6 Chapter 5

Diana

The boy stared at the landscape attentively like an animal, hiding behind the shadows of the trees and shrubbery, ready to jump. There was only the faint sound of the bird wings fluttering and the leaves of the trees swaying to the sound of the wind creating a relaxing atmosphere.

He tensed the bow, in a position that would allow him to intercept his prey: a rabbit. Among the vast vegetation, Skay prepared to pull the arrow that would surely intercept it perfectly. He had been trained for it, never to fail. However, that time he would run out of rabbit meat for dinner.

"Boo!" I scared him, grabbing him by the shoulders and coming out from behind him.

The boy leapt a little before hearing my slight laughter.

"Diana..." he muttered pissed off, since the rabbit fled when he noticed his presence.

I did not erase the smile even when he looked at me with anger reflected in his face.

"What are you doing here?" Skay snapped at me, gruffly and with harshness in his voice, without even trying to disguise that my presence bothered him.

His tone of voice failed to vanish the good humor with which I had risen that day. I was not too worried about his lack of tact towards me, I knew that he would end up accepting me whether he liked it or not, because it was his duty.

"They told me to come and get you." I explained, turning serious.

"Why?" he asked me, still angry at having interrupted him.

"I do not know... but your father claims your presence, he has assured me that it is urgent." I answered and watched Skay get up instantly from the ground when he heard that his father needed him.

I could not help but stare at him for a moment. Skay was tall and wore a tank top that marked his biceps and made me imagine the musculature of his abdomen under the cloth. I also stopped in his eyes, brown, but kind of orange, which could not be warmer.

"Are you going to stay here or do you plan to accompany me?" Skay asked me when he saw that I had been paralyzed in front of him.

I nodded slowly, returning to the real world. Then, we both started running, side by side and although sometimes I had trouble keeping up with Skay, I did not hesitate to keep running to the city, despite the fact that my lungs were shouting an urgent rest. I had to be strong and I did not want to give Skay a weak image of myself.

My red hair was spinning with every skid we had to do to avoid the branches of the trees and my brown eyes were lurking in case we had some unforeseen danger. Skay was also aware of everything that was going on around him, but I was sure that his thoughts could only be on track for the reason her father had called him. What had happened? What was so important that he could not wait for his return?

Soon the upper parts of the houses became visible and in the distance, the palace in which we lived. The wall of magical essence extended all around the periphery, preventing any enemy from entering warm territory. We passed through it without any difficulty and entered the real city. We slowed down when we saw Kyle, the advisor to Skay's father and a faithful friend of the royal family. I couldn't help to smile for finally stopping.

"Miss Ginger." Kyle said referring to me "You better go back home, I'll take care of Skay."

I could not avoid to feel hurt to hear that, because I preferred to be next to Skay for when they told him that thing that immediately required his attention. It seemed that I, his fiancée, was not important enough for him at the most important moments.

I felt excluded and deep down I knew that no matter how much I tried to make Skay like me, I would never get him to fall in love with me. However, the only thing I did was to nod my head in the same way I always did, as they had taught me that since childhood. I had to be obedient.

Skay did not even give me a grateful look for having gone to warn him so quickly, but started to walk as fast as he could to the palace gates. I, on the other hand, did watch him until his figure had turned a corner and disappeared completely from my angle of vision.

***

Skay

"Around here, my lord." Kyle indicated without losing the forms once we were inside the palace.

We crossed the entire south wing and then climbed the white marble stairs that led to the second floor. I was so intrigued to meet my father that I could not even open my mouth to breathe. We entered a room. The walls were white and the huge windows through which the morning light entered were covered by thin curtains of crimson, almost transparent. Next, I glimpsed my father with my mother. I was relieved to see them both safe and sound, for I had feared the worst. The first thing that had crossed my mind was that my mother had suffered an enemy attack.

"Son." my dad muttered when he saw me.

"Yes, father? Did you wait for me?" I asked with respect and hiding my curiosity at the same time that I repositioned my shirt well so that they would not notice much of the race to come there.

My parents looked at each other for a few seconds and nodded impassively. Secrecy would end up driving me crazy.

"He better see it for himself" - my mother advised.

"You're right. Come, son." he finally said making a gesture with his hand to follow him.

I obeyed instantly, very surprised, since I still did not fully understand what that little scene was all about. But deep down I knew that my father would not have called me if it were not for something important and without a doubt, that motive had to be. I followed my father closely, even though I knew that the correct thing was to respect the regulations that said he should be at least a meter and a half away, as long as it was not required otherwise. But he did not flinch about it.

When we reached the end of the hall, my father stopped right in front of a room. It was a door like any other and I was very surprised that my father did not go to the cells instead of standing in front of a room similar to his own.

"Do not do any stupidity. Do not attack. Anyway, do not do anything. Understood?" the king snapped and it seemed like he was thinking twice if he let me in or not.

"Perfectly" I sentenced seriously, without being able to avoid feeling terribly intrigued with so much secrecy.

Then, my father opened the door of the room, which was not locked, he just had to push it gently to open it and I took a step into the room. Everything was in order except for the person who was sleeping in the bed. I could not see who he was at first, because he was on lying on its side, but I felt a chill when I saw her blond hair, almost white as snow. My eyes widened and I seriously thought about throwing myself on top of the monstrous creature to slash its neck with the first object I saw in my path.

I turned to look at my father, looking for a good explanation.

"Come closer, she will not hurt you." he told me and I could not believe what my ears were hearing.

However, I obeyed my father, because that is what I always did. I went to the bed and looked closely at the girl lying on it. The white sheets did not stand out almost with the pale tone of her skin and immediately I felt a sense of hatred when I saw her face and made me look away quickly, with repulsion. She was a cold, an enemy. How could she have entered warm territory? I gritted my teeth, but deep down I felt an immense curiosity for her, since my father had told me not to try to hurt her and it was hard to believe the situation I was in.

I went back to take a look and this time I did not look away, but I stared at the young woman attentively, afraid of losing any detail. I noticed the shape of her nose, small, her lips were pale but at the same time were fleshy and tempting, I also observed her eyebrows and I was surprised to see that despite being clear, they managed to distinguish themselves with the rest of her features.

I did not understand what she was doing there. Could she have decided to surrender? A thought flashed through my head: maybe she was different.

Without thinking, I directed my hand towards the cheek of the cold. I wanted to know if her touch was as freezing as they had confirmed me so many times. I looked toward the door, but my father had left. In that case, there was nothing to prevent me from touching the skin of the cold, I thought. I was tempted to put my hand away at the last moment, but I saw myself needing to touch her.

And then I felt her touch, so cold and warm at the same time, and I knew that nothing would be the same anymore.