Chapter 49: Affairs of The Heart

"Evolution is something that happens to all of us. Our experiences cause mutations in our way of thinking, and through those mutations, evolution is the end result. Evolution is not a man being bit by a wolf and becoming a Werewolf, evolution is a man spending his life amongst thousands of wolves, and becoming part of their pack. It is something in which affects all of us, be us conscious or not. And we rarely see the mutations, often it is only the evolved form we focus on. Evolution the change a man experiences as he grows through his experiences.

But this change...

Is not always for the best."

-The Dark Prince

Up on the hill Prince finished telling his story to Meri. Her eyes were red and worn, barely able to stay open from Prince's harrowing tale.

She reached out to him, trying to hug him, but without even facing her, Prince turned her away.

"I understand you now!" Meri said crying. "But I'm not like those other women! Let me be by your side! Let me be with you!"

"I'm sorry Meri" Prince said. "But there is already a woman that has that spot, she has given me all of herself, I cannot say the same for you."

"If its sex you want you can have me! You can have all of me!" Meri said. "We are the same! Lets get our houses back and rule this world together!" She cried.

"I'm sorry Meri" Prince said. "I like you, I find you very attractive, it's taking everything I am not to lie to you and just sleep with you anyway!" Prince said. "I can't"

"Why not! Lie to me! Do whatever you want I don't care! You're what I've been searching for all this time Prince! Your the only man who makes me feel like a woman! Not a girl! Not a tomboy! A woman!" Meri cried.

"As much as I'd like to do that… I just can't bring myself to do that" Prince said standing up. "That's not the kind of boy my mother raised." Prince said.

Without another word Prince left Meri alone on the hill crying by herself.

As Prince came down the hill Marlin and Jimmy came back holding each other in their arms laughing.

"Well you two are certainly getting along" Prince said softly.

Marlin stopped seeing Meri alone on the hill drenched in tears.

"What did I miss?" he asked

"Now's your chance" Prince said pressing his hand on Marlin shoulder "She won't be this vulnerable again"

Marlin ran up the hill finding Meri on the hill still devastated.

As the sun hit her tear stained face, Marlins heart burst into fire. All the emotions he had suddenly came to the surface.

"Marlin!" Meri said running to him. She wrapped her arms around him squeezing him tight.

As she embraced him, he felt the tips off her nipples rub against his chest.

"Dear lord.." Marlin thought

"I hate him!" Meri cried. "I hate him so much! How can he be so cold! How can he not know how I fell!" She cried.

"Meri… it's going to be ok, your in the arms of someone who knows how you feel." Marlin said

As he spoke his words purged Meri's heart. Here she was crying in the arms of the man who she had never reciprocated feelings for about a man who wouldn't reciprocate feelings for her! Suddenly she was overcome with a rush of shame. Reluctantly, she began to pull away from Marlin.

"I'm sorry Marlin… I shouldn't be-"

Marlin grabbed Meri again pulling him close to her.

"You will always be welcome in my arms" Marlin said.

"Marlin!" Meri said sobbing again. "Thank you! You really do care! I'm sorry about how I've treated you.

She looked up at him with her lips as ripe as fresh strawberries, waiting, and begging him to harvest them.

"No! I can't do this! She doesn't love me! She only hates Prince in this moment! Tomorrow she will regre-" Marlin thought

(Marlin remembered Prince's words)

"If you can't handle this woman, you really think you have a shot with Meri?" Prince chimed.

"We've got to work on your seduction skills," Prince said shaking his head.

"Marlin, do you want Meri, no do you want women to desire you? Or do you want Meri to stop desiring me? You can only pick one, the other you must live without.."

"I see" Marlin thought. "God if you exist and are listening, I've made this decision, I no longer want to be the love of Meri's life, the man she will always cry to, that position requires too much! Tonight I want to be the man that she desires! You were right Prince… This woman who cries over you to a man who she never even looked at! A man who would have treated her right! Tonight I will stop being that man! Tonight I will finally do something completely selfish… "

"Marlin.." Meri said.

Marlin kissed Meri as strongly and as passionately as he possibly could. As she wrapped his arms around him bringing him closer he felt a strength come over him, a hornyness he could not fathom or control.

He stripped off her clothes, tearing them to shreds as he ravished her body with kisses. And on that hill in the middle of day, in the warmth of the sun. Marlin took Meri's virginity.

"Hehheheh HEHAHAHAHAHAAH!" Pedro laughed.

"Your brilliant Prince! Everything you've done is calculated! I don't know how but somehow you saw potential in these four castaways and made them your followers! And now due to your leadership they are growing closer together and becoming even more fond of you! The way you set Meri up waa perfect! Marlin probably has his dick halfway down her throat now! He has no self control!"

"Pedro…" Prince said. "I wasn't acting"

"What!!!" Pedro said.

"Everything I said today… I meant… Everything else was fate" Prince said.

Laying in his bed Prince closed his eyes and began to rest.

"Believe it or not.. That was really hard for me… Even though I know this is the right course… it's hard telling that story to someone, and just leaving them with all that… There wasn't a single moment through that story… that I didn't want to cry into her arms… But I'm a Prince… I cannot do that, but Marlin… he can do as he pleases… and I have to deal with it."

"Do you have feelings for Meri Prince?" Pedro asked.

"Feelings for Meri?" Prince asked Pedro. "That's what you think this is about?"

"Well what else would this be about?" Pedro asked

"I just told my entire life story to a woman I care about… without batting an eye. If I wasn't emotional right now I wouldn't be a human!!"

Prince held his pillow over his face, and quietly muffled his screams. After a few minutes of struggling, he let go, falling into a deep sleep.

"Amazing," Pedro said. "He's so good at leading, he doesn't have to fake it… He really does care about his followers and he knows what is best for them, but the toll is heavy on him… I'm the only one he can show his true feelings to and that won't do. He needs a woman to carry that burden. Not a Meri or an Alicia… no this dark heart need something to warm it… or else his heart will inevitably collapse."

A few miles down the road, a carriage carrying two guests was traveling down the road. On the side of the carriage, the Wudon flag was erected on the side. The sound of the horses galloping muffled the sounds of the two passenger deep in conversation.

Inside, an eastern Princess was fiddling her thumbs as a man with jet black hair in a topknot sat beside her.

"Princess Yingjie! What troubles you!"

"I'm tired of this ride, is there somewhere we can stop?"

"But Paris is still so far away! If we stop now we will have to stay the night and wait till morning. Is the Princess ok with this?"

"Yes! Please... I want to delay my arrival tot hat city as long as possible!" She said.

"Very well, I will send word to your father that we will be late, the wedding isn't for another week after all." The man with he top knot said.

"Thank you Lei!" Yingjie said hugging him.

"Please Princess, do not hug me! Your father will kill me! Such a thing is dishonorable"

"I'm sorry Lei" Ying said.

"It says on this map the estate of Sir Ivan Dewsbury is just ahead! Since we are marrying a Duke, I'm sure he will have no problems giving us quarter" Lei said bowing his head.

"Lei! Let's stay here for as long as we can! Please... I want to be free for just a little longer."

"Your wish is my command Princess"

"Thank you! I wish I was marrying a handsome young Prince! Not some Fat old man!"

"Princess!" Lei said.

"Why was I born to this family!"

(Back at Godefroi's castle)

"Weisheng" Godefroi said

"Yes sir" He said bowing.

"When will your sister arrive?"

"I got word that she was in Spain for a while and left a week ago, she should be here within the next few days."

"Good" Godefroi said rubbing his hands together. "This marriage will change everything"