Bianca looked at him with bated breath. She wanted to listen to him, she was giving him all the chance in the world. Did he feel even an iota of what she felt for him? "But you just said that you need me more for your kingdom?"

Brantley closed his eyes. It was the truth. He needed her for his people and his kingdom more than he needed her for him, because she was the only one who could restore nature's balance. "That is true," he said in a low disembodied voice. "But it is also true that I can't stay a day without you now." When he opened his eyes, they flickered with passion and longing, which reached his heart.

"Why did you leave me back then?" she asked as her heart pounded so fast that it threatened to jump out.

"You were too young Bianca. You were just sixteen. But if it is going to be of any help, I was always there around you," he said. What he didn't say was how he had tackled with those stupid boyfriends of hers who didn't deserve her.

"You mean that you were there all through these years, watching me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it was pure curiosity." Yes, the emotion of curiosity was pure, but it tormented him, and that is why he had to keep a watch on her. He had come repeatedly to see her as and when he could from his kingdom.

He hated when she kissed that Matt. He was watching her from a distance and the scene was so disgusting that he had to punish Matt, not once, but twice. When she was sixteen, she had turned out to be such a stunning girl with creamy skin, red hair, green eyes, which were on the verge of blue, and had striking features that it had become a necessity for him to keep close to her. He remembered their first kiss and it made him smile.

"So you came back to me because of pure curiosity?" Was it infatuation or because he loved her? Because what she felt was pure attraction.

"Curiosity and the fact that you are my mate. It was impossible to stay away from you," he said in a matter of fact way.

"Why didn't you come to see me even once in all the years I was growing up?" If he said that she was his mate, he should have come to see her as often as possible.

He took a deep breath. That was a delicate question and he had to answer her in a way that she didn't feel bad. "Your mother was of the opinion that I don't reveal myself until you've grown up because she didn't want you to be weighed down with the fact that you were going to marry me one day. She wanted to put you through all the normal conditions as other kids faced for your overall development."

Bianca narrowed her eyes. "My mother stopped you from meeting me?" She never expected that from her mother. Suddenly her heart became heavy.

"She did, but then I agreed to it. She said that she didn't want to let you know that you would become a queen one day else it would give you a heady feeling, it might have impeded your personality." Brantley looked at her tenderly. "I think it was a great decision. When I came to meet you on your sixteenth birthday, I realized how young you were for me, for the throne, and so I went back."

There was silence. Bianca thought she could explode. She looked at her piano and felt like playing it in order to calm her nerves. Even though what he said was right, she thought she missed his presence while growing up. So many secrets were kept from her. She took her hands to her hair, grasped them and pulled them. An agonizing expression formed on her face as she closed her eyes and wrinkles formed on her forehead.

"I am sorry Bia…" a soft balmy voice came. "But your parents and me—we did what was best for you…"

Angered as hell at the revelations that struck her like a lightning bolt, she picked up a vase from her bedside table and threw it down on the floor, but the moment the glass fell on the floor, it converted into petals. Her magic was showing.

"Bianca please," Brantley got up immediately. He hurried to her to hold her, but she moved away from him.

"Don't!" she said and got up and walked past him. She needed some time to deal with all the information. Her breathing was ragged. She went to her piano and leaned over it, holding its edges. "Was it necessary?" she asked him. She didn't want him to answer her question and he didn't. She felt his presence behind him, the heat coming from his body and suffusing her. He stood like her sentinel. They stayed in that position for a long time until she calmed down a little. Once she cooled down a little she said, "Would you like to walk with me in the garden? I will show you what all I have been experimenting with."

The sudden change in the topic startled him, but he nodded. "Sure, I would love to see what you have been doing all this while." Though he always knew what she was up to. He had seen her experimenting from far, he had roamed around in her garden when she wasn't there or when she was asleep.

"Cool!" she said and stood up. She walked past him, opened the door and waited for him to come.

Brantley got up and pursed his lips. He didn't understand the reason in this sudden change of topic, but his instincts were to follow her and so he did.

Slowly they trudged to the place she called was her 'greenhouse'. They wandered from one garden to the other until the scent of fresh earth tickled their noses. She followed the aroma and came up to a space, which she said, "This is my laboratory."

There were shelves lined on either side of the space under a canopy. Packed with numerous jars that contained seeds and dried herbs, the place had a typical aroma. There was a wide table for her experiments where sheers, scissors, and small pots were neatly placed. Plants grew along lattices arcing up the pergola.

Brantley noticed that she had grown lavender, sage and rosemary in three neat flowerbeds. The earth aroma of the herbs made him feel good and happy. On the right he saw three more neat flowerbeds in which she had planted primrose, mint and lemongrass. Then there were plants he had never seen. For a man like him whose kingdom resembled a desert, this was simply a treat to his eyes and sensations. He could spend all his time here. He watched her walking in her laboratory as pride swelled in his chest.

Bianca went on to talk about her experiments and how she was now cross breeding certain flowers to see whether they contained more chemicals in the hybrids they produced or not.

Brantley leaned against the post of the pergola and crossed his arms across his chest, and crossed his ankle over the other, as he watched her talking about this place fervently. He loved listening to her.

"Brantley?" she said, turning her head to look at him. "Did you like all this?"

"It's a beautiful place to be in."