Authors: Brittany White
“Have you come to me with a decision?”
“I have come to you with a request Your Highness.” He looked intrigued.
“Go on?” he said. She looked about to be sure that no one was listening and whispered.
“Can you take me flying? To see my home one more time as I am?” He looked dubious of her request.
“You wish to speak to someone there?” he asked suspiciously.
“No, only to see it one more time. I have no family there.” He still looked doubtful, “I want to experience the flight for myself,” she added. He thought about her request for a few moments and then said to her,
“I will decide later; for now have some food and drink and relax. I have some acrobats from the far east for our entertainment tonight.”
Nera did this, seated at his side. The acrobats were very entertaining, and she was stunned by some of the feats they pulled off. She watched the Prince drink and saw that the wine was affecting his as it would any normal man. She decided she could use this to her advantage and she topped up his goblet at every opportunity.
Some of his friends came and sat, and they told stories that he found very funny. After one of these he leaned over to Nera and said,
“I will grant you your wish tonight, but then you must keep your end of the bargain tonight. No tricks or any more stalling.”
“Thank you,” she said nodding in agreement to his terms. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her, and she saw that it made him happy to please her.
It was late when he cleared the room on this night, and that was exactly what she had wanted. The drink had dulled him and made time go by ever faster. It also gave him, as it did with all men, a heightened sense of what he could achieve. She knew how far away her home was, and no matter how fast he flew she felt there was no way he would be able to get back here by sunup.
The Prince took her hand and gave her a shawl to put on over her clothes.
“We don’t want you getting cold,” he smiled. They walked out to the balcony and looked out over the land. It was such a clear night, and everything was bathed in moonlight and looked magical. He had a look of pride on his face, as though he had made this landscape himself and was not just part of a dynasty that controlled it.
Nera was nervous about flying; though she knew it was her one chance of escape, she also had no idea what it would be like to be soaring unnaturally high above the ground. What if she fell? Would he try to save her, or would he be content to see her fall? She looked to him again, and the look in his eyes said that he would save her if she fell. A pang of regret poured through her. She had never met anyone who had made her feel the way she did in his presence, but she just couldn’t sacrifice her life to those feelings.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” she nodded nervously.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said, “I will make sure you are safe. Take my hand.” She did as she was bid. “This is the start of a new life for you and I. I have found in you something I never thought possible,” he said looking into her eyes and stroking her hand. She trembled with anticipation before him. He lifted her in his strong arms and then eased gently from the ledge.
She shut her eyes against her expectation that she would plummet to the world, but the easy feeling of the light wind on her skin had her open them again and she wondered at the feeling and the things she was seeing. He flew so fast and yet it was so smooth. He held her in front of his chest like she weighed nothing at all. Down below the mountains soon gave way to flat lands and then to the sea. She recalled some of the places from her forced march to this strange country and she pondered if those same men were in some other part of the Kingdom now rounding up women in same way to take to be part of the Royal house.
They hit landfall in her home territory about an hour after they left, and she guided him to the small village she had called home for the last ten years. Though she had never liked the place and had planned to leave, she found that she was stung by fondness and nostalgia for this place on seeing it and being there once more. There was no one about, but she knew who lived in every dwelling and what they must have been up to her absence. She pointed out her own house and said to the Prince,
“Can we go inside?”
“Won’t there be someone there?” he asked.
“No, I lived alone.” He swooped down and landed at the doorway and set her on her feet on the ground.
“Thank you,” she said to him. She pushed open the door and looked inside. She knew there wouldn’t be anyone there, but there was always the chance that someone knew what had happened to her and had usurped her home and would be sleeping there right now. But instead all was quiet and as she had left it. He stepped in behind and she watched as he took the place in. She saw his eyes settle on her bed, and he smiled at her. She smiled back and kissed him and led him to it.
This was the first time she had ever made love in her own bed, and again it was so amazing with him and she lost herself so deeply in his presence that she almost gave up her plan and was willing to settle for his offer. But, she managed to hold her resolve, and it was with a heavy heart that his final thrusts against her spent him, and he flopped down panting on top of her.
