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I polished the last leg of the table just as Elisa, huffed out a loud sigh of relief and bent up from the side of the bed she had been polishing.

"Are you finished?" I asked her, lifting a curious brow up as I observed the girl. She looked tired and I suppose I looked almost same too. We had been cleaning almost all day.

"Yes I am. Finally." She accepted, her voice coming out a little airy and lighter since she had not spoken in a few hours. I had preferred that we work in silence so that I could be left to my thoughts, only speaking when I was giving her an order or directing her on what next to do. The girl did not know the first thing about cleaning but from what I was seeing just now, she was a fast learner and I suppose I could say that I was a good teacher. I smiled internally.

"What about you?" She added in politeness and I couldn't help it but a small smile rose to my lips. She was polite. She spoke highly and the only reason why I knew this was because I had worked for high Lords and Ladies as well. She was not meant for a life like this. Well neither were you but here you are. A small voice pointed out very rudely in the back of my mind and my smile disappeared. I quickly dismissed the voice not wanting to go into the what ifs and the only ifs. Instead, I scrubbed my rag on the last small area that was left for me to clean and when I was done, I stood up, straightened myself and wiped a bead of sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.

"I'm done now." I replied her as I straightened my back, letting out small moans when I heard creaks in places where there should not be creaks.

"Hihihihi. You look like a see horse when you stretch like that." Elisa teased as she giggled into her hand. I straightened right away and looked at her. I wanted to be angry with her, maybe then it would dismiss the care I was starting to feel for the child and maybe I'll go back to thinking only about myself but when I saw the pure humor that lit up in her eyes as she shook in obvious mirth, a smile rose to my face and I couldn't help the fondness that started growing in me. I was so in trouble. I was thinking of spending not long in this place. I was finally going to be free whereas the child may be a slave for the rest of her life. I couldn't afford to get attached. And yet, why was I smiling?

"Have you ever seen a sea horse before?" I responded in jest, teasing her. She giggled, stopped and looked at me.

"I didn't grow up by the water but Papa used to bring me all sorts of delicacies from his trips. I thought the sea horse looked strange." She spoke, the tone of her voice going lower and lower and then the joy completely vanished from her eyes and was replaced by that sorrow that settles in when one had lost everything they once had. A small tear hung by the side of her face and she quickly brushed it away. My spirits sunk and I knew I had to change the topic at once.

"Anyway, even though I've never seen one myself, I don't think I want to look like a seahorse. I've heard they are quite ugly. Well depending on who you ask." I spoke lowly, careful not to try to bring up anything more that will remind her of her father.

"We are done here. It's almost late evening." I remarked as I looked at the position of the sun through the open airy windows.

"You did a good job." I added to her as an afterthought and the girl blushed. It tugged at something in me. She really needed my approval? It was sad. In our world, we got compliments or appreciation as rarely as dogs cried. I didn't need to make her get used to it. I was supposed to be showing her the realities of being a slave after all.

"What do we do now Gabrielle? Lady Karayan is not back yet." She pointed out. I nodded.

"I will escort you to the kitchen where you will wait and then I will go in search of Lady Karayan's book." I said and she nodded. I did one last arrangement and we dusted outskirts, picked up our cleaning equipment and left Lady Karayan's room, the 'click' of the door sounding behind us.

It wasn't long after that that Elisa was in the kitchen sitting with the other free slaves and I was on my way to one of the smaller libraries that we were shown to get the Map book of the Southern regions for Lady Karayan.

Somehow I remembered the road to the library from the small tour that Cezar had once given and surprisingly enough, no one disturbed me on the way. They just let me go on my way even though I knew that their eyes were on me.

You know that feeling that hangs in the air and affects you down to your very soul when you just know that something big and important is about to happen? As I walked to the library and got to the big impressive doors, I felt it.

It was like a tangible string of electricity in the air, a discordant cord from a musical note that stood out, inviting all who was ready to listen to it. It vibrated right from the roots of my hair to the soles of my feet leaving behind a tingle that could only be described as delicious and strange at the same time and this only made me wring my hands together in nervousness.

Was today the day I lost it all? Or was it the day I gained it all.

