It hurt.

The soft beauty's attack hurt. But it was hurting in the most beautiful way.

Because I was proud that my little dove could hit that hard.

I palmed my jaw, not bothering to get up when I easily could. Her expression was a sight to behold.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" she cried out, dropping on her knees. Her hands wavered, unsure whether to assist me in standing or keep them to herself.

Pain simmered out of my jaw again, and I closed my eyes to move it subtly, making sure she hadn't broken it for real.

Zeus, this woman can hit.

"Ju-mm my Lord..." I could feel her frantic breath near my neck now, "Is it... hurting?" she murmured, bending lower, probably to see if I was alive or not.

I opened my eyes. And before she knew it, I pushed her to the ground in one swift move. My knees on either side of her on the leafy forest ground.

A yelp escaped her, but that silenced instantly when I placed my sword back at her neck. My free hand resting beside her head.

When I was up on the trees, arranging the ropes for my warrior's next training session, I'd seen her curious butterfly self poking around in here.

Seemed like she didn't pay heed to the murderers I'd warned her about.

So I acted like one, but dear Lord, I couldn't be more wrong.

What were those scrawny offenders to her, when she could tackle a person of my built, a king just like that.

The faint sunlight entering the thick canopy of trees illuminated her sky-like eyes to the point they looked transparent, like gems.

Her mouth was slightly parted, those soft pinkish red lips, causing a throbbing sensation to run down me. Sucking in a breath, I directed my gaze to her eyes, because if I looked at her lips anymore...

Damnit this was a forest floor for fuck's sake, not my room.

Ever since I kissed her just twice, I wasn't able to think straight around her. This was a reason I'd started conversing during her book recitation. Telling her more about the things she could write. Otherwise, in my silence, all I could think of was her and my bed.

I forced those thoughts out, trying to focus on what just happened.

It was a rare thing I saw. Usually, she would go about like every woman, meek and polite. But moments ago, and just for moments, she had that confident, such proud arrogance radiating off her when she'd pointed the sword at my neck, I was mesmerised.

As if she was a different woman altogether, her gentle exterior just a facade.

Knowing she had such skills, I wanted to make sure she was able to defend herself when I wasn't around. And that's why I wanted her to defeat me. Again.

"What would you do, now?" A whisper was enough in this quiet forest for her to hear me, "If the murderer pinned you to the ground?"

She blinked, relief coming over at the realisation that I was impressed, and not mad at her.

"I- I would've... kicked him..." her eyes fluttered away, unable to hold my gaze.

My eyes travelled down to her neck. She was wearing the necklace, with the pearls and gems that had slid backwards in this position.

It looked perfect with the dark blue dress she wore. In fact, it looked perfect with anything she wore. My eyes went down.

Given the green vein pulsating along her neck, I wanted to put my ear on her chest and hear. How loud her heart was beating.

At that thought, I concentrated on my own breathing. It took everything in me to not just do what I was thinking.

"Althea," I tilted my head, "Fight me off. Again."

When she wasn't able to look at me, I pushed the flat area of the sword below her chin, compelling her to look at me.

She bit on her lower lip in apprehension, her eyes at my neck. Then I felt her knees bending upright beneath me, brushing the inside of my thigh when her movements stopped. She grew impossibly red.

"It- It will hurt you," she uttered, mortified.

Oh baby, it's already started to hurt, I wanted to whisper that out, right at her face.

But I just smirked. God knows if she'd really hit me out of self-defence.

Though her defending abilities were impressive, she was breaking rules after rules, right in my presence. I threw the sword aside and placed my hands on either side of her head, looking down on her.

It was as if she's challenging me, day after day, to come for her.

"You love testing my patience, huh?"

She looked on with wide eyes, "You never allow me to visit interesting places," she said in a burst of energy, "be it this place or the bath arena-" Her eyes closed when I placed a finger over her lips.

Her soft lips. A surge of inexplicable want rushed through me, but I held myself. This usually wouldn't happen, but God damn.

I've been fantasising about her.

Way too much.

She was within my reach, yet so distant that a single mistake from my side seemed as if it would propel her away from me.