The alcohol had tired him and with the exertion of the flight and then the lovemaking he soon drifted into a light slumber beside her. Nera lay there as quiet as she could be and let the minutes tick by. She closed her own eyes in the vain hope that she too would fall asleep, but she was so scared that the pounding of her heart would wake him that she couldn’t relax. She looked out at the sky, and she was sure that she could see the first hints of a change of light in the heavens. He stirred suddenly and looked about the room.
“Where am I?” he asked groggily.
“My home,” Nera said. He looked at her and saw who it was that he shared a bed with smiled at her and kissed her on the shoulders.
“We better get going,” he said as he rose,”How long did I sleep for?”
“Only a moment,” she lied. He nodded but didn’t seem to think anything of it. They dressed, and he took her back outside.
“You will be able to come back here any night you want to, now that you know the way,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she said.
They retook to the skies and not a single person that she was aware of had known that she had been back home, and with the Crown Prince no less. They were only in the air a few minutes when she thought she saw the first looks of concern on his face as she looked at the horizon.
“Hold on, I’m going to go a little faster this time,” he said. If he was worried his voice didn’t betray it, but why else would he be speeding up if not to get home before the sun rose? She clasped her hands around his neck, and he set off much faster than before. The raging sea below then became a blur, and she had to close her watering eyes to the sharp wind that greeted them from time to time. When she could open them, she was sure that there was a change in the light in the sky. She looked at his face, and now she was sure she could see panic and fear in him. His body sweated and his breaths were more laboured.
“I shouldn’t have taken you out so late!” he scolded himself.
“What’s wrong?” she asked playing the innocent. He didn’t answer, and she thought it was because he didn’t have the breath to say anything more.
Nera looked ahead, and it soon became clear to her that they were flying easy. There was an unmistakable sheen of light that rounded the horizon and was the dawn trying to rise up over the land. She saw that he saw it too, and he steeled himself to a renewed effort to get home before that happened. He flew lower as the approached the higher lands so as to remain in their shadows but on this morning the dawn seemed to come at a rate she had never experienced before and the land lit up around them as the sun showed her the world.
He was in a full panic now, but they were in sight of the tower. The rays of the sun came over her, and she heard him cry out in pain as they struck him also. He used the high mountains and the building of the palace for cover but there was no avoiding the light at places and each time he would scream in pain as he crossed the shafts of light.
Nera looked, and the hole that was the balcony of the tower zoomed at them and they both went flipping to the ground as he landed with speed. She sat up dazed and saw that the women from the night before were all back sitting around the room. Each of them rose at the spectacle, and she saw some run to the howling Prince. She stood up and looked in his direction. This was not what she had hoped for; she wanted to be out over land when he faltered so that she could escape.
The women were huddled around him in concern, but Nera could not see him.
“You!” his voice suddenly roared out as he sprang from their envelopment. “You tried to kill me?” he said snarling at her and pointing an accusing finger. The skin on his body looked very badly burned, and his eyes were black with anger.
“Me?” she said, “What did I do?” she asked playing her role again.
“You know what you tried to do. I should have gone with my gut and said no when you first asked me this evening!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Your Majesty,” she said backing away towards the balcony. The other women flocked around her in a wide circle now, some of them going behind her blocking her from the outside.
Nera knew that she was cornered now and that he probably only wanted to kill her outright now instead of making her like the rest of the women here. She took one last look at him, sad at what might have been had he not been the creature he was.
“I can’t give up my life for the one you want me to live” she called out to him as she turned and ran for the balcony. There were a few women there who were poised to stop here; she shoe the smallest one and crashed into her with all her might, force enough that it sent both of them tumbling to the light outside and falling rapidly to the earth below. Her only hope was that this crying and burning creature would be able to arrest both of their falls before the ground, and the body of Saleem rose up to finish them both. They spiralled and fell in the morning sunlight down and down and down.
