Chapter 14

"Yes," I breathed, but I wasn't.
Throughout the journey, I fought my urge to vomit as I held on to Lucian until I discovered something. Inhaling Lucian's scent took the nausea away. Grabbing some strands of his hair I kept inhaling his spicy scent until we decided to take a break.
"Lincoln will bring us food." Lucian said as he sat next to me on a cliff while I was watching the sunrise.
It was my first time seeing the sun rise and it was the most beautiful sight. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Lucian watching me.
"Isn't it beautiful?" I nodded toward the sun.
"Very beautiful." He said but he was still looking at me as he said it.
I turned to him. "I am speaking of the sunrise, Lucian."
"I see nothing but you right now."
We just stared into each other's eyes unable to look away until we heard some guards speaking behind us.
Tearing my gaze from his, "Where are we going? What's your plan?" I asked.
"There is only one way out of this mess and to keep you safe. I will kill my brothers."
"But how? You brothers probably have a very high security now because they know they can be attacked any time. I am sure they are prepared for everything." I said.
"I don't know exactly how Hazel, but I will come up with something. First I need to take you to a safe place."
The thoughts of him leaving me and maybe not coming back sent shivers down my spine.
"No, " I said. "I don't want you to go."
"Hazel, I have to. We can't live running and hiding our whole life."
"But what if something happens to you?"
He smiled.
"Nothing will happen to me." He said cupping my face with one hand."I can't die now when I know the feeling of having your bare body in my arms."
His eyes burned into mine and heat crept to my face.
"Your Highness, I have brought some food and clothes." Lincoln interrupted us.
Lincoln brought us commoners clothes so that we wouldn't be recognized easily. We changed our clothes, ate some food and then continued our journey.
Leaving trees and empty lands behind, we came to the city. Getting off the horses we walked among common people till we came to a little village outside the city.
We stood in front of a white house with a brown roof. Lucian had told me that we would go to Lincoln's home, I guessed this was it.
Lincoln entered the house and after a while, he came out with a woman. She seemed to be in her late twenties or early thirties with blonde hair and brown eyes.
"This is my wife Malia, Malia this is His Highness Lucian and His wife Hazel." He introduced.
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness." She greeted. "Please come inside."
It was a small house but it was neet and looked comfortable. I could see Malia glancing at Lucian now and then looking surprised. From the way she looked at him, I knew she hadn't expected him to look the way he did. I couldn't blame her, I never thought he would look like this either before I got married to him.
Lucian and Lincoln spoke to Malia about me staying with her until they took care of things.
"Callum will also stay here in case anything happens," Lincoln explained and Malia nodded.
After giving us lunch Malia took us to a room.
"You have been traveling the whole night, I am sure you need rest." She smiled.
"Thank you." I said and she closed the door behind us.
The bedroom was small, at least for someone like me who was used to having very big bedrooms but it looked nice. To share such little space with Lucian brought butterflies to my stomach.
He had already made love to me but I was still behaving like an innocent girl. I needed to stop this.
Looking at Lucian, he was still utterly handsome even when wearing commoners clothes while I probably looked awful. He was wearing a pair of black boots, khaki trousers and a white shirt which he was taking off by now.
Looking at his body I remembered how shamelessly I had touched him without holding back. How smooth his skin had felt, how the muscles on his arms and back had twitched... and his strong neck, I had a sudden urge to place kisses down his neck.
"What are you thinking about wife?"
From the smug look on his face I guessed he knew what I was thinking about.
"Nothing." I blushed.
"And why would nothing make you blush?" He drawled crossing the distance between us.
"Can you hear my thoughts?" I asked.
"No, but I can hear your heart race, your breathing change and your temperature rise."
"You can hear my heartbeat?" I asked surprised.
"Yes, I have sharp senses."
"Oh..." I said trying to digest everything. "What else can you do?"
"I can speak inside your head."
I wasn't very surprised by that. I had heard his voice in my head before.
"What else?"
"I can control fire."
He had burned the men. It was him. "Now you are scared." He said.
"No, I am not."
He was quiet for awhile "Let's get some rest."



Lucian lay facing the other side and I wondered if he was angry with me.
"Are you angry with me?" I asked.
"Why would I be?"
"I don't know" I whispered.
He turned around facing me.
"I am not angry." He said his voice soft.
If he wasn't angry, there was something else he wasn't telling me.