I retreated my finger from her lips, "What did I say about you ranting?"

Blood rushed to her cheeks, and I only fuelled her flushed face by gently holding her neck, the back of my thumb sweeping down her pulse, "What was the rule, Mila?" I asked calmly.

"Y- You said, y- you'll..." My fingers moved past her neck and into her honey-like hair, holding them in a fist.

The movement alone had her eyes closed in what I could decipher as bliss, neck arching lightly as I held onto her hair. This simple action was enough to have her shudder. I wondered what would happen if I moved my fingers against her...

"Speak the rule, Althea," I tugged at her hair, my own breathing violent at yet another fantasy.

"Y- You would personally... make sure to... shut my... l- lips-"

"So that's the reason you go around breaking the rules?" I murmured, satisfied at how her eyes were glazing off at our proximity.

"Do you want me to kiss you, Althea?" I lowered my voice, feeling like a lion with a fawn under his paws, ready to sink his teeth into her soft flesh, "do you break the rules so I would kiss you as a punishment?"

Either she was too reckless or the consequences of breaking the rules didn't deter her.

"No..." she breathed out, adding to my inner fervour.

"Maybe..." I brought my mouth next to her ear, wanting to bite on her earlobe, "I haven't made the kiss as punishing as it should be, hmm?

"Maybe I didn't do it harder, didn't trail it lower and lower until..."

She gasped.

So sensitive, I tched a grin, taking the displaced jewels between my teeth to shift in front of her neck. I was gentle with her, but that didn't mean she should take it for granted.

Shifting aside, I offered her a hand to sit up. But when she did, her frame was trembling slightly.

"What did you want to write about here?" I wrapped an arm around her and asked softly, brushing the dust off her sleeves. She exhaled against me, eyes lowered.

"Mila," I sighed, smoothing out her hair, "Have I ever said no, if you took my permission?" I asked, concerned if I'd intimidated her too much.

"No, no..." she gave a weary smile, "It's just... I get so curious... sometimes," she mumbled, staring off in the distance. A waft of warm air blew past, whirling the smell of mud and leaves around. The tiny red flowers from the trees falling down on us.

She picked up one of the minuscule flowers, twirling it in her fingers, unknowingly relaxed against my chest.

I looked up, a wishful sigh escaping me that the wind seemed to imitate. Was it possible to just lie down on this forest floor, holding her in my arms, and do nothing but stare off into the drifting branches of the trees. Talk about little things with her.

But that wasn't possible.

Being a king gave you everything, but not these little moments where you could just lose yourself with nature and your...

I looked down at her. She was aimlessly drawing over the back of my hand with her finger, a sad smile on her face.

Quietly, I leant my head against hers, breathing contently in a long time.

None of us said anything, but it was like we both were grieving over the same thing. Something we both knew, something inevitable would happen, yet we knew nothing about it.

Why, of all women, did I want to be with her?

I pondered over. Was there something special about her? Surely, she had unusual abilities, but what made her special was something else.

Her presence itself in my life, in my world, seemed special.

"Mila," I whispered, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "do you know how terrifying it would be for me, if you go missing?"

She hummed, sinking deeper into me. Silently accepting the horror of the situation. If it ever were to happen.

"I will always take your permission now," she said faintly, "promise."

I nodded. Moving a hand through her hair, I kissed the top of her head, "Want to explore this place?" I asked. She gave an eager nod.

"Ohh..." she drawled as I tossed one end of a rope over a high branch, "I thought it depicted a forest battleground..."

"Forests that large in these deserts?" I tied it to the trunk, fixing the wooden blades at the other end so it was camouflaged in the bark.

"These small patches of forest are behind almost every palace," I informed, "First part of a spy training involves survival in these places, which also helps in making out the position of guards stationed in the palace roofs."

She nodded along, the wheels reeling in her head, "Why are you alone, though? You don't have anyone to help you," she looked around, pouting.

She cares... "It's a test for warriors. Now should they know what traps I'm placing for them?"

"So you are like those professors who love dropping surprise tests..." she muttered.

