when he kissed me

IN THE PALACE

It was morning.ministers coming into the palace in their carriages for meetings in their official clothings. The guards in their various positions.

In prince nate residence, his personal guard and valet, ivan, helped him put on his official cloth as he is to join the court meeting.

"Ivan, send a message to him, I want to investigate the right chancellor"nate muttered as ivan finished.

"Your highness, isn't that consort silverline father",ivan asked.

Nate looked at himself on the mirror"Yes, of course, and I need to start going outside the palace, I want to see the outside world.

Let's go",he said as ivan escorted him to his carriage".

Prince nate looked at ivan,"  And one last thing,I need to be close to dibengi,send someone to keep a watch on him,if he decides to travel back to the north province".

I want you to find out who his parents are.i have a bad feeling about him.

The  first day i saw him,i thought he just look familiar, however I saw him again and I had a bad feeling and you know my intuitions are never wrong".

Ivan furrowed his eyebrows," I don't understand your highness,why search for someone that is with us".

Nate nodded," I'll show you something,later".

***********************************

Later in the day,in the evening.

Nate was in his study chamber wearing his mask when loren entered.

He raised his head and saw him,"loren", he called.

Loren scratched the back of his head as he saw nate reading,"I see,you're busy".

"I can drop this aside for you",nate closed the book and walked towards loren,curious about what he wants.

"Can you go outside the palace with me,I want to take you somewhere",loren asked nervously.

Nate smiled underneath his mask and in his heart,"outside the palace?.I haven't left here since I seven.

I didn't have any reason to be outside,but now I have a reason".

"Ivan",he summoned.

Ivan stormed in,"your highness".

"arrange  two horses, we're going out".

Ivan glanced at loren and wanted to get the message right," two horses for you and I?".

Nate shook his head,"Am only going with loren".

Ivan fell on one knee with his head down,"forgive me your highness,but am not allowed to leave your side,I must be with you at all times".

Loren stepped in front of ivan, his folded his arms and narrowed his eyes to slits,"are you his husband?".

"Loren!",nate called because he was slightly embarrassed of loren asking Ivan that.

Ivan stood up and faced loren,"can you protect him,prince nate is not like other princes,if he goes outside,even a single scratch on his body and you will be flogged to death or beheaded,depending on the king's mood,I don't know which one you will prefer",ivan grinned.

Loren eyes widened," what?just for a scratch?.well,..you can follow us".

" Are you scared,loren",nate asked with a smile underneath his mask.

"What?",he brushed his hair. With his hand,"I am loren sorock,your highness.even if I see ghost,I loren sorock will never fear,so rest assured nate".

Nate held his laughter as he watched loren.

***********************************

They rode out of the palace,nate couldn't help but gawk as he never left the palace for eight years.Everything looked different in his eyes.

Loren took the lead in the directions as they rode inside a forest.

"So where are you taking us to",ivan asked as he thought loren was suspicious.

Loren stopped and came down from his horse,"we are here",loren helped nate down.

Nate wondered what loren wanted to show him in this place,"are we walking far?".

Loren looked at him as he brushed his hair with his hands, nervously,"it's not that far from here but can you tell ivan to wait here,I just want to go there with you".

Nate looked at him and nodded,"okay,but it's getting dark,we should hurry"." Ivan",nate summoned.

And ivan stepped in front of him and fell on one knee," your highness".

"Don't follow us further,wait for us here, I'll come back".

Ivan glanced at loren,"your highness!,I can no__".

Nate cut him off,"don't disobey my command, ivan",he looked at loren,"let's go".

NATE POV

I walked further with loren,though i was worried about the environment,i kept on walking but looking at the ground while i walked.

"Nate are you alright",loren asked looking worried.

I looked at him,"uhm...,yes,I am".

He held my hand while we walked forward,"dont worry,I won't let you get hurt".

I was red faced as I stared at him,it's good that the mask covered my face,I'll be extremely embarrassed if he saw my expression.

I stared at him as we walked,"don't worry,I won't let you get hurt,the words couldn't go out from my head.

"We're here,you can stop staring at me",loren chuckled at me.

"I wasn't staring at you but the trees,the trees are magnificent",I defended myself embarrassingly.

I looked forward and I saw a waterfall.it was a beautiful sight,I have never seen a waterfall except in paintings.

Are we going to swim?.

I looked at loren,"sorry loren,I can't swim in cold water".

He was still holding my hand,"we're not coming to swim,let's enjoy the view",he said nervously.

Why is he being nervous?it's unlike him.

We sat and leaned on a huge rock and he stared at me the whole time,but I didn't say anything,u just kept glancing at him to check if he he's still staring".

" Nate", he finally spoke.",remove your mask".

" What?no!,and if you try to remove it  without my consent since ivan is not here,this time,we will become strangers!".

He put his hands up to surrender," I won't try to remove it without your consent and I told you,am really sorry about last time.

He removed a blindfold from his pocket,"just as we did the other time, I'll be blindfolded and you'll remove your mask".

He held my hands and lowered his voice," I really won't behave like last time",he reassured me.

I blindfolded him and removed my mask.

He held my hand and brought me closer to himself,my heartbeat increased again as I stared at him.

I closed my eyes,as he traced two of his fingers on my cheek first,then to my eyebrows,then to my nose bridge,then to my lips.

Every touch gave me a good feeling I can't describe,is he going to place a kiss on my forehead again?.

I felt something wet on my lips and It felt a little warm , I opened my eyes immediately in shock as I saw his lips on mine.

He...