Beautiful Dreamer

Chapter 17

Zachariah gently brushed away the remaining dirt from my body. Once I was clean, I got out of the tub and looked for a towel. I picked it up and began drying myself off and wrung my hair out. I wrapped the towel around my body and I could feel Zachariah’s gaze on me. He exited the tub and shook his hair out to dry it. Water was dripping off his naked body and I turned away as not to stare at him. He came over to me and kissed me lovingly on the forehead.

“You have made me the happiest man alive.”

He motioned for me to come sit on a chair and I did. He grabbed out a bottle and emptied some of the contents out into his hand and I recognized it to be oil. The smell of perfume drifted to my nose. The scent was familiar, lavender and vanilla. He lifted my leg and began rubbing the oil into my skin kissing each part before he spread the oil there. He did the same to my other leg and arms. After he was finished, he picked me up and carried me to his bedroom putting me on his bed and taking my towel away hanging it on the door. My body was completely exposed to him again and he looked at me hungrily. His appetite seemingly insatiable. I crawled under the covers eager to shield my body from his gaze. He climbed into the bed with me still naked. He kissed me gently and fondled my breasts some more.

“Analise, you are so perfect. I love the feel of skin underneath my touch.”

I was unsure of what to say. I did not know how to explain to him that we were still not together. It did not matter how many times he had s*x with me. I was not his. He may have taken my body for a moment but I was not going to commit to him right now. I still had things I needed to do.

“Zachariah...you know we cannot be together right now.”

He looked at me upset.

“Why not?”

“I still need to get my memories back. Who is to say we will even have a future after I go to the castle? The time we have spent together has been...nice, but I cannot guarantee you anything.”

“Then do not go back to the castle. Stay here with me. I promise I will make you happy.”

“You cannot promise that. I will never be happy until I have my memories back. I will not feel whole until they are back.”

“Fine.” He held me tighter. “Then I will go with you.”

“I will not ask you to do that. It is too much of a risk for you to go back.”

“You are mine now, whether you want to believe it or not. Where you go, I will follow. You are my everything and I will never lose you, not even to the king.”

Zachariah was already very possessive of me and in such a short amount of time. I was not sure what would happen when I got my memories back. I already knew there were things he was leaving out. I was not sure how I would react when I found them out. Would I even want him around? He had already deluded himself into thinking I was his. What would happen if my memories came back and I wanted him to leave? The thought made me very unnerved. He started kissing the top of my head.

“Analise, promise me no matter what, you will remember you are mine.”

I stayed quiet knowing I could not promise that. He lifted my chin up and looked me in the eyes. He searched mine for an answer to his question not liking what he saw. He climbed on top of me and pinned my wrist down. He kissed me hard pushing his tongue inside my mouth. I could feel the weight of him crushing down upon me. He hardened up against me. Really, again? He came up from the kiss for air.

“Please stop.” I looked into his blue eyes swirling with confusion.

“We cannot keep doing this. You are not getting it. s*x is not going to make me yours. I am not going to stay here and I am not going to be with you. I am leaving in the morning.”

He stopped and got off of me. There was hurt written all across his face. I got out of bed.

“I think it would be better if I stayed in my own room and remove temptations.”

“No, please stay. I promise I will not try anything. I just want to lay with you. It may be my last chance, so please stay.”

I felt bad, so I gave in. I crawled back into bed with him and he cuddled close to me just holding me. As I laid in bed I began thinking about the journey. I would need to do some packing to prepare for the journey as well as a plan inside the castle. Zachariah had agreed to come with me which would make the plan of getting in easier. He knew the layout of the castle. He also may have known other secret passageways like the one we had left through. I wanted to ask him but he had already fallen asleep and was snoring in my ear. I got up from bed now knowing he was sound asleep. I wanted to get a jump on the packing. I found a small knapsack that could be worn on your back, I put in some dried meats, some fruit, and a water flask. We would need things too keep up our energy because the trek before had been quite arduous without it. I grabbed my hammer from outside and put it with the sack. I looked through a drawer full of silver ware and picked up a couple of spoons and used my magic to craft them into arm guards. Next, I went into my room and grabbed my old tattered dress. I took a minute to think how best the material could serve me. The color shifted from green to black and from a dress into a romper. The sides of the midriff being exposed with a piece of small fabric going down the right and left making a kind of triangle on my exposed stomach. This would give me plenty of room to move around. I grabbed our cloaks and placed them on the table near the sack. I changed my cloak to black. I wanted to match my outfit not that it mattered, I was allowed to have the little things, right? I mean who knew if I was going to make it out alive, might as well do what I want now. Unfortunately for Zachariah he had been a part of that. I had not meant to lead him on but I honestly did not know what the future held. I was trying to make the most out of what could be my final days. After packing I crawled back into bed with Zachariah. If he was going tomorrow with me, why not give him what he wanted too? I fell asleep laying on his chest, not fully knowing what awaited me in the future.