"Will you hold me then while we rest?"
Without waiting he drew me into his arms and after a while, he fell asleep. I was very tired as well after being awake the whole night but I didn't want to sleep since Lucian would leave after we woke up I wanted to be awake and savor the feel of being in his arms. But I couldn't.
I kept repeating Irene's words in my head and it made my stomach twist in fear. What if something happened to Lucian? What if he never came back? Maybe I should have convinced him to marry Klara.
"You haven't slept?" Lucian asked surprised when he woke up.
"I wasn't very tired." I lied to no avail.
"Hazel, you don't need to worry. I will come back safe." He assured me.
Lucian's men gathered their horses outside, getting ready to leave. Lincoln was speaking to his wife, it looked like he was assuring her he would come back safe but she still looked worried. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and a reassuring smile. Surprisingly I had never seen him smile before. This was the first time and he looked like a different person.
By the way, where was Lucian? Looking around I found him stalking toward me. By the time I realized what he was about to do it was too late and he had already pressed his lips to mine, in front of everyone. On top of that it wasn't a light and quick kiss, but a long and passionate one that knocked all air out of my lungs.
He drew back, a smirk on his face. What was that for?
"This is for slapping me, wife."
Embarrassed I looked around and everyone looked away quickly. I wished the earth could open up and swallow me and I glared at Lucian accusingly.
He laughed. "Do you still want me to come back?"
"Yes. How can I pay you back otherwise?" I said.
"I look forward to that." He smirked.
Placing a kiss on my forehead, "I will be back wife." He said then rode off with his men.
It has been a week since Lucian left and for every day that went by I got more and more worried. I couldn't live on like this, the anxiety was eating me alive.
"My Lady, You haven't been eating well lately." Malia pointed. "You should eat something."
"I am fine." I said. She looked at me skeptically.
Suddenly the door flew open and Callum stood there breathless.
"My lady, we need to leave now." He said.
"Why? What happened?" I asked standing up.
"I saw some guards with drawings of you and his highness asking the villagers if they saw you. Soon enough they will find us if we don't leave."
"Oh lord," Malia said. "We should hurry then."
Only grabbing a few important things we left the house. I sat behind Callum on the horse while Malia rode on her own. Even she could ride, why couldn't I?
Well, I had my father to thank for all the things I couldn't do.
When we thought we had come far enough we stopped.
"What now?" Malia asked confused.
"I really don't know." Callum said with a frown. "Maybe we should go to my house."
"No! I have already put Malia in danger I don't want your family to be in danger as well." I said.
"Thank you for your concern My Lady, but protecting you is my priority. Besides we can't stay here for long they will find us."
He was right but it didn't take the guilt away. We continued riding but realized that we were surrounded as every road we tried to take was blocked.
"We are trapped." Callum said.
"Malia, you should leave. They don't want you anyways." I said.
"But how can I leave you My Lady?"
"Just do what I say, we don't have time." I ordered.
"Yes, you should leave Malia. They won't recognize you as long as you are not with us. Besides if you leave you can bring us help." Callum suggested.
She hesitated for a while but quickly rode away when we heard men with their horses nearing.
"They are here, catch them." I heard someone yell.
Callum took his sword out ready to fight.
"Don't." I said. He looked at me confused.
"But My Lady..."
"I will take care of this." I interrupted him. I didn't want him to fight because he would probably lose. They were just too many, he wouldn't be able to fight all of them.
The men surrounded us with their horses. One of them got off the horse and approached us.
His gaze moved over me then he smirked.
"Our little princess is wearing rags I see." He smirked. "What happened?" He asked mockingly and then his men laughed.
His gaze moved over to Callum.
"I only need the princess alive. I think your time on earth has come to an end old friend." He told Callum with a faked sad expression.
Callum stood in the same place his expression unwavering.
"There is no need to pretend to be brave when you are going to die. Why can't you beg for your life while you can?"
"You won't kill him." I said.
The man looked at me then laughed.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I will make sure to remember your face and tell my husband to kill you in the most painful way." I said.
He laughed again.
"That's only if he finds me, little princess." He said.
"Oh, he will. The devil finds its way everywhere. By now he is probably on his way while planning your death and everyone's here."
I could see that he got a bit scared. It was working.
"You fear the crown prince?" I asked speaking louder to everyone. "Well, then you fear the wrong person. The worst prince Pierre can do is kill you, but prince Lucian will torture you, kill you and then torture you again in hell, because trust me none of you is going to heaven." I threatened.