*****
THE END
Bonus Book Seductive Temptations
Chapter 1
“You can’t be serious. Melinda. It has only been one year to the day that she died. I would’ve thought that your father would had more sense than to get caught up in a May December romance. I guess there is something to say for what the heart wants is what it wants. This does seem a little sudden in my opinion, Melinda. You wouldn’t have told me, unless of course you had some doubts and maybe you need to see this for yourself. I know that you said that you don’t want anything to do with it, but this is your family and that should mean something.” Melinda was willing to listen to her friend Steve and she knew that he had some very deep feelings when it came to family matters.
“I know the old saying that blood is always thicker than water, but maybe there is more to it. My father and I have not seen each other in 15 years. My mother went missing on that boating accident a year ago and he expects to make some kind of overture. I know that it was not his fault, but I’ve never been able to forgive him for taking away the one good thing in my life. He was the one that drove a wedge into a happy house with his constant cheating.” “
I feel that some days are better than others. My depression has turned a corner and I have no need to take the medication that has been prescribed to me by Dr. Thomas. I’m ready to get my life back and then I hear that my father has married without even consulting me. It was a whirlwind romance of one week. They sprung the marriage on me during a phone call. He really did think that I was going to be happy for him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think that it’s important that you make the effort. They’re obviously extending an olive branch by inviting you to her family home in Cape Cod. This is obviously very important to your father. I think that you should go and try to have an open mind. I’ve seen what happens to families, when you allow bitterness to creep in. I don’t want to see you go through the same thing that I did.” Steve recently informed his family that he was bisexual and that he was getting involved with a man that was twice his age. That was a catalyst to a knockdown blowout fight that ended with him being thrown out of the family will.
“I think you know how much you mean to me, Steve. You’re the only one that I’ve told about Matthew. He’s the man that I’ve always wanted to be with. I know what you are going to say and I can’t continue to make men jump through hoops. I get past the first date and I find something to nitpick about. I might be overly critical, but that’s just because I found my dream man and I let him get away. He literally slipped through my fingers at the airport, when I could have told him how I felt.” Melinda I had already made up her mind and even though going home was not a pleasant thought, she did take solace in the fact that she would have a 20 acre property to get away from her troubles.
They had sent her pictures and it was a picturesque cottage that pretty much could’ve been a year round home for the right family. The dock led down to a private beach and a medley of boys’ toys, including jet skis and kayaks to be used at the person’s discretion. Melinda wanted to scream that this was unfair, but she knew by now that life was never fair. If it was, she would have Matthew in her hand and showing him the kind of love and devotion that he deserved. His blue eyes were a constant reminder and the picture that she had taken 15 years ago was still emblazoned in her mind. She had it on her phone and even during dates that weren’t going well; she would pull it out and wonder where he was at that moment.
“I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of where you’re going, Melinda.” Steve had always been the kind of guy that would enjoy outdoor sports including wakeboarding and surfing. Just because he liked to have the company of both men and women, didn’t mean that he was into show tunes or wanted to spend his time watching chick flicks. “This place is amazing and even if you were feeling blue, I’m sure that walking into an environment like this will cheer you right up. Just remember to take lots of pictures and I plan to live vicariously through you. While you are doing your thing, I’ll be spending time with Wilson’s parents.” The idea sickened him and it wasn’t like he didn’t want to meet them, but he was nervous and it was causing some unusual stomach issues.
Melinda looked at her blond curls in the mirror, how her 5’8 frame and 130 lb body seemed to mold to the new dress that she just bought. It was amazing and there were times that she could find the perfect clothes, but it was a rarity.
She checked her make up to make sure that she didn’t look like some kind of sleazy handout. The money came from her stepmother’s side of the family and being an instant billionaire was not an easy thing to swallow. She had to wonder if her father was really in love, or had delusions of what having money was all about. She didn’t think that he was that kinda guy, but everybody apparently has a price.
They walked down the stairs together, opening the door to the loud incessant honking of a taxi waiting to take her to the airport. They said their goodbyes at the curb, as she heaved that one suitcase into the back of the taxi, before closing it and climbing into the back seat. She was wearing that frilly white summer dress. It would be perfect for a two week excursion to what could possibly be paradise.
