Regrets are for Tomorrow

"WHAT DO you mean?" Temari was genuinely confused.

Rhys narrowed his eyes as if figuring out if she was just acting or not. She was the latter. She has been confused since the moment he approached her and caged her against the door.

Without cutting their eye contact, he answered, "I am the Crown Prince. The future king of Mowsland. I am most vulnerable when I sleep. The moment I was formally announced as the crown prince, the royal oracle made an enchantment to protect me and my sleeping quarters. No one can see my room and enter it without my permission. Yet you got inside."

Temari's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She remembered how hard it was for her to get into the door of his room even though it looked like just a meter away from her. She remembered the heaviness she felt as if an invisible force was pushing her away. This place was enchanted.

She knew about magic. She didn't know how to weave it and she never encountered an oracle or an enchantress. But stories of magic and special powers have been part of the daily conversations in Blackgrove Tavern and even in the streets and in the market. The people of Mowsland know that it exists but only a few were blessed with the power or the opportunity to experience it first-hand.

Temari didn't know she will encounter magic inside the castle. But well, she never thought she will be this close to the Crown Prince. Though, not for good reasons.

"The fact that you got inside and that you are lurking on places you shouldn't be in is a problem, my lady. You might be an assassin trying to fit in with the other guests. If you intend to kill me, you will be disappointed."

Temari blinked rapidly. "Assassin? I am not an assassin!" She shivered just thinking about it. Of course, she knew assassins exist too. Zak told her those people have sold their souls to evil fairies that live in the deepest and darkest waters of Mowsland and that she must avoid them at all cost.

Then she remembered the cloaked stranger she was chasing that led her to this place. She gasped and her gaze met Rhys' forest green eyes. "Does it happen a lot? Assassins trying to harm you?"

The Crown Prince arched his brows as if he didn't expect that question from Temari. "It is part of my life, my lady."

"And they try to enter the castle and do it here?"

He stared at her. "For someone claiming to be innocent and harmless, you have many questions. Maybe I should call my royal guard and let him handle you."

"No! It was just that…" Temari hesitated. Should she tell him about what happened tonight or not? But if she doesn't give him even one truth, he might really call a royal guard. She can't afford to be thrown out of the castle without finding the royal heirloom.

She took a deep breath and slowly moved so she was standing properly with her back still pressed on the door. She looked at his eyes and said, "I admit that I went out of my room and walked the hallway. I saw an empty room and it was open so I got inside out of curiosity –"

"No unused rooms in this castle are open, my lady."

"That one was open," she lied. "That's not the important part. What you should know was that while I was inside the room, another person entered. I don't know if it was a he or a she because that person was wearing a cloak."

Temari knew based on the slight tensing of his body that her statement got the attention of the Crown Prince. She continued to recount what happened. "When that cloaked person noticed that I was in that room too, they ran away. So I run after that person and –"

"You ran after that person?" Rhys repeated in a chilling tone that made her shiver.

Temari looked at his face. "Yes. The stranger was too fast though and I just couldn't keep up no matter what I do –"

"And if that person has a weapon?" Rhys cut her sentence short again. "If that was really an assassin and instead of running away it decided to just kill you so not to leave a witness, what would you do?"

She blinked a few times before she was able to process his words. "I… didn't thought about that." If that was really the case, Temari believed that she could protect herself. Zak taught her how to fight since she was sixteen years old and she never stopped training.

Of course, she couldn't tell that to the Crown Prince. So she just swallowed and said, "And that didn't happen. That person just ran and when I turned in a corner I could no longer see that person. All I saw was an open window and the door to this room."

"You assumed that the cloaked stranger entered my sleeping quarters instead of jumping off the window," he supplied with a contemplative expression on his face.

"Well, the window was really high above the ground."

The Crown Prince continued to stare at her face for a few seconds before he said, "No one entered this room aside from you."

Temari frowned. "So that person really jumped off the window? But I didn't see even a shadow when I looked down at the ground."

He didn't answer her. Instead he finally took a few steps away from her. Temari's eyes widened when she saw that he pulled something that looks like a rope hanging on the table where the candle was burning. She realized he was ringing for someone.

"Are you still going to hand me over to a guard or someone?" Temari asked. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

The Crown Prince looked at her and said, "You need someone to accompany you back to your room, my lady. You don't expect me to do it, do you?"

Temari blinked. "Oh."

They remained standing far from each other. No one said a word. After a while, Temari jumped in surprise when someone knocked at the door. She took a few steps away when it opened. A huge man entered the room. He was wearing a royal guard uniform.