The Talamute Prince
Chapter 22

The hand maids were still gone which is a relief as I ate in almost complete silence. There were still guards posted outside of my room beneath the balcony. Knowing they were out of sight I pulled the small clear panel out of my dress and set it on the vanity as I cleaned myself up from the grease the boy was covered in. I moved the curtains and peek out into the garden. My mind wondered to the Talamute that had somehow infiltrated the castle and found his way directly to me in the hologram room. I feel my lips tingle at the thought of his kiss.

I turn around walking over to my dresses dropping the dirty one to the floor and rummaging through the sun dresses I had made on the ship for one to replace it. I'm completely unaware that I'm in fact not alone at all. I pull a yellow one down and slide into it turning then to the sink so that I could wash the grease from my skin as well. That is when I noticed the shower is closed. I always leave it open when I'm not in it and the fact that it's closed makes me nervous. I look at it as I slowly walk forward. My breath quickens as I moved my hand up slowly preparing to open it. I'm shaking as I do, I take a deep breath trying to calm myself as I jerk the door open. I'm bombarded once again with the purple flowers as they fell by the hundreds out of the closed shower.

"Permintia." I turn quickly to see him looking at me from the balcony.

"You've got to stop doing that. How long have you been there?" I ask him with a blush rising to my cheeks. His devious smile seems less then comforting.

"Long enough to see a goddess in her flesh." I turn away quickly tucking my face into my hands.

"You're very beautiful." I peek seeing him stepping into the room. I don't uncover my face.

"You shouldn't be here. Do you have a death wish?" I ask. His steps stop at the foot of my bed and through the cracks in my fingers I watch him. "A scream is all it would take to attract more attention then you seek." It's a hollow threat. He steps closer to me as he studies the layout of my room pretending not to have heard me.

"You're embarrassed." He grips my hands moving them from my face. "You shouldn't be." I stare at him in awe at his fearlessness.

"You need to leave before someone comes." I put out my hand to stop his advancement, but he just keeps moving closer till my hand is pressed firmly on his bare, marked chest.

"It's the most beautiful nontoxic flower from the planet surface. An astonishing flower that means more to my people than just a gift to a beautiful woman." That is why the man said it when he saw me in the throne room, he was looking at the flower I had put in my hair. He knew what the true intentions of this gift meant. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"What does that mean?" I ask. He picks one up from the floor and places it in my hair just behind my ear.

"It means that I feel a bond between us, one that no magic, nor false presentation of love can explain." My hand still firm on his bare chest as his muscles flex beneath my soft skin. There is some sort of spark or charge that seems to travel between us as he stares at me in a way I've never seen before. It was not the same lustful glare I received from Patrick, but something different, something alluring. He leans into me, but I keep my elbow locked to keep him away.

"Why do you keep bringing them to me? Why do you risk so much to come to see me?" He just smiles as I look at him. He is amazing, hypnotic, and somehow, I felt safer with him then with Patrick. Hearing a noise outside of my door I turn, looking at it, and then turn back. He steps quickly through the curtains and he is gone. I quickly shove the flowers back into the shower to hide them from whoever might be coming in my room. It took a few moments, so I was glad that it was just the servants coming for my lunch tray. They didn't enter until I allowed them to.

"Was everything to your liking your majesty?" The servant asks.

"Absolutely delicious." She bows as she leaves. I've noticed that mostly women are servants here. I'm not sure if it's just for me or if it was for everyone but it bothered me a bit. I knew my father had males that attended to him, but somehow, I did see that with Patrick. I shake it off as I stare at the shower filled with flowers.

"Oh, Laoonica you're here. Forgive me I thought you would be exploring." Tasha bows her head lowering her eyes to the floor. It's the first time seeing her face after what I witnessed in the room above us. There is a handprint across her right cheek and her lip is busted.

"Patrick should never have hit you. He's not exactly what he pretends to be is he?" Her eyes widen and tears began to fall. I step forward and gently place my hand on her cheek. I focus all my energy on healing her. It works of course, but creation always drains me more than chaos and she must catch me and guide me safely to the floor.

"If he finds out you saw our conversation, he won't be happy." she holds me from completely laying on the ground.

"Then we won't tell your cousin I saw anything." she closes her eyes for a moment then wipes a tear from her eye.

"Why are you so much kinder than these people?" She opens her eyes looking deeply into mine.

"I'm just as much a prisoner here as everyone else. Besides, fear-based rulers don't have their peoples respect and sooner or later someone will rise against them." she reaches up feeling the side of her mouth.

