35- Trust

The moon was peeking out from the dark clouds illuminating the darkness of the night. Stars arrayed in the sky glittering and shining. The night was a beautiful one, maybe it was because prince Nicholas was going to see the commander.
His eyes couldn't wait to rest on hers. His hands were itching to have her in his arms, his nose wanted to get a waft of her smell. She always smelt of lavender and it always tickled his nose. His heart beating faster, each beat was harder than the last. It felt like the organ wanted to burst out of his chest.
The smile on his face spread wider each step he took towards the commander's cave. When his sighted her cave he quickened his steps, almost practically running.
The commander had used her lavander scent for the third time. She wanted to smell nice when the prince arrived. They had agreed to meet at night. It was the only way they could be together without any interruptionns.
The kayaans had a look standing beef with the Vampires. They were threatened by their presence and just coming out of war they were scared seeing other supernaturals in their kingdom. They were threatened by their presence and couldn't risk letting another war breakout.
Lives were lost during the war. Females, males, children and soldiers were killed during the war. It hurt the commander to that a lot of lives were truncated but their victory was the dedicated to all the lives lost.
Her heart broke remembering baba Mbari. It was moments like this she needed him. His wise words. His affirmations. His aura. His stubbornness which she was sure she got from him. She wanted to ask someone what she felt. Why there was a giddy feeling in her belly and what she was always invested in her looks these days. She wanted to understand more why she was agreeing to seeing him every night in her cave.
Lily always thought she never had emotions. She had built and wired herself to be without emotions so people won't get to manipulate her. Thanks to the scar that was easy. It took a lot for her to grow her self esteem to this point. While growing, her friends made jabs about the hideous scar that ran from her face. She had decided to hide behind a mask and it helped her.
Prince Nicholas rushed to embrace the commander from behind when he got in her cave. The ends of Lily's lips curved up when she felt her back hit his hard chest.
"I might have to steal your perfume. You smell amazing."
Lily chuckled. "Then I might have to keep you in the dungeon again."
They both laughed.
"I'm sorry for putting you in the dungeon." She stared directly at his eyes. "I was only protecting my territory." Her first assignment was to protect every kayaan being the commander. Her subjects came first and she had to ensure they were safe. Their safety was her priority.
"I'm still upset. Dragon flies were feasting on my flesh." He got before her, holding unto her hands. "I'll only forgive you on one condition."
She arched an eyebrow, giving a quizzical look but he couldn't see that because of the mask she had on. "What might that be?" She detached her eyes from his and crossed her arms.
"A tour of the kingom." His response was quick. "You owe me one, remember." A smirk was tugging on his lips as he reminded her of their first meeting after he got out of the kayaan dungeon.
"You're so cocky." She took his hands, pulling him out of her cave. "If you get taken by any of the soldiers I won't help you."
"Who would dare to take the prince, heir to the throne of the vampire kingdom?'
"Um, you're with her now."She reminded him. "Besides we're the strongest state at this time."
The prince hissed, "try not to flatter yourself."
"Where would you want to see?" She asked as they got out of the palace.
"Everywhere."
Commander Lily led him to the river. They spent some time enjoying the water. They were both starting to open up to each other and trust each other after the horrible way they met.
"What do you wear a mask? Prince Nicholas had always wanted to have peep of what was behind the commander's mask.
She was ashamed to say she was born with a terrible scar that disfigured her face. What if he found it disturbing and broke all ties from her. She was reluctant to tell him that was the way she was born so she told him a part of it. "it's for safety."
Prince Nicholas nodded. He wanted to always know who was behind the mask. He could bet that the commander was the most beautiful of all in the kayaan kingdom.
He stopped her and got before her. He took her hands and held them soflty then he whispered to her, "can I take a look at the beauty concealed by the mask."
The Commander's heart skipped a beat hearing he found her beautiful and hoped she was beautiful but when he touched her mask with both of his hands, maintaining eye contact with her, she turned around. She didn't want him to see her with something that made her ugly. While she was younger, her peers had made fun of her all because of that scar. She couldn't risk letting him seeing the scar.
They were both silentl as they walked to their next destination. Prince Nicholas was sad she didn't trust him enough. There had to be trust for they to be together and she didn't trust him.
