Skye turned to have a final look back at lady delilah, waving her hand. Lady's smile mirrored worry tainted smile of Skye's as she gestured her to hurry.
Skye finally sighed and dragged her feet towards the shore where she had to wait around for a boat to arrive and escort her to the nearby town.
Her hurried pace was subconscious because at the moment her mind was reeling back to all the occurrences that occurred in the span of such short period.
What worried her the most was, she couldn't face Lord Gregor Elliot-princess Joanna's father, who had already arrived in the castle and was supposed to meet his daughter to ask about possible suitors from past night ball.
Escaping from the castle was the only right option in the given circumstances according to lady Delilah and Skye trusted her. So lady Delilah arranged for Skye to sneak out of the castle before the arrival of the dire consequences of the mate bond.
She neared the shore at the far left corner, avoiding the possibility to be seen by anyone who might possibly be around. She carefully put the small bag on the ground in which she had little supplies for her journey and quietly sat on a big stone.
The shadows of the other rocks protected her from burning into the sunlight while cold wind flew past her, wiping her sweat that had formed on her forehead during coming here all the way from castle.
Lady told that it was about time when boat would usually pass this shore and she could hop on to that. Supposedly at least one boat passes by after every couple of hours. That means if she missed this boat then she would have to wait for the next two hours and she couldn't risk it given the circumstances here.
Who knows what might be happening in the castle right now. What if they had got the idea about princess' and her escape. It must have created a chaos.
Lord help lady Delilah cause she played with her own dear life just to help her in reaching at this place.
She would forever be her great ful.
As on instinct, she casted a glance backward from where she came but could not find lady Delilah. She must have rushed backward because it was extremely dangerous to let the people at the castle, get the idea that she somehow helped in the escape of prince Raine's mate.
The idea of mate ran bolt of shiver down her spine and her palms soothed her forearms to ease the tension in her muscles.
A dot came in sight of her vision and a gleam of hope erupted in side her chest making her instantly stand up. She shadowed her eyes by placing palm of her left hand on her forehead and her squinting eyes zeroed in on that dot in the water confirming her hopes being a boat itself.
Unable to wait any further, she picked up her bag and jumped down the rock, landing on her all force and bag landed a little far away from her.
Had it been any other situation, she might have blushed at her actions but right now, she could care less. She stood up in a blink of an eye and took a hold of bag's strap, sliding an arm through it as it lazily hung over her shoulder and she neared the edge of the sand surface that met the steady ripples of the water.
Too focused on the slowly enlarging boat that was now nearing her, she missed a man having a bathe at not so far from her. A slashing sound erupted the train of her focus and her head flew towards the half naked man standing at a little distance, analyzing her curiously.
Her heart started beating some wild beat at the recognition of this man whose curious gaze was now transformed into a confused one when the realization hit him in the gut.
Skye!
She could hear the un-uttered question on his tongue as his mouth opened and closed on its own accord.
Just as he closes the distance between them, she tightened her grip on the stripe of her bag, feeling a drop of sweat trickling at her back under her white uniform.
He must have had recognized her by her uniform.
"Skye!, What are you doing here?" Commander Leon asked as he stopped just couple of feet away from her.
Up close, she could see his body drenched in water. Grey colored Boxers were sticking to his lower torso and locks of his hair were sticking to his forehead when his eyes pierced through hers and she felt her heart stopping all the wild beats that it was drumming before and now there was complete silence. A deadly silence .
"Answer me!" He asked agitated at her lack of response.
"I don't know, i- I don't recognize you." Unable to see him in the eyes, she averted her gaze uncomfortably.
It was best just to act like she didn't know him. Although it seemed childish but what else was she supposed to say in order to explain herself. Surely she couldn't tell him that she was prince Raine's mate and was now running away from him.
He raised an eyebrow, surprised at her for a moment,"Oh yeah? You sure you don't recognize me, sweetheart?"
"Yes, I'm sure. A-and get out of my way, I need to go." She answered shifting her balance on her feet.
He took a predatory steps in her direction and her gaze instantly stuck at his legs in fear,"How about I remind you? We both know that you know me so damn well."
A wave of discomfort and irritation swept past her. What was his deal? Why couldn't he just let her go?
"Now, you're just wasting my time. Get aside, I've got my boat to catch." She pointed at the boat that was now edging closer to the shore.
