It’s the start of the second week and somehow I am bored in a royal castle. Yesterday, my friends and I got to go home and pack some of our belongings and tell our families what was happening. Honestly, I didn’t think Orien and the other two guys were cool enough to let us do that. It made me like the three of them a little now.

Pierce and I have made up a game while we have been trapped in this beautiful and magical prison. First, one of us would name something we see in the room and then we take turns naming something that starts with the same letter. The first person to hesitates loses. It was fun for a while but after a bit we started to repeat topics and then we just lost interest.

I never would have thought that I would be bored in a castle. I did overhear the other day that Orien and the two other guys are going to come in and question us. As much as I hate that, it is better than sitting a room and doing nothing.

Today, I spent most of the day walking back and forth wishing I had some sort of book to read. I have always loved reading. Whenever life is tough, I think we were given the magical gift of books to escape reality. I know there is a library in the castle somewhere and if Orien is willing to let me look through the library and pick out a couple of books.

Most of the day went by before I couldn’t take it anymore. I knock on Pierce’s and my bedroom door. There is a different guard every night, so the face that I saw when the door swung open was a face I have never seen before. He looks unamused that I have disturbed his, what I am sure is an eventful, shift.

“What do you want?” he asks.

Okay, not going for the polite conversation. Got it.

“I’m bored,” I respond.

“Not my problem.” The guard starts to close the door but I put my foot between the door and the frame at the last second. He groans a little before opening the door up again and glaring at me.

“Can I please walk around somewhere? I don’t care if guards have to be with me. I just want to go somewhere.”

Pierce doesn’t appear to have the same problem as me. He is loudly snoring in his bed after a long day of finding the positivity in everything and entertaining himself. This day counts in one of the rare occasions where I wish I was Pierce.

“We can’t allow that,” the guard says. He glares at me again and starts to close the door one more time. I stop the door with my hand this time and respond with a glare of my own.

“Please, a quick walk. That is all I am asking for.”

The guard opens his mouth to respond before he is cut off by a female voice. “What is going on over here.”

I look over the guard’s shoulder the same time he turns around and bows. Orien is standing there in a white night dress with a v-shape cut. The bow in the middle of the v-shape cut pulls the dress around her chest in the most perfect way. The sleeves are a little puffy and goes down to the middle of her arm and the length of the dress goes all the way down to her feet.

The guard tells Orien about what is happening and she furrows her eyebrows. Great, if Orien says I can’t go for a walk then there is no way I can convince the guard to let me go for a walk.

Silence booms in the hallway for a second before Orien opens her mouth. “I was just about to go for a walk. He can join me. No need for a guard. If he tries to run, I can take care of him myself.”

That last sentence gives me chills down my spine. As long as I have known Orien, I have also known that she can take me down if I ever try to do anything. The guard looks back at me with an even darker glare and I return it with a sly smug on my face as I walk past him. I dont look back as I follow Orien down the hall and towards a staircase that leads to the outside. The whole time walking there, we are silent and don’t even glance a look at each other.

“So, what were you doing in hallway?” I ask.

Orien gives me a puzzled look. “Like I said earlier, I was going out for a walk.”

“Oh.” That’s all I can think of to say. More silence fills the air until I finally break the silence again with another question. “Where are we going?”

“I was going to head into the garden. Have you ever been there?” Orien replies.

I shake my head. I have never been in the royal gardens but there are stories of how beautiful the place is and that anything magical you can think of happens there. They say that if you wish for something while you are standing in the center of the royal gardens that the wish will come true.

Silence thickkens the air until I try to slice through it once again. “I improved my dancing skills.”

It wasn’t completely a lie. I spent ten minutes in my bedroom practicing my dance moves in front of the mirror before Pierce came barging in after he gout out of the shower. I didn’t see anything wrong but I spent the rest of the night thinking about how I could impress Orien the next time we dance together.

Orien smirks before she says, “I highly doubt that.”

Before I could argue, we got to the entrance of the royal gardens. The garden’s entrance starts off with a beautiful arch of glowing blue flowers that illuminate in the dark sky. The blue flowers give off light blue dust which the wind catches and dances away with it. The shiny stone path starts right under the arch and leads in the middle of the garden. There is a grass patch in the middle of the garden which the stone path circles around it. Glowing white, red, and pink flowers light up the perimeter of the oath where the stone path meets the grass patch. In the middle of the grass patch but I have a better idea. “Why don’t I show you?”

She looks at me with furrowed brows before I grab her wrist and drag ger in the middle by the tree. She pulls away quickly, making me stumble on my feet.

“What the hall do you think you are doing?” she growls while reaching for the weapon on her side.

