Page 7 of Nanny for the Alien Prince (Alien Recruitment Agency #4)

7

AMELIA

A picnic? Nath wanted to take us on a picnic?

I tried to reconcile the image of Nath dressed all in black, his cloak wrapped tightly about him, seeming to float rather than walk wherever he went, his hypnotic eyes demanding attention and obedience, his black lips made for whispering dark thoughts into your ear…

…and the picture-perfect icon of a picnic on a sunny hillside somewhere in the country, birds chasing each other through the air, a small picnic hamper on a tartan blanket spread across a leafy hillside.

For some reason, the two didn’t want to merge.

I wonder why…

And the surprises didn’t end there. I was shocked when Nath showed how proficient he was at dancing, how easily he accepted the challenge and forced me every step of the way.

Of course, I knew he was holding back. There was no way a creature of his size and weight and strength could not overpower someone as relatively small as me, but his movements were every bit as graceful as even the dance teacher’s .

I wondered then why he hadn’t been the one to teach me how to dance before the answer slammed into my mind:

Why would you want to educate someone who quite obviously hated you?

And I had hated him, hated him with a passion. For putting Elijax’s life on the line, for making him do something he was just not ready to do.

For all of his strength from the Ulsen half of his genes, the other half of him was still human, and that part was simply not built for this world.

I was shocked even more when I learned he had spoken calmly, quietly — even gently! — with Elijax about his weaknesses and how to overcome them. When Elijax told me that, I had to pull a double take and make sure we were both talking about the same vampire-like monster.

We were.

I did not accept Nath’s invitation straight away. I hesitated about leaving the safety of the palace and trudging out into the wilderness with Nath, but who was I to turn down the invitation of the crown prince of the Ulsen?

And so, the moment the sun began to rise the following morning, we headed out.

We gathered early for breakfast as we had a long day ahead. I took the liberty of piling up as many pastries as I could beneath the watchful, and somewhat confused, eye of Nath.

I shrugged. “In case I get peckish.”

Or in case you insist on eating a creature that you hunt during our picnic trip.

When we climbed into the royal shuttle, I noticed he didn’t bring a picnic hamper with him. I assumed he must have put it away in one of the shuttle’s many cabinets.

The day was, as I expected, beautiful and sunny. If it wasn’t for the fact we were flying over the tree canopy, I could have convinced myself that this was a regular picnic in a regular town somewhere back on Earth.

I sat in the copilot seat beside Nath, who handled the aircraft controls like he had been born to them. I suppose, in a way, he had been. No doubt flying a shuttle like this was every bit as common as driving cars had been back in my day.

I looked out of the window, felt the sun on my face, and shut my eyes.

When I’d raised Elijax by myself, I never had much time for myself to reflect, relax, and unwind. I remember one day taking a shower and seeing a hair on my shoulder that was four inches long — four inches! I didn’t even know that was possible!

I checked every other part of my body but it seemed to be a lone renegade. But how long had it been there to have grown four inches? And for me not to have seen it before now?

Now I had more free time than I knew what to do with.

At first, I felt uneasy about how I should be spending my time. I should have been doing something else, something productive. I should have been at Elijax’s side…

But each time I went to see him, he was fully engaged in his classes, taking to his tutors and his lessons like a fish to water.

I supposed a flower born in the desert could still learn to flourish there.

I scratched my neck where the hairs stood up on end. I felt eyes on me. But when I turned back to Nath, I found he wasn’t looking at me. Or if he had, he’d snapped his eyes away at the last moment.

I was just imagining things .

Like the lingering looks he gave me over dinner…

Or the lingering touch of his hand whenever we danced…

I could feel it there now, on my arm, on my neck, the commanding, dominating feel of him on my body…

And I immediately shook my head. I felt those eyes on me once again and snapped my eyes over at Nath again. This time, he was just a little too slow, giving me just enough time to see him checking me out.

So, I hadn’t imagined it after all…

I looked out the window and couldn’t help but smile.

We sat down on a tall hill of wayward grass. Except for the fact it was bright red, it otherwise looked exactly like my imagined scene of a perfect picnic.

Nath stood out like a sore thumb. With his black and white tones, he looked like he should have exploded into a ball of fire the moment he entered the sunlight.

I stepped off the shuttle and was greeted with a brisk rustle of wind that wound through my hair.

