Our eyes interlock together as a gentle wind breezed by, with the sun shifting its horizon, a ray of sunlight kissed her cheek, illuminating the glow of her warm brown skin. Her royal pink dress cladded snugly on her body, outlining her voluptuous figure. I'm frozen, claimed by her ethereal beauty, unblinking, with a raging thump in my chest, and when her lips curled to a smile, she stole the last of my breath, immobilizing me in the process.

"I have been looking for you." She says to me. A star flicks in the corner of her eyes.

I'm lost in the moment of this tranquility yet again and my eyes cloud, involuntarily nodding as the corners of my lips curl in attempt to blink out of the fascination and restore my composure. Here I am standing before her in disarray, my dress suit ditched, and my dress shirt rolled up to my elbows, displaying the grisly scars and tattoos adorned on my skin.

I swallow gravely, ridding the smile that crept up. My head lowers and I discreetly try to unfold the sleeve from my arm. The feel of her eyes burns at the top of my head, and I could tell she was surveying the designs.

"I spoke with my husband," I hear her say, the hairs on my nape erect and I was slapped by a sharp chill at the word 'Husband.' I needed no more reminders that she is forever bounded to someone like Gunter. as disgusted as I was, I will always give her my full attention, and I do exactly that, peering up to her eyes again.

She adjusts her shoulders, raising her chin up with authority. "I am now the Queen, and my word is law. And with my word, you are free to speak, communication is a big requirement. Especially since it is you that I trust more to guard my life."

I couldn't help but be proud. Mentally applauding the woman that stands before me, raking my eyes down her body brazenly, reminiscing the old times.

She catches my eyes, and parts her lips before shying away. If only she could see the little boy jumping happily in me, or the thoughts that spiral in my mind.

The serenity returns once more and this time I don't hide the smile I have been dying to display, she is cautious, unable to hold my eyes for too long and continuously glanced away when her eyes deadpanned on my arm, reading one of the markings drawn onto my skin when the gaze was suddenly cut.

A movement on this inside of the royal shed behind me there were sounds of movement on the inside of the shed and cuts short, her eyes float aside me, trying to look beyond my larger frame. I stepped aside, allowing her to look wherever she pleased.

As she looked into the dark of the shed, angling her head just a tad bit to peer past my larger frame. At first, I'm hesitant, a part of my brain swirls with unease. But I will never be in her way.

I step aside just an inch, displaying the dark shed within and my eyes keen on hers, when I watch her smile slowly fade. My brows crease and I follow her gaze. Standing just at the center of the woodened floor, Charlotte with a smile. Starstruck and frozen as she has finally come face to face with the Queen.

Stars dance in all corners of her cerulean orbs, and her fair skin blushes. A moment Charlottes has truly longed for ever since we were little, to meet the queen. Unfortunately, back than in the castle that day Princess Tiana was sent away, leaving her vision a mystery. But now today, the queen stands before us and Charlotte beams with joy.

Gently striding over until she stands right in front of me and before Tiana, light tears brim her eyes, as her smile cements itself on her rosy lips. "My Queen." She bows, the exhilaration flows from her breath. And as her head lowers, droplets of tears fall onto the wood of the ground, after all these years she was still that cheery little girl on the inside, despite the danger that lurks behind her beauty.

But as my eyes float over, there was a look in Tiana's eyes I couldn't decipher, as I glimpsed over to her. A somber look as she gazes apathetically at Charlotte before she looks back up at me, the once beaming smile I saw seconds before was gone and now she looks at me with a heavy hostility. Her eyes sharpened. And for a moment of what felt like looking at the malice in her eyes, it felt like I was impaled with daggers.

"It is an honor to meet you, my queen." The strands of her golden hang loosely on Charlottes face as she realigns her stance. "I have been wanting to meet you for a very long time."

As Charlotte rejoices in Tiana's presence, speaking away in wonderment. And far too starstruck to notice the dark glare of Tiana's eyes abhorrently raking Charlottes physique. Words fight to break from my mouth and come to Charlottes defense, but I kept getting tongue tied by the formidable demeanor she exudes, towards me.

Charlotte rambles on in the background, never paying mind to the fiddly tension between me and Tiana before her. Ray's silence finally breaks, and his footsteps are heard moving towards the scene in the background. His presence emerged, and since he stands almost at my height, Tiana's eyes flick to him just right above Charlottes head.

Childishly he nudges Charlotte to the side, taking her place before the queen. He now stands to her face to face but knelt with his head bowed. "My Queen." he exhales.

Confusion etched itself on Tiana's face as she creased her brows, flickering over from me, Charlotte and now Ray.

I held my tongue for too long, and my silence became burdening. "Please forgive me my Queen." I finally spoke, garnering her full attention. With her eyes widened to saucers. "Please allow me a moment to recollect myself and put on my dress suit."

By the gleam in her eyes, the sound of my voice sent a shiver down her spine, she takes the moment to exhale the air in her lungs with her mouth parted. I had some effect on her, I can tell by the tip of her red nose. Reminding me of the blooming lilies that sprung near my old home as a child.

She nods to me, and I bow my head, not before glancing over to a moving figure near the house. In the bottom window, Gunter is seated on a chair and before him was Kristoff spouting something, the foam in his mouth symbolized the vexation, his mouth moves to sloppy for me to read the words.

"Please pay him no mind." she says to me. For the seconds I lingered away, she must have followed my gaze. "Gather your things, there are some stuffs around this land I would like for you to see and familiarize."

"Yes, my queen."

A few maids gather behind her, following closely as she makes her way back to the castle. The rhythm of her backside moved liked rippling waters as her hips swayed, and my tongue breaks from my jaw. Hungrily grazing it against my lips, humming to myself as I watch the view.