She felt him lost in thought for a moment while watching a nearing boat and then his eyes dangerously narrowed at her and she felt her heart skip a beat,
"What game are you playing at, Skye? And most importantly where are you headed to?"
One thing was obvious, he was hellbent on prying in her business and most probably wanted her to tell him the reason which was a big no no. So the only option was to just ignore him and get away from him as soon as possible.
She turned towards the boat now realizing that it had stopped near the edge and started walking towards it but soon a hand snaked around her elbow and pulled her back,"Where do you think you are going?"
His piercing gaze was digging a hole inside her brown orbs and she felt pain shoot up her arm by the intensity of his grip making her whimper in response.
"Hey! Let me go. Leon!" No sooner the words had escaped her lips, his eyes trailed down to her plump lips and he felt himself drowning in completely strange mess. He inwardly scolded himself at the thought.
"Oh, so now you know my name?" Smirk appeared on his lips as his eyes bore into hers making her cheeks tint slightly pink making his smirk grow wider," Interesting! Now you might as well remember that you are supposed to be at the castle right now, rather than wondering around at the shore in wait of a boat."
Her eyebrows furrowed at his dominating tone and at this moment, she knew she was done playing around,"Yes! Yes I know you. And I know that where I should be right now. So you better get out of my way and stop bothering me."
he jerked her arm towards himself making her body collide with his with ease," You are not going anywhere!" He hissed at her face.
"Why not? I'm free to do whatever i want. You can't stop me. "She croaked out although she was shaking inside at his weird behavior.
"Oh, I very well can, Skye ." There was this menacing edge to his tone that scared the living daylights out of her.
"Mind your own damn business." She screamed at his face, shifting under his scrutinizing gaze, trying to free her arm from his iron grip.
"You are forgetting that I'm the commander here. Taking care of who enters the castle uninvited and who flees the castle secretly
Is supposed to be my business."
Both of their heads turned towards the boat as horn blarred out and she noticed the captain was looking at her with clear impatience etched on his wrinkled face. He was waiting for Skye to get on the boat quickly so that he could take off.
"Listen, my boat has arrived. I have to leave. Please, let me go. I'll forever be grateful to you." She pleaded and took a step backwards in impatience.
She couldn't afford to lose the boat, now could she?
"You can't leave just like that without telling me the reason. What made you think that I'll just let you go." There was the mixture of concern and demand in his voice which made her feel bad for him.
"You don't necessarily have to know the reason behind my departure. You can't just stop me."
He then took a hold of her second elbow as well and she screeched in response, afraid to be escorted back to the castle.
"Then come back with me, I'll bring you to the authorities of the castle who have the right to deal with you in their own way."
Tears gathered around her eyes at the reminder which didn't go unnoticed by commander leon,
'No, please i beg you. Stop doing this. Let me go."
A frown was clearly visible on his killing features making him look all the more handsome and authoritative,"Would you just tell me the goddamn reason already?"
"No!" She shook her head violently.
A wave of annoyance appeared at his face and he tugged her forcefully towards him which alarmed her once again,"Then let's go. I'm bringing you back."
She dug her heels in the sand when she continuously kept trying to free herself,"Hey, stop. Please stop it. Lemme go."she cried out.
"Stop screaming or else I'll flip you on my back and carry you there with my hands holding your legs." He yelled at her dangerously which made the tears jump out of her eyes making her vision go blurry and her panic stricken heart seemed to already have lost all the bounds.
"Help! Please help me." She screamed at the top of her lungs which didn't come out as loud as she hoped due to the exhaustion.
Before she could realize, a slicing sound flew past her ears and right into Leon's right shoulder crossing it and digging into his chest.
His hold loosened at her when the arm he was holding her with got attacked with knife and he groaned in pain.
A loud gasp escaped skye's mouth and her eyes bulged out of their sockets.
"Oh my God, what did you do?"her hand flew upto her mouth and she saw the boat's captain with horrified eyes who had just stabbed Leon.
He was also breathing hard and shocked. Confusion was also etched all over his features because he didn't understand that helping a lady from a tormentor who was forcing himself on her would impact on girl this way.
When she fell on her knees along with commander Leon whose eyes were now shut and his face morphed into the expression of pure agony and pain while his left hand was tightly gripping his wound.
"Commander! Commander Leon! Are you okay? Leon?" She pulled him on her lap and started tapping his cheeks when she saw his eyes fluttering close now and knife still dug inside his chest.
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