Elijax came running out with a toy rocket ship Nath had given him.

Nath stood behind me, big, dominating.

Intimidating…

I stepped off the shuttle and felt the tall grass whisper against my legs. Then I noticed something was missing.

“What about the hamper? Do you need a hand with it?”

Of course he didn’t. I was just being polite. He had more muscles than he knew what to do with.

“Hamper?” he said with a frown. “I did not bring a hamper.”

I knew it …

The blood drained from my face. He was going to hunt down our meal! He was going to gut it in front of me and force me to drink the blood!

I knew it!

Boy, was I glad I had my pastries safely tucked up and locked away in the shuttle. At least Elijax and I wouldn’t starve!

Although I knew full well Elijax would enjoy his share of the bloody, grisly meal.

We ascended the hill and I turned around as I covered the last few yards, looking back at the scene. It took my breath away. Stretched out before us, riding over the endless hills, were the fuzzy forests that decorated the landscape like buzz cuts. The strange wing-like branches reminded me of scales on a lizard’s back…

Or the scales on Nath’s face…

I tried not to think about it and shifted my attention elsewhere.

“It’s beautiful here,” I said, trying to ignore the giant mountain sticking out like a sore thumb in the distance. I would have recognized it anywhere: as the sacred home of the Shriim Nath had taken us to just two days earlier.

I pretended it wasn’t there.

“We have a saying among our people,” Nath said, “that so long as P’tora breathes the Ulsen air, we shall always know peace.”

“This place means that much to your people?”

“It is the heart of our empire,” he said simply. “This is but a thumbnail of its full scale and magnificence. Every Ulsen is required to make a pilgrimage here at some point during their lives.”

“Required?”

Nath shrugged. “So long as they have the means, of course. The Royal family often donate the use of their shuttles to those without the means to get here by themselves. There’s nothing quite like seeing it with your own eyes. On the other side of the planet are the temples, museums, statues… everything to remind us of who we are and what we have achieved during our long reign.”

“I would like to see it one day.”

Nath turned to me. He moved up so close I could feel the coolness of his scales coming off him like heat off a fire. “Then I shall take you there. One day.”

The way he said ‘one day’ made me feel like it wouldn’t be many days from now.

It felt strangely intimate, him being so close like that. I could reach out and touch him any time I liked… and maybe, just maybe, I might do it right now…

Then Elijax came running past us, making rushing noises as he flew his rocket.

My eyes followed him, bringing me around to the other side of the hill. At the bottom of which, sheltered beneath several giant gazebo-like structures that had been fashioned by lashing down several of the nearby plate-like tree leaves, was a small gathering of Ulsen that I recognized as Nath’s palace servants.

They hurried to and fro, collecting items from the back of their shuttles they must have ridden to get here. They hastily set up tables, carrying over food. The Chef — who was the biggest Ulsen I had ever seen — waved a wooden spoon about the size of a human shovel back and forth, berating the workers and issuing orders like a desperate general in the heat of battle.

“Oh,” was all I could manage to say.

“So you can see,” Nath said, reading my mind, “you didn’t need to bring your pastries after all. ”

“I suppose not.”

My image of the idyllic picnic popped like a balloon. This was a far more regal, sophisticated picnic — and I wasn’t even sure I could use the word picnic to describe it .

Nath took me by the hand and led me down the hillside.

We spent the day working up an appetite.

First, Nath took me to his favorite lake, where we swam and cooled ourselves beneath the hot twin suns.

I couldn’t help but stare at Nath’s firm and muscular body as he removed the black cloak that seemed to be a mainstay of his outfit.

As he sank into the water, the water dribbled over his muscles like cool condensation on the outside of a hot glass.

The way the droplets slid between his muscles was almost indecent to watch.

Almost.

A rare smile curled one corner of his lips as he approached me, his fangs fully extended over his lips.

I was aware once again of his immense size as he placed a hand on my hip and took my other hand in his.

I looked up at him, confused about what he was doing.

Don’t stop.

“One of the best ways to practice dance moves is in water,” he explained.

Elijax was nearby, splashing wildly in the water, swimming rings around us. If anything happened to him, we would be right here, ready to give him a lending hand.

Having Nath so close, looking down at me, made me feel shy. I lowered my eyes .

He lifted my chin with a finger. “Make eye contact at all times.”

