Chapter eight

Although Catherine went on a date with Antonio as she promised Oliver, she didn't take Antonio serious until a year later when she was eighteen. Joanna her self suspected that Catherine and Antonio were getting to know each other pretty well for love obsessed Antonio had visited her home severally with the intention of meeting Catherine there. Nevertheless, Joanna was care free because she thought that Antonio never had the potentials to tear her bound with Catherine apart. When Catherine was eighteen, she became fully exposed to life. She became like the Eve of the garden of Eden who ate the fruit and became knowledgeable of what was good and what was bad. Well for a start, she began taking Antonio serious because she felt Antonio had a lot of sweet things to offer- things even sweeter than her unbreakable bound with her childhood friend Joanna. Her relationship with Antonio reached it's climax from the day Antonio was forced to visit her in the Castle. He went boldly in to the Castle and told the servants that he came to see Princess Catherine. When this came to Catherine's hearing, she quickly intercepted the security guard's who were set to walk him out of the Castle and sneaked him into her room.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered worryingly,

"If my mum finds out you are here," she continued, "she may..."

Antonio who was obsessed with her interrupted her by suddenly grabbing her face and speaking directly to it.

"Princess its time to introduce me to your mum, I am your husband to be."

"Husband? You've got to be joking." Catherine whispered surprisingly and Antonio hugged her tight and spoke drunkenly,

"My love i am willing to lay down my life for you, you are mine forever."

Then he released his grip, went directly to her lips and kissed her and as was expected, she responded without a smiling face,

"Antonio you broke into my home, called me your wife to be, hugged me without my permission and now you are kissing..."

Antonio interrupted her again by returning his lips to her hers and kissing her passionately and this time, Cathy was speechless and calm for the kiss was kinda cool and decorous. When Antonio had kissed her to his satisfaction, he whispered,

"Come with me Cathy, we are going outside the walls of the Castle. I want to show you something amazing."

"No i cant go out..."

"Shiiii do as i said my beauty. No royal chariot, no royal guard, just you and I."

"But the princess can not leave the Castle without her body guards."

"Then do it the old fashion way; a proper disguise will help."

"Well then."

Being eager to know what Antonio had to offer, Catherine disguised her self as a palace maid and sneaked out of the Castle with him. Antonio took her to the garden situated close to the Chiltern hills- the very garden which Joanna had always dreamed to visit. The garden was paradise; it was calm, beautiful and natural. There were spring waters. There were lots of parrots and many other beautiful birds and animals. Catherine couldn't believe her eyes and after a short saunter round the garden in admiration, Antonio sat under an apple tree and Catherine sat close to him.

"This is the hand work of God." Catherine said still in wonder.

"And your beauty is one of a kind." Antonio responded.

"But Alex said Joanna is prettier than me." Catherine said doubtfully.

"Never! no woman on earth is prettier than princess Catherine." Antonio said and threw his arm round Catherine's neck.

"Stop flattering me." Catherine said in smiles and by her expression, she wanted to have Antonio's tongue down her throat again. She felt that Antonio's mouth to mouth kiss was better than Joanna's, and like she already told Joanna before, her kiss always made her feel like she was about to fly without wings. Catherine needed to thirst Antonio's tongue again. She purposely moved her face close to he's, and like a hungry lion, Antonio grabbed her and kissed her so passionately. He also went down her neck and chest and while he kissed, caressed and licked them, Catherine groaned inwardly and felt she was actually in paradise. Antonio was cunning, he suddenly paused and acted like he was distracted by some kind of thought that came in to his mind. He knew Catherine was out of control and he needed to take advantage of her. Catherine wished for more. She fixed her gaze on him and then was forced to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Don't stop." she whispered at last after a suitable interval.

"Something came to my mind and its about to hurt my mood, but if you tell me that you love me, you can revive my mood and we will continue our journey to paradise." Antonio replied.

"I love you." Catherine said impatiently and trembled in great hunger for more kiss and romance. Then Antonio made her seat on his thighs and continued kissing her and when he finally went down to her breasts and nipples, she suddenly amplified her groan in ecstasy. Joanna's company had never made her feel that excited.

Joanna visited the Castle to see Catherine and after a fruitless search for her, she realized that Catherine was up to something because her body guards were in the Castle. She knew Catherine more than anyone could imagine, she figured out that Catherine had sneaked out of the Castle to see someone special to her. Anyway, while she waited in Catherine's room, Prince Alex walked in and sat close to her. Prince Alex was in love with Her, but she disliked him because he was arrogant and self centered and on top of that, he was a womanizer. It was rumored that one after the other, he may have assaulted all the maidens working in the palace.

"I can't say yes to your proposal." Joanna said immediately for she knew why he came. He held her hand, but she withdrew her hand at once and stood up to leave.

