AHHH! Chapter #6!

After breakfast Tamina had returned to her room for more fittings. Sahara had been waiting for her sitting there on Tamina's bed, like she had when they were children, except this time she had lavish fabric draped across her lap. "How was breakfast?" She asked once Tamina shut the door.

Tamina sighed, already exhausted with the day, "Well King Sharaman was there." She said as if that already explained it all.

Sahara's mouth went into the shape of an 'o', understanding her friend. "Did he ask?" Sahara being Tamina's only friend and true confidant already knew of the Dagger of Time and she knew that Dastan had done something to save the world, to which Sahara and Tamina both agreed that it would tarnish any relationship they could possibly have if he told her what had exactly occurred. As Sahara had put it, ignorance is bliss.

"Of course he asked, but I don't know what to tell him," Tamina plopped down on the bed next to her friend. "It's not like I can say 'Oh your brother was after a mystical dagger that I've been sworn to protect', he'd think I was insane, or worse."

Sahara turned to her, her brows knitted together, "What's worse than insane?"

Tamina sat up on her elbows, clearly thinking about what Sahara had asked, "Probably unfit to marry his son."

"Hmm. That would be worse."

This is what Tamina loved about Sahara. Her ability to make even the most horrid situations funny. She always knew how to get Tamina to smile. Sahara never seemed to be upset about anything; she always experienced everything with a smirk of some sort. And when she was there for Tamina everything always seemed easier somehow, like it didn't seem so big after all. Tamina would always ask Sahara how she does it, so that one day she could master this talent of comforting, she always shrug and give her time-perfected smirk, "It's just part of my charm, you must be born with it."

Tamina let them sit in silence for a while before standing up. "Well, shall we?" She motioned towards the stool still sitting in the middle of her room. Sahara nodded with a smile, knowing that Tamina hated this.

"Of course, your highness." She said with her smirk.

"Don't start with me." Tamina said trying to sound disciplinary, but failing miserably.

By the time Tamina set eyes on her betrothed again the sun had gone down, casting Alumet in an orange glow that made it look holier than it already was. She had walked out on her balcony to enjoy the sunset when she spotted him down below, kicking pebbles and mumbling to himself, obviously debating what to do. But about what? Tamina leaned on the ledge content just to watch him. He was wearing his normal clothes, worn red sash, cream colored shirt, open just enough to for the mind to get a clear image of what was under it, black pants with his boots laced over them. He paced back and forth already making a track in the grass. Apparently he had been there awhile. Every so often he would stop and throw up his hands in frustration. Tamina watched for awhile, surprised he hadn't noticed her, after all he was the Lion of Persia, the man that invaded a city whose walls hadn't been breached in over a thousand years, and shouldn't he be a tad more alert?

Tamina cleared her throat trying to catch his attention. Nothing. He still paced back and forth as if he hadn't even heard her. She looked at him again trying to see if he was armed, seeing that he was not, she slowly and as quietly as she could climbed down the steps to where he was pacing. He hadn't even looked up when she rounded the corner, he kept looking down as if the answer he was looking for was somewhere on the now worn grass. "You know for being the Lion of Persia, you're pretty easy to sneak up on."

At that Dastan jumped, letting out some curse she had never heard, but caused her to blush regardless. "How long have you been there?"

"Here? Not long. I was on the balcony for longer." She said pointing up toward her room. "What are you doing?"

Dastan looked at her, the balcony, back at her and then down toward the ground again. "I'm not sure."

Tamina took a couple steps forward, not enough that she could reach out to him, but close enough. "Not sure about what? Perhaps I could help."

Dastan scoffed, at her or himself she couldn't tell. "I don't know about that Princess."

Her heart ached at the formality to which he addressed her. Hearing it come from his lips was like an insult. She must have physically cringed because he was holding both of her hands in his before she could blink. "Tamina," He whispered making shivers run up her spine. When he rested his cheek against hers she couldn't help but melt into him. He sighed as he wrapped one of his arms around her waist and rested his other hand against the side of her face. "I don't want to lose you." He whispered.

She pulled back as if burned by his skin, her eyebrows knitted together, this had to do with his father, she was sure of it. "What happened this morning? What were you yelling about?"

Dastan's gaze returned to the ground, stepping back. She felt immediately empty at the loss of his touch. "My father had Nizam's chambers searched. In it they found letters upon letters to a man named Zolm. He is the leader of the Hassassins. They are deadly mercenaries that my father had disbanded years ago. Nizam disobeyed my father's orders and kept them for himself. Nizam wrote to him about the Dagger." Dastan stopped, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. "He wrote to him, specifically of the Dagger."

Tamina's heart stopped. "Does he know what it does?"

"Nizam never went into detail about what the Dagger is capable of, but my father is a smart man." Dastan's eyes never met hers. It was as if he was ashamed that he was not able to cover his uncle's tracks or what his father had said to him. Whichever it was it was too close for Tamina to know. Just that he was upset that it even had to affect her. "He had asked me this morning if I knew of a dagger hidden in Alumet."