Easier said than done…

I had been alone for so long that it was difficult for me to share this moment with him. It wasn’t like I had thousands of servants I could tell what to do every day. For years it had been just me and Elijax, and now to find myself here, in his presence, surrounded by his army of servants…

But there was no one else.

We were alone.

Just him and me and Elijax.

I nodded, and handed control over to him, letting him lead.

He began to move, and as he did, he taught me some valuable lessons:

“I’ve noticed that when you perform the front kick, you lean backwards first before snapping out your leg.”

He bent down under the water, grabbed my ankle, and lifted it above the surface. He ran his palms over my skin and I felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the brisk wind.

“You want to avoid doing this,” he said. “It will knock you off your balance and make you too much of an easy target if someone wanted to retaliate.”

I nodded and watched him perform the move. Then I duplicated it.

He nodded. “Very good. Again.”

We took turns performing the kick over and over again so we could see each other from different angles.

And what angles!

He was hard and toned in every part of his body. I’d never seen him exercise but he must do it with religious consistency .

“Are you sure you should be showing me this?” I said.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked. “It is your passion, is it not?”

I nodded. “But aren’t you afraid that next time I might beat you?”

The smallest smile spread across his face and the glimmer of light that shone in his golden-purple eyes made me feel weak in my knees.

“If teaching you how to improve a few moves allows you to beat me, then you deserve to win. And then it will be you teaching me.”

He took his hands off of me and I immediately missed them. I wanted to ask him to show me the kick again but he’d already moved on.

This time, he stood behind me, his hands on my waist. I felt the strength in his arms and chest, the press of his hips against me, and his…

Oh, my.

I colored a sharp tone of red that flushed my entire face. I was grateful we were exercising — it gave me the excuse I needed to explain it away.

He showed me one move after another, each deepening my understanding and appreciation for this Death Dance his people performed.

“Have you ever had to perform it live in the field?” I asked. “Before a battle?”

“Yes. Many times.”

I noticed a tightening around his eyes and mouth.

“What is it like? To actually use it in real life?”

“You discover how much the Ulsen empire really means to you. If it doesn’t mean much, you won’t attack your enemy with all the passion you possess within you. Likewise, if you love the Emperor, you attack with everything you have. Because nothing must ever be allowed to harm you or your people.”

“But your Emperor is also your father. Does that make any difference?”

He nodded. “It does. My father is a good and just man. And so, I fight to keep him on the throne as much as I do to protect the people.”

I tried to imagine what it must be like to grow up in the shadow of the Emperor himself, especially when you were never meant to take over from him. I had overheard some of Elijax’s tutors telling him about the intricate details of how the Royal family operated.

I couldn’t help but think of a small version of Nath going through such hardship.

As we climbed from the pool, servants were on hand to hand us our towels, robes, and an after-exercise drink to replace the energy we had expended.

I looked over at Nath and wondered how lonely he must’ve felt growing up.

He wasn’t the favorite of the family, nor the one everyone would turn to when their father passed away. He was a spare wheel. And now, to have to take up his older brother’s mantle and become the Ulsen Emperor that he never expected to become…

I wondered how difficult it must have been for him as a young child growing up in such a family.

I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face the wooded landscape on my right.

It was dense, the canopy doing a terrific job of blocking the majority of the sunlight from passing through to the woodland floor.

I spotted a squirrel-like creature with long rabbit-like ears. It seemed to tread on them more often than not .

And there, the peculiar, strange flapping wings that was a hallmark of all the animals and plant life on this planet.

Then I saw something else. Something somehow alien even to this alien landscape.

I blinked, staring closely at it. A shadow, concealed by darkness, pressed its back to a large tree. The dying sunlight barely managed to catch the skeletal outline of its body that seemed to consist predominantly of swells and bumps like an outer armor shell. It was big — much bigger than the native wildlife here.

And seemed to be looking directly at us.

I turned to Nath. “Can you see that?”

“See what?”

I pointed at the woodland. “That.”

He followed my pointing finger but now there was nothing there but empty space.

The creature I had seen — or at least thought I’d seen — was no longer there.

Had it been there at all? I wondered. Or had I imagined it?

Nath took my concern seriously and moved into the woodland to peer around the trees. When he turned back to me, he shrugged his shoulders.

