𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐏𝐈

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒

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𝐸𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒

𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑

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I panted as I crouched on the stone pathway beside the hedge. The sun burned the revealing skin that wasn't protected by my simple creme dress, leaving shades of red behind all over my arms and shoulder.

Sweat covered my neck as my long hair denied it cool air. My body was stiff and tense. My hand gripped the garden shovel as I kept digging into the ground. Feeling I dug enough, I take the peony and carefully place it in the hole, adjust it then start filling it with garden soil.

My legs are shaking from all this crouching and I fear my legs might give out, and in combination with the sun maybe I might even collapse. My head is spinning and my throat is dry, demanding liquid but I need to finish my work first.

My face is flushed red and my eyes narrowed, blinded by the brightness of the vibrant afternoon sun. The obnoxious heat surrounded me and I was tired. I was sleepy and exhausted from all this digging.

I looked to my side and almost moan in frustration at the remaining flowers I still have to plant.

I was almost done when this nagging feeling I was being watched settled. I stopped and looked around the closed backyard. The only sound from the small water fountain, splashing water on the lowest level but never overflowing.

The fountain was built into a huge hole in the ground surrounded by high enough stairs to sit. The palace encircles the space and the garden, the balconies decorated with plants, the entrance empty of people.

I balled my fists and squeezed my eyes. I controlled my breathing and tried to calm down, ignoring the heat, the sun, and my miserable state.

I snapped my eyes to one of the balconies and my breath hitched.

There he was, staring at me. Leaning on the terrain as his arms clutched the railings, flexing his big arm muscles and broad shoulder. His chest and stomach hidden behind a golden armor, catching the sunlight and reflecting it, making him appear brighter, bigger, more dangerous. Making him look more like a God than he already is. Black pants were covering his muscular legs. Holding himself on his strong tights and bend forward, his tanned skin gleamed like gold in the light and his neck hung low, carving the dip on his collarbone. His eyes fixed only on me, his lips in a firm line. Cold-like always. Inscrutable like always. And still, the most beautiful man I have ever seen.

Time stops for a while and he is the only thing I can see. The only thing I can taste. The only thing I can hear. The only thing I can feel. I look at him and the red of his eyes consumes me, pulls me in until his arms wrap around me, and I become something he would never let go of, someone he would never trade for anything. The wind blew back the white curtains like an endless waterfall beside him, making him look so much more desirable.