"And what did you say?" Tamina asked taking a cautious step toward Dastan.

"I lied." Dastan looked up, the eye contact, catching her off guard, her heart in her throat. His eyes were bright and fevered with guilt and fear. He sighed and dropped his gaze again. "But I'm really bad at it."

"What does he know?" Tamina's eyes dropped down to the same spot that Dastan was so fixated on.

"I'm not certain. He knows that it has the possibility of altering the past." Dastan looked at her, and upon seeing the expression of betrayal she was too frantic to hid, his faced turned from worry to the perfect picture of heartbreak. Almost breaking hers in the process.

But she couldn't let that happen. This man, no, this boy was not going to destroy everything she's instilled in herself. She would not fall for this man. She refused. It almost took all the energy she had to pull the hard mask of the monarch over her face, but she pushed her shoulders back and held her head high. She knew what she had to do. "I know I have placed you in a difficult position, but I will handle it. I know what I have to do."

His face went white. He already knew what she was planning. She could see the wheels in his head turning, thinking, calculating, and planning. Just as he knew what she was going to do, she knew he would try and stop her. "You can't." If Tamina hadn't been looking at him she wouldn't have heard him. His voice was so far away and broken.

"You are not in any position to tell me what I can and cannot do." Tamina never let the mask slip.

Almost immediately color started returning to his cheeks. "Yet." His voice returning bit by bit, with the prospect of an argument.

Tamina's resolve slipped ever so slightly, "As if that would ever be your decision."

Dastan stalked toward her, it was that she understood why they chose a lion. She was mesmerized as the back of his fingers brushed the hair of her neck. Just the smell of him, coco and hazelnut, was intoxicating. She had to stop this, but every muscle in her body was ignoring her brain. "We have a lifetime, I'm sure I'll get one."

Her eyes locked on his. They were begging for forgiveness. Begging for her to take him in her arms, begging for her think of a different plan, to just stay with him. Tamina's heart screaming for the same. But her head knew different. She knew that if she stayed she could jeopardize the whole world. No matter how much she wanted to just stay here in this very courtyard, with Dastan this close, forever, it was not her decision to make. It was never hers.

Tamina leaned into his touch. She would not leave this in a fight, not without knowing she cared. His eyes danced. That's all she had to do to convince him. "I'm so sorry," He whispered wrapping his arms around her waist, picking her up, so she could be at his level.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to store away the memory of his smell, his touch, the sound of his voice, everything. She cupped the back of his head running her fingers through his dark hair. She pulled him back ever so slightly, just enough that she was mere centimeters away from his lips. Her eyes fluttered open to his blue ones boring into hers. She placed her forehead to his and sighed. She realized then that she would be the end of this man. She was his soft spot. He loved her to the point that he would be nothing but a shell of a man without her. The thought alone of this warrior, her warrior, broken all because of her, made her eyes immediately well up. Unable to blink them away, one pesky tear escaped and landed on the cheek of her beautiful warrior.

She her eyes tight trying to reclaim any of her reserve. The next thing that she knew her feet hit the ground and strong hands were on either side of her cheeks. "Tamina?" Dastan whispered, "Will you please look at me love?"

Knowing she couldn't stand in this garden with her eyes closed, Tamina opened them, tears again slipping down her face.

"I will not lose you again." Dastan vowed, his voice now strong and confident. A far cry from the broken pain that had seeped onto his words.

Tamina nodded. She could do nothing else but nod. She did not trust her voice not to crack and she refused to show that much emotion.

Dastan's eyes searched hers franticly, looking for any sort of comfort. "Please say something." He pleaded.

Tamina looked away, anywhere but those eyes. She needed some kind of reserve. She swallowed hard before looking back at him. "I need to think." Tamina stepped out of his grasp and around him. She heard him call her name three times before it stopped.

She raced down the corridors of tall trees and bushes, around corners, not stopping for guards, or servants, or merchants walking the paths. She found the whole in the trees easily, racing as rogue leaves and branches grazed her arms and legs. She felt nothing. As soon as she broke through the threshold of the garden she dropped to her knees, a sob that was held in her throat broke through and ripped through her chest. She knew what had to be done. She had been prepared for this moment. She had been trained for this very moment. But nothing could prepare her for the stab of pain that thrashed her body when she realized that she loved him. No wound, no sickness, could ever compare to this emptiness. Stop it! She screamed at herself. You are a guardian! This is your birth right, you should be proud. This is your purpose in life. She sat up wiping her tears. Looking around at the wilting flowers, as if they understood and bowed to her. She stood, wiping off her robe, pulling the kohl and parchment she kept there. She scribbled what she could on the parchment then walked to the apple tree picking the ripest one she could find. She placed the note on the bench and the apple on the note. She knew it wouldn't be long until he found it. She needed to move fast.

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Well I finally know where I'm going with this story and I'm pretty sure that it will shock the pants off all of you! Hopefully. Happy reading guys!

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