My breath caught in my throat and, for a moment, I thought I was in a scene in a bad horror movie. Soon, the creature I had seen would suddenly leap out from behind a tree and attack him…

But he slowly meandered back toward us.

“Sometimes the light plays tricks on us,” Nath said comfortingly.

It should have been a comfort. But when I glanced back at the empty patch of woodland, suddenly so quiet and still, I got a horrible, deep grinding sensation in the pit of my stomach.

I was a stranger here and it was easy for a human mind to pick out shapes and objects that weren’t really there.

After all, we had evolved to fear the darkness and what might be in it.

I turned back to our picnic scene and tried to forget about the creature and the strange cold icy finger that ran up my spine.

The sun began to clip the top of the trees, casting strained leaf veins across our faces.

I placed a hand on my stomach. “I couldn’t eat another bite.”

Elijax did the same and let out a deep breath.

The meal had been a wild animal — of course — that the servants had caught and brought to us.

They had fully cooked part of it, in case I wanted to try it, and I surprised myself when I reached over and cut off a piece.

It was the first time I had eaten real meat in a decade. And when the flavor hit my tongue, I realized just what I had been missing.

“That’s so good!” I exclaimed.

“If you want to savor the full flavor, you’ll want to try it raw.”

Nath had a smile in his eyes, knowing I wouldn’t take him up on his offer.

I decided to accept his challenge head-on. I reached over, cut off a small piece, and angled it toward my mouth. It clamped shut so tight I couldn’t get the morsel between my lips, never mind my teeth. I had to focus on unwinding the muscles in my jaw before I could slip it into my mouth.

The moment it made contact with my tongue, I felt the explosion.

For ten years, I had been eating bland vegetables. The dressings I used did a valiant job of disguising the otherwise bitter taste but the explosion of flavor that ran the full length of my tongue and down my throat was unlike anything I had ever eaten before.

No wonder Elijax enjoyed it so much!

It was like the food was directly attached to the pleasure receptors in my brain. If scientists could hook up some kind of device to see it, it would have looked like a giant fireworks display.

I leaned back, disturbed at how my obstinacy had so easily been overturned.

Nath leaned forward and placed a hand on my arm. It too sent a shiver of pleasure through my body.

“It’s all right,” he said, misdiagnosing my sad body language for disappointment. “You never have to try again. I promise.”

“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s that I’m already full of dull and dreary vegetables and can’t eat more of this!”

Nath was silent a moment before he leaned back and barked a laugh so loud that it made the table shake. “My servants will keep it on ice for us. Trust me, there is no shortage of meat in these woodlands.”

A servant approached, leaned down, and whispered in Nath’s ear. Nath was about to wave him off and tell him to leave us alone when he caught a word that apparently had much weight.

“I’m very sorry,” he said, removing his serviette and dumping it on the table. “Something has… come up. ”

He shoved himself from the table and moved into a small side tent.

Elijax and I let the food go down before the desserts were brought out.

About twenty minutes later, Nath came out of the tent and joined us. His brow was drawn down, the wrinkles etched deep on his forehead — a million miles from how laid back he’d been before he’d disappeared into the tent.

“Something wrong?” I asked tentatively.

“Hm?”

He peered over at me, smiled distractedly, and squeezed my hand. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

He was distant, so I reached over and drew across a plate of what I thought might be his favorite desserts.

“I saved these for you,” I said. “If I didn’t, Elijax would have ended up eating them all.”

Nath shook his head. “Thank you. Not right now.”

I took his hand in mine and gently stroked his palm. Within seconds, he began to blink awake from wherever he’d been just a moment ago.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “The day has been ruined.”

“It’s not ruined. It’s been a wonderful day. Hasn’t it, Elijax?”

He nodded his head but his eyes drifted shut with sleep.

“See? The only time he ever falls asleep this early is after he’s had a really fun day.”

I smiled, and one corner of Nath’s lips curled upward in that pleasing way I liked. But it did not take over his face or touch his eyes.

“Is it something I can help with?” I said, nodding toward the tent he had disappeared inside earlier.

“No. It’s about the Ordres… Politics stuff. ”

“Well, I’m here if you ever need to discuss anything,” I offered. “Sometimes it’s useful just to talk things out.”

Nath gave me a searching look before a cloud of a thought passed in front of his eyes.

