05

She heard a knock on her door and wondered what was wrong. Who could it be this early in the morning and whoever it was, what did he or she wanted? Groggily getting herself up from the bed, she grunted softly and walked out the room, now that she was all sober, she noticed she didn’t have a living room here. She was indeed wrong yesterday, and drunk. She hardly ever got drunk, so she could forgive herself now that she made a mistake yesterday. Fortunately, the mistake wasn’t as bad as Betla always warned her not to make.

The knock came again, and Aranya stood in front of the mirror while she ran her fingers through her dishevelled hair and thought she might have probably slept on it yesterday after she took her bath without brushing it. Hearing the knock now coming more intensely, she made a mental note of taking care of her hair after she had checked who it was and she walked out of the room. “Who is it?” She asked as she unlocked the door and the first thing she laid her eyes upon was Jaromir’s guard’s hard face, she had forgotten about the existence of these people.

She closed the door behind her and tried to smile at Jaromir that was making his way to her, “I’m sorry if I’ve woken you up, I need to leave early but before that, I want to have breakfast with you.” He said and she nodded her head in understanding. Did he remember what he had said to her last night? She couldn’t remember all they had spoken about but she could remember something about Keres and him wanting her to be his wife. Funny, her, Aranya as a wife? She had never even thought of it.

“Sure, I’ll just get washed up. Is it okay if I make the prince wait for a bit?” She asked with a seductive smile, and she was certain even if he had to wait for the whole day, he would. Men had always waited for her.

“Sure, take your time.” She walked toward the room and the guards made way for her and she closed the door behind her after she got inside. Heaving a sigh and softly cursing him for waking her up, she headed to the bathroom and washed up before she brushed her hair thoroughly. And as she looked at her reflection in her mirror, Aranya realized how bad he must’ve seen her a few minutes ago.

She walked out of the room and he smiled gratefully at her, “You’re just so beautiful, Verena. And somehow I feel like you’re not a normal being, you’re surely something.” Who was he talking about? Oh yeah, to him she was Verena, and she had to keep up with that as long as she stayed here. To the next fourteen days now. With each tick of the clock, her time was vanishing and she needed to make her hunt as fast as she could.

She smiled and motioned for him to take the lead. Walking to the restaurant as they exchanged a few words, Aranya realized he was much loved by his father, that was why he wanted him to get married to the princess of Kestramore, Keres. A beauty goddess and a very powerful Dragon. She was feared even by other male dragons of her clan, and Aranya wished to see her for once.

“You must’ve been lucky to have two powerful choices at your hand. I’m afraid that I know you’d have to choose her, won’t you?” She asked with a calm smile, the kind of smile that always made it so hard on the men she hunted. She knew that even if he wanted Keres deep inside his heart, he would never say no to her. He would have to find a way for them to be together.

“There’s no way I’ll leave someone like you, Verena. You’re the one I want to get married to, and I’m sure my father will understand. If they want to see you, will you travel to Gantrick with me?” This was the point she always wanted them to reach, and to say they had reached this point on the second day of their meeting was a dream come true for Aranya.

“Sure, why not? I’ll wait for you here until you’re back. But before we leave to Gantrick, we have to go home to my mother, she’ll get us married traditionally and then we can go to the palace and have an elegant wedding if that wouldn’t be hard for you.” She watched as his eyes dilated as if to wonder how would it be hard on him? When all he wanted was for him to have her forever in his life?

“That would be lovely, Verena! I’d love it. I think I need to leave now, I’ve already made the necessary arrangements for you to be transferred to a suite and also have full meals and everything you need before I’m back, okay?” She stood up and he came closer to her with a soft look.

She didn’t mind making the first move, so she moved forward and softly hugged him. She heard the gasp of breath that escaped his lips before he hugged her back. She broke their hug and looked into his eyes, “I’ll be here waiting for you to come back. I wish you a safe trip home.” He bade her goodbye and they left with his guards.

Aranya’s smile grew even wider when she entered the suite Jaromir got her transferred into. She had always had a good life wherever she went to, but this time, she was going to have a luxurious life. There was a soft knock on the door and she groaned softly before she went and opened the door, “I don’t think I need anything for now. Can you please let me rest?” She said as she yanked the door open, having it in mind that she was going to have today all by herself, enjoy and be herself for once.

“Pardon?” He said with a tone unsure of what she meant.

What did this man want from her? How did he even know she was here? She was about to close the door on his face when he lifted something in his hand and when she looked at it, it was her hairpin. “You left this yesterday, I thought I should bring it back.” Her hand immediately went to the back of her head where she always pinned some churn of her hair and felt nothing. How could she have been so clumsy?

She tried to collect it from his hand but he quickly dodged it and pushed her back into the room, walking into the room behind her and he closed the door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing? Do I have to tell you that I’m seriously fed up with you since you don’t take hints? What is it now? Give me my hairpin and get out of my sight.”

“What if I don’t?” He asked, unbothered of her threat as he walked and sat on one of the sofas of the living room. She furiously came to where he was and stood in front of him.

“Give it back to me and get out, what are you doing here? oh…” she let her words trailed off as she placed her hands on akimbo, “Do I have to make myself clear like I did yesterday?” She glared at him and nearly laughed when he repositioned his legs.

“What’s your name?” He asked, looking up at her and mistakenly, her eyes got into his and she softly shivered before she looked away from his eyes.

“That’s none of your business. Give me what’s mine and leave, now!” He immediately stood up and instead of him to do what she asked of him, Lorcán began walking in the living room.

“This is a nice suite you’ve got. Is it the dragon prince’s doing?” He asked, and Aranya wondered how he knew about it.

“How do you know?” She wanted to smack herself for asking him, but she was curious about it.

“Everyone knows him, but I doubt if humans do, which is why you don’t know him, right? But you aren’t a human being, are you?” Before Aranya got a hold of what was happening, he had already cornered her one of the walls and she was about to make a move when something splashed from his eyes and she felt pinned on the wall with so much force, she couldn’t move a limb.

“What are you doing? What is this?” She asked, and she needn’t be told that he had pinned her with his powers. And now that he thought of her as human, there was no way she would give her identity away, she would have taught him the most painful lesson of his life.

“Making you regret what you’ve done to me, I guess no one has ever done this to you too.” She felt as he trailed his finger down her jawline and spoke in an enigmatic voice, “Now, before we start, I want to know your name so I would know whose life I’m about to make miserable.”

She was about to argue with him and when their eyes met, she felt something reverberated through her whole body. Like electrocution and Aranya knew better than to not answer him, “Avyanna, that’s my name!” She said amidst coughs and after her lips closed, she remembered she had once used this name, and the mistake had already been done.