I could still smell her.

The scent of her over-powering perfume that signalled the presence of a royal dancer when she entered my chamber, the scent of her hair that cascaded over my shoulders when she kissed me and the scent of her blood when it stained my sheets just after the carnal passion came to a permanent standstill.

Especially her blood. The smell, the remains of its splotches despite the sheets being cleaned and particularly, the memory of it. My memory was truly, stained, with the pouring of that night's blood from her stomach. I think the action was self-explanatory when I chose to not let it cover my body anymore.

Although, there was something from these reveries that stood out.

I couldn't even remember the smell of her lust.

Her naked body was spread out under me, beside me and above me. I should have been able to grasp the scent of desire emanating from her delicately positioned sex.

That is if it actually existed that night.

***

I wished my father had told me to fall in love and bring a queen for my coronation instead of telling me to find the meaning of love. I could have just claimed to have fallen in love with a suitable woman residing in the palace, capable of standing behind me while I took over the throne. It wouldn't have been named forgery if I had learnt to love my queen and formed at least a friendship healthy enough to produce offsprings that would continue our generation, and simultaneously maintain the peace within the lands of Yandestine.

It would have been perfect. At least, the different turn of things have given me the opportunity to ask questions and explore a particular matter to my heart's content.

I won't lie, I have always been curious about all things that exist. I perpetually wondered about everything, for instance, the sight of the palace, as to why it was adorned with jewels of true gold and diamonds, the shadows of its exterior sheltering all of our villages when instead, the money put into those decorations could have provided actual shelter to the poor, trying to make a living in the same villages.

I always questioned. I still did. I wondered if that was why I still wasn't finding any answers.

I entered the balcony in my chamber and rested my palms on the railing, breathing the waves of fresh air hugging me immediately. It was sort of a sanctuary for me, as the balcony faced the forest, it being lucky enough to get built in front of the many trees, witnessing the wonders of nature all the time.

I observed the trees standing sternly in the dark, just about allowing their leaves to sway in different directions, as if they were the mothers letting their children have a bit of fun for now before the rays of sunshine strike and bring them to silence.

It was as if a part of my thoughts materialized, as what I saw next, was what the Sun, the rays of sunshine, essentially contained.

Fire.

A beautiful trail of surely scorching fire, caught my attention in the obscurity of no light except itself, only making itself visible while nothing else could be seen accompanying the fire as it paraded between the trees.

I always trusted my instincts regardless of the situation, whether it lead to bad or good outcomes. And now, my instinct was telling me to go seek out the cause of the fire, unsurprisingly questioning the weird singularity of it.

Because this fire wasn't growing and causing more fire, failing to prove its main quality. It was there, all alone.

After dressing myself rapidly in the appropriate clothes for the cold night, I climbed down the pipe next to the balcony, not wanting to make the guards question my leaving and follow.

It might have been considered foolish for exiting the safe confinements of the palace during such an inappropriate hour, with only one dagger for any case of danger and without any assistance for protection. The decisions didn't make sense as I was the only male child of the King to take the throne after him, and I had already been attacked in my own chamber.

But, tonight, just for one solitary night, I didn't want to make sense of anything and be a reckless prince Aaliyah has always wanted me to be. I wanted to temporarily escape from wading through hours and hours of contemplation about the prospect of 'love' that mostly lead to confusion, disappointment and a miserable abyss of nothingness.

The sun, I suspected, probably hadn't even prepared for its awakening yet, as the forest was still comforted with the peacefully hibernating animals and a blank canvas of darkness.

I brought up the torch made of wood, hoping the fire from my torch would somehow call out to the other fire I saw earlier on, leading me to see the cause of it.

My hope appeared futile.

I tried to sharpen my ears for any sort of sound, the tweet of a bird or a hiss of a snake, absolutely anything to tell me that they had witnessed the same fire I had.

Nothing.

I may have suddenly craved for a night of recklessness, but it seems that the childish want was unrequited.

My prayers were answered.

Water.

All of a sudden, I heard a splash of water. As if something was dipping itself in it repeatedly.

I traced my footsteps towards the sound, my breathing precisely mirroring the moving whispers of my feet across the fallen leaves.

There was a response to my own breathing, as I neared the river, and it was a different rhythm of the same type of breaths.

It wasn't something as I had thought, it was someone.

The back of a body became visible from where I stood before a wet pair of large rocks engraved into the edge of the running river.

It was the back of a female body. That much was clear in the darkness, as the splendid curves partly resembling the shape of the waves filling the river, spoke for itself.

Apart from until the curvature of her hips, everything else had been concealed by the water while the lady unknowingly bathed, much to my disappointment.

But then, she stopped. The calming movements of her hands flouncing across her body as she blissfully invited droplets of water to bounce on her body everywhere, ceased.

The outlet of her breaths became more careful while she brought her hands up to shield what was probably her upper chest, although it was already hidden because I could only see her back.

She must have heard the sound of my breathing, too.

Before I could say anything to reveal my innocent intentions, that I wasn't here to do any harm, her whole body disappeared into the river, the swift dive straight down into the water taking me by my surprise.

I took quite a few steps back, to widen my view of the river, for I knew that if she had to leave these banks, she couldn't go without falling into my line of sight even in the darkness.

I hoped she didn't plan on holding her breath under the water until my departure.

Minutes of silence ensued.

That was when a hand greeted one of the rocks I was standing near before. Then another hand arrived to rest on other rock, both hands choosing to surrender their still stance at the top it, the gap between the two rocks leaving enough space for the shape of a face to appear.

I couldn't see much at all, except for her slight movements coming with her jagged breathing.

I attempted to move towards her but I was stopped when she shook her head no rapidly between the rocks, her body now mostly submerged in water, this time only giving away the outline of her face away from my distance.

That's when it sunk in. She was naked. That meant she wasn't wearing any clothes. Right.

I immediately proceeded to remove the long green cloak I had covered my own clothes with, but to that too, I received a negative response, where she shook her head no at a similar pace.

She slowly turned her head in a different direction, nearly scaring me as I thought she was going to disappear under the water again, but she was only trying to point me to something.

It was her clothes. She had left it in a place that was near the river but closer to me, which meant she couldn't have obtained it without completely revealing herself.

Gratitude flowed out of me to the heavens above, as the dark hour of the night meant that she couldn't have seen the blush that inevitably took over my cheeks, appearing every time without a miss.

I went towards her clothes, spotting the plain burgundy overall and a bronze towel, and stepped towards her again, carrying them in my hands with both carefully folded.

Understanding her silent refusal to receive them in her own hands, I placed the cloth and the towel on the rock, near her hands, controlling the temptation to touch her fingertips as I did that, while keeping my eyes anywhere but near where she was.

I retreated to my original position again, watching her fingers slide down with the clothes, disappearing behind the rocks.

My hope of her shaking my hand as her sign of gratitude to me kept augmenting. It meant I could get to know how her glistening soft skin felt against the shimmering moonlight.

The splashes of water once again returned, probably marking her exit out of the water.

Once again, my hope turned out to be futile.

Because when I ventured towards the rocks again, she wasn't there.

She wasn't there.

~~~~~~~~
Longest chapter. I couldn't stop, I really need to learn how to limit myself, ugh.

I probably used the words 'nothing' and 'dark' more than what's bearable, but blame the thesaurus.

I love you guys and stay blessed,
OceanaCamerons🌹🌹🌹