“Maybe you’re right. Sometimes dwelling on an issue over and over again in your mind only succeeds in making it a bigger problem than it really is. All right. Here is my issue. Yesterday, my father let me take responsibility in dealing with an Ordres situation. They attacked our colonies, killed our people—”

I nodded. “I remember.”

“Well, my first act was to tear up our past trade agreements. They’re in clear violation of the terms. I instantly put new tariffs on all their products and refused their attempts to contact us for renegotiation. They were a little… surprised by my actions.”

“I bet. But that was something you expected, right?”

He nodded. “But what we did not expect was for them to attack more of our colonies and take our valuable resources in exchange for the losses they will incur due to the tariffs.”

“Did they kill anyone?”

“Not yet. At least, that’s what the reports say. This time, they just attacked, stealing like common thieves.”

He ground his teeth and slammed his fist on the table.

Elijax mumbled in his sleep, but it showed how tired he was that he didn’t stir further.

“Sorry,” Nath said.

A servant approached and motioned toward Elijax. “Shall I put him to bed?”

“Yes, please.”

They carried him off toward one of the three tents they had set up for us earlier.

“Make sure to take off his shoes and socks. He sleeps better that way. And you can leave the clothes on. He won’t notice.”

As the servants carried him away, I turned back to Nath.

“You were saying? The Ordres attacked your colonies but did not kill anyone. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s progress, isn’t it?”

Nath blinked and looked up at me. “How is it progress?”

“They take you more seriously. Stealing is nowhere near as bad as killing. They’re afraid of how you might punish them next. So long as they only steal — and I guess your new tariffs will pay for what people lose — and they don’t kill your people, you’re making progress.”

“But they’re still attacking our colonies. I thought by withdrawing our trade with them, they would see why we had done so and stop their attacks. That would show us they could be trusted again. I didn’t expect it to be a permanent solution but at least one where there was mutual respect.”

I nodded. I had a sense his instincts were correct but how could I explain it to him?

The only way I know how…

“Sometimes, when Elijax was small and wanted something, I would tell him no. And when he doesn’t get his own way, he throws his toys out of the pram.”

“The Ordres are not children.”

“They are in a way. I don’t know much about this alien species or their culture or even how they might react to certain situations. But it seems like if they don’t get their own way, they argue and scream and shout, but ultimately, they’re empty threats. They’ve been getting their own way for so long that they don’t expect you to retaliate. And when you did, it was a shock. What you’re seeing now are just teething problems. They will stop. And when they do, you will be able to negotiate with them the way you’d hoped.”

Nath just stared at me. I wondered if my words were registering at all.

“So you’re saying this reaction is only temporary?” he said.

I took a sip of my wine. “As I said, I don’t know their culture. You should speak to your advisers but emotions are universal, aren’t they? Sure, we might react a little differently between our various species but at heart, on a very basic level, we are all the same.”

Nath just looked at me. Then a slow smile began to spread across his face. This time, his eyes twinkled more than his lips, forming cute crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

“You are a marvel, Amelia.”

A shiver ran through me. I couldn’t remember if he had used my name like that before, and even if he had, I had not felt the same reaction to it as I did right then.

“You’re right. Talking this through does help. My father used to do the same with my mother but I never fully understood the significance of that. Until now.”

He raised my hand and pressed his lips to it.

It was not a common Ulsen gesture, so I assumed he must have picked it up from somewhere — had he been studying human customs and traditions?

The Crown Prince of the Ulsen?

Surely not…

Then he ran his thumb over where he had kissed me, sending more shivers shimmering across the surface of my skin.

“Thank you,” he said softly. “For your wisdom, for my people… and for me.”

I was in trouble. I had fallen beneath the surface and found myself drowning. Only it wasn’t water I was swimming in but something else, something thicker that enveloped me inside and out and would not let go.

I gulped. “You… You’re welcome.”

That night, I watched and got ready for bed. I wore my best silk nightie that hid the majority of my shape, but hey, it was comfortable!

I applied cream to my face and hands and climbed into the large bed.

Before coming to my tent, I had checked on Elijax, who had his own tent. I heard him snoring, deep asleep.

I couldn’t help but run my hands through his soft feathery hair and kiss him on the cheek. He mumbled in his sleep but did not awaken.

It had been such a good day. No, scratch that. It had been an amazing day.

Not what I had expected when I first had to confront Nath.

