I awake with a gasp. Flinging my frame upwards in an attempt to gather my breathing, my body violently trembling as If I awakened from a frightening nightmare. I glare around in confusion, frantically flicking my eyes to every corner of the dark room until slender arms reach around me to hold my body steady as I still have not come in tune with my current reality.

"My queen please calm down, please calm down." I hear the delicate voice of a woman, her voice ladened with an urgency. "You are alright, you are ok." she beckons.

I trembled in her arms, but I stopped hurling around, finally coming in tune by a putrid stench of rust and vinegar looming in the air. In her embrace I huff and puff until my sprinting heart rate begin to settle, and I peer around yet again to the room. Everything all around me was unfamiliar, some objects were hidden in dark, but it was hard to breath with the humid heat. Old decorum's were hanging on the walls against the decaying pain of brown, and I narrow my head down to a little brown dog that wagged its tail upon seeing me.

As I realized I was still nuzzled in a gentle grip, I peer over to the grey eyes of a beautiful young lady, brown strands of her hair disheveled with heavy bags under her eyes. "You are alright." She assures me. "Please lay down."

She attempts to lay me down, but I stiffen as a sharp pain sliced at the side of my brain, leaving a blinding headache in the wake. "What happened?" I groaned weakly, peering around to the room yet again as I put the puzzle piece of moments prior together in my head.

The eyes of the woman softened, and as she saw I was not going to budge, she gently backs away, interlocked her slender fingers together and bows her head. "I am so sorry my queen, for earlier you were almost struck by a bullet."

My heart plummeted. "What?" I beckoned; my eyes nearly shoot from my sockets as the memory slowly return.

"There was a man -"

"Please raise your head," I intruded. "Raise it and look at me."

And she complies, with tears brimming the lids of her eyes as she repeats, "A homeless man attempted to kill you with a gun, my queen."

As my nerves scorched a memory soon clears, I remember the man she speaks of, the one with the hollow eyes, and unkempt hair. Shivers race down my spine as I reminisced the look in his eyes as he roared like a demon before pulling the trigger, and as the pieces came together, a detrimental one cleared.

"Where is my bodyguard?!"

Before she could respond, there was a guttural groan in a room nearby. My breath escapes my lungs listening to the low cry of agony, and I try and descend down the soft cushioned bed I laid upon.

"My queen, please wait you are on medication." The young woman dashed before me in an attempt to stop me.

Her words go in one ear and out the other, all I wanted now was to go and tend to the man in the other room, my heart soaring with distress and my eyes begin to water. He lives. He saved my life and lived.

Seeing as how her words fell flat to me, she attempts to aid me by helping me step down, using her slender hands to gently grip my arm until I was up on my feet. And as soon as my back aligns, a nauseating feel overtook me. As if the world itself spun out of controllably, my mind spins as stars danced around my eyes.

"Please be careful my queen." The woman's voice was distorted, but close.

Dark colors swirl around me as sweat begin to build on my temple, but I was determined to be beside him. If I was not already too late. With the young woman at my side, I gently take steps with my eyes keen at the door, but I witness than the knob twists and a blurry figure emerged from the other side. The colors were bright enough to distinguish, a bright green and white attire, and a physique of a man. His cologne only made the nausea worse, and I almost tumble to my knees.

"I asked you to keep her in bed." He spouted at her; gloved hands touch my skin. "Heavens my queen, you are burning, please rest."

"Patrick?" I say weakly, recognizing that British accent I have grown accustomed too for all the years of my life.

"Yes, my queen, I am at your side, lay in be-"

"Take me to him Patrick," My voice was a whisper, and the more I spoke the more I was losing strength.

My requests falls. Through the blur of my eyes, he fidgets. "Uhh, my queen he is alright."

I straighten my back, forcing my swirling eyes to align, until they defined. "Did it hit him?"

He looked away.

"Patrick answer me. Did it hit him?"

