Out Of Bound By Blood And Desire

SELENE 

"You look  so beautiful, my princess!"

"Thank you,  Amelia," I said with  a smile on my face,  drinking in the compliment.  

I stood in front of the large mirror in my room and did a twirl.  My personal maid, Amelia,  wasn't wrong with her compliment.  I did look beautiful and every time I attended a gala or a ball,  all hosted by my father,  people never failed to tell me how lovely I looked.  

But I didn't let all the praises get into my head anyway.  My beauty wasn't for all and sundry.  I was very careful about that. 

Because my beauty was for only one man,  and him alone.  And it was because of him that I was looking so ravishing.  We had planned to meet by our usual spot that morning and I really looked forward to it.  

Our relationship was already two years and still remained a secret between us.  Well, Amelia my maid,  also knew about it too.  And she usually helped most of the times too.  Especially when it came to sneaking me out of the palace so that I could meet with Prince Elias.  

Well,  we had met in a bookstore, odd of all the places that we could have met, and he seemed to know a lot about books that I even thought he owned the bookstore.  His mentality and experience and intelligence were so captivating to me,  that I felt myself falling for someone like him even before I decided to.  

That was the point where I realised that I had found my heartbeat.  I pulled him to a corner, away from prying eyes and told him that I could be sweet to him,  if only he'd return the gesture.  

He smiled at me, and said,  "Well,  who wouldn't be sweet to a beautiful princess like you?"

"That is not what I meant,"  I had said.  

"Oh, my angel," and he realized what I meant at that moment.

It was in that very bookstore we decided where we would be meeting.  We couldn't converge in the public bookstore so we picked out a fountain that nobody usually went to.  

Our romance started, both of us lost on the wings of Cupid.  And I decided that my heart belonged to Elias and I never wanted to be found on those wings.  

"Amelia,  I need to meet with Elias soon," I turned to my maid and said to her.  "Can you find a way for me to sneak out?" 

Amelia was my maid and my accomplice in playing truancy.  My father was a loving man,  but he hated the tiny notion of me having anything to do with  a man at my age.  I was twenty five years old and I wondered why he still protected me as if my life depended on it.  

Amelia stopped tugging at the part of my dress that brushed against  the floor and got to her feet.  "My lady,  I don't think that would be possible."

"And why is that?" I watched her from the large mirror.  She seemed uncomfortable  with my request that morning.  

"This morning, my lady,  there are guards everywhere.  I don't think it will be possible."

I turned to face her so that she'd see the urgency written on my face.  "Help me out here, Amelia.  I really need to see Elias, you know I do.  And if there's anyone who can find a way past those guards, it's you." And this was not a lie.  All the times she's helped me sneak out of the place,  not once have we been caught.  

She nodded and left. Amelia returned few moments later, hurried footsteps.  

"We'll go now, my princess, I've found a way out.  The King is in a meeting and there's no telling when he'll be out. Better hurry."

We headed for the fountain, and Amelia waited with me until Elias would show up.  

"Are you sure he'll be here,  my princess?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, I know that for certain."  

However, he was late.  Something which had never happened before.  Elias would always be there  to welcome me, his hands on my cheeks as his kiss took my breath away.  Then he would make those hands more useful by holding me close to his chest.  

"This is so unlike him," I complained, pacing back and forth, unable to calm my anxiousness.  I pinched at my hand gloves. 

A spell later and I began to get even more restless.  

"We would have to leave, my princess," Amelia announced softly.   "We can't risk the King finding out about this."

She was right.  We had to go.  It was the first time something like that happened. And I felt very disappointed. 

I pushed the door open that there was my father.  Seated on my bed,  waiting for me.  My heartbeat went up a few notches and I exhaled.  

"Oh, father.  You very much startled me."

"Where have you been,  daughter?" my father asked,  his voice calm but carried the weight of strictness.  

How long had he been sitting there and waiting  for me? 

I didn't open my mouth immediately to say anything because if I did,  I would find myself stuttering and my father would know that I was about to tell a lie. 

I didn't have to lie to my father but telling him that I had actually gone to see a man,  the very thing he'd been protecting me from,  would be a total disaster.  

For my sake, Elias and that of Amelia, I had to tell a lie.

"I went to see the seamstress with Amelia, father."

"The seamstress?  What for?" he wanted to know.  

"My dress. I wanted it... adjusted."

"In that case,  you should prepare your things then.  Gather your dresses. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn,  we leave for festivities."

"What festivities, father?"

"The prince of Valenhart, the eldest son, Ace Draven will be made crown prince come tomorrow."

Oh, so that was the reason why Elias hasn't shown  up.  Ace was his brother.  

"Oh,  that sounds lovely father."

"Well deserved.  And as my daughter, you shall be engaged to him."

The slam of my heart against my chest when I walked in to find my father waiting for me was nothing  compared to the one that met his declaration.  

"What did you say, father?"