Disguised for Love

Part 4

You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.- -Gary Allan   

Blue Lake wood

Faye noticed that she is not in the open theater anymore but in a simple gazebo that she had been only the other day. Then she became aware of the arms wrapped around her. Slowly, she untangled those arms, which let her go too.

"Who are you?" she asked while turning around, jumps on her toes to reach for his mask, and remove it. When she saw the face of the male deity, she said, "It's you again." She said as soon as she saw the guard she met yesterday.

He laughed and removed her mask too. They stare at each other eyes briefly, and Faye turned around to walk to a marble post to put distance between them. Being near him brought a feeling she can't explain or understand, but she knows she must stay away.

She touched the lace that tied the curtains on it to distract her wandering mind, but the curiosity of his identity made her asked. "You didn't tell me your name; will you just let me call you The Guard?" she asked without looking back at him but the embroidery pattern of the lace.

"I am Draco," walking to her side as he answers.

"Are you once of the Crown Prince guard?" She turned around to face him and was surprised as he is in front of her already.

"Yes, are you one of those who want his attention too?" He touched a strand of her hair on her face that escapes from its bind.

She raised her hands to hook the strand of her hair in her ears when their fingers meet, and immediately Faye pulled her hand as if she had touched something hot. Then she informed him, "I am engaged. I only want to know my fiancé," then after a second thought, as she needs to know about the Crown Prince, she asked, "Is it true that he is cold and dispassionate?

He laughed, "You told me just now that you are only interested in your fiance, and you want to ask about the Crown Prince?

"Well, everyone is interested to know about him, and you are his guard, so I cannot stop myself from asking."

"You don't need to ask, try to get to know him."

"Are you making me laugh? The Palace is so big, how can I easily meet him let alone know?"

"I'm sure you will know him, anyway, who is that guy you called your fiance?"

"Shade Westerly son of the Lord of the Wood Deities," she answered.

Her brother obtained the permission of his brother-in-law to be her fake fiance. He is a young man of 100 years or so older than she is with hair the color of wheat and grey eyes the exact color of a shiny piece of metal. The one thing that she likes about him is his constant need to engage her in jest when she is in her extended stay with her brother. His jokes always lighten up her day. Remembering him brought a smile to her face.

Seeing her smile after she mentioned a male deity's name surged complicated feelings that made him grabbed her hand and looked at her with squint eyes, "are you in love with him? Where did you meet him?

"Wait, one at a time," she interrupted him, "I like him, but love is a strong emotion which I only want to feel once I am married."

With sourness on his face, he let go of her hand. He turned his back on her and walked to sit down on the couch, which she slept on before. Looking at him, Faye wondered what she said wrong. She only said what she meant. Ever since her engagement with the Pantheocelesian Crown Prince, other men are nothing but just friends for her. She followed him to the chair and sat down to try to soothe him.

He looks at her hand that holds his and then looks at her with lowered eyebrows. She smiled, and he gave her a tight-lipped smile. She removed her arms and stands up, walked to the doorway, and then turns back again. With a pout on her lips, she said, "Can you please return me to where the girls are?"

He looked at her again, with the same expression, and stands up to go to her; he grabbed her forcefully and hugged her, wide-eyed she just stand on his embrace, and she heard him whispered, "I've waited for so long."

Then a mist engulfed her, and she was brought to a park alone. She saw a bench and sits down on it and thought of what had happened. He brought her to the forest and then been brought back all in a hurry.

"Next time, I will ignore him when I see him," she muttered.

She has been sitting on the bench for a while now, calming herself after Draco's confusing behavior when she heard Kendra calling her.

She turned around and waved before standing up to walk where Kendra stands.

"I was looking for you earlier as you were not beside me," Kendra told her.

"I was following the deity that was dancing and flying without knowing it when I looked back, I cannot find anyone I know, so I went out. How did you know I'm here?"

"A guard I asked told me."

"How does he look?"

"Like most of the Pantheocelesian men, more than four cubit tall, good looking and millennia older than us."

"Where do you want to go after this?" she asked Kendra.

"Let us go back to the market and eat cotton candy that I saw," Kendra answered.

They walked back to the direction of the market, without them knowing that the guard whom Kendra asked about her whereabouts is beside them, only concealed in magic.

Inside the Pantheocelesian City, the Lords of the Divine Pantheon are only those who can use their magic, and their guards can conceal themselves except if in the presence of the highest-ranking heads of the Divine Pantheon who is the King, the all-seeing and knowing and the Crown Prince.

Serenade Palace

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Atticus is walking in the Arcadian hall, where he usually receives his guest, deep in thought when he is interrupted by his guard. One of the wives of his grandfather Lady Gertrude sends a message that she is waiting for him in her Saffron Hall in which he accepted. His action made his guard gasp. As it is the first time that he agrees to receive Lady Gertrude's invitation since the first time that she tried to arrange a meeting between him and Princess Isabel.

He knew Princess Isabel, the Princess of the North Sea, came here in Pantheoceles City to be with him, but for almost eighty years, this is the only time that he accepted to meet her. Maybe he changed his mind because of the earlier incidents of Faye's reaction when talking about other men. It could also be it is time for him to know other women too. "Maybe his younger brother was right. It is time for him to look around, or else he will spoil his betrothed.

Those who are interested to know the finale of the unrequited love of Princess Isabel to the Crown Prince are all ears to what happened when they finally met and have tea in the gazebo of the garden of Saffron Hall. Some heard a story that the Crown Prince Atticus was captivated by her beauty, and the scene is full of laughter. Others said it is because of her gracefulness and affection to him, which opens his eyes, that there are other women beside her fiancee whom he never met. To sum it all, the rumor is the Princess of Camdenland will not be the sole woman that is going to live alone in his residence, the Serenade Palace.

Those are the tale that is bustling inside of Prince Celcius Palace when Faye and the entire new maidservant entered. She is not even aware of the grandeur of it as her mind is in the news. It also brought tears in her eyes. She wipes it immediately, drags herself to distance a bit from them, so no one will notice how it affects her. "How she wanted to have the luxury of being in a forest and shout her frustrations." She thought while looking at around her busy with the gossip.

"Girls, stop talking about what is happening with the Supreme nobility, you are all here to work and not to gossip about them," she heard Mistress Bethesda, the head of the maidservant of Prince Celcius, speak.

Mistress Bethesda looked at each one of them and then continued her speech. "As this is your first day in Prince Celsius Palace, the ten of you will work in the different hall," she looked at Faye's direction and with one eyebrow lifted, she said, "Your beauty will not give you a special treatment here rather it will be a means of conflict to you especially with His Highness women inside Opal Hall. I will assign you to be in the stockroom."

"Thank you," She replied, with no reaction to Mistress Bethesda's comments as her mind is full about the Crown Prince having interest with another woman. She thought about what they said of him being dispassionate. "Maybe he was not interested in other women before because he was just busy, or perhaps they are right that Princess Isabel's devotion to him has finally melted his cold heart. Unlike her, that everyone seems to think is not interested to know him." She mused.

"Daydreaming is not allowed here. It can result in you making a lot of mistakes, which can result in severe punishment." Mistress Bethesda's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she almost yells to see her face in front of her.

The laughter inside the room made her feel suddenly hot, but Mistress Bethesda stopped them from making fun of her but mentioning to them, "Stop laughing, maybe one of you will be more than her in the coming days."

Everyone becomes quiet, and then they were told on their duties as well as the prohibited things to do.