My boss's obsession

6

Koray still didn’t show himself to her. Sometimes he would come into my room and say a few things to her, but he always wore his cloak. She would sometimes ask me what he looked like. “I bet he’s very handsome,” she told me one time. “I bet he has tan skin that’s warm to the touch and just as smooth as a baby!”

“Something like that,” I replied, giggling.

Once a month or so she would go down and spend a few days with her family. On those nights, Koray would stay in my room with me. He never kissed me again, but he would hold me in his arms and we would fall asClayp together. He liked to have me sing for him; he thought I had a beautiful singing voice.

Those were always my favorite nights. I would sing, he would tell me stories, and we would both stay up as late as we could before we finally just closed our eyes and we were gone. When he was with me, I wasn’t scared of sClayping. The dream never came to me when he was there.

I had the dream a few more times. Every time it was exactly the same, except that each time I became more and more scared of the roar. Clay came rushing into my room one night, hysterical.

“Canzu! What’s wrong?” she asked me, feeling my head to see if I had a fever.

I couldn’t breathe. I sat there for a minute. “What do you mean?”

“You screamed something awful!” Her voice was nervous and shaky. “I thought something had snuck into your room to hurt you.”

I pondered how close she was to the truth. “It was just a nightmare,” I said. She eyed me suspiciously, but then pulled me into a hug.

“I’m sorry. It sounded like something horrible was happening to you. It must have been some dream.”

“It was,” I said, finally letting a few tears escape from their cells behind my eyes. We held each other until someone knocked on the door. Clay got up to open it.

“Yes?”

“I heard Canzu scream. Is she okay?” It was Koray.

Clay looked back at me and then shook her head. “I don’t think so, Prince. She’s terribly frightened.”

Koray pushed his way into the room. He took one look at me and my tear stained face, and then told Clay to leave us alone. She nodded and quickly exited. It didn’t take long before I was in Koray’s lap. He stroked my hair.

“Canzu, what happened?”

“It was a nightmare,” I choked.

“Shhh,” he told me. “It’s alright now.” I let him just hold me until all my tears had expired, and then I leaned against his chest, exhausted. “Have you had the dream before?” he asked me cautiously.

“Yes. This is the fifth time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was never this bad.” We sat there silently some more before he spoke again.

“What happens in the dream?”

I took a deep breath before I began to talk. “I’m getting chased through the woods by some monster, and he keeps roaring at me.”

Koray’s body shifted slightly, as if he was laughing. “Canzu, you shouldn’t be scared. I wouldn’t let anything get you.”

“I know,” I told him.

“Would you like for me to stay here with you tonight?”

I nodded, and he tucked me into bed before lying down beside me. More tears somehow fought their way out of my eyes, and they soaked into his chestnut fur. His arms tightened around me, pulling me closer to him, and then after about an hour I was able to fall asClayp to the sound of his breathing.

Koray woke me up that next morning, the excited shimmer in his eyes. “We should go ride the horses today.”

I didn’t want to be rude, but a brief thought crossed my mind and I had to ask him. “Koray… Can you even ride a horse?”

He stopped his rush in making my bed to stare at me. “Do I know how? Yes… I’m a prince.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

His face scrunched up for a second, and then his expression dropped. His mouth formed an “o.” “Oh. I get it. Well… you’ll see.”

I took his word for it. He went through my closet and picked out the warmest clothes I had. “Koray, I don’t think I’m going to need to dress that warmly.”

He didn’t respond to me, just kept on doing what he was doing. “Koray.”

He stopped, but still didn’t look at me. “Koray!”

“I know what I’m doing, Canzu!” he yelled, twirling around to face me. I flinched and took a step back. In his hands was my red dress, ripped into pieces. Both of us noticed it at the same time. “I’m sorry,” he muttered before dropping it down on my bed and exiting my room.