As the door of the shed slightly closes, Charlotte still remained at the center, ever so captivated by the sight. "Omg," she squeals, "She is so beautiful."

I smirk, heading over to my folded dress suit hung at the back my chair. The mini bottle of poison was displaced, out of sight for Tiana and Ray come aside me to deliver it from his pocket.

"Keep it," I say, only sparing the jar a simple glance. "Run more tests and get back to me."

"Yes sir." He replied.

"Charlotte." I call out to her in the midst of her fangirling. "Ray." At the grave sound of my voice the squeals disperse, and both turn to me in awareness. "There is a visitor inside the castle -" Th tension shifts and I watch in my peripherals as the both of them divert their eyes over to the window, while I dress myself and button down my suit. "I want to talk to him, before he leaves these grounds." My voice drawls, darkly.

And with the understanding of my meaning, the both of them nod lightly. "Yes, sir."

***

Leaves crunch under my dress shoes as I made my way back into the castle, immediately greeted by a few guards aligned at the door, forming a row of six on each side opposite of one another. And at the end, was Patrick surveying each form.

"The Queen awaits you by the river young Nasir." He says, not sparing me a glance as he aligns a hat on one of the guards.

I nodded, rounding behind the guards for a clearer path.

"And in the future, the Queen is to never go and fetch her bodyguard. Remember she is watched for any minor mishap. Be mindful going forward."

I don't turn back, mindful of his words as I paused in the middle of the hall. Even if she dismissed me from the dining table, beside her is where I should have been or at least close in enough. Noted.

The sounds of my heels click onto the golden floors, the hallways are vacant, there was no sound or any passing figures. I flick my gaze up to the top of the second floor, observing for anything out of the ordinary, or maybe a scuffle. But strangely everything is quiet.

The back of the castle is seen as I pass by a few maids, and as I rounded the corner, my breath hitched.

Standing just before the pond in her Royal gown she bloomed like a sunflower. I watch her backside as she twirls her pink gown, crouching down as she throws some food over the swans that float by, she doesn't even look at me and as always, the sight of her liquifies me. My attention is locked, and I wasn't mindful of where I stepped, and my chest collided with another.

"Oh, my word, my King, are you alright?" Kristoff says as he looked over to Gunter with a dubious expression.

"Yes," he replies gravely.

"Watch where you step you scoundrel." Kristoff angrily spouts at me. The cane that holds him up wiggles reverently, almost as if speaking was a strain to him.

My patience with him was thinning very quickly and I clenched my jaw tightening my fists. First, he insults Tiana before me and now he speaks to me as if I was dog.

"Back in my day I would have hanged-" he was cut off by Gunters hand.

"Go ahead Sir Kristoff, I will catch up to you momentarily."

There was a pause, but no argument. And as he complied walking past me, he throws chains of words before his voice fades. Leaving me and Gunter to stand face to face, with Tiana's moving figure outdoor.

There was an Animus look in Gunter's eyes, but it was layered underneath the blue and his smile was plastic. A silence settles between us two, but neither of us falter our dark gazes, he suddenly whistles before smirking, flicking his gaze over to Tiana out in the backyard of the palace. "I grant you permission to speak to my wife." He speaks, without looking back to me.

I grunt, swallowing the words that threaten to spew.

"I grant you every permission you need," he turns back to me, and I crease my brows. There was something dark swirling in his eyes, now pooling around the rims of his pupils, I could not see Gunter but saw someone much darker. "Rekindle with your long-lost love, little brother, laugh, play. Make yourself known. And spread her wide." He dips to my ear and whispers. "Just like I did last night."

My lip twitched, and my fingers itched to break his jaw.

"Just remember, little brother. Would you really condemn your childhood lover to a fate such as death when you yourself have been grazed by bullets hmm?"

My stoicism wavers, his words carry weight, and they rest on my shoulders. Seeing the rise and fall of my chest Gunter chuckles. "And another thing, how would your Queen feel, knowing your sleeping with other concubines.

My silence spoke volumes, and he Uses his shoulder to shove right past me, leaving me to stare ahead blankly as a few maids past by my brooding mood, in fear.

The nerves in me scorch like lava, but I hide my demeanor behind a smirk and looked up to the Queen swaying her dress in the garden. Calmly I collect myself, huffing out the steam left in my system until I gathered my composure, I have kept her waiting for too long, and I make way out to her.

I was noticed by a maid near the door, and she glides it open for me, rays of the sun beat down on my skin, but my warmth was being in her presence again. The swans float away with her babies as I approached, my reflection is visible in the water below me and Tiana's eyes glided to it before turning to look at me.

"Forgive me my queen, I hope I have not kept you waiting for too long."

Her face softens just as a breeze blew through the strands of her hair, and she smiles warningly to my presence. "Not at all, I was anticipating your arrival."

I extended my palm down to her and she looks down to it balmily before sliding her softer one to mine, with the grip of our fingers was a sharp electric zap and both our lips parted. Our eyes never blinked, even as she rose to her full height.

"I don't know when I'll be able to let this go." She says delicately, the breeze carries her sound to me, and they kiss my ears, my lips are inches from her forehead. "How much I see my past in your eyes." her voice is laden with ache.

My fingers around hers jerked and the feel of the tattoo sparked, I look away, too tempted by the look in her eyes to soothe her sorrow. The confliction that dwells inside me never retires form debating, whether or not I should tell her, and how much time do I have before she ever looks at me like this again. Due to the occasion at the ball, the massacre was shelved, giving me a chance, but it won't last long.