Cursed [malexmale]

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

I still vividly remembered the day I first saw Dexius.

I'd drifted down to the mortal realm of Atlantis as the kingdom celebrated the birth of their second born son. The parade was huge and extravagant. Dancers twirled and spun across the streets, waving streaks of colorful ribbons, the gold coins of their belly dancing garb jingling and singing in time with drums, flutes, a gently strummed string instrument, tambourines, and a man and woman singing as they rode a top of the imported elephants from a treaty made with a coastal tribe in Africa.

Leashed varg-leopards and tigers roared and hissed, taking long confident strides through the streets, heads low and fangs bared, but they didn't seem to be too dangerous to the celebrating city. Children laughed and ran around the legs of their parents, who waved and called out to the dancers.

The day had been warm and sunny, the air crisp with celebration and the scents of spices and roasting meat from the nearby spits, the smell of smoke wafting through the air.

And as the parade thinned out, the main event came and the crowds shrieked and sang and laughed and cried as if this were the most important day of their history... And for me, it was.

I hadn't attended the celebration for the first born. I'd been too afraid of mingling with the mortals, but Xenon had finally talked me into going. Paranoid of being recognized by the royal oracle, who also rode in the parade on top of a tiger, I disguised myself as a beggar and stood amongst the crowd, watching as the royal family finally appeared.

The king walked ahead first, led by his royal guards. The king was rather handsome with a full dark blonde beard, carefully placed henna tattoos around his eyes like thick eyeliner, and two dots in either corner of his eyes. He wore a deep blood red cape that was pinned with a royal gold emblem over his right shoulder, a brown tunic beneath a plate of bronze torso armor that matched his greaves, leather sandals with a slight heel and leather wraps that went all the way up his legs. He carried his bronze helmet heavily decorated with the gold image of the royal emblem.

Beside him was his queen, a woman of incredible beauty with rich dark chocolate hair that she wore in a curly bun that was heavily decorated with silks and flowers and phoenix feathers. She wore a gorgeous gown of gold satins and red silks that pooled in an expensive train behind her. In her arms, she carried the precious babe for whom the celebration was for. A tiny babe wrapped in a gold baby blanket designed with my symbols for protection, and walking beside them was a midwife, who was murmuring prayers to me to protect the baby.

I had intended to focus on the baby, until I saw who was following his parents.

The first born son.

He was tall and confident, walked with a soldier's march. He wore an outfit similar to that of his father's, except his tunic was deep red. His hair, like golden silk fell over one shoulder, the rest pushed back from his face, his piercing blue eyes watching everyone around him.

My first impression of him was how mature he was, how handsome and regal he was. Royalty and power radiated from his every pore, and he was so incredibly beautiful. My body heated with desire and my mouth watered for a taste of that caramel skin. I was momentarily stunned by the wave of lust I had never felt before.

I was so frozen that I didn't even bother to follow the parade that was making its way to my temple in order to have the child blessed and protected. Of course, I wasn't the only one. I noticed now that the prince had slowed down and everyone was so swept up the parade, they hadn't noticed the way he fell back until it was just him standing in the street.

He made a noise of supreme disgust, catching me off guard.

Now that certainly wasn't a sound befitting a prince.