Disguised for Love

Part 10

She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes. -Lord Byron

Stockroom

"Faye, we were so curious where did you go with her, you have taken a bit of time, it's almost lunchtime," Audrey asked her once she is inside the stockroom after Mistress Bethesda left her at the door.

"We went in the sitting area of Prince Celcius."

"Ooh! Really," the three of them said it in a chorus and then encircled her, giggling.

"What is the reason that you were there?" Audrey asked.

"Is it because Prince Celsius is interested in you?" Audra asked too.

"Girls one at a time, how can she answer if we asked her altogether?" Lara told them, and the giggling stop.

"Well, he only asked me if I had been to the masquerade event."

"Ooh! That is all?" Faye noticed the disappointment in Audrey's voice, but then what can she do. Mistress Bethesda warned her not to tell the other maidservant of what the conversation was with the Prince. Besides, it was a big part of the conversation, and it is also right to conceal some. It is not easy to differentiate inside the Palace, who is your supporter and your opponent. So, she cannot add more information.

" I thought he was mesmerized by your beauty," Audrey added before everyone go back to each of their work.

Faye then went to the backdoor to heat some water for her medicine.

She is cooling her medicine on a small table so she can drink it before eating when Lara came in with food. She then put it in front of her.

"I have noticed that lately, the foods served to us are all nutritious, and the serving's increased," Lara remarked while opening the dishes.

Lara was right, it did increase, and it now has a variety of it. Before, if it is fish, there will be no chicken. Now, the dishes have grilled fish, vegetables, salad, soup, and a chicken.

"Are you going to start your two days off already tomorrow, Faye?"

"Yes," she answers Lara and then takes a sip from her cup. When it is warm already, she drinks it all.

"How about you, when will you have your day off?" She asked Lara once she puts down her cup on the table.

"A week from now. Can I ask you to go to the market and give my letter to the Mermaid shop?"

"Sure, as I will go there and send my letter too. Prepare it so I can bring it with me later on."

The entire maidservant sends their letter to their home in the shop owned by their respective Kingdom. It is delivered by a winged horse directly to the doorsteps of their home. The next day it will come back to get a reply if they have one.

In her case, it is to Shade Westerly, and then he will forward it to her brother though it is her first time to one since she arrived here.

That night, Faye sat down on a couch in the sitting room of Draco while he gets something from a cabinet. As far as she knows, she had not seen it before. He turned around with a box in his hand and sat down beside her. He then handed it to her, "What is this?"

"Open it and look at what is inside."

She opened it and saw a decorative comb and a hairpin, "Ooh! It's beautiful."

She touched the emerald stones that decorate the two hair accessories and then closed the box. She then returned it to him with a drooping body.

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's beautiful. I'm sure whoever will receive it will be happy." She answered while looking at her hands in her lap.

Draco holds her chin up and looks at her with his scrutinizing eyes, "So, why are you not happy? I thought you would like these. I'm sure it will also look good on you, so I had chosen these kinds."

Draco then put the box on the top of the table while she focuses her vision to his golden-brown hair.

"Well, it is because I cannot accept anything from you, you know..." She told him, avoiding his eyes as he turned and looked at her. Then his kiss silences her, a sweet and brief one.

"If you mentioned again that you are engaged, I will kiss your lips."

Prince Atticus thinks that by now, Faye should be aware that he doesn't like her mentioning her engagement and other male deity's name. For him, she is his only, and he will not share his lover to anyone.

Before, he is unaware that he can be possessive until she comes in his vicinity; all those suppress emotions that he has were unleashed and made him a slave of it. He prided himself for endurance and not easily enticed by other female deities, but with just one look at her, all those vanished even the detailed plans he has for his marriage.

On Faye's mind, though her engagement to Slade was fake, the facts she has a real one to mention it is like reminding herself that she is not free to love anyone. It is also to impart in him not to expect anything from her. Those gifts are not for her but to the deity that deserves his attention.

