37

Izabelle and the prince rode their horses for what seems like hours but was barely a few minutes. Izabelle's heart slammed against her rib cage like the flapping wings of a hummingbird. The silent night was filled with the voices of hooves against the ground and Izabelle was sure that even though the sound of hooves people could hear how fast Her heart was beating. Her hands had turned white the moment her eyes had met the creature and her throat ran dry. Her nails, which needed a trim, dug into the skin making micro tears across them. The cold air went unnoticed as the fear kept her from thinking about anything else.

Izabelle knew red was strong but the fact was lost and the feared state continued until they came out of the forest in a few minutes.

"It's defeated." Was the first thing the prince said when they came out of the forest and the magical path ended leading to a normal dusty one. From the finality of his words one could easily know what defeated meant. The creature was dead. A fact that Izabelle could only slightly register in her mind.

"You can relax now." He calmed down the horse to a slow moving state coming besides Izabelle who was a little behind at all times. Izabelle tried unclenching her hands but they didn't seem to want to move. Her hands were tightly stuck to the reigns of the horse and the tip of her finger nails were covered in blood. A fact that the beast could not ignore no matter how hard he would try. Izabelle's horse too was on a faster pace than the beast's sensing his Misteress's discomfort via his sixth sense and slight tugs on the reigns. For the first time that night the beast was the one moving slightly behind Izabelle. The worried expression on his face was hidden to all.

"Izabelle," the prince called out calmly hoping that his companion would hear. However no response was given and nothing in her showed that his words has reached to him.

"Izabelle," The prince called out again. Izabelle however, was still lost in her thoughts. Her head was bent as she tried to let go of the reigns, the imagine of the creature with the murderer's intent still in the back of her mind. She had been through many ups and downs in her life. Heck, because of some rotten or good luck, she was still undecided which, she met a cursed Prince. Never through it all had she ever felt like this. Like any moment now could be her death in the most horrid way. Like someone woupd rip her apart alive and eat her. Stars! Not even the wolves had scared her so much. The creature was much worse. Like all the hate the world had for her was concentrated to make that creature so that it could kill her in the most torturous way possible. Did Elena hate her so much? There was no way on earth that creature was anything but magical. Black magic, something that showed how much hate there was for her in the creator's heart.

"Izabelle!" The Prince shouted snapping the scared girl out of her thoughts. Without her noticing the prince had come besides her, walking close but still far enough so that the horses didn't collide.

"Snap out of it. Are you alright?" For the first time Izabelle thought that the prince's voice sounded soft. Izabelle blinked a couple of times trying to come out of her fear and realize that they were far away. As the horse walked a little more, Izabelle's heartbeat went back to the normal rate.

"My hands,.. " Izabelle said barely above a whisper. To the prince's sharp ears they were loud enough. Although not many knew something similar had happened to the prince as a child too. It was a tale lost through the years revived by seeing the girl besides him facing something similar.

"Stop." He commanded. Like his own, Izabelle's horse stopped listening to the clear command. Izabelle too stopped fiddling letting the horse ease a little.

With a quick leap, the prince was off his horse and walking towards Izabelle's with reigns of his horse slightly on his hands. He did not want the horse running away in the middle of the night. He had no plans of sharing the horse and making more stops in their journey than required so that the horse could rest.

The Prince's hands reached Izabelle's and blood became more hard to ignore when he could feel it cursing through the warm blooded and bleeding companion.

"You once told me you have siblings?" The Prince tried to converse recalling anything and everything he could about Belle.

"Yes, I have three." Izabelle answered, a sad smile forming on her face. What would Her family's reaction be if she were to end up dead?

"How is it like growing up with siblings? I am a single child." The Prince said part curious and partly trying to distract Izabelle as he moved his hand to hers. Izabelle felt his cold rough skin but said nothing as she thought about all the good days she has had.

"It's definitely not bad. I can not imagine living without even a single of them. May it be the oldest of us, Giselle, who mom would always compare me for my knitting skills or the youngest, Ash who was always my partner in crime. Even Gilbert was always protective but kind. We had her days of tease and pranks. Did I mention about the time when they put a mouse in Giselle's room? They tried it with me too but I am not really scared of mouses thankfully. Giselle however freaked out because the mouse ate bits of embroidery she had been working on."

Izabelle's hands started to feel warm. How she didn't know. The prince's hand was cold and hers were an awkward sweaty cool but still a weird warm sensation filled them too. Telling her to talk on, the prince took a finger and slowly opened it. Without much resistance, Izabelle's hand was defrosting from its clenched position.

"R..right. Ash and I had this inbuilt interest in business. I guess it inevitable when there was always so much going around the house. Father would often let Gilbert sit through the meetings but not us. So Asher and I would grab some stools and go out to the garden. We put the stools just outside the office window and listen in. We never could make out much but it was fun. Sometimes our giggles would get to father and he would act like he didn't hear and open the window slightly so that we could listen in. At times he would just tell us to shoo. There were also times when he would give us work. We would take a small amount of money and happily walk down the streets of the city saying we were on a work from our father and grab the random collection of things he wanted. With whatever was left we would treat ourselves with candy." Like a kid seeing a candy, Izabelle smiled. Childhood had so many beautiful memories, none of which she would ever trade. They were things that she hoped she would never forget.

When Izabelle looked down on her hands again, bother her fists were open. They were a bleeding mess but they were open and no longer pale. Izabelle tried to move her hands and although it hurt a little, moving the hand was no problem.

"Thank you," Izabelle said realizing how kind the prince had been to help. She had rarely seen him act with such a tenderness. She tried to recall the last time but failed to. The journey had surely forced him to open up more to her. As the seconds passed, Izabelle waited for the prince to move away but he did not. His gaze was still at her hands and his hands still held hers. She tried to tug them away a little but it was futile against his strong grip.

In the next second, his mouth was on her hands devouring the blood slowly. A little too slowly for her comfort. The feel of his skin against her was not something she was used to. She did not know if she wanted to get used to it or not.

"Lord Willington," Izabelle called out as she tried to free Her hand from his grasp has his mouth moved to each finger on her hand not wanting to lose a drop.

"Lord Willington," Izabelle said a little out of breath because of what she realized was happening.

"Adam!" Izabelle exclaimed uncomfortably pulling her hands back again. This time the words had reached the prince and he stepped back dazed. A daze that slightly met Izabelle's whose face turned a shade of red that was just on her hand but vanished into the mouth of the prince next to her.

The prince's eyes went wide as he realized what he had just done. Quickly sitting on his horse he trotted ahead of Izabelle letting the daze girl catch up to him silently. No more was said for the rest of the night as the two travelled tho their destination.

*

I hope you liked it. Leave a comment and a vote if you did. As you may know this story is in wattys 2017!

Until next time,

Love,

Princess_arielanne