The Girl Who Would Be Sultan

Chapter 4: A Kiss Of Duty

They spoke not a word to each other as they trekked back to the palace.
The air was heavy with unasked and unanswered questions.
She was dressed back in her normal everyday attire, and that made it a little easier for him to disassociate and to pretend that the whole thing had been a very confusing dream.

But no matter how much he tried to separate himself, He still could not speak. Kalisto felt her own unease with every step. Wishing he would say something, anything while simultaneously unable to speak anything herself. She hoped she had not changed how he saw her or caused him to view her differently, cheaply, or in a bad way.
"Goodnight." She finally managed to squeak out before slipping quickly into the safety of her room.

Alastar stood outside Kallisto's door, guarding it like he had done every night since she was a small child.
Alastar remembered the day that had changed his life forever. He had been just fourteen years old, trailing his father on a visit to the palace. While his general predecessor had been in dreary meetings with the Sultan, the boy had wandered out into the palace gardens, marveling at the beauty of the colorful flower beds, a rare treat in the desert nation.

It was then that he saw her - a little eight-year-old girl with dark curls and darker eyes, playing at the edge of the gardens under the watchful eye of her mother and her attendants. Alastar watched as she ran and laughed, a smile spreading across his face at her childish delight. She was more lively than any girl he had ever seen, not that he had seen many.

But then, without warning, a wild leopard burst out of the woods, grabbing the girl by her dress and pulling her towards the trees. Her mother screamed, and time seemed to freeze for Alastar as he watched it all unfold before him. With the eunuch guard too far away, it seemed hopeless.

Without thinking, he ran towards them, jumping over a hedge and drawing his wooden training sword from its sheath. He beat off the beast with all his might, finally driving it away with a fierce blow to the head. When it was all over, he scooped up the little girl in his arms, carrying her away from the danger.

In the attack's aftermath, her father, the Sultan who had looked helplessly from the war room window, had awarded Alastar the job of her bodyguard - the first non eunuch ever, a position he had held forever since. He had watched her grow and change over the years, her childhood innocence giving way to something more complex and intelligent.Althoughh the events of that day had been frightening and traumatic, he knew they had also brought him a sense of purpose and responsibility that he wouldn't have otherwise found.

Tonight was different, though. Tonight, he couldn't shake the memory of the way she had looked during her dance with the high priestess. She had been wearing much more form-fitting clothes, and Alastar hadn't been able to stop himself from noticing how her body had developed and changed.

He cursed himself for his thought. Hee had always seen her as a kid sister before, and these fresh revelations had shaken him to his very core.

He thought of his wife, Desdemona, and felt a pang of guilt. She had drowned, leaving him with nothing but memories and a deep well of grief. He tried to push Kallisto out of his mind and focus on his pain instead, but the memory of her body kept creeping back up on him.

He took a swig from the flask he had brought with him, feeling the burn of the liquor in his throat. It didn't help - if anything, it made things worse. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so conflicted and confused.

He was supposed to be her protector and mentor, not some sort of fiend.
He took another swig of alcohol, trying to numb the conflicting emotions within him. But as the night wore on and sleep failed to come, he knew that there was no escaping what he was feeling. He was disgusted with himself for it, but he couldn't deny that he had been even just minimally aroused by Kallisto's body, and he didn't know what to do about it.