The seal of moon goddess

A look of astonishment passed though his eyes but then a smirk formed on his lips, he finally took his cloak off and looked at her with pride.

Her eyes stilled on his face. She was looking dazed. There was no doubt that he was the most handsome looking person she had ever seen. Even the crown prince and Jonathan did not stand a candle in front of him.

His golden eyes were warmer than the sun, and his inky hair was darker than night. His sharp nose and chiseled jawline was looking perfect as if a sculpture had given all his life while making him. The sunlight accentuated his facial features and his eyes gleamed as the light rays reflected from them. She fell into a stupor when she looked at his face. How could this handsome man be a messenger. Now she was sure that he was the prince he was talking about.

But then why was he here for her? There was no way that he could have fallen in love with her even when he had seen her in the woods.

"You are smarter than I had thought!" he replied with a proud face as if she was his daughter or he had taught her everything.

She rolled her eyes at the way he was trying to get credit for her smartness.

"So tell me honestly, who are you?" her eyes narrowed at his face. Despite his sexiness, she knew nothing about him and he was still a doubtful person.

"Richard, i am the emperor of the land of Alienore." he announced proudly as he held her hand and brought it closer to his lips. His eyes continued to hold her gaze when he finally kissed her hands. A ray of light passed his eyes when his lips touched her hands.

His lips lingered on her skin for a few more seconds before finally moving her lips away but continued to hold her hands.

Hazel blinked. Weren't they talking about only prince, the future emperor and no one knew better than her that the future was always unpredictable. So how did he become the emperor now? Or was he lying to her? Making stories all this time so that she could be mesmerized by his looks and status and agree to him right away! No! She would not let that happen!

She took her hands away from his grasp! And then asked him again, "how would I believe you? If you are the emperor of the land from far away, what are you even doing here?" She had never heard or seen an emperor roaming around in the wild lands of another's empire. If caught, it could be a matter of war!

"I was there to hunt." he replied with a blank face, as if it was obvious. What else could we do in the forest!

"Why! Did your land not have forests?" her tone was filled with sarcasm as she snorted at his lame excuse as if asking, 'could you not think of a better excuse?"

He could read the suspicions in her eyes, but stayed silent. He did not want to frighten her by telling her the whole truth, but he knew that she was smart enough to not believe his half-cooked lies.

"I was not there to hunt for animals, but I was there to hunt humans. It is a long story, and I will only tell you about it when I start trusting you enough.

And if it was about my name and my recognition. Then I can take you to the land of Alienore and you could confirm there personally. But for now, is this enough?" Before the words could leave his mouth completely she saw men falling out of the thin air as if they all fell from the sky.

Not one or two but they were more than a dozen.

It felt like men were raining from the sky instead of water drops. All of them kneel on the floor with their heads bowed.

She stood there dumbfounded, unable to understand what actually happened there.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and took off her stare from the men and looked back at him who had not moved his gaze away from her face even for a second.

"What does it mean?" Did he want to say that this kind of security and shadow guards could only be afforded by the emperor? How could this proof his claim? It could be the army of a robber too.

But before she could accuse him further, he raised his hand and another man jumped from the sky and passed him an amulet.

"This is the seal of our empire. The sign of our prosperity and progress. If you want to confirm, you can show this to your father or even the emperor of your empire." she hesitated for a second but moved her hands in front of him and opened her palms.

He put the amulet in her open palm. She looked at the big seal. It was the figure of a goddess with the moon behind her. Her enchanting face was engraved so clearly, as if she would speak up any moment. She was sitting on the moon and a lot of small stars were drawn near her.

It was a mesmerising piece. But could she trust him only because he passed her an amulet. Wouldn't it be made by anyone? What was so special about her?

She tossed and turned the amulet in her hands as if she was doing a very important investigation on it. Her fair and gentle fingers continued to rub its corners and when she did not find any flaw in it, she turned and looked back into his eyes!

"How can I trust you with just a seal? What if you are lying all this time and mimicked the seal of the Alienore empire somehow. And now you want to include me in your schemes too?"