The Pawn

Chapter 13

 "Do they despise me?" The revealed prince questioned in a soft tone. His head laid on Geni's lap, her finger running through his hair. They sat at the very back of the heat confinement room. The door was closed, isolating the duo between white walls. He'd returned to it the moment he left the commander, the mistress followed at her free will and comforted him as his heat came to an end.

"I caused great trouble, first with my heat and now-"

"No one faults you for what is unavoidable" Genie interrupts. Her voice soothing and calm despite the storm that rage within her. This was it! The last hours where she was allowed to hold him. He'd slept through most of the night and though the room they found themselves enclose in had no windows, Genie knew dawn was upon them. That soon, no matter how much she longed for him, no matter how loud the calls of her heart. She may never touch him. May never embrace him and pretend he was hers.

"I'm sure" Gael insisted. "Anthony, Jhon, Ballie and the rest of the lads must be shocked. Amanda, Jewels, chef...They must-"

"Jewels was traded from master to master before she was sold here" The mistress revealed, her eyes locked with his dark strands and how they filtered through her fingers. 'Like water' She thought.

"Anthony is the illegitimate son of a foreign king. Jasmine was raised under in secret, for her mother was a proud woman who wished to hide her infidelity."

Gael turned so he was better facing her, and she smiled when met with dark eyes.

"The guards give them a fright and nothing more" Genie insured. "A few fancy knights would never hold a candle to the lives we were all forced to lead" Then her smile fell and the green in her eyes seemed to darken as she looks at him. Her hands moved from his hair to lay on his cheek.

"What life will you be forced to lead?"She questions. For a moment Gael says nothing. His eyes leaving hers to stare at the plain white ceiling, finding patterns where they were none. He too knew that this was their final moments. He had many mothers. One he lost as first breath, another he hated until her death. Genie was the only he was allowed to love and hate, to obey to disobey. The only that protected him, spoiled and punished him. The mother with whom he was allowed to be a child. He didn't wish to speak of what would await him. Instead, he wants to stay in this moment. But his lips betrayed him.

"I was born to be a pawn, the perfect trade between crowns." The prince forced a smile. His words failing him as they left his mouth in trembles when he adds: "My marriage will bring stability to my fathers rule, and riches to many"

"Silver and gold cannot be used to weigh a life," Genie says as she pulled him so that his face could be held in her arms, the way mothers held their infants.

"Live!" She suddenly pleads. "Live and return to me, if not in this life then in the other." Her hold tightening as she continued. "Let our souls cross paths, and let us compare the scars of our long lives."

"What life have you lead?"Gael found himself asking. His arms wrapping around her, embracing the woman that cared for him when he'd done nothing to deserve it.

Genie didn't answer and simply held him. Wanting to memories the moment. Crystalize it in her memory so that when she felt weak, she would be able to remember the warmth of having him in her arms.

"I had a son once, he was like us, you and I."She speaks when their hours had turned to minutes and the soldier in their bed had begun to pull away cold lonesome sheets. "I had no say in his father but the boy he was and the man he came to be, that was up to me." She swallowed painfully around a lump forming in her throat.