"Joan my old ways are bygone, for the sake of my love for you, I am a changed person now." He said and Joanna chuckled in response and replied,

"No and besides, i cant say yes to anyone without Catherine's approval."

"You are the sexiest damsel in the whole of England." He said.

"Yes i know, but No thanks." She replied in disgust but Alex refused to let go. He kept proposing to her and to a point, and to be able to leave the Castle and return home to her foster mother, Joanna was forced to take a hug from him. Then he escorted Joanna to the castle's gate and when she was about to go home, he said to her in smiles,

"Smell you later my love."

"You've got to be joking." She mumbled in a low tune and disappeared. few hours after she left the Castle, Catherine sneaked back in and was told by Alex that Joanna came looking for her couple of hours ago. Catherine quickly re-copied the five commandments in a new note and took the note to her friend's home to see her. On arrival, Joanna didn't bother to ask her whereabouts, she just hugged her happily for she was sound and safe.

"Here, our five commandments, its been long we read it together." Catherine said in smile and handed the note over to her. Joanna took the note and began reading it carefully,

"1- thou shalt not make friends to another except male friends." reading this this part, her mood changed, but she kept reading anyway,

"2- our secret is our secret, thou shalt not tell anyone our secret.

3- thou shalt be truthful and sincere.

4- thou shalt stick together.

5- your problem is my problem and my problem is your problem, thou shalt bear each other's burdens." She paused and after a short interval, she spoke up unhappily,

"Cathy what happened to the first commandment?"

"The first commandment? what are you talking about?" Catherine responded.

"You added something to the first commandment- It says 'thou shalt not make friends to another except male friends' which is wrong!" Joanna said.

"Joanna i told you when we were kids that these commandments are like the English constitution and they can be amended, have you forgotten that?" Catherine responded and Joanna broke into silence for she was very sad and disappointed.

"Joan it's sad you suddenly forgot our agreement." Catherine continued care freely.

"You've been making out with him right?" Joanna asked sadly.

"What? making out with who? Catherine responded.

"Antonio." Joanna replied.

"No Joan. Even if i did, whats wrong with that?" Catherine asked.

"He will destroy our bound and we won't have time for each other anymore." Joanna replied worryingly.

" Joan may be we should delete the idea of male friends from our lives and start going down on each other, how is that for not destroying our bound?" Catherine asked.

"What? That's disgusting." Joanna replied.

"We will make that happen, yeah breaking news; Joanna marries the princess, hello!" Catherine said.

"That's not what i mean, i mean..."

"You mean what? look Joanna, i know we've probably kissed each other a billion times because we are in love, but there is a slight problem when it comes to the mating part. So look what am going to do, am going to ask God to give me or you a nice dick instead of nice young men who will make us their brides and when boner hits, we will stick it to..."

"Okay enough!"

"We made those commandments when we were kids, we didn't actually know what we were doing. Joan we are friends not lesbians and when its time, a real man will make you his wife, i am not prepared for gay marriage, are you?"

"Cathy i don't mean to provoke you, just that i was trying to protect our friendship."

"Better protect it wisely."

The argument was suddenly cut short when Mrs Isabella broke in from the outside. Catherine was not in the mood to spend more time with her friend, so she greeted Mrs Isabella and left at once. Mrs Isabela noticed that Joanna and the princess were in a kind of fuss. She had always been pessimistic about Joanna's friendship with the princess and if she was asked to predict, she would say that the friendship would have a sad end- Yes, Joanna was no match to the princess and she would definitely loose in the end. This was why she made it open to her when she was a kid that the rich folks in England were beasts and the poor were always their helpless prey, and Catherine would surely make no difference. Catherine was just like a lion's cub who would show her true destructive potentials when she becomes an adult and for the fact that Joanna and Catherine never had misunderstanding through out their childhood, Mrs Isabela believed that this little misunderstanding which may have occurred between them could result to the decline of their friendship. When Catherine was driven away by the royal chariot, Mrs Isabella sat Joanna down and told her that Catherine had known her true worth, and it was time for Catherine to push her aside and go after fellow high class sons and daughters of dear England. This provoked Joanna for she thought her foster mother misunderstood the whole incident. Ironically, Catherine was about to put a knife in the unity that bound her up with Joanna not because she went after fellow high class sons and daughters of England, but because she was set to go after Antonio who was a peasant.

The next day, Catherine left the Castle with a chariot full of fruits and nuts and headed to see Antonio in his home and it became clear that she had fallen in love with him. She presented the goodies she came with to Antonio and suggested that they should pay a visit to the garden again and spend some cool time there. The chariot rode them to the garden and she dragged Antonio playfully to the spot where they had fun yesterday. They sat together and without further ado, she asked Antonio to kiss and romance her. Antonio did as she requested; he went from her neck down to her chest with his tongue, pulled her shirt up and sucked the hell out of her nipples.

