Ileus: The Dark Prince

Iona tripped more than once while dancing with the group. In the end she fell on the ground and her clothes were covered with snow and mud and grass blades. She was feeling so dreadful that she started giggling. In the next moment Iona was lifted to her feet and was caught firmly against a rock-hard chest. The speed with which she was lifted, she felt dizzy and she clung to Rolfe tightly. He kept on holding her with one arm secured around her waist. 

"Do you like dancing so much?" he asked. "Are you hurt?" He looked over at her swiftly to check signs of bruises. 

She realized that she had become such a dreadful mess in front of these people that a moment of hopelessness followed. But then she resigned. What was she thinking? This had to happen. She had never been trained to dance like other girls in royalty. She blushed thinking that she must be looking like a crazed circus performer. She giggled at her condition. "No, no. I am fine. I am sorry, I just don't know how to dance, but the music was too tempting." She couldn't imagine how pathetic she must have looked while dancing. And that terrible pain in the front of her head came again. 

"That is fine," he said as his hand reached the back of her neck. 

The musicians and the dancers stopped. "Are you injured?" A woman near them asked. 

Iona couldn't hear what Rolfe said to the woman because not only was she grappling with pain, her heart was pounding against her ribcage. She was acutely aware of his arm that had snaked around her and how near he was. His pine and mist scent flooded her senses and reduced her pain to a great extent. Why was it that she wanted to purr at his touch? And to her mortification she purred, as she got filled with wonderful feelings that felt like electricity lighting up every nerve ending. She hoped that he didn't hear her. 

Inadvertently, her eyes traveled to his shirt, the material of which was hardly doing anything to hide his shapely muscles and angles of those strong muscles beneath it. Muscles that seemed to ripple under her touch. Or was she imagining? When her eyes went to a hint of black fleece where the buttons of the shirt were open, she couldn't help blushing like a thousand suns. 

"I think you need to change into new clothes," he said. "And please let me teach you how to dance so that you don't fall again." 

Iona grinned. Her mood lifted immediately. "I was just trying my luck. My mind is never at rest and I keep going to where I started." And she did. After the dark spirits had left her, she felt she had no direction in her life. She just walked in—

Her thought was cut off when Rolfe bent down to look at her golden yellow eyes with his emerald ones. "What is your destination?" he asked as if searching for an answer. 

Iona blinked once and then twice. No one had asked this question before. No one was bothered to understand the direction she wanted to take. She was tortured to the limit where her sanity was affected. She was happy and indebted to Anastasia that she had freed her of the dark forces. Iona shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Prince Rolfe. I don't think I will ever reach my destination because I just walk in… circles." And she knew that even after reaching Draoidh, she would never be able to come back on track. Maybe with the help of her mother she would actively participate in the matters of the kingdom, but she wished to stay away from the limelight. 

"Then walk in bigger circles," Rolfe replied, his gaze lingering on her face for a long time. 

Iona gasped. His reply was very… deep. Or was he jesting with her? It didn't look like that… 

"Why don't you take a bath?" he suggested. "I loved your design a lot and would like to discuss it with you in detail." He left her after he was sure that she was steady on her legs. She was not like other women he had met in his life, who were always talking about weather or money or dresses or general palace gossip and recently how to attack. She talked intelligently, and it was such a fresh thing to see. 

"I will," she replied with a smile and gleam in her eyes. Earlier she thought that he would simply discard her design but she found that he was genuinely interested. The two were arrested in the silence of stares. 

Rolfe looked at the woman behind them and then in his demonic language instructed her that she arranged her bath. Iona knew the language very well, but she made every attempt to not understand it. Rolfe walked back to his tent in a graceful stride while the woman smiled at her and took her to the common bath. Well, it was a small pool, which was fed by a gentle waterfall. When the water fell in it, it sizzled with hot steam and Iona was surprised to see a hot spring amidst the snowy mountains. 

The woman, Ara, said, "The water was very cold, until our prince used his magic to make it ambient for all of us." Iona wasn't surprised that Rolfe had magic running in his veins, but she was bewildered that other demons didn't. She didn't delve into the details. She saw a few men and women taking a bath together. She became hesitant much to Ara's amusement. "You can wait till they are out and then take a bath." Then she looked at those who were in the pool and commanded them to get out to let the girl take a bath alone. They left the pool instantly. 

When Iona got inside the water, she felt an invisible wall build around her so that no one could see her taking a bath. She shrugged and picked up the soap to scrub herself—her first bath in her human form. She couldn't help spending an hour taking a bath. She scrubbed and scrubbed herself till her skin became alabaster. She giggled and splashed to her heart's content. When she came out, she was startled to see a pair of fresh clothes laid out for her. She thanked Ara silently. Little did she know that someone was watching her, mesmerized, sitting over a rock right above the waterfall. 

When she walked back to Rolfe's tent, she found a food tray on the bed. Tender meat roasted with butter, vegetable stew and boiled potatoes whipped with more butter. Rolfe, who was sitting at the table with his fingers steepled under his chin, waved at the food and said, "How was your bath?" 

"It was great!" she said excitedly and walked towards the food tray. She was hungry like hell. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and desperately tried to remember her manners. She bowed to him awkwardly. "Thank you, m'lord." 

A smile, which turned into a soft laugh came from him, and she couldn't help thinking that this man must be like honey to the bees. He was too handsome to be true… especially for her.. Her breath hitched.