“
I don’t really want to go and I have no interest in making nice with my new stepmother. From the pictures, she looks pretentious, knows her worth and doesn’t mind lording it over others. It’s probably the reason why she wanted to have this reunion for her family. It was her way of making them see her and her son Owen, as the true heirs of the Brady family empire. She had inherited the entire fortune from her husband that was now lying in a graveyard in Texas. Amazingly, I had read up on her portfolio and she did not just lie back on her laurels. She learned how to take the company in a new direction and the fact that she was a humanitarian had only made her that much more interesting.”
The journey that was over 5000 miles took her across the ocean back to her homeland of the United States. She had been living in her adopted home of England, as a nanny, hoping that getting away from her troubles would make her see things from a different perspective. She left home when she was only 16 and went on a journey of self discovery across the globe. There were many lovers, but only one stuck out in her memory, as being something more than just a 5 minute wonder. This guy went for hours and even when he did cum; it was not more than a few minutes, before he was back in the saddle. Matthew and Melinda never did come out of that bed and breakfast the entire weekend. They ordered room service for sustenance, but mostly they were into each other’s bodies and what they could do in a 48 hour span.
She rode in silence with the next taxi, holding her breath and wondering if she was making a colossal mistake in getting involved in domestic issues. She had walked away from her family, seeing them splinter and knowing that her being there was only making things worse. They tried to convince her to stay, but she was adamant that she needed space and if they tried to keep her against her will they would only find that she was very resilient and crafty when she put her mind to it.
It was a rarity to let a child go out on their own at 16, but she had shown herself to be mature and was able to make her own decisions on the fly. Melinda had only settled down in England, when she came across a young family in need of a nanny. The Hollings were very good to her and they had traveled the globe together to one vacation spot after another. She felt like she was worldly, but underneath she was still that little girl that had walked away from her family. She didn’t even come home for the funeral of her mother, because she thought that it would be too painful. It was the only regret that was in her life and she wondered if her father had ever gotten over that obvious betrayal.
“
Please…god…don’t make this place spectacular. I don’t want to fall in love and never want to leave. I don’t wanna get caught up in material worth, when I’ve lived a life that many would have given their first born to have. I know what it’s like to have that wealth carrying you on its back. I just hope that…that… Oh my god.
The place was even better than she had imagined. It appeared that the photos really didn’t do it justice and the lapping of the waves against the shore was like the siren of the sea drawing her closer to its magical song.
“I would help you with your bag, but I doubt that you really need it with your kind of independence.” Melinda’s back went straight and she heard the voice, but it still didn’t register that her father had come out to greet her in person. “I’m glad that you could make it and Beverly is really looking forward to meeting you. I know that this was sudden, but I couldn’t help the way that I felt. You should know how that feels. Sometimes you have to follow your own heart and be damned everybody else.” This was an obvious attempt by Kenneth to get underneath his daughter’s skin. It seemed to be working and he could actually sense a little bit of guilt from her body language.
“Kenneth told me all about you and I would like you to meet my son Owen.” Beverley stood with her son and they were holding hands, when she slammed the trunk and came face to face with Matthew. “
It can’t be and how is he here? I stand here and look at him and I can see the recognition in his eyes and the way that the gears in his head are obviously reliving that weekend 1 minute at a time. I don’t know what to do and the fact that my legs are feeling like jelly is a sure sign that we’ve had something in the past. I don’t see Owen, but maybe he slipped away during the introductions. This had to be a friend of his that had decided to stay the weekend and enjoy the ambience.
“
I know that I haven’t seen you for a few years, Melinda, but you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Your face just turned white and you almost look like you’re going to faint. I do hope that you not coming down with something. Your step brother Owen is really looking forward to showing you around the place.” Kenneth motioned for Owen to come forward and he saw the reluctance in his eyes.
Matthew saw Melinda, but the name that she he remembered her by was Linda. This girl was a freak of nature and she could give lessons to some of the finest adult stars in the business. She could stretch her body over her head and the very idea that she was here in person was unfathomable.
They were walking up to the house and the wind was blowing gently, but the only thing that they could do was constantly look at each other with disbelief.
Chapter 2