They looked at each other hesitantly for a while.
"What are you waiting for." Their commander yelled. "Tie them up!"



They threw us into a cellar with our hands tied behind our back.
"Don't touch the Lady. The crown prince wants her untouched." Their commander told the men. His gaze shifted to Callum.
"You can do whatever you want with him." He said and left.
The two men that were left with us walked toward Callum with a smug look on their faces.
"Leave him alone if you care to live." I told them.
Turning their head they looked at me.
"You can't kill me because the crown prince wants me alive. Before you take me to him Lucian will already be here and if he finds that one of his men is dead or hurt he won't be happy." I said with conviction in my voice. "I don't think you have seen him unhappy, have you?"
They looked at each other, one of them clearly more scared than the other.
"Trust me you don't want to see him like that?" I added.
"That's only rumors. Don't try and scare us, Lady." One of them said.
"Rumors?" I laughed. " There is no smoke without fire and oh...you should be scared. No one wants to be burned alive."
Now they were clearly scared. It was visible in their eyes.
"By tonight Lucian will already be here. Think about it. If you want to live you will let us go and I will spare your lives, and maybe even tell my husband to make you join his army. And if you want to die, well then ask God for forgiveness because if you go to hell..." I shook my head "Lucian will enjoy torturing you for eternity."
Their gazes shifted between me and Callum in confusion then they decided to leave us alone.
"My Lady, You are very clever," Callum said once they left.
"Not clever enough though. They didn't let us go."
"They will." He said.
"How do you know?"
"They were very afraid and as time goes by their fear will grow."
"I hope so." I sighed.
After sitting in the cellar for so long I got cramp in my legs and my stomach growled. Callum looked at me wearing an apologetic look on his face.
"I am alright." I assured him.
Soon after, we heard the fumbling of keys and the door to the cellar opened. The two scared soldiers entered still looking afraid.
Without a word, they began to untie our hands.
"Let's go." One of them whispered. "The men are drinking outside. Most of them are intoxicated so we can leave if we are very quiet." He explained.
He was right. As we made our way out we could hear their loud voices and laughter as they sat around a fire. Without them noticing we snuck into the woods and began to run as fast as we could.
We kept running until I couldn't anymore.
"My Lady, are you alright?" Callum asked when I stopped.
"Yes, I just need to breathe a moment," I said breathless, but the truth was my legs were hurting so much after sitting for a long time and I didn't have energy since I hadn't eaten the whole day.
"We have to continue." One of the men said. "They have horses they can easily come after us."
As soon as he finished the sentence Callum slit both their throats letting their bodies fall to the ground.
"Callum?" I breathed shocked.
"They betrayed their prince." He stated simply. "We should keep moving."
Taking their weapons we continued to run.
I don't know how long we have been running or walking but my legs were hurting so much, my throat was so dry and my head began to spin. But I continued walking in spite of all that. If I wanted to live, if I wanted to see Lucian again I had to keep moving.
Eventually, as I kept walking my legs gave in and everything went black.
I woke up from someone splashing water on my face. I opened my eyes with a groan.
"My Lady, drink this." Callum said holding a bottle of water next to my mouth.
I gulped the water down quickly.
"Where are we?"
We were surrounded by trees and there was a small lake to the left.
"Unfortunately not far away."
"Then we should go." I said standing up abruptly which led to me losing my balance.
Before I fell Callum caught me. "I don't think you can walk My Lady. Your leg is swollen."
"Of course I can w..." I shrieked in pain as I shifted my weight on my left leg.
"Sit down." Callum urged helping me.
"But we can't just be sitting here." I protested. It was already morning and he had said that we hadn't come far. "I will try to walk."
"There is no point in that." He said calmly. "We are surrounded. I tried to find a way out but they are everywhere right now."
"Then what should we do?" I asked.
"It's too late to do anything, My Lady. We were from the beginning fighting a war we would lose anyway. Even if we escape this time, how many more times will we be able to escape? Sooner or later they will find us." He looked at me narrowing his gaze. "We all will die My Lady."
The calmness in which he spoke told me that he had expected all this to happen and that he had accepted it.
"Callum, you should leave me here. At Least alone I am sure you can escape."
"No my lady I cannot do that."
"Think about your family, they need you. I will be fine, they won't kill me. Their prince wants me alive."
