The Royal Contract

"Ok, do you think you have enough of the pain and suffering of my ancestors?" Alex said as he led her back to the upper ground, turning the lights off again on his way out.

The caretaker of this castle made sure to put lights and all safety precautions for the few tourists who visited this castle. They made sure that people would find it convenient for them to move around the place and even in the dungeons. Although making it into a tourist attraction was still underway.

"I think it is your ancestors who are the oppressor in this matter, not the other way around." Dani pointed out since they were the ones in power.

In her line of profession, even her experiences in life, those who possessed the power, most often than not, abused it to gain their interest. Those people left at the bottom had to settle for the crumbs thrown at them. As for justice, it was a luxury they could not afford.

"Let us not generalize my entire lineage. There were a few good kings that I could name who tried to be fair in his reign." He thought of his grandfather, who formed The Council of Elders to oversee that the Kings did not abuse their powers.

His grandfather had seen many kingdoms starting to fall because of the abusive leaders. He wanted a power balance between the King and his subordinates to protect their empire from suffering the same fate.

"I am not saying all of your ancestors might be guilty of being unjust, but I am sure with the system in place during that era, it was hard to get justice for those who are at the bottom of the social system." She started to argue, temporarily taking her eyes from where she was going to look at him.

"Believe it or not. I do agree with you. I don't believe that one man should have absolute power. Everyone should be answerable to a law provided by not one man, but dictated by the people." Alex stated, enjoying the open air again and the interaction they were having.

"Oh, I thought..." Her words faded off when she stumbled on the rubbles that were blocking her way. Fortunately, Alex was quick enough to catch her fall.

Her body was, once again, subjected to tremendous turmoil as his body wrapped around hers. Dani did not know how long she could keep up fighting what she felt about him. But she knew that each minute she spent with him brought her closer to danger.

She quickly moved away from his hold when she found her footing, not wanting to find herself lost in the sensation of his touch. She was naive not to feel that what was happening to her also affected him just as much. She realized that nothing about their task was simple anymore.

She feared that eventually, things between them might get beyond their control. What then? How would she handle it if it ever came to that? Was she ready to take this charade to another level?

Because if she would give in to her desire, she was not about to involve her heart. She believed that this was just pure unadulterated lust, a need to satisfy her craving for another human body. Jacky was right. It had been a long time since she had sex.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked as he tapped on her shoulder.

It snapped her out of her musing, finding herself embarrassed at where her thoughts had gone to, thinking of using him to fill her sexual fantasy.

"Yeah, I am ok." She quickly looked away from him, knowing that her face must look like a cherry tomato.

"Ok." He guided her back to their way out, not wanting to embarrass her any further. But he could never forget the way she looked. He found it quite adorable. Somehow it led him to believe that she was thinking of him, remembering how she felt when she was in his arms.

He wondered if he did pursue what he felt for her. He was not in love with her, but he could not deny that she was stirring a need in him that he found hard to control anymore. He knew that she did felt the same way as him.

Would that ruin everything between them? Would they be able to control the situation without destroying each other in the end? But how long could he still keep himself at bay without acting on how he felt?

"Look at that." She pointed on the horizon, catching his attention.

As they walked out of the ruined palace, that was the time that Alex noticed the weather. He had seen the cloud formation earlier before they left his home. But he assumed it was far, and the direction of the wind was supposed to take it away from them.

However, he felt the sudden change of the wind direction might have caused the shifting of the cloud's movement. Instead of going in the opposite direction, it was now coming straight for them. He knew that outrunning such weather was out of the question.

"I think it is about to rain hard." Based on experience, the darkness of the clouds would soon bring tremendous heavy rain.

"Could we still make it back?" She was suddenly concerned for their safety.

"I don't think so." He said honestly. "Not yet. We have to wait till the heavy rain passed before we could continue on our way back home."

They would not reach the city nor his home without getting soak. He could not risk Dani and himself getting wet. With the sudden drop in temperature, they might end up very sick. That was not an option. In addition, they were at high risk of running into an accident if they pushed ahead on heavy rain and a muddy road. That combination was a road to disaster.

"What should we do now? Should we stay here?" She questioned him, not exactly sure if they were also safe in the ruined structure.

"Nope. I don't think we are safe here. We need to move to somewhere safer." He declared as he ushered her to move to his motorbike.

He had no choice but to find another temporary shelter for them.

The castle was not exactly a good place to hide from the rain since it would hardly protect them from the downpour. Then, Alex remembered the old shack at the other side of that hill, where the caretaker placed their tools and equipment. They could seek temporary shelter from there until the rain subsided.

"Where are we going then?" She asked, riding again on his bike, having no choice but to hold on to his body.

"Not far from here." He turned around to check on her. When he knew she was secured, he started the engine and moved the bike in the direction of the shack. "Hold on because I need to speed up a little."

He did not want the rain to catch them, or that would be one hell of a problem. But as they sped up on the rough road, so as the clouds. He already knew that it would be a photo finish if they made it to the house without getting wet.

Now, he blamed himself for not taking the car, as Dani had suggested. But he was glad that she was not making a fuss about it.