He nods wistfully, "Indeed your majesty,"

The news alone crumbles me, hanging on my shoulders like weights, but before I hit the ground, both Patrick and the young lady flung to my sides, directing me on the edge of the bed.

"Where?" I rasped, as my bottom rested on the cushion. "Where did it him?" I beckoned, peering up to the both of them.

"The bullet luckily grazed his arm, my queen. However, the poison -"

"Poison?" I interject, my heartbeat accelerates.

"Indeed, the bullets carried a vital poison, not the gun powder itself, but it appears these bullets were specially handcrafted, and they carried a poison so severe that even if the bullet grazes you, it will be the poison that kills you slowly for it is direct contact."

I had no words to fathom, even my thoughts turn to foam. As I process the statement, the cries grow louder in the other room, he roars with guttural pain and with each cry, pieces of my heart were torn.

"The poison was meant for me." I murmur. Trying to tune out his cries.

"Indeed,"

"And he took it instead."

"That is his job your highness." The woman interjects.

Though she was soft spoken, it felt as though she stuck a needle in my flesh, and I fling my eyes to her with daggers, slightly offended by her words. "Whether or not if it was, his life still has meaning to me." The words were heavy as they fell from my mouth, an irritation simmers in veins, and she bows in fear.

"Forgive me your highness, I meant no offense."

At her sincerity the anger rising in me rests and I blinked away. "A life is a life to me; I am sorry for being angry."

The cry resounds yet again, and another guard flings himself inside from down the hall, summoning for the young woman I scolded, I scan his attire, his gloves were bloodied, and his eyes were on full alarm. My heart palpates wildly watching the both of them fling out of the room, leaving me here alone with Patrick who had his arms crossed at the chest.

Like a child in trouble, I lower my head, ready for the scorning.

"Patrick please -"

"I have taught you to always be attentive." He snarls lowly.

My frame shrinks at his scowl.

"I have warned you about all dangers you now face, now that that crown is upon your head. And as of today, you have shown that you never headed any of my warnings."

"Patrick, for years I have done everything right. Today I was just caught off guard." I retort, striving for some sympathy.

I watch as he nodded sensibly, as if moved by my words, "Indeed my queen, it was just today. Then tomorrow, then the next day and pretty soon after that. How long? my queen, how long until you finally grasp that there is a mark on your back, getting caught off guard is vital."

I glower at the ground in defeat, no other words to say to him, for as usual he was always right. And as the silence stretched between us, he sighed.

"What was it my queen?"

I glide my eyes up to him in question.

"What was it that garnered your attention."

Gravely I swallowed as I looked into his eyes, my heart sprinting kilometers at a time, choosing not to spill a word, knowing any moment now he will put the clues together regardless.

And just as I thought, Patrick eyes softened as the gleam dispersed.

"Of course." He nods.

"Patrick pl-"

"My queen, need I remind you that romance between you and your bodyguard are strictly prohibited-" he seethed lowly, his ivory skin colored in red at the temple.

"There is no romance Patrick." I assure, feeling my heart thump harder and faster.

... "Yet, your eyes tell me different."

Our eyes cut short when the young woman returns from down the hall, her hands now sporting white gloves with patches of blood at the fingertips. With my strength I rose up, anticipating hearing words I was not prepared for, when she stunned me.

"My queen. He is alright."

***

My breathing was loud and irregular as I make my way down the hall, I couldn't tell the difference whether it was my vision that tunnels or if it was the hallway that narrows. My eyes are keen on the door at the end, and my hands tremble when I touch the doorknob, cautiously pushing it open for a peak and a spear shot through the flesh of my heart at the sight before me, the room thickens with warming air and no clear oxygen.

My vision focuses ahead but in my peripherals the women and men bow in my presence before they head towards me, moving about frantically, I feel the touch of their warm hands on my skin, but all I focused on was the half-naked man sitting at the edge of a bed.

