.

They have been waiting since dawn. The security was tight.

A muscled tall woman, in her shoulders perched a three years old blue eyed child, her face and head almost smothered by a big woolen cap! Beside them was a woman dressed in over large sweatpants and a cowled sweater. They were part of the curious throng of people enamored by anything royalty!

It would be the first time the King of ‘Yuguvlia’ was visiting the United States. He was the ruler of a small nation where the ‘cold steel’ was exclusively mined, and two years ago, the revolutionary’s ‘cold fuel’ was discovered! The world was hungry for a steel that do not heat nor melt and a fuel source that was so clean with almost zero emission and , generate intense blue heat that a liter of fuel can run a hundred kilometers! He was accompanied by his three-year old son, the heir to the Kingdom, and his rumored fiancée. Lady Gemma.

King Bradford Perdeau had created a frenzy. Hence, the crowd of on lookers, the media, and the paparazzis this early morning!

A ceremonial giving of the key of the city of New York would be one of the events open to the public.

The ceremony was scheduled at Eight in the morning. It was a spring morning and the weather was sunny and cool. The child was impatient. “Mama, is the little Prince and the King coming now?” The little girl whispered. She was the one who pestered her mom into attending this affair, hence, she must bear the discomfort of waiting.

“Anytime now, sweetie. “Her mother, Lyra, whispered.

“The crowd was growing. Everyone was excited to see Royalty specially that this Royalty was super rich, super handsome, and still unmarried.

The Mayor and the whole officialdom of the city were excitedly awaiting the guests. The King’s advanced security in the unique uniforms were already on the ceremonial stage.

Sirens heralded the coming of the honored guests. The crowd surge. ‘Ham,’ short for ‘Hammer,’ took the excited child from her mother’s arm. She could better protect the child and give her vantage view. She was a towering mass of muscles in six feet two inches height!

She was Lyra’s companion and guard.

She guarded their position near the stage. Her Lady wanted the young child to see the King and the young Prince once in her life and she would see to it that that dream would become a reality.

The child was almost squealing in excitement when a convoy of luxurious vehicles approached amidst the screaming and the sirens!

She would see, in reality, the King and the little Prince her mommy used to tell her every night!

With her head fully covered by a cowl and wearing contact lenses, Lyra was unrecognizable among the crowd.

She saw, just barely twenty feet away, King Bradford coming down from the vehicle and assisting the little Prince as he followed him. A very beautiful lady disembarked at the other side of the vehicle. It was Lady Gemma, the King’s fiancée!

The Little’s Prince hair shined inky black in the morning light!

Lyra’s fingers bit painfully into her thighs and her eyes blurred from unshed tears! Her little boy! The last time she cuddled and kissed him was when he was barely a day old. Then he was taken away from her!

“Little Prince, Little Prince!” Little Brae’s voice, sounded pure and unique and rose above the excited bubble of the crowd.

The King and the little Prince looked across the picket line that held the crowd back.

They both saw a little girl, her golden hair shone like halo, and her face, except it was dainty and feminine, was an exact replica of that of the little Prince. Her eyes were blue like that of the King!

Lyra noticed their concentrated gaze and was horrified to see the small woolen hat that covered Brae’s hair was now clutched in her little hand and was being waived in the air to attract the little Prince’s attention.

“Ham!” Lyra’s panicked voice alerted Ham. She snatched the woolen cap from Brae’s little hand and fully covered her hair!

Using her bulk and strength, Ham led the way to break through the packed bodies and escaped the crowd. The mistress was closely following them.

The little girl did not make a sound. She embraced tightly Ham’s massive neck and hid her little head. She knew she committed a mistake. She took her cap despite mommy’s numerous reminders.

Reaching a safe distance, she took little Brae from her guard’s

arms and embracing the little girl who whispered “Sorry, Mom. I was so excited. I forgot…!”

“It is alright, sweetie. Mom was excited too.”

She looked back even if the people on the stage were just blurs. Her heart ached , her nose stuffy, and tears flowed down her cheek. She kissed her child! It would be her last glimpsed of her little boy, the twin brother of little Brae, and the man she loved, King Bradford!

A LITTLE OVER FOUR YEARS AGO…

The three-vehicles convoy were traveling at a fast speed at the interstate going to a private hangar. The two security vehicle sandwiched a bullet proofed luxurious sedan in the middle.

All of the sudden the lead vehicle swerved and the trained driver of the middle car followed.

The twenty five year old imperious young man sitting inside saw something crumpled beside the road. He barked a cold order, “Stop!”

His security aide sitting beside the driver’s seat turned his face towards the young man sitting in the passenger door.

“Your Highness?!!”

“I said stop!”

The aide barked a quiet order. “Stop.”

All vehicles screeched to a halt and positioned themes.few in the road in a classic defensive position.

The men in the first and third vehicle stepped down scanning the vicinity.

The young man did not observed protocol. He impatiently opened the door nearest him and alighted.

His security escorts scrambled to cover him. He walked briskly towards the figure he saw crumpled beside the road. His aide screened him. He knew he could not stop his principal. When he wanted to do something, it is impossible to dissuade him. The stubbornness was embedded in his royal genes.

The man stooped and then kneeled. He saw a frail hand lifted as if asking for help when their vehicle passed by. That was the reason he ordered they stopped.

The crumpled figure might be a a frail young man or woman. He lifted the cowl that covered the head. What he saw shocked him.

The face was so delicate and so fine. It was a young female! When he touched the face, the eyes opened. The irises were green. The shape of the eyes were cat like, fringed by thick long golden lashes framed by beautifully super golden eyebrows. He felt his heart thumped a violent beat!

For a while their gazes clung to each other.

Her frail hand lifted and her fingers clutched his pristine coat smearing it with her blood.

The security rushed to stop and separate her from their Principal but the man lifted his other hand to stop them.

He lifted the figure supporting her neck. The female’s cracked lips moved. “They are hunting me. Help me and I will serve you my whole life!”

The woman lost all her strength and her body sagged. She was unconscious! Without hesitation, the young man lifted her and felt her back sticky with blood! His aide again attempted to take the woman from the young man’s arms but, again, he was rebuffed.

The man placed the woman’s head in his shoulder and carried her like a child barely touching her back. She was light as feather. He could feel her bones . This woman was almost emaciated!

His aide rushed to open wider the passenger side of their vehicle.

His principal did not let go. The woman was sitting in his lap with her legs around his waist and her head resting on his shoulders. She was unconscious.

“To the plane.”

“Your Highness?”

“Hurry! We have a doctor and nurses on board, right? Go!”

The aide relayed the order. He had no choice but to obey. He could not understand his principal. He was so coldly focused on their mission, and this young woman was not part of the plan!

His principal carried the unconscious female aboard the waiting jet and brought her directly to the clinic section. She deposited her sitting in the narrow clinic bed with her body still resting on him.

“Check her!” He ordered the doctor and two nurses who were standing on attention on the aisle when her went up.

They bowed . “Yes , your highness!”

The doctor hesitated. The young woman was still supported by his body. She was intimately plastered on him!

“Your Highness , may I?”

“You are male. Have the women nurses do it! I will call you when she is ready.”

The doctor went out flabbergasted. ‘Who was this young woman that his Highness was so protective of?’

The military aide also wondered. His principal was acting peculiarly!

Inside, the nurses softly undressed the woman. Her back was a maze of healed and still bleeding welts and wounds clearly inflicted by a whip. This young woman was severely whipped not only recently many times in the past!