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I put my hands up in surrender. Noting that Orien is not easing her stance. “I was only going to show you that I improved my dancing skills.”

Her face calms down and her hand inches away from her side. Standing a little straighter she stares me down. “Okay, next time, don’t grab me without telling me what you are doing first.”

A slight nod moves my head and shakes the sense back into me. Of course she would be on edge right now. She thinks that I am a follower of Darkness. She is constantly thinking that I will try and kill her at any given moment. How do I show her that I am not going to kill her? I, in fact, want to get to know her better.

Holding out my hand in front of me, I ask, “May I have this dance?”

I can tell that Orien is hesitating a little bit, but eventually she nods and gives me her hand. I lightly take it and lead her by the tree in the center of the garden. Her hands are as soft as a baby’s and her touch is so elegant. Her whole entire body floats as we head to the center. The shine in her perfect black hair match the sparkle in her light golden eyes. The wind takes her hair out of her face and shows me how perfect the shape of her head is.

Our swaying bodies match the flow of the branches catching the wind above us. My hand inches down and rests in the dip of her waist. Her hands slowly moving around my neck, bringing me closer to her. I can hear her breath hitch when I bring my other hand down to her waist. Locking eyes, my head starts to spin as I take in her beauty. Her perfect hair, her perfect eyes, her perfect skin, her perfect everything. Everything about her is perfect.

She grunts as I step on her foot and I send her an apologetic look.

“I see you haven’t perfected your dance moves,” she says quietly.

“Hey, a perfect looking man can’t be good at everything,” I reply.

“Who is this perfect looking man you talk about? I want to meet him.”

“Ouch.”

We both slightly chuckle as we continue to dance for what feels like seconds but at the same time feels like hours.

“Can I ask you something?” I blurt out.

Her eyes widen a little as if she was not expecting me to ask something at this particular moment. “Sure,” she replies softly.

“If The Scripture of Light is true then what makes you so confident that these supposed magical triplet gods can fight off their father and save the world.”

She hesitates a little before answering. “I think I am confident because those triplets have sworn to protect their people no matter the cost and they will literally do anything to protect the people from the evil that Darkness is putting into the world.”

She speaks as if she knows these triplets in real life. “But how do you know that they are powerful enough to kill their father this time when they couldn’t even do with their mother the first time?”

“Woah, who said anything about killing? I don’t think they are going to kill their father but rather put some sense into him and balance out Light and Darkness once again. I think that they were very young when the first unbalance happened but now that it has been centuries, I think that the triplets have more experience and are probably ready to fight. It’s like human babies. Human babies don’t know everything when they first come out of the womb so why would it be any different for these triplets.”

“I guess. I just don’t get how all these people could believe is something that is so obviously a myth.”

“Why don’t you believe in this again?”

“Because, I think it is a poor excuse to get praise for something nice you did and to get away with something evil or ill intent. Plus, no one has every seen these triplets so how do we know they still exist? The reason no one has seen them could be that they were killed by their father and that people just need to grab onto false hope.”

“So you’re someone who needs to see something in order to believe in them?”

“I guess.”

“When I met your family, they are big believers in Light. So, who taught you to doubt?”

“No one, I just see too much evil in this world. There is no point in believing in Light if you never see anything good in this world.”

“What if I told you that I have seen the triplets before?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “And tell me why I should believe you when you tell me this.”

“Because I am a Magnificent. Most of The Magnificents have seen them but are sworn to secrecy to never point them out if they are ever in their kingdom.”

A Magnificent. I have forgotten that she is royalty. I have been fighting, flirting, and dancing with a queen. This thought makes my leg shake a little bit and I trip over a tiny rock in the garden. Orien catches me and sets me down on the ground. A queen caught me. A queen is touching me. Royal eyes are looking into mine.

“Are you okay?” Orien asks.

“You’re a queen.” I manage to get out.

She chuckles. “I am.”

“This isn’t real. I have argued with you before. I have been so rude to you. I have been rude to a queen! Please forgive me.”

“Hey calm down.”

“Please don’t punish me. I didn’t mean to be a pain in your ass. I’m so sorry. Please forgive-”

Something stops my lips. Something warm, soft, and tastes like honey. The smell of clean skin and the feel of hot breath overwhelm my senses. Orien is kissing me.

Orien, a queen, is kissing me. Her lips feel as if silk has landed on a cloud. The sounds she make, sound like they are angels singing from heaven.

I release all the tension in my shoulders and kiss her back. Kissing her just feels right. Like our lips were made for each other as they mold together. Our breaths form into one as we share pieces of ourselves to each other.

I lean in closer to get an angle to go deeper but Orien pulls away quickly. “We should probably head to bed. It’s getting late.”