With his hair dampened by his sweat, his lustrous midnight curls fall down to his face, his upper body was of pure masculine muscle carved by God's luminated like deep saffron, a white band wrapped around his robust arm, and I acknowledge the thick veins and tattoos that ornate on his skin. His toned chest and pecs rise and fall as I hear his heavy breathing in the room. I could not see his eyes because of his hair, but I watch sweat drip down from his chin.

I'm immobilized by the sight but felt a painful lick at my center before I feel it pulsate, and the buds of nipples erect sharply, reminiscing to the very first day I laid eyes upon him; how much I wondered of what he looked like without clothes. And now that I have half of my answer, my eyes craved to see the rest, allowing my fantasies to run wild.

It's all confirmed now, for sure he would know what to do with my body If I ever lay with him.

As if he sensed my evident presence, he gathered his strength, and weakly glanced up to my eyes. At the sight of his orbs, bolts of electricity serrate through my heart, resulting it to skip several beats. I bite the corner of my lip to the sight of him, analyzing those devilishly handsome features of his face, his amber orbs were dazed and white, barely alive.

"My queen" he groans. And my fantasies only run wild at the sound of his strained deep chord. I could only vision the sound of it when he is in pleasure. He tries to stand, unfolding himself to his full height, even the men beside him could not hold him down, and eventually he rose up, towering just above everyone in the room.

Selfishly, my eyes roamed down his slim waist, and the tone of his ribs, until I get to the band of his elastic white under and the unbuckled trousers. I gulped thickly and my throat stretched painfully.

"You're alright." he panted.

My body was sending a burning sensation all throughout my nerves, but the sensation focuses more in between me and at my breast, leaving succulent pleasure in the wake, my mouth pools at him, wanting to taste every part of him and roam my tongue all around his outline.

He is frail as he steps closer, and I almost melt to the ground, having not yet recovered myself from the medicine I was given, but he was still under the effect of the poison. At last, I blink away, signaling to the figures around me until they grasped my silent demand. All fling to him and push him back down onto the cushioned mattress where he immediately fell into a slumber.

My body scorches seeing him sprawled in such way, and before a young woman can step up and address me, I flung out the door, in dire need of fresh air. The sky emanates an orange hue, and half of the sun is submerged in the horizon, but almost immediate did I notice a change. The air smelt like burning meat in the midst, unlike the usual decay of rotting meat. There were no figures, the town was like a ghost land, but I heard a few cheers in the distance. Curiously I follow the scent and sound and what look like black snow that fell from the sky.

As I round a building, from there where I stood on a mini hill, my eyes avert down to the horizon and I saw the whole backside of the town gather together, hurdled tightly against one another as they gather in a circle.

Just In the middle I witness the orange and red flames mounting high, thick grey vapors of smoke dispersing into the sky, emanating a lung collapsing poison. My instincts kick in and I launch myself forward to try and get everyone to flee, when I was spotted by a couple of women. Upon seeing my face, they cheer and squeal and soon everyone's eyes fling to me.

They clap in sync and begin to cheer. "All hail the Queen, all hail the Queen." They begin to chant in unison. "She lives, she lives, all hail our Queen, Tiana."

A tear almost slips from my eye, hearing my name in such praise for the very first time, I quiver with joy, and watch as they all rush towards me, still blocking my view from what it was they were gathered and cheering for. Gently my arms were gripped, and I was embraced with a warming caress, and genuine smiles.

"Ms. Tiana?"

I cut my eyes away from the people to follow the gentle voice of a young boy. The boy from earlier with his protruding kneecaps and scrawny arms, the one that bares almost an uncanny resemblance to Nasir. In his hands was my crown, it never occurred to me to check. I tenderly crouch down until were eye to eye, and this time it is I that lower my head before him, allowing him to gently reposition my crown above my head. And the cheers erupt once more as he wrapped his arms around me, the tears spill fast from my eyes as I wrap my arms around him.

