Unfortunately for her, the prince wasn't an easy one to shake off. He continued to track her down every day for the following week. Even when she was in the middle of during her chores.
She felt her patience nearing its end as she kept finding new ways to keep running away from his advances.
On more than one occasion, the prince's cousin was the one who dragged the love-struck prince away, always saying more documents needed to be reviewed. Roxane couldn't help but to feel slightly grateful towards the man. She felt that he had earned the right to be referred by his first name in her mind, something she almost never does as most people tended to always disappoint her.
Even more concerning to her, Roxane had not seen or heard from Diana for a while now. She was always too busy to meet with her, and every time Roxane went to her room she would always have to leave after hours of waiting.
When she thought she had finally found the perfect time to talk with her during their chores, Diana quickly looked away from her friend.
"Sorry Roxane. I am needed at the infirmary. There's a really sick man that needs my attention."
Roxane's smile from having seen her friend for the first time in a long time vanished in a second. She was being avoided, that much she knew.
She watched with her eyes curved downward as her friend fled. Roxane was left heartbroken. She was caught between wanting to run after Diana and demand to know why she was being given the cold shoulder and letting her friend have some space. She must be terribly stressed, as the date of her marriage loomed closer.
Roxane decided to swallow her feelings and to let her friend be. For now.
The next morning started the same as the previous mornings. She bathed, got dressed, went to morning prayer, and then ate.
A man sat down in the seat across from her. Roxane froze, her spoon up in midair as she was in the middle of eating her daily meal of soup and bread. The brawny man before her smirked at her as if her actions were comical to him. It was one of the prince's men. A knight, she had gathered from the numerous times he had tried to grab her attention. It seemed that he had finally lost his mind after many failed attempts to get her alone.
Roxane breathed in deeply as she put down her spoon.
"Good day sir…"
She trailed off, giving the man the impression that she had not even wasted her time trying to remember his name.
"Wilford." He only grinned at her as he leaned forward, his burly arms on the table, showing his impressive hairy arms. "Please don't tell me you've already forgotten about me." The knight was in over his head if he thought he could conquer Roxane like he did his favorite horse.
"Ah yes, I'll be sure to remember now." She got up from her seat. "Well then, I best be on my way now. I hope you have a lovely breakfast." In a flash, she grabbed her bowl and left the man completely flabbergasted. As she left, she could hear the other knights laughing at the man's yet another failed attempt to strike up a conversion with the priestess.
Roxane found a silent place to finish up her meal. She brought her bowl to her lips and drank every last drop. She placed the bowl to one side, setting it down on the marble banister to her side where she had currently decided to sit. She would most certainly be scolded if any of the High Priestesses were to find her.
She was already late to start the day of never-ending chores, but she didn't care in the least. Her best friend was avoiding her and not even the brilliance from her ruby would be enough to lift her spirits up.
Roxane sighed yet again. She had been doing so with more frequency now.
She had the view of the whole garden below. It was a view so few had the pleasure of seeing, as not many at the temple would have had the courage to climb up on the marble banister of the temple's second story.
But she suspected not many of the temple's people were hiding the same secret as she. Could they also claim to be able to transform into dragons like herself?
She reached into the space out in front of her. She didn't know when last she had transformed into her other form. It might have been a couple of months now when she had snuck out with Diana at the dead of night. Where under the moonlight she had stretched out her large wings.
A long time ago, Diana had danced by the lake as she pretended she was a princess and Roxane was her companion who was a dragon princess. Roxane had laughed at her friend's imaginative mind. Truth be told, she always felt better whenever she and Diana went into the mountains behind the temple. Diana always accompanied her no matter rain or shine.
She smiled fondly at the memories. She supposed it had been many years ago now, as now they were being faced with a problem that she felt was bigger than anything they had ever faced before.
Roxane had been watching the gardens below with a faraway look, but she caught the sight of two figures below and was pulled her back into the present.
The two men had another meeting she supposed. She watched with great interest as the prince's cousin and the wizard seemed to be arguing yet again.
Roxane wondered if they were friends. They seemed to be complete opposites but it was possible, she and Diana were opposite but they were the best of friends despite their differences.
Thatcher seemed to be everywhere at once to her. One moment he would be by the prince's side reminding him of the paperwork that needed to get done, and the next he would be chatting with the people at the temple. He even had enough time to help with the wedding preparations. The wizard, Kian, on the other hand, was a rare sight to see. It seemed like he almost never stepped foot outside of his bedchambers, and even when he did, he would only been seen with the prince on very few occasions. When he met with Thatcher it was in always in secret.
