1 Prologue

"At our second meeting, it was night again, more beautiful than ever, radiant with infinite stars, illuminating a deserted island, lost in the middle of a mysterious ocean, which sheltered a folk of monsters. From the beginning, I never understood this constant need for him to be plunged into darkness, even after learning the truth. But if I was really honest with myself, I had to admit that it wasn't just his fault. And as he said, I never really gave much importance to his choices as long as I was for him what he was for me. So at the very moment when I finally realized it, my heart freed itself from its chains and harmonized with his, united in the Milky Way. This second time, he was so tender, so whole that I felt my whole being burst into flames like the nascent dawn, that dawn he had forgotten for so long. Like the passing of time, or the shape of the light of the sky, our destiny was inescapable. And it could not be otherwise.

Lying on a large ochre rock, Princess Ariadne looked passionately at her lover, the only one she had ever loved. The simple fact of feeling it, brought her a kind of incomparable intoxication, and a great feeling of satisfaction invading her entirely and of which she had the certainty to be able to last for centuries.

Only the opaque and bottomless water surrounded them and made them vibrate with its tremors. The cold breeze blew gently and caressed their tangled hair. Skin to skin and their growing heat that melted them like a solar cauldron, they united their bodies to form one. The starry universe was the only witness to their sublime exchange.

Unable to stop loving his delicate body tirelessly, the warrior began to suffer from the light that appeared weakly in the east. But even the pain he felt only added to his pleasure.

Nothing could stop them, so he smiled at Ariadne and kissed her tasty lips before getting lost for the umpteenth time in their fragrance of love.

Feeling the infinite pleasure burning all her interior and enveloping her mind to take her on a wonderful journey, Ariadne felt her tears flowing to dry herself in the wind. She smiled at the source of her joy.

"The light. My love, the sun is rising. You're going to burn," Ariadne whispered gently.

The sovereign gently stroked the hair of fire.

"I know, but you don't have to worry, because you've already hurt me more than the light or anything else will ever do.

"I'm sorry, I never wanted that. In fact, I never understood anything. Forgive me. I just love you, that's all."

***

It all began a month ago when Princess Ariadne decided to attend a special evening organized by these distant people called "mysteries".

On the morning of the fateful meeting, Ariadne had an appointment with her two best friends who were carrying the invitation, so coveted and dreaded at the same time.

She was waiting for them, quietly sitting on the balcony of her favorite restaurant. As she was a regular guest of the place, not to mention royal, the owner always reserved the same table for her, from which there was a breathtaking view of the city. Ariadne loved spending her free time in the tea room while watching people outside mix, each heading for his own business. That day, the weather was particularly beautiful. The blue sky above them would have delighted the most pessimistic, and the trees planted along the sidewalks, whose flowers joyfully opened to the sun, and the petals floating in the wind, offered a rare priceless natural scene, and would surely inspire many artists.

Everything around Ariadne represented life. Unfortunately, for her, the young woman herself was a sad person who was unable to feel much. She was empty and cold.

"What an irony, she thought cynically, no matter how great the magic or beauty you could carry within you, there were things you could never do. Things like creating another star, changing the seasons or healing a damaged soul like her own. The essential things".

When her friends arrived, they made as usual a noisy entrance, and brought with them, in the absence of light and understanding, a wonderful diversion to her troubled mind.

"Hello, Your Highness!" They threw joyfully as a greeting, while taking their places and giving off a breath of artificial scent.

"Good morning, girls." Replied tenderly ironic the Highness. "I might as well tell you right away that your always so ostentatious entrance only gets better."

"You hold my bag, we're cut out for this." They replied, unaffected by their friend's sarcasm. "And by the way, you got here before us. And it's easy to guess what kind of stupidity you've devoted your wait to. Irresistibly torn apart by these strange, gloomy, morbid thoughts that constantly devour your mind." The two ruthless arrivals continued again.

"Very funny." Replied the bitter princess, unable to refute these terrible statements. "Well, now that the preliminaries are over, may I suggest some…tea?"

The two accomplices refused gently with a remnant of contempt, looking slightly around them.

Ariadne was carefully watching her two closest friends. They had known each other since childhood. With roots in the same privileged place where prestige and money ruled as absolute masters. They have found in their friendship a semblance of refuge from their harsh daily lives.

A suffocating existence where artifices, irreproachable manners and honeyed lies were the almost indestructible bars of their golden cages.

For their joyful date, the two friends wore luxurious clothes, very elegant but a little too bright for the princess' taste. One wore a bright red set with black-silver pumps, and white gold jewellery adorned her wrists and thin neck. Her garnet hair had been raised to a sophisticated bun that revealed all the freshness of artistic make-up. The other wore an electric blue mink coat on her short grey dress and heavy gold earrings. She had put on her thin little feet of dark blue suede boots and decided to let her long, shiny blond hair flow freely on her shoulders.

"You're both beautiful today. There is at least that much."

"Thank you. Such a compliment from a beauty such as you is a kind of good luck charm, they said maliciously But as you should understand, as a tribute to our radiance, we would appreciate a restaurant more....."

They displayed a deep disgust on their faces while pointing with a vague wave of their hands at their friend's usual restaurant.

"Hip ?" Ariadne completed for them ironically.

"Please, Your Highness, understand us. This restaurant, if you can call it that, is charming. Really."

"But...?" the princess advanced, placing her elbows on the table, her crossed hands supporting her face revealing a gentle irony.

"But it's for ordinary people."