I stared at the dress in amazement and slight fear for a moment. What had suddenly come across him to make him so angry? I shivered and sat down on my bed staring straight ahead at the wall and not allowing myself to let any bad thoughts about him creep into my mind. What was the point? I was already set on a path toward marrying him. I couldn’t break my promise, and I didn’t want to. I forced myself to think about happy thoughts.

Horses sounded like a fun idea. It sounded like we both needed a calming trip. I was just putting on my scarf when I saw Koray’s cloak still on my table. Then I heard the scream.

I tore out of my room as fast as I could, but as soon as I was out the door I saw it. Koray stood in the middle of the hallway, and Clay was right in front of him, clutching her stomach in sheer terror. Nobody moved for the longest time, and then I went running to Clay’s side. “It’s okay,” I told her softly. “It’s just Koray.” I patted her hair in comfort as she tried to shove my body behind her own.

“That’s not the prince… that’s a beast.”

Koray came to life then. “It’s really me, Clay,” he told her. Her eyes widened as she recognized his voice. She took a tentative step toward him, and then didn’t move a muscle. Koray looked at me. “Go to the stables,” he ordered. “I’ll talk to Clay.”

“I’m not sure if leaving her alone with you right now is the best idea,” I tried to argue.

His body stiffened. “Now,” was all he said. I opened my mouth to say something else, but thought better of it and just headed for the ballroom and the big outside door.

I wasn’t sure what was wrong with Koray, but it was really puzzling. He was just all of a sudden very angry and very… prince-like. He never ordered me around like this. I mean, he has his slight temper checks and a few domineering comments, but nothing to this extreme ever before. And the dress…

I reached the stable before I even had time to finish all my thoughts. I pushed open the doors, and walked down the length of the building looking at all the horses. I was surprised that there were so many; and that they all seemed so healthy.

A chestnut mare caught my eye, and I stopped outside her stall. She eyed me warily at first, but then came and used her muzzle to push against me. I laughed at her, and went in search of a bag of oats or some other treat that I could give her. There was a small room at the end of the stable that held things like tack and such, and I found a small bag of some sort of horse feed. I grabbed a handful of it and returned to the horse. Her lips tickled my hand as she ate the food, and my smiled widened. She was exactly the same color as Koray’s fur. I was so stuck on the thought that I didn’t hear Koray come in behind me.

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” he asked me.

I jumped and spun around. He was standing there a few feet away, a cloak on and his hands behind his back. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said sincerely.

“It’s fine,” I assured him. “And yes, she’s very pretty.” I rubbed my hand up the length of her head; she was soft and warm.

“Have you ridden a horse before?”

“A few times. We had a couple on the farm.”

“You can probably handle her, then. If you want to ride her, that is?”

I beamed at him. “Yes, yes, of course I want to ride her!”

A man that I had never seen before came bustling through the doors and lead the horse towards the tack room, where he began to saddle her for me. “Put a side saddle on her,” Koray told him.

“Yes, sir,” was all the little man said.

I reached out and brushed against Koray’s arm. “I can ride in a regular saddle, Koray.”

“A side saddle would be easier and better,” he told me before he walked away. I stood there for a little while fuming at his bossy behavior, but realized it didn’t really do any good and eventually joined them both. The servant helped me onto the horse after he was done saddling her. She was taller than I had expected and my stomach flip flopped in fear for a few minutes.

Koray smiled up at me and told the man to saddle his horse while he took me outside. He led the mare out the other side of the stable and I saw the open fields behind Koray’s castle for the first time. It took my breath away. Green hills stretched for miles and miles; as far as I could see. Trees were scattered here and there.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered. Koray remained speechless. I looked over at him and saw him petting the mare, not even looking at the landscape.

“Her name is Ketty,” he told me.

I reached down and patted his hand in a peace offering. I wasn’t mad at him. His blue eyes looked up at me shining, and he understood. “That’s a lovely name for her,” I responded.

Just then, the servant opened the stable doors behind us and led out the biggest horse I had ever seen in my life. He was jet black; there wasn’t a single spot of anything other than dark. His eyes had a mean look to them, and I instinctively leaned away from him. Maybe a little bit too much away, because I started to fall and Koray had to reach out and grab me to keep me on Ketty.