"No, I..." He stopped as we heard the sound of horses and men.
"Look for them everywhere!" A man yelled.
Callum looked around quickly trying to find a place for us to hide but unfortunately we were only surrounded by trees and hiding behind them wouldn't help.
"My Lady, I will distract them and lead them that way. You endure the pain and run that way." He whispered pointing in different directions.
I nodded and tried to do as he said but the pain in my leg was excruciating. I tried my best to ignore the pain and limped my way to the opposite direction of where Callum went.
"Someone is there!" I heard a man yell and then the clinking of swords. Would Callum be able to fight all those men?
I felt like a coward leaving him behind and contemplated for a while to go back. But how would I be able to help him? I could barely walk.
"There she is! Catch her!"
Oh no, they found me. Maybe it was for the better I thought since I couldn't decide whether to leave Callum behind or not.
"Don't move lady, there is no point." The soldier who was approaching me warned.
If he only knew how painful it was for me to move he wouldn't have said that.
He grabbed my arm harshly and was about to drag me when something caught his attention. I turned my head to see what was going on and then saw soldiers fighting someone wearing a helmet. The helmet man moved smoothly cutting and killing with his sword.
"Who is that? Kill him!" The soldier who held me yelled but unfortunately, the soldiers had a hard time killing the man with the helmet on and they all soon fell to the ground.
The man holding me pushed me away causing me to fall and then went to fight the helmet man. After a short while, he fell dead to the ground as well.
The helmet man put his sword back and looked my way. Whoever he was, he was skilled even though he didn't look strong.
Stalking toward me he took his helmet off.
I gasped.
"Klara!"
She smirked. "Who did you think it was?"
I just looked at her astonished for a while. "Will you just stare at me or stand up?" She asked.
I stood up grimacing in pain. "What are you doing here? How did you find me? Why did you save me?"
Ignoring my questions she whistled and a black horse came galloping toward us.
"We need to leave quickly." She said.
"But Callum..." I began
"It's his duty to protect you and not the other way round. Now hurry!"



Klara made me wear dirty torn clothes, she put mud on my face and hair and tied my hands.
"If you look like a beggar no one will ever suspect you are a princess." She explained.
I was angry at first. Was she making fun of me? But as we passed many guards and none of them even looked our way I guessed she was right. It must really have looked like I was a slave bought by her from the way she rode her horse and I was being dragged behind with my hands tied. I still hated her for this, but I had to admit she was smart and she was helping me.
Once we passed the guarded place we stopped near a lake and she gave me something to eat. I had never been so hungry in my life before so I ate the sandwich quickly.
"What happened to your leg?"
"I really don't know. I think it's swollen from all the sitting and walking or maybe I wrenched it." I explained.
She just nodded and looked away.
"Why did you save me?" I asked.
"I promised Lucian to protect you the way he would." She said, "Even though that was when we were supposed to get married."
"You saved me to keep a promise you made to Lucian?" I asked surprised.
"I am stupid, I know."
"You love him very much." I said more to myself than her.
She truly did love him. I tried to deny that for a long time but it was a fact. She had helped us escape and she saved my life because she knew it did matter to Lucian.
"Don't worry, I am not here to take him away from you. Now sleep for a while so we can keep going."
Klara watched Hazel while asleep. She really tried to dislike this woman but why couldn't she. This woman had taken away the man she loved, the only man has ever loved so why didn't she hate her?
Maybe because she knew deep down it wasn't Hazels fault. She had been forced into marrying Lucian, it wasn't her choice.
Sighing Klara lay down on the ground and tried to find some sleep but her thoughts went back to the time she first met Lucian
.
"Klara, you won't participate in this war. It's final." Rasmus said.
"But why?"
"Sweet sister. We are fighting against the most powerful kingdom and their armies leader is the seventh prince. He has never lost a war before."
She had heard of the seventh prince of Decresh, the prince rumored to be the devil's son. He kills without mercy and always goes back home with a victory.
"Brother, I can't stay just because we might lose. What will that make me? A coward?"
Rasmus sighed in frustration.
"Astrid! Please knock some sense into your sister." He said standing up and leaving the room.
Klara glanced at her sister giving her a don't even try' look.
"If you want to die why don't you just jump off the window." Astrid said sipping her tea.
"And what makes you think I will die?" Klara asked.
