Captured in the Arms of a Stranger

My heart raced in my clenched chest, I looked out of the window, and I saw a bunch of armed guards standing with the Innkeeper. How did they know I was there? They seemed at ease, only a few of them came to fetch me. They must have thought I was too easy to get to. Too easy to surrender and go back to the palace as if nothing had ever happened. I could not breathe, I did not run away just to get captured and dragged back to The Palace against my will.

I glanced around the room, there was nothing that I could use to defend myself in case something happened. I tried to calm down, to steady my breathing. I had to think of some way to get out of there. I was not going back to that fate. I was not the Nile Bride, I would never be. Then it dawned on me.

"The doors don't have locks on them." I remembered what the man say. I was in one of the rooms facing the entrance, all I had to do was go to the other side. It was settled then, I rushed to the door then pulled it open, slowly I peeked from behind it, listening carefully to the guards. No one seemed to come upstairs, not yet. I knew I had to move, and I had to move, and I had to move fast.

I slipped out of the dimly lit room and tip-toed through the hall, I stopped before one of the rooms to my right. Hesitantly, I reached for the door and pushed it.

"What the hell? Get out you creep!"

A man, who I was so sure was on top of a woman, yelled at me. I quickly closed the door before I could see anything else other than his bare back. Blood rushed to my cheeks. I walked to another door and opened it as quietly as I possibly could.

There was no one there. I thanked whoever god was listening and slipped inside the room. I hurried to the window, prying open the filthy curtain. I looked down and sighed in relief when I found myself on the opposite side of the small building. I studied the window, it was small, but I could push

my way through it.

I grabbed the wooden frame with both my hands, pushing my body upwards until I was practically out, what was left for me now was to jump. I hesitated, unsure of myself.

"Where is she?" I heard a guard yell, "she was right here, I swear! Please, don't hurt me!" I heard the innkeeper cry. I shook my head, closed my eyes, and said my prayer. I jumped.

Landing face-first into the ground with a rather loud thud. I winced in pain, however; I was deeply thankful for the desert's cold sand that welcomed my body. I gathered myself and stood to my feet, quickly brushing off the golden sand particles from my face, arms, and clothes. I glanced around, I thought no one seemed to notice my not-so-graceful jump but I was wrong.

"There she is!" I heard a guard shout from upstairs, I looked up and there he was, in the window I had just jumped from.

Oh, God. I had to run again, and so I did. I stormed off and it was not long before I heard people following me. I cursed under my breath, something that I never did before, but I never escaped before. I was changing, and I liked the woman I was becoming.

"She's right there!" I heard a different guard yell, they were getting closer. I glanced behind, I could see they were not too far away, but they could not see me. My chest ached, my legs were ready to give out at any given moment, and my whole body felt as if it was on fire. I needed help, I needed someone, any hod? I needed a miracle.

I felt a hand suddenly grip my arm and easily push my body into a dark, narrow alley between two small houses. I screamed but the person grabbing me pressed his palm against my mouth, silencing me. I panicked. This was it, this was the end. Perhaps I should have not run away in the first place.

I closed my eyes, the guards ran past me without noticing how my back was pressed into something, into someone. His arm was wrapped tightly around my body, pinning me in place and pressing me deeper into him. I was silent for a brief moment until all of the guards were nowhere to be seen. The hand moved away from my lips, and I took a sharp breath. He smelled like honey and wine.

I turned around to see who my saviour was, and I found myself staring into the deepest emerald eyes I had ever set my eyes upon.

"Thank you." I spoke quietly, "Thank you so much."

"What did you do?" His deep, low voice rang through the silent night. I looked at him, carefully studying what I could see of him. A warm, chiseled face with high cheekbones, luminous green eyes that rivalled that of our gardens, and-My gaze travelled lower- a set of full, thick lips.

"I did not do anything." I averted my gaze as quickly as possible.

"The guards were after you. Surely you have done something." He smirked, his eyes gleaming in the faint moonlight. "So, what did a little lamb like yourself do to earn the wrath of the Pharaoh's lapdogs." ' he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed against his naked chest. My heart was pounding in my head.

"I-I stole something," I lied. "and I was caught, that's all." He grinned devilishly and suddenly he pushed himself off the wall and took a step forward... and then another, closing the narrow gap between our bodies. I immediately backed away until I hit the cold, hard stone. He raised his arm, and put his hand against the wall, right above the side of my face. He pressed his body into mine, I looked to the side, avoiding his gaze, avoiding his warm breath that brushed against my lips.

"Look at me." Hard, calloused fingers grabbed my chin, tilting my head towards him. I looked at him, our faces mere inches away. I suddenly forgot how to breathe.

"You mean this? Is this what you stole?" I tore my gaze from his emerald orbs and focused on what he was now holding in his hand. My pouch! I panicked. How did he get that? It was tied around my waist. Seeing my reaction, he chuckled deeply, his deep voice rumbling in his chest— the chest that was, in fact, pressed into mine.

"Now this will be fun." His mischievous smile gleamed brightly in the pale moonlight.