What am I doing? I started out trying to comfort her, and now she is sleeping in my arms. What would Omar say; I mean, he is her father.

Besides that, this is definitely not proper association between the princess and I. I know what Omar would do, had it been Queen Nefari; He

would have held her all night, but never fallen asleep. Yes. That is just what I shall do. But the queen loved Omar too (Alex let me read the

letter). Sure, it worked for them, but, they both loved each other more than life itself. They would do anything for one another. They would die for

each other. I know this is how I feel for the Princess, but I do not think she shares my sentiments. She is always flying from here to there, too

busy to even think about true love. Well look where that's gotten her! No, I'm not mad at her, I just don't want her to get hurt, and that's exactly

what happened. I wish she would focus more on her true duties,as Princess of Manjipoor, and less on trying to get a new date. Ever since Caleb

moved to the south, she's been almost a ghost of who she was. She won't even open up to Amanda or Taylor, Or even J.B., who she's known

since grade two. She only ever talks to me or Zamira. And even then, it's not often. Now she's gotten hurt. I could have stopped her, she

would have listened to me eventually. She deserves so much better than this. She is the princess, She is my friend, She is Alex. Beautiful,

innocent, young, and naïve. She's had her feelings hurt by Caleb, and probably me, over the years, but Caleb never hurt her physically. What

will she be like when she wakes up? Will she even trust me? Taylor and J.B.? Will she ever speak to a man again? Of course she will. It will take

time, but she is strong. She will be fine. At least, that is what I must keep telling myself. I have to believe she'll be alright, because if I don't, I'll

fall apart. It hurts me so badly to see her hurt. Tonight, under the Manjipoorean summer moon, I did something never allowed to me before, but I know she

would not mind; I kissed her cheek lightly as she slept. I will take care of her, and be by her side when she needs me. I will not leave her.

Alex's P.O.V.

It was still dark when I woke, so I struck a match to light the candle beside my bed. I cannot remember anything about last night. That is when I turned to my

left, and see Kuru sleeping on the floor beside my bed. My Manjipoorean bed! How did I get here? Then the memories from last night start flooding in. My date,

that disgusting shack, Jared and what he almost did, Anala and Kuru, the meadow, me crawling into Kuru's lap and falling asleep there, and... wait. I fell asleep

on Kuru?! He's going to be so mad at me! Then I remember his shirt. My dress! I run ( it's more of a hobble-run. My hip hurts. ) into the dressing chamber. I

spend about two minutes dressing myself with magic, and about half an hour sobbing my heart out. Again. When I do come out, Kuru is just entering the room

with a try of fruits, fully clothed. When he sees me, he sets down the tray and rushes over to carry stumbling me to bed. " You should not have gotten up

without assistance!" He whispers worriedly, laying me down. "thanks." I say with a cringe as my body hits the bed softly. " Do you remember what happened

yesterday? I'm a bit fuzzy. And how did we get to the palace?" I ask him while eating a mango. " I carried you here and put you to bed. And you said some

pretty strange things." He answered, looking slightly amused. " Like what" I inquired. "Well for starters,..." And he proceeded to explain all that had happened

last night.

"Are you not mad at me?" I asked after breakfast as we were talking on the lounge. "What for?" He said, looking confused. "Well, for... because I crawled into

your arms and fell asleep, and because I didn't listen to you, and because you had to come save me, because I made poor choices after both you and Amanda

warned me about him. I didn't listen. And because of that, you had to come save me. That's why." I said in a breath. "I could never be angry with you for any of

that. I only get angry when you put the kingdom at risk." He says softly. "Wasn't putting my life in danger putting the kingdom at risk? You know, I think at one

point, I offered all the gold in the kingdom. That's pretty bad, Kuru." I said, feeling ashamed. "I believe that offer was made to me." He said with an amused

smile. "Really?" I asked, shocked. "Yes. You thought I was someone whom I was not. Though I thought you'd be able to tell the difference. Surely my hands are

different from his?" He says sadly. "Yes. I remember two touches from last night. One, hard,cold and rough. I shiver when I think about it, and it makes me want

to cry all over again. The second, was warm and gentle, caring, and full of love. They felt so good after so many first kind of touches. That was you, Kuru. Your hands are still a bit callused

from when you were an elephant boy, but they are not rough. Thank you. For caring for me. I don't know what I would have done without you." I said with

emotion enough to make him nearly cry. "You'd have been alright." He says quietly. "No! I'd be dead!" I scream. His face falls. "I'm so sorry." I said, breathless

by his reaction and my outburst. "Your fine, Alex." He says, brushing it off. "No. I'm sorry you had to rescue me, sorry you had to see all that,sorry that, that,

that..." I trailed off. He was crying, and so was I. I pulled him into my arms, and we cried for a bit.

"Kuru, is there a doctor around?" I asked, breaking the silence. "Well, there is the village doctor, but um, well, er, never mind." He said nervously.

"What?" I asked curiously. "It would not be, um, appropriate, for a princess to go there." He answered with a nervous cough . My eyes widened in

understanding."Oh." was all I could say. "Well, um, Kuru? Could you maybe check to see i I have any broken bones since there's no doctor here, and, I'm not

ready to go back to my world yet. Please? I wouldn't ask but, there's not really anyone else to trust here. Except Omar, but He'll be heartbroken when he finds

out, and I want to put that off as long as possible. Could you? " I ask uneasily. "Of course." He replied with only a touch of formality. His tone was still very soft

and intimate. I'm glad we're still talking like friends through this, and Kuru hasn't gone all 'Don't get near her, don't touch her' on me. I don't know if I could

stand it if he examined me so formally. There I go rambling on again. I am thrown back into reality, when Kuru lifts my arm, and the bruises that he is touching

ever so gently, hurt like nothing I've ever experienced before. "It isn't broken." Comes the soft voice to my left. It is almost a whisper, his voice, so soft and

gentle. He examines the other arm, and affirms that it is also not broken. Good. Now for the hard part. "Kuru, could you maybe check my ribs? They feel very

sore." I say quietly. "I don't know how." he says hesitantly. "I'll show you." I say, patting the side of my bed.I tell him to sit, so, hesitantly, he does. I tuck my

fingers into the crease of his ribs, and feel them as if checking to see if they are broken. "I can't do it to myself." I explain. He sits up, and I tell him that I need to

change. He carries me to the dressing chamber, then goes out. I put on my half slip, then my top slip. I am nervous. He's not going to like this he'll be

reserved, and maybe even formal. I hope he's not formal. Well, I guess I'll find out when I get out there.