She did try her best to avoid being close to him, but whenever he is around, she forgets everyone but the joy of just being near him. She doesn't know what emotion she has for him, only that she is happy with him and misses him when not around.

"But..." she will repeat something, but he did as he said, kissed her. This time she becomes so absorbed with the sensation of his kisses that it causes havoc in her mind.

She encircled her arms around his neck and responded; he pulled her closer and held her head to deepen the kiss. When they broke apart to breathe, she rested her head on his neck to gather as much needed air.

Then he asked, "Is tomorrow your day off?"

She removed her head on his neck and straightened herself and answered, "Yes," then she looked at him with narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows, "How do you know it's my day off?" she sighs and continues, "Oh yes, I am in Pantheocelesean City. We, from other Kingdom, are not treated fairly. You can do everything in magic while we can't."

"Now you know how to complain," he then laughed.

"I'm not complaining, I am just stating the obvious," she pouted her lips; he kissed it and then smiled at her.

She smiled back.

"Tomorrow, wait for me in your room because after the morning session in the Diamond Palace, I will be free. I will come and get you so that we can go out together."

Draco then took the box that contains the hair ornaments and handed it to her. She wanted to say something but stopped when she saw the determination in his eyes. She shrugged her shoulder in defeat and took the box.

The next day, Faye woke up with the rays of the sun, warming her face. She blinks her eyes a few times to adjust to the light and then covers herself again with the blanket.

She still needs a few hours of the darkness to sleep, but then she remembers it's her day off. Draco will pick her up. She knows there is no way of escaping from him, forced to get up and remove her blanket, groaning she sits on her bed. She opened her eyes, and the first thing that enters her vision is Lara's letter on the top of her cabinet. It reminded her that she needs to write one too.

She got up from her bed and went to a cabinet. She then took her reed pen and scrolls to write her letter to Hoyden and then also for Draco. She is late in waking up. He will be here soon if she will not hurry. She finished with the two letters and put the one for Draco at the top of her bed for him to immediately see once he comes.

She did her morning cleaning to herself and then donned her dress. To untangle her hair, she used the comb that Draco gave her and then put the hairpin on it. After she finished everything, she put on her hood to conceal her face and went out of her room to start her journey to the market.

As she walked in the market to the direction of the shop of Camdenland, she passed three deities who were busy selecting hair ornaments. She can hear them giggling and teasing each other.

"How she wished she had a female deity friend whose day off is the same as hers so they can be like them too." She looked on the other side and saw a child tagging into her mother's skirt as she points to a sweet shop. As she walked further, she saw a female deity who came out of the linen shop, and then next to it is her destination. Upon seeing the shop names, she hurriedly went and entered its door.

As it is her first time to get there, she looked around to check where she can send her mail. Two female deities are sitting on a chair while drinking in their wooden cups; the other female who just listen to the other one that talks look unhappy.

Faye turns to look at the opposite side, a father whose child is on his lap talks to a deity responsible for family registration. The child looks so cute and even smiled at her. Before the father can notice her smiling back to the child, she averted her eyes to look ahead of her. It was then she saw two deities holding a scroll, falls in line in front of a counter.

She hurriedly went in their direction to fall in line too. When it was her turned to be dealt with, upon seeing her face, the one at the counter turned red and started to stammer. The diety only became in control of himself with the mention of the name of the recipient of her message. He then asked her to go with him.

He ushered her to a corridor at the counter side, and then they enter into one of the rooms.

He let her sit down on a couch and then left to enter another room. After a while, he went out and told her to wait. He then went out of the room, leaving her alone.

She looked around and saw that the wall opposite to where she sits was a row of shelves with scrolls on it. She was going to stand up and check it out when she heard a voice, "Your highness, I am sorry to keep you waiting,"

Startled, she turned around and saw a wood deity with his head bending down. Then it dawned on her how he addressed her. She was going to ask him when he interrupted her.

