Being Mean

[Music Recommendation; Raye- Hard Out Here ]

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{...

He took another slow step. "You're a little scary right now, did you know that?"

She glared at him.

"That was a compliment, Little Fox." He reached toward her and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear with one featherlight touch.

Butterflies moved inside her. Different from the ones that she felt whenever she saw Apollo. Because Apollo didn't frighten her.

"What are you doing?" she squeaked.

Jacks chuckled. "If I knew all it took to scare you was a little touch, I would have tried this sooner." His fingertips played with her earlobe...}

It was when she was reading this. The book had been and adventure so far but every fantasy adventure had to be ruined at some point.

A noise drew her from the romance of Jacks and Evangeline. Why would someone bother her at one best pages.

The helpers from earlier the day couldn't be there at that time so she dropped the book and walked to the bathroom where the noise came from.

Goosebumps crawled up her thighs due to the biting chill of the night.

The intruder wasn't even alarmed by her arrival since he or she was kind enough to close the window after 'intruding'.

The intruder turned to looked at her and her breath got lost somewhere in her chest.

Haelyn!.

A bloody fucking mess. Where was she at? What happened to her?

Her clothes were soaked with blood. Wait, was she hurt?

"Hey, What happened?" Neera was quick to walk towards her but Haelyn just stretched out her palm to stop her.

Neera stopped in her tracks but wrapped the towel around her tighter in the process.

"Stop, am ok," then she continued to smile at her, her white teeth gleaming in the dark, "I escaped so am more than ok"

Neera frowned in confusion, "Escaped from who?"

"Who else but Rico" she laughed and walked into Neera's new bathroom with muddy shoes.

Haelyn slurred some words and staggered while walking, the frown on Neera's brows deepened.

"Are you drunk Haelyn?"

Haelyn stood in front of the bath tub and stretched her hands to the side, like the way kids do while waiting for their mommies to help them out of their clothes, then continued to look at Neera expectantly.

Neera guessed had to take the role of mother for the day.

"Who kills and runs away, no, escapes from their enemy in a sober mind. I had to drink so that I could do that and not worry too much"

Neera helped her out of her shirt only to be met with a uncorsetted chest. She quickly turned around to avoid looking at Haelyn's bare chest.

Haelyn chuckled sheepishly, "Oh! Come on, I'm sorry, I took it off earlier since it was too tight and I needed to look like a man"

"The corset?"

"No, the bra, you can turn now"

Neera turned around to look at Haelyn who had covered herself finally.

"Ohk, but the water is cold"

"It will do for now" Haelyn slightly smiled and dipped her body inside the tub. She shivered a little but finally relaxed.

.

"What happened? Where were you?" Neera asked when they'd finally rested under the comfort of the bed and blankets.

"Let's do this after I have rested up, okay?"

Neera understood, maybe she'd had a long day. She nodded in agreement and gradually watched as Haelyn fell asleep in a couple of minutes.

More minutes passed and she didn't fall asleep. She couldn't sleep, her feet led her to the window. Weirdly, the town below was more livelier than it has been during the day.

She could actually see people moving around the streets and businesses opened. Was sort of nonsense was happening here?

During the day she'd let Izan be after she'd crashed his hopes of a happily ever after, and she had not seen him since then.

She had to see him and tell him about the Haelyn situation.

Plus she needed to figure who the robed men were. Those were enough reasons to see him. Would he talk to her after she had been mean? Who knew.

But she needed to see him after all.

After putting on some slippers she left her room and followed where her mind was guiding her to. It's like she had a guide to his location.

She stopped at what she assumed was his room. No guards or anything, just a tall wooden door.

'𝑮𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏'

She followed the order and knocked once before entering. Hearing no response she took the initiative of walking in by her own command.

The room was dark but there was a lantern at the corner of the room. She used the little light to navigate and survey the room. He wasn't there. She studied the paintings on the walls.

Family portraits and he was in each of them.

The lady behind him in all the portraits placed her right hand on his shoulder.

Sister. Their features were very similar compared to the rest of his family members.

And there was surprise in each portrait, he was smiling. The smile was beautiful and although painted she could tell that the surprise in real life was far much more beautiful.

The door swung open and he walked in.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as soon as his eyes met hers.

"I wanted to see you" she replied pulling the robe tighter around herself.

"Well?" he walked in closing the door behind him. Then proceeded to stand in front of his mirror and take off his clothing.

"Haelyn is in my room" she stated while tracking the movement of his hands while unbuttoning his shirt.

He didn't seem the least bit surprised by the information but continued to watch her, waiting for more.

"That's it, she snuck in through my window and-" she stopped talking as soon as he turned.

"Hmm, what exactly brought you here Princess?" his gaze on her was unsettling, so she shifted in her movements.

"To tell you that Haelyn came back"

He took off his shirt and to say that he looked nice was an understatement. He was breathtaking. With the clothes on, he looked innocent but without the shirt, he was different.

He was inked, a snake was inked on his collar bone such that it looked like it was coiled around his collarbone.

There was a writing on his chest and angel wings on his pelvis.

And finally small veins ran from the base of his pacs to the inside of his pants.

Hot was understatement too.

He folded his hands over his chest to gather her attention. Mischievous glint played in his eyes.

"It could have waited till tomorrow, so why are you here?"

He took a few steps in her direction and her breathing stuttered. "Or maybe you came to apologize for being mean to me earlier"

"No, I'll go" she turned to leave but he was quicker. He blocked her path then smiled.

"Oh no Princess, I think you should apologize it's the right thing to do, don't you think so?"

He asked her but she was at a loss of words herself. Did he change through the night or what happened?