"No one survives a war against the seventh prince."
"So we are basically sending our men to die? That's not right sister. That's why I need to go." Klara insisted.
Astrid stood up from her seat "Klara you care too much about other people and I care too much about you to send you to die."
Klara took her sisters hands in hers. "I won't die sister, how many wars have I survived? Just please convince brother to let me go. Please, please." She begged.
Astrid sighed. "Alright, but I will train you to death before you go."
"Thank you, sister." She said and gave Astrid a peck on the cheek.
Klara spent the rest of her days before the war training and coming up with new war strategies. She was determined to win and bring her men back home alive, and whoever this seventh prince was she wanted to defeat him.
"Are you sure you want to go?" Astrid asked when the day had come.
"Yes." Klara said without hesitation. She was a warrior and a warrior would rather die in a battle than hide.
"Be careful," Astrid said. They said their goodbyes and she left to fight.
Klara led her men to the battlefield where they stood face to face with their enemies. She was surprised to find that the enemies army wasn't large, but they didn't seem intimidated by their large army and began to attack directly.
She had fought many battles before but this time she got a very bad feeling. She could smell sweat, blood, and death. But she could also smell defeat. Most of her men were already dead, while most of the enemies men were alive. How was that possible? They had trained and planned so much.
Klara was confused until her eyes landed on a man wearing a mask. But that was not what caught her attention. He was fighting with two swords, swinging them swiftly as if they didn't weight anything. His movements were too fast, giving his opponents no time to defend or attack. Bodies kept falling dead to the ground as he moved between them with such ease aiming for his next target. It was as if he wasn't even making an effort.
The very short amount of time Klara was watching him he had already killed almost twenty of her men. He had to be the seventh prince Klara thought. She needed to kill him first.
Killing off the man she was fighting with she moved toward him tightening the grip on her sword.
Lifting her weapon into the air she was about to strike him when he suddenly turned and knocked the sword out of her hand with such force she fell to the ground. She was about to take her other sword out when she felt the sharp tip of a sword placed on her throat.
With heart pounding, she slowly lifted her head up and found a pair of unearthly eyes staring down at her. Eyes that seemed to be burning burned into hers making her breath hitch and her heart stop.
"Your Highness, we have killed everyone." A man spoke from nearby but Klara couldn't take her eyes off the man standing in front of her.
The prince didn't respond, he just stared down at her. He was wearing a mask that only hid his lower face. Klara could see his perfectly shaped eyebrows and his silky black hair.
"Who is she?" The man asked.
The prince removed his sword from her throat his eyes narrowing.
Klara felt small under his scrutiny. There was just something very powerful about his presence that sent chills down her spine. She was usually the type to fight to the end but her limbs refused to move. It scared her that he was holding her in place with just a look.
"She is the kings' sister." Another soldier spoke and Klara realized she was surrounded by a bunch of soldiers who were her enemies.
Oh, no! Panic kicked in. They knew she was the Kings' sister. They wouldn't just kill her, they would probably **** her, torture her then kill her.
"She looks very young, Your Highness." The previous soldier whispered into the prince's ear.
The prince nodded toward his men then turned around and left. Klara panicked. Did he just give them permission to have their way with her? Never!
Taking her sword out she decided to fight them to death. But they outnumbered her, pushing her down on the ground they tied her up. Klara screamed and kicked but to no avail.
Throwing her on a horse they rode off with her to god knew where. As they arrived at some unknown place they pushed her off the horse and she fell to the ground.
"Bastards!" She snarled.
They just laughed as they got off their horses.
"She is a tough one." One of them said and the others nodded in agreement.
Klara looked around and realized they brought her to their camping place. Some of them were tending to their wounds, some cleaning themselves while other ate food.
No one even looked at her as if she didn't exist. Klara didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing. Anyways now she needed to think of a way out. Maybe if she made an agreement or a bargain with the prince she could go home unharmed even though she doubted that.
Just the idea of speaking to the prince sent chills down her spine, but she needed to do something before these men violated her.
"What do you want from me?" she asked but they continued ignoring her.
"I am talking to you." She yelled, still no reaction.
"I want to speak to the prince." Finally, she caught their attention.
"Nobody cares about what you want here," One of them replied.
"You will when I separate your head from your body." Klara snapped.
The men laughed then stopped abruptly.
"Your Highness." Turning her head she found the prince standing there. "The lady wants to speak to you."