"I can sit in my own if you want to look." She releases me and walks to the mirror. She looks at her face where he had hit her thoroughly seeing it completely gone.

"I didn't know you could do that." Tasha turns towards the shower seeing the flowers stuffed in it.

"Do you want me to get rid of them?" She asks. She walks over and cracks the door not allowing any to fall onto the floor.

"He keeps bringing them to me. He says they are gifts. He says he feels a bound." I felt a connection, but I wouldn't admit it. It was nothing more than a curiosity of things I've never seen.

"I was brought here when I was very young so I couldn't tell you what he means by it. I don't know much about him. My father has snuck in the city more than a few times and the last time he was caught the prior king made it to where I could go visit to serve as an ambassador, but I haven't learned everything about them yet. Patrick took that from him. I'm sorry I've said to much." She starts to quickly walk out the door.

"Tasha, please, I know Patrick frightens you, but I want to hear this. I want to know anything you can tell me about the Talamute." She pauses as she reaches for the handle on the door.

"I'm sorry, Laoonica, I can't. I've told you enough that he would punish me in a way I can't handle. Enjoy your day." She left. I sit on the floor trying to get my energy to come back but that's not happening. I just let myself lay on the floor and closed my eyes.

"Laoonica." I'm standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room. I've never seen anything like it. The walls look like they were carved out of the inside of a huge tree. There wasn't anyone in the room but the furniture.

"Father?" I turn around but I don't see anything. I turn and see a hallway that leads to a double door carved from the wood as well. I pull the doors wide open and see a forest of humongous trees surrounding me. I look straight up to see a flash of light in the canopy then I'm suddenly standing under Raspacity.

"You are in great danger, my child." I turn to see my father walking toward me. His normally smiling face is drooping.

"What do you mean?" He places his hand on my cheek as he kisses my forehead.

"What you seek is here, but what's up there won't let you go so easily my child." I stare up at him pulling his hand away and turning around for a moment.

"You told me to come here. You said I had to go forward to find what I wanted, why did you send me here if it would put me in danger?" I'm yelling as I turn back to face him.

"You want control it is in the forests of Talamute, but as I said Patrick isn't going to just let you go and I fear what he will do will trap you in a way that will cause pain with either choice you will make." I feel tears forming with the mixture of emotions behind it.

"Always riddles, what will happen tell me." I ball up my fist at this point I just want answers and even though seeing his face relieves my heart a bit but never understanding his warnings was annoying.

"I'm not allowed to give you more. For now, it's to protect you. If I make sense to you in your dream it isn't your dream at all." That's the first riddle that I think I understand. They had used the fact that I was having dreams of the dead to trick me into believing my father had given me his blessing. I guess if the important warnings were confusing it guaranteed this was real. I stare at the bottom of the city then I'm flashed back to the inside of the tree, but a different part. My eyes widen and my jaw drops as I see a statue in the center of the room, I'm in. It reaches from the floor to the ceiling and appears to be carved from the core of the tree. This fact isn't why I feel tingly all over. The statue looks just like me. I sit up wide awake, it takes a moment to realize I'm no longer in the floor.

"How did I get here?" I ask pulling my blanket from over me.

"Tasha came and got us, she said you were weak from healing the bruises from..." Marcy didn't continue her sentence but she really didn't have to. I move my legs to the side of the bed and stare over to the dresser. My heart drops for a split second when I remember I set the panel over there in the open, but it remains untouched as far as I can tell. My head isn't spinning anymore, so I get to my feet.

"Dinner will be ready soon Laoonica. We should dress you, this red one is very pretty." Heather pulls out the dress Melena had worn at my wedding. I sighed but with the warning in my dream I thought it might be better if I just went with it. I took the panel off the table and slide it between my mattresses while Heather and Marcy readied everything. Tasha walked in the room and bowed but didn't say anything. I guess she truly was terrified of Patrick and his anger. Now that I got the warning from my father I was as well. I wasn't sure what he would do if I went to the surface but I'm sure it would be terrible, so if he doesn't attack me, I'll stay to protect everyone else. I see the flowers still in the shower.

'Patrick would have never left you leave, and even if he pretended to, he would have found a way to force you to be around him anyway until he made you agree to come here.' I think to myself as I stare at the flower. His insistence of being near me, of bringing me gifts only left me with more questions than answers. I wanted answers from someone. I'll have a peek at the panel after dinner when the maids are distracted with their chores. I would find a way to get to the prisoner he would know everything I wanted to about the prince of the Talamute and what he truly wanted from me.

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