Bianca found the old man looking at with so much love that her heart went out for him. He brushed her cheeks with shaky hands. "You are even more beautiful than I had ever imagined," he said in a low voice.

Something heavy dropped on the floor on the outside. Gayle quickened his pace and unlocked her ankle's shackle. Looking serious he said, "Do you want to go back to mommy and daddy?"

​​

She nodded vehemently. "With you. I will give you as a present to them," she chuckled, understanding fully well that he had come to free her." Her Grandfather was her knight in shining armor.

He chuckled. "I would love to go back too. So you have to do exactly as I say, okay?"

"Yes!" she nodded with a wide smile.

He opened the cuffs of her hands and Bianca brought her little hands forward. She rotated her injured wrists, which were dotted with blood and bruises and chafed skin. Gayle's lips quivered when he saw the bruises. "Can you get up?" he asked again.

When she tried to get up, she couldn't. Instead she fell back on her own blood, which was now caking on the floor. Gayle seized her immediately suppressing a painful shriek. He picked her up and pressed her to his heart. "My child… my Granddaughter… my Bianca… so brave…" His heart was thudding so fast that Bianca could hear its sound.

She took her shaking hands to his face and cupped his cheeks with her little hands. "Mommy used to say that you liked her a lot. Daddy also loves you a lot. He stands in front of your photo everyday and stares at it." She brushed the tears streaming down his eyes. "Why are you crying Grandfather? Now we are going away from here. I am sure mommy and daddy are going to give me a truck-load of hard candies when I will show them what I got back. And Darius is going to be so jealous." She giggled revealing her teeth, two of the lower front ones were missing.

Her Grandfather shook his head with love and adoration. "I miss you growing up. There's not a day when I don't think about you."

"Oh Grandfather!" She said and hugged him tightly. "Now you will have to deal with me and Darius." Then she whispered in his ear. "When you reach home, you should take my side, okay?"

Gayle laughed and hugged his granddaughter tightly. "I am always on your side, little one."

Heavy footfalls sounded from outside. He became panicky. He swirled his head around to the door to see if anyone was coming in.

He pressed her face in his neck saying, "I am going out. Stay as quiet as possible. When we reach out, someone is waiting for you. Just run to him."

Bianca's mouth was pressed against his neck. She nodded. "We will run together."

"Even if I don't make it to the out baby, you have run out, okay? Don't look back, don't stop. Just run!"

"I won't leave you!" she grated. How could she leave her Grandfather in his hell of a place? Perhaps they had imprisoned him also. No! She would never do that.

Gayle creaked open the door of the cell slowly. He popped his head out to peer. The only guard who was posted just outside was lying in a pool of blood and Og'drath was standing there with a sword dripping with blood. She growled.

---

"NO! Don't kill him!" Bianca got up with a jerk. Her body was coated with a layer of sweat. Her heart pounded so heavily that it was threatening to leap out of its ribcage. She found her hand extended in air with her fist closed so tightly as if they were holding on to something.

"Bia!" Brantley shot up. "What is it?" He held her hands and closed them around his and pressed them to his chest.

She gave him a blank stare. Her vision was blurry at first, but when it returned to normalcy, she found his beautiful face etched with worry. "I am— I am sorry…" she whimpered and climbed into his lap.

Brantley folded his hands around her and pressed her close. He stroked her hair to ease out her uneasiness. "You don't have to be sorry for anything sweetheart…" he caressed her so lovingly that she closed her eyes savoring his touch.

She wanted to forget the nightmares. But who was that man? He did look like her Grandfather, Gayle.

Brantley looked at her fiercely like a sentinel. He rested his chin on hers and murmured, "I am there for you Bia… I am there… I am always there..."

The rest of the afternoon they spent walking around the gardens of the palace. They ended up having lunch under the pergola specially made for the king and queen. Pink, yellow, blue and white blossoms fluttered on its roof in the cool breeze.

While Bianca was telling about her school and what she wanted to do in the future, Arnik came. He bowed to them and addressed the king. "Your Highness, people of the kingdom want to celebrate Samobian. I have received numerous requests to come and tell you."

There was a sparkle in his eyes. He stopped eating his food and tilted his head. "Sure. I think it is a good time to do that. You may tell them that we will celebrate it a week later."

When Arnik left, Bianca frowned. She chewed her honey glazed potato and asked, "What is Samobian?"

"Spring festival," he said with a curious smile on his face.

"Oh wow! You guys have that?" This was interesting.

He let out a small laughter. Shaking his head, he said, "We didn't celebrate it ever since the place became a desert, which is incidentally thousands of years. But now people are demanding, which means that the spring has truly come… my queen."

The way he gazed at her with so much love that she bit her bottom lip. The people of Aztec wanted to celebrate in her honor. In order to suppress the heat on her face, she asked in a low voice, "When do I have to sit on the throne again?" She sounded eager to sit on it again.

"Soon, sweetheart, soon…" He could understand her enthusiasm, and it was heartening. How quickly she was adapting to his needs, his kingdom.

For the next few days, she became extremely busy with the preparations of Samobian. It was supposed to be held in the valleys that were just beyond Rochnan mountains, amongst the wild blooms and wild trees. Brantley had said that over there no one would even look at her for they would be completely immersed in the festivities.

"You would love it sweetheart," he said, as he tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear after a session of wild sex. He had devoured her between her thighs to his heart's content until she had screamed his name again and again.

She nestled her face in the crook of his neck. "Who all are going to be there?"

"People from my kingdom. Don't be shocked when you see some of them roaming naked or with skimpy clothes."

"Woah!"

"Well, Samobian is Spring Festival, which means reproduction and wild sex. After a long time, men and women of my kingdom are going to find partners." He gazed at her with loving eyes. "You have brought back fertility, my love. It's just the beginning."