Even now, I could recall looking up at his large portrait, glaring down from its ornate frame, promising darkness and redemption on anyone who should ever cross his path.

But he had turned out not to be so dark and mischievous as I had expected. Instead, there was a soft side in him, something attached to his family, his duty as the Crown Prince of the alien species empire.

There was no doubt in my mind I liked him a great deal. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, about the strength of his arms, the power of his back, the water that ran over his surprisingly toned physique…

And more than anything else, his haunting golden- purple eyes that sucked you in with a power greater than a swirling vortex.

I lay in bed tossing and turning, and found myself facing the tent wall where I knew Nath to be, enclosed within his own tent.

I threw myself over to the other side. Even though my body was facing in the opposite direction, my eyes remained fixed firmly toward Nath.

He was right there, easily within reach…

And I shook my head. He was the Crown Prince of the friggin’ Ulsen empire! What need did he have for me?

None. None whatsoever.

Sure, I had helped him with an issue he was having, but he had advisers who could have helped him the same.

No. I was the nanny. I was there to take care of his nephew, nothing more.

Our agreement was a business one, nothing more.

Nothing more.

Nothing more.

Nothing more.

But boy, did I want to get up and cross over into his tent… slip off my silk nightie… and slide under his bed sheets beside him…

What if I was wrong and he didn’t like me that way? What if he was only trying to boost my confidence? What if he was only trying to make me feel better about myself?

What if —

None of it mattered.

I would not be going over there. Not in a month of Sundays.

The relationship we shared had doubtless become warmer, and I did not want to risk that .

No. I would fall asleep and my cravings for him would disappear by morning.

And then reappear again tomorrow…

No! They would remain dormant, right where they were!

He had no use for me. And I would not become another one of his concubines. Although I had not seen any sign of them during the past few days, I’m sure he must have one or two knocking around somewhere…

Except, I knew there wouldn’t be.

Nath just wasn’t the type.

I took a deep breath to control my nerves. Just appreciate today.

Elijax had gotten to see what a real family looked like. He had seen how caring and thoughtful a father figure could be, a strong male role model he could base himself on.

He may not be his father, but half the fathers in the galaxy weren’t exactly role model material…

I didn’t know Wrenley’s lover, and I didn’t really want to. I’m sure they loved each other very much but to have a child and then leave it was not something I could ever bring myself to do.

Frankly, I was surprised my own sister could do such a thing.

I had a good working relationship with Nath.

Emphasis on working.

Not bonking.

We shared a mutual respect and I would not risk losing it just to state my own selfish desires.

Elijax deserved better than that.

I rolled over and got comfortable, feeling the coolness of the sheets on my skin, and let my tired and weary muscles relax into the cot .

I could already tell they would not be peaceful dreams. Nath would play a central role in them, performing the kind of deeds I had hoped he would perform on me if I had gone to his tent…

I heard a soft noise like the whistle of a hand over fabric. When I opened my eyes, I saw a figure standing at the entrance to my tent.

I instantly shot up and skidded back, fearful it was the insect-like creature I had seen earlier in the woodland.

But no. This figure was very different from that.

I relaxed when my eyes finally took in the details of the creature standing before me.

It was Nath. He raised his hands in surrender, a concerned expression painting his face.

He just looked at me, and I looked back.

My heart had not shifted gears and continued to stamp its hurried rhythm.

He didn’t speak, didn’t ask any questions.

Instead, he stepped toward me slowly. When I didn’t scream, it was all the encouragement he needed.

He reached for his robe and removed it. It slid down his body and fell into a puddle on the floor. Then drew the bed sheet up and slipped into the bed beside me.

I caught a single flash of his naked form before the sheet had covered him. If there was any doubt to his purpose there tonight, his raging hard-on put paid to it.

He stroked my cheek and kissed me on the shoulder.

I knew then that I was lost.

I turned my face toward him and pressed my lips to his. They were as soft as I expected them to be. I couldn’t help but run my tongue over his fangs.

I wasn’t sure if this was really happening or if it was just a dream. In either case, I didn’t want to wake up .

It felt real and that was enough.

I wanted this to happen. I needed it to happen.

He looked into my eyes and I fell into those deep golden-purple pits, knowing there was no way out.

I did not want a way out.

I wanted to be trapped by him.

And I fell into him.