The time it took for her to push a strand of her hair behind her ear was just enough time for her position to be compromised. She watched with amazement as Kian turned his head in her direction. His violet eyes hardened as his vision zeroed in on her. Thatcher followed his gaze to Roxane's location and he also stared at her as she peacefully sat on the bannister, the wind blowing her hair around her face.
She waved at the two. She smiled, but it was different than the other smiles before, and she hoped to communicate that she wasn't eavesdropping on purpose that it was by accident this time.
Thatcher was the only one who waved back. Then they soon left the garden, leaving Roxane alone to her own devices again.
The next day was even more exhausting as the prince seemed to really be on a mission to get Roxane alone again. He shamelessly went around the temple asking for her whereabouts. Good thing for her that she had excellent sense of hearing, so whenever he almost had her cornered she was able to quickly change directions. She also knew the temple front and back so she could avoid him with ease.
Regrettably, she was too focused on avoiding the prince that she could not do any of her chores. She grimaced at the thought of having one of the High Priestesses scold her.
It was all the prince's fault. She argued inside her head. Blame that hateful man.
"Excuse me young ladies, but have you seen Priestess Roxane recently?" She hurried away from the quickly approaching prince.
She dove into the only restricted section of the temple, the library, and quickly she shut the doors and locked them. She caught her breath as she briefly rested her forehead upon the doors.
"Well if anything, at least he's bloody persistent." She straightened herself up, wiping her sweaty palms on the fabric of her dress. When she turned around to walk further inside the library, she completely froze.
The wizard watched her silently, a stack of books piled up high on the table next to him.
Time was still in that room as the two were stuck in a battle, neither of them able to take their eyes away from the other's face.
Roxane was the first to make a move. She walked closer to the wizard.
"What are you doing here?" Her tone was accusatory. He had been caught in a restricted room of the temple and as a priestess, it was in her right to interrogate him.
"What do you mean?" She felt her blood begin to boil at his unbothered tone.
"What I mean," she drew out the words from her mouth, "is that this is a restricted room. No one is allowed in this part of the temple." She couldn't believe her luck. Roxane would take this chance to question him on everything. She would find out whatever plots they were planning.
"Oh? And tell me, what are you doing in this restricted part of the temple?" He straightened out his back, standing up to his full height. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Roxane was shocked. She had been got.
"Besides, I've gotten explicit permission from the High Priest himself to be here."
She blinked rapidly, trying to hide her stunned expression. The High Priest was someone she couldn't handle, especially when he was reprimanding her.
Roxane looked behind her to the door. She looked back at the wizard.
"It seems that we are at a stalemate."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are we?"
"I don't really believe the High Priest has given you permission to scour our most sacred texts," she leveled her gaze at his violet eyes, "but seeing as we are both not supposed to be here, I will settle on temporary truce as I can't currently leave this room."
She went to the nearest armchair and sat down without breaking eye contact, as if daring him to protest.
He stared at her for a couple of moments, perhaps trying to see if the pros outweighed the cons. Then he finally went back to reading the stack of books and scrolls on the desk.
As he worked, Roxane found it hard to keep herself from watching him as his violet eyes scanned through page and page of texts. She found it fascinating how he could read all of that without starting to lose interest. She frowned as she read the titles of the texts he was reading.
The Founding of the First Temples. Goddess Kara and Her First Saint. The History of The Divines.
They were all books that she had never heard about and she clearly could not imagine what would be so interesting about them.
"Do you know anything about the First Saint?" She jumped at the sudden voice that asked her and she quickly shook her head, truthfully answering his question.
"You are a priestess and yet you don't know anything about the First Saint?" He challenged and Roxane felt her face get hot.
"The First Saint appeared over hundreds of years ago. Whatever information there is about her would obviously be hard to come by." She floundered but her voice came out steady. "Why are you interested in a thing like that?"
"No reason. I was just curious as to why there are so few passages about her." He went back to the opened scrolls below him. She saw him wear a frustrated expression as he began to read again, a rare sight to see when he usually had no expression on his face.
"How long do you plan on staying here just staring at me?" The wizard continues reading the scriptures as his question hung in the air between them.
Roxane stood up from her seat and stormed out of the library wordlessly.
Standing outside the room's doors she reached up to touch her blazing face.
"Don't tell me." She whispered. Why him? She questioned herself, belligerent that her body would dare betray her mind.
She decided she couldn't make it to dinner in her current state and headed to her room for the night. When she entered, she found a rose on top of her bed with a note attached to it with red ribbon. She went closer to open the letter and immediately scowled.
Roxane, come to my bedchambers tonight. Love, Prince Xavier.
She quickly crumpled up the note and threw it into the waste basket along with the rose.