"What?" I asked back. Sometimes she spoke out of the world things that wouldn't make sense.

"No, nothing," she giggled, "Can I help you then?" she beamed and without waiting for my reply grabbed another set of ropes to throw it around a branch like I did.

I looked on as she clutched her flowing skirt in one hand, and tossed the ropes over the tree, tying them similar to mine. Such a quick learner.

If only I could watch her all day long...

"Your father taught it?" I asked, going about the trees which I had already tied.

"Yes..." she stuttered. Almost.

Oh yeah, her father, "I see he didn't arrive yet?" I questioned.

"He'll be there," she assured, sounding more like assuring herself, "He may not be able to attend the wedding, but he'll be there in a few days," she gave me a smile.

When I chose to be quiet, she continued, "Winding up the business there took some time. With handing the duties to his subordinates and all," she shook her head.

"He sent you a letter stating this?"

"No," she shrieked, then tucked her hair in an awkward laugh at her outburst, "to my sister. She is here in the palace, you know. I was hanging around with her," she smiled at me again.

I had many questions, but I didn't ask her. It would be good if I ask her father alone. Only he could tell me about his interesting daughter.

We stepped past the broken logs of wood and out of the arena, the Sun now beating down on us. She followed me close behind.

"Why are you practising during the wedding celebration too?" I heard her calling me out.

"It's Jakov's wedding, not mine."

"I bet you'll be practising on your wedding day also," she retorted.

I smiled. She knows me, "That's not something to worry about," I shrugged.

"Why?" now it annoyed her, "I feel pity for your wife."

Of course, I'll keep my wife satiated, Mila.

"I can very well compensate for the time lost during our wedding night."

She grew silent.

A grin stretched across my face. She digs her own grave sometimes.

"Hmm, that's one way to cope for it. Nice one."

This time, I grew silent.

My fist clenched, jaw hardened at the picture she was painting in my head. Deliberately.

Turning sideways, I saw her walking without a care, looking around at the palace walls.

A smug smile came over me. She had started to play. Flirt. So unlike her.

Mila, I wonder what you'll have to say when I start telling you the things I do to you in my head...

I was no saint to just be devoted to the welfare of my kingdom. A part of me, whether it was while I slept, or zoned off midway reading an important letter, was busy fantasising the heck out of her, when she was just rooms away from me.

Like the ripened fruit she had become, that still hung on the tallest tree. Swaying, teasing.

And then realising that she would visit my room for her book, that too at nights...

I could even be called the king of patience. My tolerance was remarkable.

Absolutely fucking remarkable.

We entered the palace from the open field by the backside where in the distance, thousands of guests hogged down the banquet. The warriors from Alexander's army were doing a weird dance surrounding a flustered Jakov. I snickered.

Of all people, he was the most nerve wrecked for the big day of his life. How naïve.

Ushering her into one of the hallways that would lead to the staircase for the floors, I held her hand for her to stop.

"Avoid conversing too much with the guests," I warned, "for your safety." She nodded meekly, not turning around to look at me.

I leant closer to her ear, "And don't attract attention to yourself," I increased my grip on her hand, slowly rubbing my thumb over her knuckles, "You wouldn't want me disciplining you afterwards, now would you?"

I could feel the pulse of her wrist starting to thump like anything. Smiling, I left her hand.

"A- As you wish to, my Lord..." she bowed gently and dashed away at the first turn.

The afternoon went by arranging the stationing of guards at significant points around the palace. The last thing I wanted was an invasion, when more than half of the warriors would be drunk to oblivion.

Spotting Ashtor laughing with a fellow warrior, I walked past him, "A word with you Ashtor," I glanced at the warrior talking to him who was wide-eyed now.

He looked strangely familiar.

"Orders, your Honour," he bowed, as we stood at one corner where people wouldn't hear.

"You'll stay around the ladies and most importantly, the court writer," he nodded in understanding, "Make sure none of the guests has lengthy conversations with her. Also, she must not go alone anywhere."

"As you wish to, your Honour," he was about to leave when I caught him.

Now that I remembered who he was chatting with, I instructed him, "Tell that warrior, I've asked for him," he bowed again and left.

