CHAPTER SEVEN.
"What are you doing?" Xantheia asked him sharply.
"Obviously the animal is bleeding and I don't want it on my clothes while I'm carrying it so I'm taking it off." Zayn stood before Xantheia with his bare upper body and she couldn't stop gawking at him.
Every part of him was carefully made into masculine perfection. He looked so divine, so tempting. The only thing running in Xantheia's head was to move her fingers all over his well definited abs, her eyes moved to his chest and she swallowed.
They looked so hard and comfortable at the same time. His muscular arms flexed as he slightly moved them. There was a thin line of scar running from the middle of his chest to the left side and for some reason, it made him look even sexier. Then talk of that thin line of hair that made his way down his stomach, past his navel and into his pants. Xantheia swallowed again, obviously stricken.
He was too much, too handsome to be true.
Zayn's chuckle brought Xantheia back from her world of dreams and she looked at his face.
"When you're done enjoying the view, can we get going?" Zayn said with a smirk and Xantheia instantly turned bright pink. She immediately covered her cheeks and found interest in the grass around her.
Zayn laughed again. He reaches down to carry the antelope, once he had it on his shoulders, he turned to Xantheia who still looked flushed on the ground.
"Come on, let's go."
The whole time they went back, Xantheia walked a few steps behind Zayn while hugging herself. She still couldn't get over how he caught her staring and her eyes just stayed fixed on his bare back, even though the antelope seemed to slightly cover it, she could see that he had broad shoulders and she bit her bottom lip, trying to distract herself from him.
She might just go crazy if she kept thinking about the man in front of her.
Joselu was at home when Zayn and Xantheia arrived so he took the antelope from Zayn to skin it.
Zayn went in to clean himself up so Xantheia sat outside with Joselu who also sat there to sharpen the knife he was going to use to skin the animal.
"Hello." Joselu said to her with a friendly smile.
"Hello." She replied.
"So Xantheia right? Forgive me for not paying my respects Princess."
Xantheia turned to him sharply.
"Zayn told you?"
"We both figured it out. I'm a Jadovian too as well but I'm sworn to him in a blood oath and I honor it with my life. So if he chooses to go with you to your Kingdom, I'll support it 100%. Besides, he doesn't have a family anymore."
Xantheia felt some what pitiful when she remembered Zayn was disowned but he did nothing wrong.
"I hope he agrees to come with me, at least he should know his mother's people." Xantheia said her thoughts out loud.
"He would definitely go with you." Joselu said matter-of-factly.
"How would you know?"
"Well, he's my best friend. And besides wanting to get back at his family, he seems to be into you."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since he met you, he has been acting crazy. He's always talking about you. And you have to see him when he's lost in thought, anyone would call him for a whole minute and he still won't hear his name. I had to slap him on the head this morning because of that."
The whole time Joselu talked, he didn't notice the smile on Xantheia's face, she looked happy to know he was thinking about her. But it was also quite funny how Joselu had to get him to think straight.
Zayn came out a while later in a different dressing, he was in a grey shirt and black pants with black boots. His sword was sheathed at his back and even though he still looked as handsome as always, Xantheia bit her lips in some what disappointment, maybe because she couldn't get to see his bare chest again.
Xantheia was surprised by her own thoughts and she slightly shook her head to divert her thinking.
'What is wrong with me?'
"So do you want to go somewhere else or you want to go home?" Zayn's voice brought her back to reality and she answered by saying she would go with him so they set off again.
_
Two days later…
It was a beautiful, quiet full moon night. Zayn and Xantheia were together again. They had gotten so close over the past two days that they usually spent the day together.
They sparred once and Zayn even taught her some new fighting skills. He taught her how to use a bow and arrow and another time, they caught fishes from a river and roasted them over a bonfire. Just that day, they had dipped their feet into a pond from a waterfall until Zayn turned into an all out water fight and they were both drenched. But even at that, Xantheia couldn't stop laughing as she had never felt more happier.
It was now dark and they were in the meadow where they first met, lying silently on the grass and watching the stars in the sky. The wind blew lightly, caressing their bodies and hair while the grass moved in accordance with the breeze, the night was so peaceful.
The two were silent for a moment until Xantheia finally said what she had been meaning to say.
"I'm leaving tomorrow."