never come back no matter how hard you torture yourself,” he had whispered to her with certainty as she was falling asleep and before he left the bed. It was the same with his father. The pain was present until that day. It never went away, he just learned to live with it.

Luke rested his head on his left palm, massaging his left temple. The review of the draft was finished, but he missed a meeting with the committee secretly formed by the queen to oversee the rebellion problem. There was an email containing the minutes, but he felt like he was going around in circles in his mind. He kept on trying to form a straight thought, but a part of his brain would circle back to the events that happened that morning and how he ended up with a farmer girl on his bed. Her presence was an unanticipated distraction for him that afternoon.

But perhaps what he needed was to relax a little, clear his mind, and get away from the capital. He knew of such a place, or places, where he would usually go alone when the royal life was getting the best of him and just be himself. The cool breeze of the coming winter would be welcome to touch his face and ruffle his hair. He could already hear the waves and taste the salt in the air. Luke turned the keyboard projected on the desk off and put the computer on stand-by again. While the queen was mad at him and his freedom was limited, he would have to bear with bringing somebody along with him to his special place. Normally, he wouldn’t even consider doing so, but there was no other option. Thus, he got to his feet and found his way to the bed.

Luke sat on the bed behind her and touched his hand on her shoulder. Sleeping time was over. “Ms. Black,” he said, gently shaking her. “Wake up we’re going somewhere.”

Spiritum - Reborn

Battle calloused hands wearing fingerless gloves welcomed the bottle of fine liquor with much enthusiasm. “Come to mama,” Kitty grinned, talking to the bottle. Her cheeks were flushed, but she would not admit to being tipsy.

The black-haired WARDEN chose to sit on the truck’s bed with Gideon and Zimmy. There was no bet, no contest, no nothing that had compelled her to take the position outside the relative shelter of the cabin. It was a choice she made based on a hunch that Gideon was about to finally break the sacred seal that had imprisoned the spirit of alcohol inside that royally expensive bottle. Fortunately, she was correct. Otherwise her battered bottom and chilled skin would have been for nothing. And so, to celebrate, Katarina touched the bottle to her lips then closed her eyes feeling the intimacy of the moment. She then took a swig and savored the smooth warmth that traced a line from her mouth down her stomach where it settled happily. When they got back from their road trip, she would have to ask her daddy to get her some of those, because who knows it might be the last request she would have the chance to ask.

“I’ll sleep with you anytime, anywhere, Morander.” She winked, passing the bottle as Lori made an offer that was too good Kitty regretted not opening the bidding herself.

Kitty sat on a cooler of imported beer she brought for the trip. Although she was getting drunk on someone else's drink, she did not go empty-handed, but she conceded that Gideon brought the finest they could ever have. Her back rested against the cabin and a gloved hand grasped the corners of the window to keep her from falling over. She could feel the bass drumming against her leather jacket as the guitar solo reached the end of a crescendo and the vocalist howled the notes into life. She could have sworn that the truck was dancing to the beat of the blaring music that Setzer so loved listening to and maybe, just maybe, he was doing it on purpose.

“So here’s what’s going to happen.” Blushing and all, her face was completely serious and there was no hint of slurring when she spoke, regarding both Gideon and Zimmy like their drill sergeant used to before laying down the objective for the day and the corresponding consequence should they fail. The WARDEN let go of the window and leaned forward with her elbows on her leggings-covered thighs, balancing herself so that she didn’t fall off the truck. “We have twenty more minutes before this is over. So, I propose we drink to celebrate Setzer’s driving skills and not falling off this bed.” Her hand rummaged through her pack and produced plastic cups while she raised her voice. “Anybody inside wants to join a drinking game? One shot every time Setzer drives over a pothole.” She shoved the cups to Gideon’s direction. It was his liquor anyway. “No retreat. No surrender. Quitters are losers.”

The Betrothed

Pain medications were humanity’s response to the alarm raised by the human body. Where pain was present, there was bound to be something wrong. Like the farmer girl’s twisted ankle, for instance. That her stubborn brain continuously insisted that she was fine even though she was not, was telling a lot about the lengths at which she would go to defy his wishes. The pain was there for a reason, and try as she might, she could not cover her limp up with gait.

While her green eyes feasted on the scenery that Luke woke up to every morning, the city viewed from a distance, her fiancé secured a glass of water. He took a mental note to review the floor plan of the suite to understand which areas within the suite would risk of going beyond their ten-meter radius. He carried the glass of water with him to the bedroom, following Rhiane as she was talking about him being a lizard and possibly taking him up on his sarcasm. He did not put it beyond her to really lie on the floor just to spite him. Their less than twenty-four-hour relationship was defined by each other’s competitive efforts to bring out the worst from the other person. Though perhaps it was not intentional.

Two adjacent sides of Luke’s bedroom were made of glass, the other two were solid wall that divided the space of the suite and defined his sleeping quarters. The design was also minimalist, consisting of only a couple of furniture and fixtures. On the right side of the room was a raised platform where a very spacious bed that could easily fit five people was stationed. On both its sides were floating bedside tables. Near the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, on the left side of the bed, was a desk scattered with papers where Luke’s tablet computer was on stand-by, supported by its kickstand. He crossed the room ahead of her and placed the glass of water and the pain medications on the desk before waking the computer up through the finger print scanner.

“Not just any lizard, Godzilla,” he smirked absently remembering a movie he saw as a child that made him interested in nuclear power generators. There was little chance that Rhiane have heard of the giant radioactive lizard that terrorized Japan, whose popularity traveled across the world to the United States. He would be impressed if she even had the slightest idea of what he was talking about.

Leaning with his weight resting on his hands against the edge of the desk, his attention was caught by a follow-up for his feedback on the draft submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture. That day was his self-imposed deadline and he meant to finish it after he had dealt with Ms. Black. Without lifting his head from the monitor, he told her, “I used to have a dog. His name was Seamus. He dislikes sleeping on the floor, so he used to sleep with me on the bed, near my feet.” Luke tore his attention from the monitor long enough to show her a lopsided grin. “If you insist on the pet --”

Luke’s words were caught in his throat as she faltered on her next step. Without letting his thoughts paralyze him, the crown prince crossed the room in quick strides and caught her arm before she planted her face on the floor. If her make-up artists skipped concealers beneath her eyes, he guessed it would have shown dark circles signaling fatigue. Her eyes were tired when he pulled her up against his chest and put his arm around her to steady them. It must be the combination of the discomfort on her ankle, the fatigue that had come from the rigorous testing weeks earlier, the lack of sleep, and her refusal to eat the food he ordered, that had finally taken a toll on her.

“Unbelievable. Your pride might be the only force keeping you on your feet right now. If you had eaten lunch, you might have had more kick in you. The pizza was decent.” He gathered her in his arms like he did at the restaurant. She was so light he didn’t have any trouble lifting her up and walking a significant distance at the restaurant. He brought her to the bed and carefully laid her down instead his original plan to just drop her above the mattress. The woman could barely keep her eyes open, but she was fighting against it. “Silly girl, just go to sleep and allow me to have some peace.” Luke was about to head back to his desk, but he seemed to remember something that made him sit on the bed beside her. “What was it that you have against the food that I ordered? Was it not something Edwin would have ordered for you?” Without thorough knowledge about either her past and her family, he assumed that the name she whispered in her sleep was a name of a former, or perhaps present, lover. It was highly likely so, seeing that she was dreaming of him.