Chapter 116 - In a Shell

'Ah, if time didn't exist and I could keep this moment in a shell, encapsulating us away from the world ...' that silly and strange thought crossed her mind as she was presented with a kind of affection that she had never imagined that man could be able to.

There was touch, which stimulated her senses, but there was also this strange and unexpected tenderness and intention, which fed the maiden's heart with a marvelous feeling.

She felt his hair trail across her skin, causing a pleasant and exciting itch, and his warm breath touching her pores before his lips did. Each kiss deposited on her skin, on her back, made Alexa bite her lips so as not to m.o.a.n for the tender and thrilling sensation. Magnus didn't touch any other part of his body against her, and Alexa feared at the same time that she wished he did.

He kissed between her shoulder blades, raising Alexa's arms to the top, and kissed by her spine. Then he kissed her ribs, running down the sides with small, quick kisses, sometimes inhaling heavily.

When Alexa thought she couldn't take it anymore and all the heat in her body was going to consume her, she felt that he stopped for a moment, exhaling the air and murmuring in a hoarse and trailing voice,

"Ah! My God, Alexa,"

She wanted to turn her face to see him but Magnus stopped her, touching the side of her face with her own face in a gentle gesture. Then she felt that Magnus came back to his side of the bed and pulled her undergarment over her back again. He then turned Alexa around and brought her to his bare chest, fitting his head to the curve of her neck, and his hands pulling her close to him. What separated them was the cover that covered Alexa from the waist down.

This contact filled some of the voracious hunger that consumed her. But the Prince just stood still, unmoving, with his heart as fast as Alexa's. She felt his warmth and his chest moving, pressing. It was as if he wanted to mark her body on his chest.

"Shhh!" he murmured, like a tortured request, very close to Alexa's ear.

They were silent for a long time, just listening to each other's breathing and heartbeat. Until rain on the castle roof was once again the dominant sound.

Magnus rolled away from her, and Alexa felt a bittersweet taste in her mouth, and a terrible tightness in her chest at his absence. Moving to keep her back to him, she curled up hugging her knees, feeling her eyes wet and a lump in her throat.

They were married only in one lie.

After a while, when the silence was so great it filled the room, he asked,

"Are you okay?"

Alexa nodded and then realized that Magnus couldn't see her face, and forced her voice to come out at a reasonable height in her throat,

"Yes. Thanks. It was good."

He didn't answer, and after another silence, Alexa asked,

"Magnus, do you have a plan?"

He cleared his throat, and said,

"I intend to negotiate horses and a guide, and go to a good port, so we can continue our journey to our destination as soon as possible. I suppose the rest of our party has arrived or will arrive at the port where we would disembark soon, and they will think we are off route. They will expect news from us. Soon they will receive news that our ship is shipwrecked. Or at the very least, they will try to communicate with Holstein. They may stay at the port waiting for us or awaiting orders from Holstein. It would be sensible, knowing them. So, I hope to meet them there. We were relatively lucky, I am only sorry for those who died."

It was a simple and practical plan, and it matched the style of the First Prince. She turned to him, pulling the covers up to her neck. It was cold as the afternoon progressed. Or was it the lack of his warmth? Alexa couldn't say.

"What is your brother doing, as a bird trying to help someone?"

"I used to think I understood him, but now I can't claim it. But rest assured, by tomorrow we will pick him up at this mill and you must threaten to tie his foot to your wrist in the future," the First Prince said in a slightly harsh tone, but she knew it wasn't addressed to her, but because all frustration and concern that Alexander was causing his older brother.

"Magnus… Did you think about what I said? The Lady of that castle showed up at that moment and decided that we would be her guests, without even knowing who we were," Alexa didn't want to talk about Lady Gwen from this angle, but the woman in red intrigued her.

"Hm, that lady ... Well, we can't question what she was doing at that time, but it was opportune."

"She also seems willing to forgive your ... slip up pretty easily," she noted.

