Chapter 24 - The Maiden's First Kiss

The maiden drew back quickly, placing both hands over her mouth, her face burning and her cheeks red as two roses,

"What was that?!"

Magnus licked his own lips, staring at her with his eyes now a golden brown, in an expression of who prepares his next speech carefully. He said, "Wasn't it good? Wasn't it different?"

"That was a kiss! A kiss from man and woman!"

Magnus suppressed a laugh, and stared at the ceiling for a moment, pretending to be pondering,

"I think that has many names, but the names don't matter anyway. What matters is whether it was good or not."

He swiveled the chair where she was sitting, turning her to him, and crouched in front of her. It kind of make her a bit dizzy.

"Your thirst inspired me. I wanted to taste the wine from your mouth. And its taste too…"

Alexa was still with her face and body burning from the contact of her lips, and her mind agitated by the event. Her lips touched a man's, and this man was Prince Magnus von Wuttenfal!

"The taste… of my lips? Out of everyone, me?"

He rubbed an eyebrow, finding her reaction a bit funny and unexpected, which made Alexa even more shocked. The Holstein First Prince said,

"Lady Saskia, this is not a sin or anything. It's just a good thing. If we do it again you will realize that…"

"You take me either for a fool or a wanton woman, Your Highness, and I am neither. That's the so-called Florentine kiss, it's a lewd thing a pure maiden shouldn't be doing!"

"Well, you already know the name, that's a good start. But you haven't even really tried it to know what it really tastes like," he laughed, delighted. "Are we going to pay for a whole sin having committed just a third of it?"

'Should I throw this soup in his face ?! No, I would be arrested for attacking a Prince. Ahhh I should have not lower my guard!' the Greek maiden rose, pushing the Prince with her bandaged hands, and went to a window. Alexa showed her hands and signaled at the window with her head. The Prince raised an eyebrow but came and opened the window, standing beside her, while murmuring, 'You're such a kitten, even behave like one, uhn?'

Alexa didn't respond, just stared at the stars and the coastal landscape in the distance, in silence.

When the silence became unbearable, Magnus said,

"Don't be so mad. Come finish eating."

"What's that? A lighthouse?" Alexa pointed a distant light near the sea.

"Uhn, yes. It's a surveillance post, and a lighthouse, on the cliffs west from the capital," he said without regard to the fact, and put his hand on her shoulder casually, bringing her to him. "Come on, it's very windy tonight."

Alexa quickly turned and kicked one of the Prince's knees, which bowed in surprise as the maiden walked away from him.

"Ask someone to tell me where I will sleep tonight, Your Highness. I will say my prayers and sleep. I beg you, don't do that anymore. Don't try to kiss me again. Nothing good will come out of a kiss between two people who are engaged to other people," Alexa said as firmly as she could, even if just thinking about the strange and good feeling that made her body react like never before. Her lips still tingled.

Magnus just straightened, also serious and haughty, and said, passing her toward the dining room door, "As you wish, Lady Saskia."

°°°

About an hour later, when only the night sounds were heard around from the residence, Alexa's feet groped the ground beneath her, trying to land far from the bushes. Her escape from the second-floor balcony had not even been difficult, and apparently the house did not have all the necessary guard yet, since it was not officially inhabited. Running to the stables, she crept to one of the steeds of the carriage, which rested on a aisle, and within minutes she left the property toward the road. Now that she had a landmark, Alexa knew that she could easily reach the lesser port where she would get a ticket to England, as well as simply return to the castle by following the road in the opposite direction.

The maiden had been under the illusion that she could help Cordelia with the Prince, but he seemed less interested in starting a family than in continuing to lead his wanton life with all the women he wanted.

Why wait if she could just sail the first ship to her final destination? If she stayed, the stakes were as great as if she boarded alone. But another thudding sound behind her interrupted the howling wind sound on her ears. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed the silhouette on a horse galloping on her track, and imagined that it was indeed the Holstein First Prince in her pursuit.

'Damn it!' What could he do if he reached her? Alexa simply couldn't trust that man, so she didn't really know what to do. But she realized she couldn't make it either way with the First Prince chasing her. A flash of thought came into her mind, a bold and risky plan indeed. But that would be a good way not to have to explain why she had run away in the middle of the night.

She leaned sideways, slowing as she leaned lower and lower leading the horse into the tall grass beside the road. She kept her eyes open as she realized the prince was fast approaching. When he took her off the horse where she was supposed to fall, Alexa was soft-bodied, and gave a shrill scream as she was hoisted and placed on his horse. Magnus stopped his animal, and went down with her in the tall grass field.

"Easy! Easy! Why did you do that?! You almost died!"

"I… I… What was I doing? I… I was dreaming that…" Alexa knew she needed to look around with a frightened expression. But the Prince gripped her shoulders, shaking her,

"Now you're the one who takes me for a fool, Lady Saskia!"

"Uh… don't yell at me, please! I'm saying the truth! I just remember I said my prayers and had not even taken off my shoes when a… strange sleep came over me… I couldn't resist and… I just woke up here. Where are we?" After all the ghost events witnessed by all the survivors of the haunted villa, the Prince could not argue that she was lying.

Unexpectedly he hugged her, pressing her head against his chest. Alexa blinked, confused, though secretly pleased to have gotten away with it. She wanted to ask the reason for the hug, but that wouldn't match her fragile moment, so she just slid her hands around his waist, accepting the hug and 'seeking comfort'. 'Just think that you are hugging one of your brothers, Alexa… Uhn, decidedly not equal to Narces, Iacintho or Michalis.'

Intriguingly, it seemed that the Prince really wanted to comfort her, and Alexa wondered if the things she had invented looked like something he had seen before. She had no answers to that, but no answer to the fact that she liked it when he touched her either.

"I'll call the horses to go to the castle," Magnus said, still holding her in his embrace. But now it felt like he wanted to hold her closer, and Alexa let go of him with a shrug.

"Where are the horses?" she looked around without seeing the animals.

"They are beyond those trees, don't you hear the water running? There's a creek over there," he explained, and turned toward the woods.

She listened, but what she heard was not the murmur of the waters of a stream, but the trot of horses. A fair amount of horses coming from the direction of the coast.

"Your Highness, I only hear horses approaching."

The Prince looked toward the road, and in an abrupt movement, pressed the maiden's head down, forcing her to duck and hide in the tall grass, just like him.

"Quiet! We can't be seen! "

The duo crouched and hide into the grass, and Alexa whispered, annoyed that he had put so much force on her skull,

"It hurt! Why did you do that?"

He snorted, answering in an acidic tone, "Because it's a large group traveling in the dark of night. They most definitely are not up to good things. And, I am a Prince. My life is worth a lot."

Alexa gaped, staring at him in disbelief 'What a coward prick!'

"Don't look at me like that, maiden, I'm not alive for being an idiot. Besides, what would a group do when they meet a man and a woman in the middle of nowhere doing devil-knows-what?"

Alexa knew that would not be a good thing. It had happened to her before.

"Shhh then stop talking, you idiot."

"...!" this time was the Prince who stared at her in astonishment. But they had no time for further argument, as the group was passing by them at this exact moment.

Hidden, they could see the passage of the group of about 10 horses and their riders. Among them was the unmistakable figure of Prince Gutard von Wuttenfal, his blond long hair blowing in the wind.

Alexa and Magnus did not expect this, from all things.