Kingdom Of Lust

Chapter 4

I sent a letter to the castle to let everyone know that I'd be traveling. I instructed the guard to take me to Cantara. I was ready to face Prince Zane.

On the way to Cantara, I rehearsed what I'd say to him hundreds of times. I wanted him to see and feel how angry I was. I wanted him to know that I wasn't scared of him...at least not anymore.

After hours of traveling, we finally crossed the bridge into Cantara.The guard dropped me off at Prince Zane's military headquarters. I paced back and forth for several minutes trying to sum up the courage to barge in there and confront him.

I could hear his men laughing and chanting his name. I squeezed my hands into a fist and sped in through the gates.

His men quickly turned around and were shocked to see me. I walked straight to Prince Zane and slapped him.

I stood my ground even as my hand began to burn.

His men burst out in laughter.

"All of you...get out now!"

The men quickly grabbed their swords and walked out of the gate.

Prince Zane offered me some of his wine, "Here."

I began to panic but forced myself to remain stern and keep my face straight. I can't let him see fear or regret.

I rejected the wine, and took a step back.

"Ouch, I must have done something to deserve that slap, eh?"

"You know what you've been doing to me, it's enough. It ends today!"

"It never ends..." he sighed.

"What makes you think you can do that to women, and just get away with it?"

"It's not me...I'm not the one doing it."

"What?"

He sat down,"Please have a drink with me, and I'll explain everything."

I took the glass he offered and sat across from him.

"All of this is happening because of a mistake I made years ago that I will regret for the rest of my life."

"And what mistake was that?"

"I broke a witch's heart."

I almost choked on the wine, "A witch?"

"When I was nineteen, there was an older palace maid, she would always bring her daughter with her to the castle. I was excited to have someone my age in the castle with me. My brothers were younger, so they stayed amongst themselves. To be honest, I was more excited that she was beautiful, more than her being my age.

The first time I saw her she took my breath away. I remember trying to get her attention but she paid me no mind. I thought to myself, how could she ignore a Prince? How dare she ignore a Prince? Oh, but she continued to ignore me for eight whole months. I'd bring her flowers, chocolates, gifts, dresses and even gold. Nothing impressed her. Absolutely nothing. I wasn't used to being ignored, especially by a woman. Her stubbornness and the chase of it all turned me on.

But after a while, I finally gave up and left her alone. Until one day she slipped and fell into the lake and was unable to swim. I swam after her and saved her from drowning. And from that day on she began speaking to me. Soon we'd go everywhere and do everything together. We became inseparable. She only saw me as a friend and I would express to her that I wanted much more. She said she could tell that I would break her heart into pieces. I did everything in my power to try to persuade her that I would never do such a thing.

One night, I sneaked her into my chambers and asked her to be mine. Before she gave me her virginity, she made me swear to never break her heart. Because she is allowed to only be with one man for the rest of her life. And giving her virginity to me would make me that one man. I didn't care to understand what she meant at the time. I only cared about what was between her legs. So to get what I wanted, I swore to never break her heart. And as a foolish young boy at the time, I ended up doing exactly that.

After I got what I wanted, she was no longer relevant in my mind as I started chasing after every woman I could get my hands on. I began ignoring and avoiding her. She stood outside my chambers one night and cursed me. I had my men arrest her. A couple of months later she died of heartbreak and the curse she put on me began to take effect immediately.

Soon there were women showing up left and right, each of them claiming I'd slept with them. Women I'd never met before. Then there were angry fathers, brothers and husbands trying to burn down the castle to get to me. They almost hung me. Since then, I have never looked a woman's way. I stay far away from women as much as possible. That beast that wears my face is composed of the worst parts of me and no matter what I do, I can't escape it."

I quickly drank all the wine, "Wow...that was alot."

"Yup, that's the story of my miserable life."

"There has to be a way to lift the curse."

"I have tried anything and everything, you name it, but that beast keeps getting stronger and stronger, each day."

I began to feel extremely bad for slapping him," I'm so sorry for the slap."

"Not to worry, I think I still deserved it in some way. I shouldn't have ignored you the way I did when you moved into the castle. "

He smiled, and that's when I realized how insanely handsome he was.

"No worries...well, I better get back to Valeda, it's getting late."

"The English protests are about to begin. You won't be able to cross the bridge until the protests are over."

"When will it be over?"

"In three days."

"What? Three days?!"

"You can stay here with me...I promise I don't bite."

I looked at him and faked a smile while having a whole mental breakdown in my head.