“That’s my horse,” he said proudly. “His name is Nightmare.”

“That’s…fitting,” was all I could say. I understood now how Koray could ride horses. I was afraid that he was too big, that his body would crush any animal that he tried to ride, but it was clear that Nightmare could carry a beast twice the size of Koray and still not buckle under the weight. He was nearly three times the size of the mare that I sat on.

Koray handed me the reigns and then went and mounted his own steed, and the servant man disappeared within the doors of the stable once more. The black horse started to move, and I let Ketty follow it. “Come on,” Koray hollered at me. “I have a place I want to show you.”

We rode hard for the next long while. Koray’s horse always stayed in the lead, but Ketty and I were never far behind. I was concentrating so hard on just riding that I forgot all about everything that had happened this morning. The only thoughts in my mind were of how slightly to pull the reigns, how hard to dig my heels into the mare’s sides, or how I could maneuver between the trees and not get hit by a single branch.

When Koray led us into a more densely forested area, I bit my lip. I could feel the rough leather in my hands, and the hard saddle that was starting to cause pain. Ketty made quick movements through the trees, but one branch caught and scratched my cheek. I winced at the pain but couldn’t let go of the reigns in fear that we would lose sight of Koray or I would fall off the horse. Eventually, I heard the horses slow down, and I could recognize the soft trickling of water. There was a stream nearby.

Koray stopped us at the edge of the stream and helped me down. He must have noticed my I bloodied face, but he said nothing about it. I walked over and reached down into the cool water and started to wash it off. It stung a little bit but not so much that I couldn’t stand it.

“You should have told me that you couldn’t ride,” he whispered.

I turned around, shocked. “I thought I did pretty good, actually.”

He scoffed. “You think running into a tree is good? Don’t worry about it, I’ll just be sure to hire you a trainer.”

“I don’t think I need a trainer, Koray. And I hardly ran into a tree. It was like…. A small branch.”

He sensed the anger in my voice. His eyes wouldn’t meet mine, and I was upset that I couldn’t see the easiest way to read him. My feet were planted in place though, and I was just trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

“Fine, Canzu. No Trainer. But then that means no more horse rides, unless it’s with me. And by ‘with me’ I mean on my horse.”

“That’s so unfair! I’ll get better at riding!”

“We’re done arguing about this, Canzu.”

I could feel my face getting hot. I spun myself back around to the stream and just plopped down onto a large boulder. I didn’t understand what had caused such a change in Koray’s behavior today. Did I do anything last night to make him mad? Even racking my brain, I couldn’t come up with anything that would’ve made him act so… cold.

That’s what it was. Cold. He didn’t act like he truly cared about me at all. Sure, he was being protective, but it was in a way that someone would protect a family heirloom. Wrap it up in a cloth, keep it in the back of the highest shelf, and make sure nothing gets close enough to it to lower its value.

And I sure wasn’t a family heirloom. I was a person. And more than that, I was his… Well, whatever I was. Did he really expect me to give up my family, my potential friendships, and now my ability to live life? He wasn’t leaving me with any decisions or choices! I was like his personal porcelain doll!

I was so busy mentally screaming at him that I didn’t hear him come up behind me. His arms wrapped around my shoulders before he could gather up enough strength to say what I could almost SEE on the tip of his tongue.

“I’m sorry. I went a little overboard.”

A little? “Uhm.. I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to make you so mad.” I figured it was best to apologize and get it over with. He silently accepted my apology and we sat listening to the sounds of nature before he grudgingly admitted that we should probably head home and see how Clay was.

Oh my gosh. I had completely forgotten her and her first sight of the beast.

Wait. Not the beast. Koray. I shook my head as I got back onto Ketty (which Koray had so “secretly” tied to his own horse to lead me better), wondering why I had even thought about Koray in that way.

But I wouldn’t let myself answer that question, because I was scared that I would actually happen to have an answer.