"Oh my love, don't stop" Catherine cried in great excitement. When Antonio was done with her tits, he returned to her lips and continued kissing her. He later withdrew his mouth and his fingers took over. He caressed her thoroughly until she was totally off the hook and at a point, he lowered his fingers down to her belly and from her belly, he went down to her undies and paused for he anticipated a negative reaction from her, but she couldn't resist this move for she was apparently in the mood. Antonio was hungry too and he had his fingers close to the buffet, but after gazing at Catherine's innocent face and pitiful eyes, he ended up making what he later considered to be one of the greatest mistakes of his life by not hitting it when he had the opportunity to do so, for a saying says, half bread is better than none. When the love birds were done, they left the garden and both went to their various destinations.

Joanna was alone in her bedroom deep in thought. It was Wednesday and Catherine was supposed to escort her to the fields for work because it was her routine, but she had almost waited all day for Catherine to come and there was no sign of her coming. She was worried for she thought that her argument with Catherine yesterday angered her a lot.

"Why did the princess failed to come? I may have provoked her. I will definitely go to the Castle tomorrow and apologize to her." She thought worryingly. Mrs Isabella later walked into her room, sat close to her and asked surprisingly,

"Joan your friend failed to come today?"

"Yea mum." Joanna replied in a low pitiful tune.

"Don't worry Joan, everything will be alright." Mrs Isabella encouraged.

"I hope so mum." Joanna replied and rested her head on her foster mother's shoulder. The next day, she prepared and went to the Castle to see Catherine and on arrival, the maids confirmed that Catherine was in her room, but when she went to Catherine's room to meet her, Catherine was not there and because the chariot hadn't left the palace, she realized that Catherine may have sneaked out to see some one who could not boldly come to the Castle to see her, Antonio probably.

"For Christ sake Antonio should at least give me a chance to apologize to Catherine." She thought worryingly as she left the palace.

"What did she see in him any way." Her thought continued, "It's all my fault, had it been i never persuaded Cathy to listen to him. Jesus! I regret ever listening to his bullish."

She went straight to Antonio's house hoping to see Catherine there, and from a stone throw away, she could see Antonio and Catherine sitting together in a pavement situated close to Antonio's house. Unbelievably, Catherine was singing him the song which they dedicated to their friendship, Joanna could hear her voice.

"like God and his creations are bound by love

So shall me and you be bound by our lasting love

Indeed, our strong bound shall last forever, we forever in love..."

Joanna was very shocked to hear this. She walked to them very unhappily and seeing her, Catherine greeted, "Hi Joan."

"What are you doing?" Joanna asked with a mean face.

"Oh, i was singing our song, Antonio my Darlene loves it." Catherine answered boldly.

"And what did our second commandment say?" Joanna asked again.

"I don't remember, left the note on my table. You don't expect me to carry it around, do you?." Catherine asked.

"Cathy our secret is our secret, thou shalt not tell anyone our secret." Joanna answered.

"Joan your song isn't a secret, its a masterpiece." Antonio interrupted.

"Shot your mouth Antonio, i wasn't talking to you." Joanna talked back to him in anger and frustration and he kept calm at once.

"Joan how many times have I told you that we made those rules when we were kids, we need to amend them now or it will thwart our bound and we will fall apart." Catherine said.

"No Cathy, that young man is thwarting our bound and soon we will fall apart." Joanna responded pointing at Antonio and Antonio stood up at once, took Joanna's hand gently and spoke to her with a calm voice.

"Joan i will be the last person on earth to dream of jeopardizing your unique friendship with Princess Cathy. Just that i love your friend and i think she is my missing rib. All girls will one day settle with their men, its not me talking, its nature talking and we can't counter that. What i mean is that you have to find a way to accommodate me because when your man locates you, Cathy will face mother nature's vindictive fury if she fails to accommodate him too and i believe your man will locate you soon because you are as beautiful and charming as your friend."

Hearing this, Joanna calmed.

"Don't worry Joanna, i am here to protect your friend, i am her guardian Angel." Antonio continued.

"Promise me you will protect her for me." Joanna finally responded.

"I promise, count on me." Antonio replied confidently and Catherine stood up and hugged Joanna in smiles.

"Alright kiss me." she said to Joanna playfully, forwarded her chick and Joanna kissed her and burst into smiles.

"Joan we cool right?" Catherine asked.

"Yes princess, we are friends forever." Joanna responded.

Indeed it was easier to find water in the desert than to see Joanna Jealous for she was always contended with what she had. Her stern reaction wasn't because Antonio chose Catherine over her, but because Antonio's recent private connection with Catherine made her jumpy for she thought it became a distraction to Catherine. What if the tide was turned, and Antonio proposed his love to Joanna instead, would Catherine understand? Would she give her friend a kiss on the chick too?