He was the oddest warrior I had ever seen in my life. Sometimes I doubted if he even was a warrior.

"Y- Your Honour," he bowed.

"Nice meeting you again, Fartaxerxes," I acknowledged him.

"It's an honour you remember me, my Lord," he didn't look into my eyes. I waved a hand for him to walk with me.

I took the route of the gardens, where the path was being lit by fire torches at the faint sign of evening. He followed a step behind.

"Are you aware, that you've increased my work there," I crossed my arms, "by not marrying the queen of Sais," That Egyptian territory was still under Romanowskian alliance, causing me to pay for its maintenance because it still didn't have a valid ruler.

The money that I could've easily used for faster renovation of the harbour of Romanos.

"My Lord, I didn't find it in my moral ethics to marry her..." I turned around to see what he was mumbling.

"She is older than my grandmother," he pleaded.

This dumb horny excuse of a warrior, "Does marriage only mean sleeping around?" I scoffed, "As far as I know, the queen swore to gift you a harem of concubines too, if that solves your concern," I exclaimed, irritated.

I had never seen a warrior quiver in fear as he did now.

"I- I'm just a lowly w- warrior now, my Lord..." he sniffled. Being a warrior, he fucking sniffled, "everything is dealt by t- the current warrior general, Abanoor Rashid, my Lord."

I exhaled. He was another piece of distress atop the chaos Alexander was creating. Ever since Darius' demise, Alexander wanted to show Persians that he was their saviour, acting like he'd been a Persian child since birth. To everyone's surprise, followed their culture, even dressing himself up as a Persian man. The same Persians he used to loathe.

Alexander was a culture hopper. The same thing he did with Egypt.

He should seriously reduce his alcohol consumption.

"No warrior is ever lowly," I kept a hand over his shoulder and he was close to recoiling, "If you are a true warrior, you have a life of prestige, irrespective of your rank."

This time he looked up as if my words had stirred something inside him. He looked young, inexperienced but now when I looked properly, he did have a built of a warrior. His eyes and the shape of his face, he was resembling someone. I couldn't point a finger who.

"You are my greatest inspiration, my Lord," he bowed deeply, "It's my fortune that I got to meet a warrior like you."

I nodded, "We are at the last stage of taking over the Achaemenid empire," I stated, "With Darius already dead, we are left with one more war to overthrow them. I'd like to see you on the battlefield."

He froze at his spot, eyes widening to the point they resembled an owl's.

"Now don't tell me you've never fought in a war, Xerxes," I was fed up with calling him by his long strange name, "Yes?"

"Y- Yes, my Lord, I have," he stretched his lips to a trembling smile, "Though... they were the minor battles, my Lord... not such a big one you just told ab-"

"Wasn't I your greatest inspiration, moments ago?" I tilted my head, seeing beads of sweat forming on his head, "You can train with my warriors if you're not sure of your abilities."

After that, I could barely understand what he was fumbling about, "Alright, what I want is, I should see you on the battlefield, one year from now," he quietened, "and if you don't..."

"I will be there, my Lord!" he cried out, "y- you have my word," he kept a first at his heart and bowed.

"Good," I praised, "and before you leave, do you know..." I rubbed my jaw in thought, "about the priests who are here for the rituals?" I'd forgotten to have a background check of that suspicious priest who'd taken Althea to the burial grounds.

The way I was forgetting about things was astounding. But good thing I'd spotted him this morning when he arrived with the other priests.

"Can you name him, my Lord," he asked.

Damn, I'd even forgotten his name, "I don't remember that, but he's... Aphrodite's priest."

It took some time for him to comprehend, before his face lit up, "Donut!" he yelped. I looked on flatly at his peculiar outburst.

"Oh, no, not that one. Apologies my Lord, but was his name... Remun Ra?" From the way his smile was widening, he looked no less than a creep.

"Yes him," Another weird name I couldn't remember, "Do you know him?"

"Of course I do, my Lord," he grinned, "Would you like to meet him? I can call him now if you want to?" I wondered why he was so eager for this priest to meet me.