Sienna shook her head."I like him as a friend, that is all, a bit like you."She smiled at Bran. Bran smiled, he gave a candle from his hand to Sienna and closed the door behind her.
In deep night Gaius stood a bit frozen in his room. He stared into a big mirror on the wall. He spread his hands wide and tell to himself."Forgiveness will give your soul wings to fly free." He nodded his head. "I forgive you, father, do you hear me? I forgive you!" he shouted and fell to his knees. The tears came out of his eyes. He felt as if a big rock fell off his heart. The resentment towards the late king he kept alive for years.
He looked into a mirror and stood up. He really felt free. He nodded his head and smiled a bit crazily. "I'm a king. I will be the one ruling soon. And as a king, I can get whatever I like!" he chuckled a bit." Even a gold-haired queen if I wish so. I only need to make a claim of saving her." he nodded his head and smiled proudly at himself.
"Don't try it till you're stronger than her mates."Crodius entered his room confidently. He was listening behind the door for a while.
"She will not fight me!"Gaius smiled.
"No, you are her friend. She keeps her word. Is just someone as king Sharchan can kill you behind her back. Or king Tyrell?"Crodius lifted his brows, he wanted to see how the young king will hold himself.
"They would not kill me. King Sarcos is the boss of her mates, is he not?"Gaius asked nonchalantly.
"Do you want him to be your boss too? He will be if you mate her." Crodius smirked at him.
"Well, he seems to be reasonable."Gaius shook his shoulder." Still better than to be ordered around by a mage." he grinned wildly.
"Did you meet him?"Crodius furrowed his brows.
"The queen told me about him at the dinner," Gaius avoided the trap. "She said, he is very strong."
"If he is, where is he? Why he is not looking for his queen?"Crodius asked.
Gaius felt the trap deepened. "You can ask him, when he will come, just make sure to treat the queen nice. I will forgive you for your bloody stupid idea on her account only."Gaius said seriously.
"Whatever I will need your forgiveness for, my king?"Crodius smirked at him.
Gaius spread his hands nonchalantly. "Forgiveness will give my soul wings to fly free. The queen said it. You might want to try it sometimes." he chuckled at the mage. He could see Crodius is provoking him.
"She is surely right."Crodius nodded."I'm grateful for your forgiveness then, dear Gaius."
Crodius saw the king is happy and doesn't care about his teasing. "So did the queen accept your courtship?" he asked carefully.
"Just as a friend for now."Gaius nodded."She kissed my cheek." he said proudly and pointed his finger at his cheek cheekily." That can never happen to you, with your dark old mage appearance." he chuckled.
"We will see who she accepts."Crodius scoffed.
"You need to become a strong independent king for her to accept you, Gaius." he scanned the young king's wild face." I decided to live free and make your official crowning ceremony where you can take the reing. I can see you are a man now."Crodius said.
"It was a time finally. You will be able to come and go as you please."Gaius nodded.
"I want a villa at the seaside."Crodius laughed."Fresh air, open sea, fishing and big empire of cosmetics bringing me lots of gold..." he chuckled.
"I hope it will go well for you."Gaius nodded.
"It will," Crodius nodded." Nothing can go wrong with someone so beautiful and talented as a queen." he thought.
The next morning, Sienna just had her breakfast and organized things a bit, she made it ready to paint the king. Gaius came in excitedly.
"Good morning my king Gaius, " Sienna smiled.
Gaius looked around the room. "Your room is quite small, if you like you can stay in my quarters in the palace. You can bring your guards over too, I see you trust them," he said kindly.
"Thank you, Gaius, I would love to, but you have to ask the mage for me."Sienna bit her lips. She would actually prefer to stay in Gaius palace than in the temple. She was kind of still freaked out by Crodius laboratory and the palace was more far from it.
Gaius nodded."I will," he said."If she lives in the palace, I can keep her safer." he thought."I have a gift for you," he gave her a gold half-net for the hair, decorated with pearls.
"Thank you, it is beautiful," Sienna nodded.
"I made it!" he said proudly.
"Will you help me to put it on?" Sienna asked.
"I don't know how to." Gaius bit his lips,"Maybe Bran or Scar know how."he looked at the guards hopefully. Bran shooked his head, he got no idea.
Gaius looked at Sarcos. He nodded, but he did not want to be seen yet.
"Close your eyes then, Scar will help me to put it on, it will be a surprise."Gaius found a solution.
"Sienna smiled and did as he told her. Sarcos took Sienna's long hair thru the net and fixed it on her head. Her golden hair were cascading down from the golden net, and it really matched Sienna's hair colour.
Sarcos retreated again and Gaius led Sienna to the mirror. "You can open your eyes now, look, it suits you so well, and your hair will stay out of your face, while painting, "he smiled.
Sienna touched the net."Thank you." she kissed his cheek. Gaius swallowed hard."I must bring her more presents in the future. It was so worth the kiss."He thought cheekily.
Sienna really liked the net, it looked serene on her. But what puzzled her even more, was her heart which pounced frantically at a touch of warm Scar's hands. Her body was definitely reacting to him a lot and she was scared of it. She was wanting him, even though she knew he is just a shy guard. She was wondering, if he felt it too, but did not want to ask him. She was terrified that he would say no. Scar was too mysterious, he always kept kind of hiding. He never put down his mask. She did not even catch the colour of his eyes yet.