The library was closed but not locked and I easily twisted the handle and pushed open the doors. It was one of these double doors where you could only open both doors at once and not just one. I thought of closing the doors back behind me but I feared looking for the book may take too long and someone might eventually lock me in so instead I left the doors open a crack and made my way inside.

If I had been awed by the outside, the inside was indeed better than ever dream that I had ever had concerning books.

If this was one of the small libraries, then I could only imagine what the big library looked like. It looked ancient and yet so perfectly placed in a haphazard but organized way and it looked so untouched, yet used, so foreboding and yet appealing at the same time. The walls were lined in fine silk of the colors red and brown and the spare all spaces held unlit wall torches. All the floors were covered with a rich deep red... almost ruby carpet that looked like it had been personally handwoven by the most skilled carpet maker and the designs on it were unique and unlike anything I had ever seen before. There were tall, long shelves that ran across the room with all of them seeming coming together to give a large reading space in the middle of the room which was directly opposite the door.

It was simply lit, with the remnants of the sunlight streaming in from tall, large, overhead windows, casting an orange like glow on the ancient books and scrolls in a mesmerizing way. If you hadn't figured it by now, I loved books. I paused, took in a deep breath and let out a small content sigh when that old, musty and yet wonderful smell of books hit my nostrils. It was then I knew that I would be spending all my time in this place.

Shaking my head to bring myself out of my awe-struck reverie, I had to bring myself to go look for the book. I was not sure how the arrangement in this library worked but I decided to walk through a few shelves to determine that for myself. I was not yet free after all and I didn't want to make my new mistress angry at me for dallying. I had not seen her since morning but that did not mean she might not be waiting for me in her room with the book.

I was deep in concentration, perusing through the books, after finding the M section of the library and trying to find that Map of the Southern Regions when I felt it. I don't know what it was, I don't know how it came to be but that previous feeling, that feeling like something big was about to happen increased. The air hummed and everything around me tightened. I had been looking through one of the books but then I felt it. It felt like someone was looking at me. I could feel the hot gaze of their eyes, molten in their movement crawl over my body.

Then I heard a harsh breath being sucked in and it was like that breath had been sucked right from my lungs because when I turned my head to look in the direction of the sound, my eyes gazed upon the most handsome man I had ever seen. If I had thought Cezar was beautiful, while Cezar's beauty screamed boyish, this strange man's beauty screamed everything man.

He had moved so close to me that I could observe his features well and there was enough light to guide my vision.

I believe the first thing I noticed about him was his eyes. They were green, like the green on the bottom of the pond on a wet morning in the spring. That enchanting green. I felt like I could swim in his eyes and be forever lost but while they were so beautiful, they were also very guarded. It may have been a moment of weakness or a lapse in judgement but for a second, I saw something flicker across his eyes. Like an ancient sadness that broke my heart and just as soon as it had come, it disappeared, only to be replaced by a strange look that I couldn't ever possibly decipher. He was looking at me like I was.... everything and it made no sense. I looked away from his eyes before they got overwhelming and focused on the rest of his features.

He had dark, silky looking hair, cut very low to almost a buzz cut. I felt the strange urge to run my fingers through them and my fingers even twitched. His forehead was moderate and there were little worry lines on it but it only added to the beauty of...him. Thick, dark bushy eyebrows led downwards from his eyes to a thin but proportionate nose and then downwards, to a thin upper lip and a full lower lip which were both pink, wet and separated from each other as if in shock. His chin was slightly dipped and led to a square set jaw with a three days' dark beard on it, a scruff really but one which suited him quite well. I settled.

He wore fine clothes. A white shirt of the finest material over dark pants and he was well built such that the muscles of his arms and legs printed on his attire but not enough to strain. His chest was broad but now too broad and I could see little ringlets of curly dark hair peeking from the undone top button of his shirt. I blushed. A part of me wondered who he was, but how could I think when he was before me? My thoughts were muddled, reduced to nothing but him. Oh heavens!

Lub dub

Lub dub

Lub dub

Lub dub

Lub dub

My heart sped up in my chest.

"Flower." He whispered out of the blue and in that moment, right there, I forgot how to breathe.

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