"It seems like I don't have to worry about making you fall in love with me," his deep voice was heard to Mara who was still staring. She immediately blushed so hard and looked away so fast. He let out a deep laugh that made her immediately turn to look at him. He had a smile that was out of this world. Their eyes met and they were locked till Mara looked away.
" I totally don't mind. I am your soon to be husband. I believe you are allowed to stare at me and admire me and.....vice versa," he said cutting the distance between them to the point where their bodies were touching. Mara immediately became aware of the closeness but she couldn't move away.
"So tell me about yourself Mara," he said turning to face her. She wondered what he would like to know and decided to pick out her proudest moments and tell him if need be. "Well, my name is Mara White. I am 19 years old. Yeah...um ... yeah. I am...well...yeah...what about you?" She asked cursing herself for sounding so pathetic.
"Well my name is Kiel Wiscount. I am the crown prince of the dark realm or demon realm as many call it. I am an only child to my mother queen Abi and King Lucian. I cannot tell you my exact age as I stopped counting a long time ago," he said looking up at the sky.
Mara took in every bit of this information with her heart. She really couldn't hide it that she was falling in love for him. She decided not to show it so that she cannot appear clingy. She didn't know if he felt the same and thus did not want to embarrass herself.
"I heard you were training for something. Mind sharing," he asked still looking up. "Oh yeah I took a three months training at the female royal guards academy. It was a really nice experience for me though it was hard. I just came back a few days ago actually," she replied feeling proud of herself.
"Wow, that is so good. I heard that it was completely risky to train with them. I'm glad you survived," he said. Having done his investigations, he had found out that the princess had been training and how dangerous the training was. There was a feeling of pride in his heart to have such a powerful wife.
"Thank you," she said and turned to him, "Can I ask you something, have we met before?" She asked after he nodded. He looked at her and smiled, "Maybe we have, maybe we haven't." They lay there for a long time till Mara eventually dozed off next to him. He watched her sleeping and he couldn't believe that it was the same girl who was sneaking out to see him in the cave.
He saw how mature she had gotten. She looked more of a queen than a princess. His queen. After admiring her for some time, he enveloped them both in his red mist and they appeared in her room. He placed her on the bed and stepped back. Two days just two days.
Mara woke up later and as she was seated there arranging her thoughts, she remembered her brother and rushed out. She found him seated in his bed being fed something by their mother with a look of disapproval.
She immediately rushed to him and hugged him gently, so gently as if he would break. She sobbed on his neck having been so scared she would lose her brother. He hugged her back thinking of how much she must have cried because of him. He felt so guilty to her as she had to force herself into a marriage she didn't want just for him. At least that is what he thought.
"I will leave you two alone now," the queen said leaving the room. Zeme immediately looked at her with a face full of guilt. "I'm sorry Mara. I should have listened when you said not to go. Then now you wouldn't be forced to marry someone you do not love," he said in a low voice.
Mara looked at him and smiled. "Actually brother, I have a confession. I...umm...I don't feel sad or forced," she said blushing. " What do you mean," he asked sitting up properly. " I mean that I love him. At least I think I do. I feel like I've known him before. Weird right? But I swear I feel so safe when I'm around him. So yeah. I don't feel forced. Also I'm glad he healed you. I was so worried and I feel so thankful," she replied.
Zeme looked down hoping that the demon's kindness was genuine as everyone knew not to trust demons. He could not burst her joy bubble especially having no other solution from this. He could only smile and hope for the best. The best that his sister wouldn't get hurt.
The wedding preparations were done very secretly. As Kiel had said, it would be very insensitive to have a big wedding when people had just lost their loved ones and property. It was to be done in the throne room of the castle in the human realm.
Mara was okay with such kind of a wedding. She had never imagined herself getting married this soon so she didn't have a preference. Her wedding gown would be the same as her mother had worn when getting married. She would leave the castle with Kara as she was her best friend and guard. Kiel did not have a problem with this at all.
Finally, the day arrived. She was bathed for almost an hour by the maids making sure that they used different types of soaps and aromas to make the princess look and smell good for the prince. She was dressed in a tight corset to accentuate her figure and then the gown.
Her blue hair was let down and held with diamond pins. A red paste was put on her plump lips and her nails were painted. She looked ethereal.