Adrenaline levels skyrocketed, making her breathless and her heart race. That was initially from the anticipation of the hitting the ground when she fell off her horse, but it turned into something else. It was him smiling at her and his cologne rushing through her nostrils, halting everything.
Too close against his hefty chest, her mistake was to look up. Her honey brown eyes and his sharp ones met in a slowed frozen state, that would definitely get him executed and her locked up in her castle until the stupid wedding.
He was completely aware of the risk, anyone else would choose self preservation and let her go before any witnesses showed up, not him.
He grinned at her before loudly inhaling her scent, parting his lips and closing his eyes.
Princess Zaria's heart flattered, she gasped at his amorous almost mythological godly appearance.
"Mmh, you smell divine."
His almost hoarse voice was enough to snap her out of the spell. She quickly jumped off him, causing him to open his hypnotic eyes.
Taking a few steps away from him, she pretended to fix her gown to give herself space to regain her composure and senses. This unspoken thing between them was more dangerous than walking into a lion's den. She tried sending him away before but soon regretted it. She just could not get herself to walk away or send him off again. He was the only evidence she had that living free without conforming was possible. Her very soul longed to know more about that freedom.
"This is the second time I have witnessed you fall off your horse. Are you sure you don't need horse riding lessons, Your Majesty?"
His cocky teasing tone was a welcomed change from his earlier one which made her heart skip a beat.
"My fall had nothing to do with my riding skills. You startled my horse!"
His sudden appearance was what scared her jumpy horse.
"Horses are used in wars, Your Majesty. Guns blazing, horrified screams from every direction, yet those warriors stay on them."
He was not convinced by her response because he watched her ride to the planes and saw how tense she was long before he showed himself.
His response piqued her curiosity. Older men were the ones who spoke of wars. He was too young, yet he spoke with so much conviction as if he had been to one.
"What do you know about wars?"
It seemed that every word he uttered pulled her in and she wanted to know more.
He flashed her with his breathtaking smile. Being an object of her curiosity and having her attention was a dream come true. He knew more about wars than his peers, but revealing that would be disclosing his very identity.
"Enough to know that you can't always blame poor Olympus for her nature."
"You know my horse."
Her response was more to herself than him.
His responses had to be well calculated. He did not respond to her question because doing so would expose that he knew too much about her. The last thing he wanted was to spook her.
"You are obviously on the edge and she can sense it. Like I said previously, your emotions are very infectious, Your Grace."
She turned to look at her horse, guilt washing over her. She still did not believe his theory about her emitting her emotions to others, but she had been pushing her beloved mare too hard lately.
"I have been told that I am a good listener, but you have to share your lunch," he suggested with a grin while she looked suspiciously at him.
Sharing her lunch with him would mean sitting down, eating and actually talking to him.
"People do pay a lot of money for a shrink to listen to them and I am starving."
She shook her head. This man made her blush over the phone, she did not expect anything different in person. Besides that, being seen with him was a crime that would cost him his life, something he strangely did not seem concerned about.
"Come on. Try me. Talking it out might be all the cure you need," he urged with a tone she could not resist.
Oscar was by far the most interesting person she had met. A part of her envied his seemingly nonchalant attitude. She wondered if he had any troubles at all.
"I doubt talking can achieve anything. Unless you can reverse a treaty between two kingdoms."
He lifted his eyebrow up, feigning surprise.
"Your wedding?"
She shrugged her shoulders before sitting on the flowery bed and offering him her lunch.
He followed her to the floor and gladly accepted the meticulously packed lunch.
"You don't want to be wedded to the greatest king alive?"
"I doubt he is that great, but yes."
The princess could not hide her contempt for her promised husband, something he found amusing.
He scratched his head as if thinking. He knew all about her objection to wed King Vincent, but had nothing that could help.
"That's a tough one."
"Is that all you can say?"
She was not impressed with his response, after insisting that she spoke about her worries.
Oscar was proving to be worse than her best friend, who also insisted on calling her and bringing up King Vincent but offered no solutions.
"Is the groom aware of your sentiments?"
"I don't think my sentiments matter much to him."
"You will be his wife and queen. Surely that can't be true."
"I just realised I am waisting my breath talking to you about this. You clearly don't conform to any moral norms everyone else is obligated to."
His careless responses were frustrating her. She desperately needed a way out of the treaty and her father's command, but could not think of any.
"Moral norms?" he asked, amused. The princess had obviously made assumptions about him and he wanted to know what they were.
"Your clothes are too tight, too revealing, too provocative and too liberal. You have no respect for royalty and know not of boundaries."
She found herself rumbling, revealing more than she intended.
"You find my clothes provocative? How much?"
"Excuse me?"
His question caught her by surprise. Her cheeks were suddenly burning, but he had no intentions of letting her off the hook.
"How much do my clothes provoke you, Your Majesty?"
Completely in his element, Oscar urged, taking in her every reaction.
"I am going to leave now."
His hoarse voice was back and raising strange, uncontrollable feelings within her.
"Okay."
Her eyes widened, face flushed and heart pounding.
Oscar's response was dismissive but his actions were deadly. He was now topless, revealing his manly masculine chest.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking off my provocative vest, Your Majesty. Does that work for you or should I do the same with my pants?"
That was the last straw, she jumped to her feet, convinced that he was insane.
"Goodbye Oscar."
Oscar could not suppress his laughter as he watched her flee to her horse. The princess's face when he pretended to take off his pants was priceless.
"Talking to him might help. Communication does solve most problems, Your Majesty." He shouted right before she took off.
Princess Zaria heard him but too breathless and too flushed to respond.
Everyone at the castle was surprised to see her return so early, but soon got depressed when she locked herself in her chambers.
As usual, Oscar called that evening. She did not bother telling him to stop because it was a waste of time.
"I don't want to talk to him."
She responded to the advice she couldn't earlier.
"How then would he know how you feel about your wedding?"
"He has no regards for my feelings."
"You have tried then?"
She let out a weak laugh. "Tried? How about eighty-four letters over seven years and not a single response?"
"Really? Not even one?"
"That's what I said," she snapped, but soon regretted it. Oscar had nothing to do with her problems, taking her frustration out on him was not fair.
"Maybe he never received them," he suggested.
"He did. I was a nuisance he wished dead. He never opened any of them."
"How do you know?"
Her heart sank, tears welled up when she recalled how her naive heart was crushed by the man who now insists on marrying her.
"It does not matter. Thank you for listening, I must go now."
"Wait!" Oscar shouted before she ended the call.
She was trying to conceal it but he could tell that she was crying.
"Yes?"
"I am sorry. If you ever want to talk, I will always be there to listen."
"Goodnight Oscar."
"Sweet dreams, Your Grace."