"I am Maximillian from the Wood Clan. Your brother, Prince Holden, sent me a message to expect you to come here. I had waited for you to visit the shop since the time he posted information about your arrival, your highness."

She told him to raise his head, and he did. Upon looking at her closely, his facial expression changed as if he, too, was mesmerized.

If Faye were still with power, she would know of his opinion of her.

That he had heard about her beauty from all those deities from Camdenland, but it was always with doubt. It is because no one has been that closed with her. Now that he has, it's no exaggeration at all. Truly her face can bewitch anyone.

As if he didn't want the person in front of him to know how her beauty affects him, he said. "Whenever you need assistance, just come to me. I will be your aid, and rest assured everything will be in secret, your highness."

"I only came to send a letter back home."

"You can leave it here with me. I will immediately let the winged horse send it to Slade Westerly as per instruction. Next time, your highness, come to this room immediately if you need my assistance. I am always at your disposal. Any new messages from your brother, the Pantheocelesian dove, will bring it to you personally."

She handed him the scroll.

"Thank you. I will wait for a reply from my brother. I have to go now." She then turned around to walk towards the door.

Before she opened the door, Faye heard Maximillian telling her, "Take care, your highness." She didn't turn around but instead went out of the door to hurriedly walked out of the shop.

Faye was looking around for the shop of mermaid clan when suddenly someone catches her arm. She was surprised to see Draco.

In her message, she told him to wait for her at the entrance of the market. "I wrote that..." but he silenced whatever she is going to say when he put his finger on her lips.

"Are you done with what you need here?"

"No, I still need to send the message that my friend asked me to send for her," she answered once he removed his finger on her lips.

"Which shop are you going to next?"

"The Mermaid's shop, as Lara was from there."

"Next time, don't come here alone, but wait for me to go with you."

"Nothing will happen as long as I use my hood." She told him dismissing his concern on her safety.

"Who would dare to do do something that can cause a ruckus in this city? Every deity behaves when they are here. Aside from the fact that they don't have powers, the punishment for a simple crime is the total removal of power for five years."

She looked around and noticed that some deity is looking at them, and so she told Draco. He turned his head to glance at where she is gazing. Then, he pulled her closer to him, and they walked to the side of the street where another guard is standing. Then he holds her close shielding her face from those perusal eyes, bends his head to her and then murmured in her ear, "Give me that letter, and I will ask Guilder to send it for you,"

"But I don't want to trouble him when I can do it," she whispered.

"It is not inconvenient for him. I am sure he will be happy to do it."

She let out the scroll to give it to him. He turned his head to the guard without losing his hold on her. She heard him instruct the other one to where to send it, and then he gave the scroll.

They left the market immediately in a mist, and appear outside of the gate of Pantheocelesean City. Still enclose in his embrace, she looks up at him, "Will the guard not stop and report us?"

He looked down on her, "What is their reason to report on us?"

"Well, you used magic to get out," Then she take a peek on his back, and she saw two guards are looking at them. So she holds his hands and pulled him to run.

He also runs with her when they are already far from the gate. She let go of his hands and panting, she looked at him, "we did it Draco. We've escaped from them. But I wondered why they did not pursue us?"

"It is because we run so fast, did you not notice, you have your magic power again?"

She looked down at herself and raised her arm, "Yes, I can feel it," she laughed and twirled in delight and then hugged him. "How did you do it?"

He looked down at her and looked in her eyes and explained, "It is because we passed the Purifying Lake when we were going out in the mist. You know when you go out, all the magic powers that you have will be returned, but not all if you did not finish the two-year contract. Right now, your power is only a small amount but enough for you to run and fly. Aside from that, you have to rely on me," he winked and smiled at her.

"Yes, my magnificent protector," she curtsied to him.

He laughed at her and then held out his hand, "come on, my Princess. It is time for us to start our journey."