Magnus mutilated one of Tanbury's warriors and apparently that wasn't such a grave offense. Lady Gwen even said that the man was one of the best they had, but she didn't seem concerned at all.

"She's a clever woman. She spotted you, and even if the ignorant pastor was half-blind or something, she's not. Lady Fairclough saw us all almost passed out, but she could recognize the nobility. She might not know who exactly we were, but she saw our belongings or was alerted about them."

"Hm," Alexa still thought the Prince had a lot more to say about the hostess than that, but she wouldn't insist.

Magnus pushed her forehead with his index finger, mocking with amused eyes and imitating the Princess, "Hm!"

"Well, don't make me look silly. You told her things that were not true. You tought it was necessary. So you don't think she's totally harmless."

"I still know very little to define the source of her power. Until then, I don't want to expose myself. But we'll be quick on leaving Tanbury. I don't want to find out how much they hate me after I hurt a man here, "he said thoughtfully. Alexa hardly believed she was listening to Magnus' thoughts without any kind of mask or filter. He just shared his thoughts with her. A distant thunder caught their attention, and the Prince leaned his head on one arm, watching her closely, thoughtfully,

"You neither sleep nor dream."

"Sleep and Death are siblings. Both are suspended for me and Zand."

"You can't know that. Maybe if you tried to sleep now, you would have your real dreams back," he frowned, and stood up. Alexa looked at the ceiling, unsettled. Did he have to be so unconcerned about his n.a.k.e.dness?

Dressing quickly, Magnus said,

"We're not going anywhere today, so stay warm, at least. I'm going to see Ulrich and Johannes again…" It seemed like a sudden decision, driven by boredom or the need to leave the room as soon as possible. Alexa also preferred it that way.

In fact, the shell where they could ignore the outside world did not exist, and they both knew it. And, in fact, as much as she thought, all of that might have been nothing more than carnal desire. Magnus never hid his desire, and neither had she ever wanted a man before. And, apart from the physical aspect, what was left?

Alexa didn't know.

Her eyes closed, and in minutes her mind became numb with sleep.

Alexa woke up in a cave, listening to the drips from the ceiling. Sitting down for a moment, she realized that she was wearing the ritualistic clothes of a Lightbringer. A short tunic made of white linen, a Phrygian cap, and leather sandals. Cupping her hands together, she summoned the light, and the cave lit up, so she could see around her.

Alexa could sense a gentle slope on the rocky floor, and understood that she was in the middle of a path. Only she didn't know when the journey had begun and didn't know whether to go up or to go to the bottom of the cave. She actually didn't even know why she was in the cave and what she had to do.

Standing up, she knew she needed to continue, but where to? The light in her hands illuminated the walls of the cave, and Alexa realized that it was not a mere natural cave, but a dark passage touched by man. The once vibrant colors of the drawings that covered the walls have now lost their vibrancy, but she could see the features of the figures. Although almost totally faded, she knew they were the stories of gods and heroes.

Her feet went in the opposite direction of history. Of the gods that went underground to the surface. Alexa increasingly went to the bottom, and as she advanced, the figures of gods and unknown men told epics that she also saw backwards. Gods who brought miracles from water, wine and bread, gods who had fantastic births, and gods who were killed and who somehow overcame death. These stories seemed to repeat themselves, so that the further it went down, the more the stories seemed to be variations of the same story. Then Alexa stopped, stunned. The gods were confused and looked at her from the wall, their empty eyes painted on the rock, asking,

"Do you believe us?"

It was scary. She didn't have an answer. Alexa no longer knew what the truth was. The Princess just knew that if she reached the bottom, she would find the First.

But it also scared her.

She turned around, thinking of running away, and then Alexa saw the dark silhouette a few steps away, closing the path where she had come.

The realization that she could not return to the surface or the world of the living was shocking.

Conjuring her light even stronger, Alexa had an even greater shock. Preventing her exit was the White Queen.