Sienna stood Gaius from the profile and started to draw him. Gaius's face was handsome and a bit wild. Sienna tried to express it in her drawing. When she finished, Gaius was very happy with his picture and asked her to do a painting of his half profile for his room too.
When Crodius came to check on Siena, he found her painting the king.
"Gaius, what a vanity!" he shook his head.
"It is not a vanity," Siena smiled, "He needs it for his new coins and besides, how would the future generations know how did he looked like?" she asked cleverly.
Crodius shook his head, "Just make sure you have our things done."
"Yes, I have to add just the names on labels. I will finalize them when the cosmetics will come," she smiled.
Crodius nodded.
Gaius looked at him. "Can the queen come to live in my palace? My rooms are nicer than yours. They have better light and are more further from the swamps. It is better for Sienna's health there."
"No need," said Crodius, "The queen is fine here, but thank you for your concern. She will not stay in this room for long."He said thinking and Gaius furrowed his brows."Does he want to take her away or kill her after all?" Gaius stared to worry."What do you mean by that?" Gaius called to him a bit upset.
'Well, I and Sienna have a business to run, she will be not stuck in this room forever."Crodius smiled and put his arm around Sienna's shoulders dominantly.
"Are you taking her away from here with you?"Gaius furrowed his brows and stood up to him.
"She is still my prisoner, I can do whatever I like with her, "Crodius said to young Gaius's face and pushed Sienna behind him.
"Is he provoking him on purpose?"Sienna looked in awe and started to back away in Bran's direction.
Crodius could feel Gaius's young blood boiling. Gaius wanted to break Crodius into little pieces, but Crodius stood proud. He got his reasons for messing with the king. Sienna watched them with panic in her eyes and held Bran's arm.
Gaius changed into a huge crocodile. Crodius too. His crocodile was even bigger than the king's one. Bran held Sienna and Scar protected her at the front. They saw they were about to fight!
Gaius and Crodius started to fight in the small room, they crashed their chests together and bit their huge mouths with enormous teeth. The blood started to splatter around. Sarcos watched, it was interesting for him.
Sienna hid her head in Bran's chest. The growls and tension were unbearable."Make them stop, please Bran." she whispered.
"We care about you only," Bran replied."Let them fight."
Sienna turned her head to fighting crocodiles." Please, Gaius, stop it, just go, for now, "she asked."Let's talk about things later. You win nothing by fighting like this." she called.
Gaius glanced a Sarcos. He nodded. Gaius changed to human form and went away upset without giving Sienna a glance. He was upset because he thought she did not trust him to win!
Crodius changed to a human too." What do you think about my tribe now? "He looked at the scared queen, holding Bran tightly.
"You surely have lots of big teeth," she said carefully, coming from behind of Bran.
" I will eat you one day." Crodius chuckled and held her chin. He was still bewildered from fighting. He could feel his blood as in fewer.
" Why is your crocodile is bigger than Gaius's one? Is he not taller in human form?"Sienna asked trying to change the theme a bit. Flattering him was the best way.
"Because I'm older, the older you got, the bigger and stronger the crocodile became. Silly queen."He chuckled.
Sienna pulled her head away from his reach and retreated slowly, "Please, let me go rest a bit, I had enough excitement for today." she hid behind Bran. She looked like a startled little deer. She started to wary Crodius even more."His crocodile is huge! He could eat me in one bite if he wanted too!"Sienna trembled in her mind.
Crodius laughed." When I see you like this I just have a taste to become a king."He chuckled."Do you think I should kill Gaius?"
"Why would you? Please don't."Sienna whispered."What is wrong with you both today?"She called and tears came out of her eyes.
"Just joking," Crodius smiled and went away. "She is so sensitive!" he thought and chuckled in his mind.
When Crodius was out of sight, Sienna pulled Bran's arm, " Please, don't let him to eat me." she look into his blue eyes.
"Never." Bran said thru his teeth."I promise to cut him into little pieces if acted like this again." Bran nodded.
Sienna pressed his hand."Thank you. He would surely eat me, if not for you and Scar here."She noted a bit pitifully.
"I think he did not want to really eat you." Bran bit his lips. "He was thinking about becoming the king to mate you," he said hardly.
Sienna bury her face in her hands." I want to go home," she sobbed.
"You will, soon."Bran tried to calm her a bit and hugged her on his wide chest. He glanced at Sarcos."This was his job!"he thought.
Meanwhile in Sand City, Sharchan was sulking and taking care of weakened Tyrell.
Ramse and Xander got better, they asked Rem about Sarcos's and Sienna's whereabouts and decided to go after them. Sharchan heard them talking in the garden about how are they going to wetlands and got even more upset.
"Is no need to travel, as mighty Sarcos is there, be careful he does not hit you for trying to free the queen..." he hissed angrily.
Ramse and Xander rather did not provoke the snake. They took some supplies and sneak out at nightfall. The huge black panther and white ape run thru the desert at night. Then they slipped into the forest and run to the wetlands. "Follow me," said Ramse to the black panther."I know a shortcut." Ramse entered the hole in the mountain, "We go near the underground river straight as by flight. "He chuckled.