***

Time continues on until the land was blanketed in darkness, leaving the burning light of the bonfire. The people drink and eat as loud music play by a band in the background. I gulp down my drink, exhaling sharply to release the burn in my throat from the fireball, the liquid warms my chest and I begin to feel discombobulated, unable to walk in a straight line. Figures brush and hover past me and I could not stop giggling and smiling to every twirl of my body, tasting the sweetness of what is like to be free from my tasks and for once free to enjoy my life at my early twenties.

I head back to the bar to refill my drink but couldn't fathom the simple steps of heel to toe from walking and I slipped, almost tumbling back with nothing to hold onto, when my back met a burly chest. Strong fingers wrap around my bicep, and instantly a familiar cologne of fresh wood sharpens my nipples. Semi-drunken I leisurely twist my head and angled my chin upwards, and in the flesh was him.

Above me he hovers, his expression stoic, yet his eyes were an abyss of darkness with no reflection, his curls mounted to a high ponytail, and his dress suit was back on with three buttons undone. The fire beside him luminates his face granting it a glow. My lips parted, and the thumping of my chest returns, along with the blissful sensation in between my legs, that now angers with hunger at the touch of his fingers.

He scans the image around, peering to all the people of the land that party away, his expression flat, as I observe at his chiseled stubbly jawline and of his chin down to the Adams apple in his throat. He flicks his eyes back down to me and my breath gusts, my skin frisson as he trails his hand down my arm until his fingers interlocked with mine and he leads me out of the crowd.

No one sparing us a glance until we were out of sight, out of the crowd, into a dark alleyway and I was backed into a wall.

Half silhouetted in the shadows, his eye survey me, checking my body all around in silence, and it dawns on me than of why.

"I am alright." I spoke. "I am ok, because of you."

He leans down closer, planting a hand against the wall above my head.

I could not stop my trembling body, I had no control over my breathing, especially when my mind wandered to his physique under his attire.

"Thank you." I whimpered. "For saving my life."

Dancing figures of people pass by the cracks of the alley, emanating shadow like figures. None sparing a glance, but this moment was risky. "W-we should go."

I strained through my choppy breaths, but it took effort for me to move my body, and when I finally get it to cooperate his other free hand plants against the wall at my side, officially caging me in.

"What are you -" the rest of my were swallowed, as he dips down to my neck, the stubbly hairs scratching my cheek and I stifle a moan as his lips grazed the shell of my ear canal.

"I'm so glad you're ok, my queen." He whispered deeply.

Warm liquid forms in my mouth, my knees were struggling to stay strong, and I allowed my head to fall, leaving him to do what he pleased with my neck, as I bit the corner of my lips as he inhales the scent of my body.

"I would have ended my own life if anything happened to you." he mutters.

His words were spears, and I flutter my eyes open, angling my head forwards, where he met my eyes. "No, you should have lived."

He leans lower, "A world without your face, is no life for me."

I could not grasp the meaning behind such words, why does he say such things? he has plenty to live for. How could I be special? "I could become a guardian angel and be your light." I teased.

He remained silent, half of his face in the light and I watch something swirl in his only visible eye. A look I could not decipher.

"What's wrong?" I asked, feeling his body tighten.

Gently he leans down until he rests his forehead on mine and whispers. "You have always been the light that guided me."

My heart thrums, I'm tempted, his lips are inches from me, my fingers itch to touch him, but I knew I would cross a forbidden line I would not be able to return from. "Who are you?" I asked. "Please tell me your name."

I need to get to the bottom of this feeling. I don't know him, yet somehow my body and mind scream to him, but I should have known; my request would have gotten me nowhere when he did not respond. Two steps forward and four steps back, that is until on this very night, on this very day and this very second did my world change.

Though he did not speak, he instead gestures something made shook. With his finger he gently reaches forward, pushing back a curled strand of my hair, hooking it behind my ear, instead of moving his finger, he trails it around the outline until he reached the end of my lobe, and flicks it gently.