The commander was just being protective of her imperfections. That was the only thing she never showed anyone. She didn't want people speaking behind her back that she was ugly and she also didn't want them to see her as a joke because of the scar.
Lily sat on the grass. Her legs were spread out and her hands on the grass behind her. She had taken a stop to sit has her mood had changed. The prince sat next to her but he had put a lot of space between them.
"You don't trust me?" Prince Nicholas was the first to speak, with a frown etched on his face. "You think I want to destroy your kingdom, right?"
The commander was silent. It wasn't just him. She didn't trust anyone. She had learnt not to let her emotions pet the best of and she didn't even have emotions. She had trusted Mbazi and it almost cost her the kayaan kingdom. She wasn't doing that again but the prince...
Their friendship had blossomed quickly ànd he had showed her on few occasion she could trust him but she just couldn't let her emotions get the better part of her and give him all he wanted. It was crazy.
An hysterical laugh when past the prince' lips waiting for the commander to speak. When she didn't, he said, "your silence says it all." He stood from the floor and made to leave angrily but the commander stood and called unto him.
He stopped in his track and she walked to him, standing beside him. "I trust you, Nicholas. I only need you to understand my kingdom comes first."
"So it's your kingdom over our friendship, isn't it?" He scoffed.
"Our friendship is important to me."
"You make it sound like I don't have a kingdom to rule over but here I am every night despite the fact that the kayaans hate me. I risk my life just to see you because I care about you."
Those words caused butterflies in the belly of the commander. The only one who had ever cared about her was baba Mbari. Baba Mbari was the only one who shower her with all the care and attention while he was alive. He was always intention about putting a smile on her face and making her happy. There were times he went out of his way to do things for her. There was one time she was young and needed a new arrow. The one she had was old, it was starting to peel and her friends were starting to make fun of her. She had told baba Mbari and he gave to her his brother's arrow. It was very special to him but he released it to her trusted and with it. When she had told her peers she was with the great Mbaka's arrow they all started to respect her.
She took his hands and began to lead him in a particular direction.
Frownii, he inquired, "where are you taking me to?" She only smiled, getting the prince more confused but he followed her lead without any protest.
She knew where she was going to take him was going to erase all the doubts he had about her in his mind. It was going to show how much she cared and trusted him. When they finally came to a stop,the prince stared in disbelief at where she had brought him to. He couldn't believe that she would let him every come to a sacred place with so much history and important information.
His grip on the commander's hand tightened and they went into the library.
******
The prince took tentative steps out of the commander's cave. Thanks to the tour few days ago he knew his way around the kayaan kingdom like the back of his palms. He had made sure to register each landmark so moving around was going to be easy.
They had gone to the river earlier in the night. The commander was an excellent swimmer.She enjoyed floating in the river and she decided to share that blissful moment with the prince. Before she became Commander, she always made sure to get to the river to relax after a long day of training. It was her coping mechanism but now she couldn't call it that. There were more brooding matters to settle that to go to the river having fun.
"Shit!" Prince Nicholas whispered when he saw the library keeper through the window. Getting in was definitely going to be difficult now as a matter of fact it was impossible. He didn't want the commander knowing about his presence in the library. He didn't tell her he was going to be going to the library. He took a big risk leaving her side.
One thing he had observed about her was that she was a light sleeper. She was always on defence ready to attack anyone that tried to assult and attack her. It was a big risk leaving her side and coming here but it was one he had to take for knowledge.
His curiosity had driven him out of Lily's cave to check out some important information the library could provide.
When he noticed the liby keeper wasn't at the front anymore, he went in quickly searching for the books he wanted. The library was empty save for a teenage boy in the history section.
Prince Nicholas went to the section of the library that had books with the title he was here for. His eyes skimmed the shelf as fast as possible , searching for a book that had all the information he needed.
He took out a book . He flipped through the pages wanting to get as much information as possible. He returned the flat book back to where he had picked it from..
Prince Nicholas looked up and frowned seeing the height of the shelf and that all the books had to do with what he was searching for. He made his way to the closest shelf with the wooden ladder and carried it to the shelf with his books.
Hurriedly, he climbed the ladder and his eyes started to travelled through the books. He finally settled for a bulky one. He returned to the ground and whispered, "the mating season."