[A.N: Sorry, I've completely lost track of replying to reviews! Sincere thank you's to everyone who took the time to review the story, it means so much to me. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, I don't know if I got ahead of myself… but I hope you all like it.]
CHAPTER SIX
Serena looked on as Endymion paced the floor, seemingly lost in frenetic thought. Could this evening become any more strange? she thought to herself incredulously. First, she had been chosen to lay with the Prince of the Golden Kingdom - only to have somehow enraged, pacified, and baffled him beyond recovery - completely inadvertently, and within the space of ten minutes; been promised a job divorced from her sexuality, a miracle in itself; forgotten her own name, and cried… twice; and oh yes - fallen madly in love - or at least… fascinated affection, she chided herself - with a complete stranger. Now, after irrevocably changing her life, the man who was supposed to have taken her virginity and sent her on to a brothel couldn't even look at her.
"Your highness?" Serena asked tentatively. "Are you alright?" Endymion looked up at her, his train of thought broken. His eyes glazed over at her innocent and refined perfection, and he sighed. He was so confused. He had always been aloof and charming around women. He'd had his fair share of bedfellows, dates, and squealing fans in his twenty two years, something that he would be the first to admit; but never had a woman made him feel the way Serena had without actually doing anything. He couldn't decide if he wanted to sleep with her, hold her in his arms, talk to her, or simply lie still in silence on his bed next to her. The only thing he was sure of was that were he to take option a, b, c or d, he might as well put his name down on the dotted line and sign away eternity to her. There was no going back after tonight.
To be around someone who aroused emotions this strong in him had thrown Endymion completely off course. Now here she was, this strange angel, staring at him with concern and perhaps even - his heart swelled - affection in her eyes. "Yes, Serena. I'm fine. I'm - I'm sorry for acting so incredibly strangely this evening. I'm not usually like this."
"Ever." he added as an afterthought.
"Well" Serena replied, pushing away her fears and standing forward boldly. Courage was a trait that she had cultivated carefully, ever since she woke up alone in the world, with no memory of her origins. "You said you would like to speak with me - why not start now?" She reached out her hand to him, smiling serenely. Endymion carefully took it, and watched in fascination as she led him to sit back down on the end of the bed. Serena couldn't believe the electric current that ran between their bodies as their skin touched. It was like magic - it actually reminded her of a moon legend she had read, or had been told, as a child. She always seemed to remember the stories. It was the one anchor she had to her past.
Long, long ago, the beautiful and gracious Princess Celeste of the Moon Kingdom fell madly in love at first sight with the new Royal advisor to her father, the King. While this man was not highborn, or handsome, like the brainless pedigree Princes that flocked around her at every ball, Celeste found herself inexorably drawn to him. It wasn't long before the kind and intelligent man revealed to her that the feeling was mutual, for neither could hide it. From that moment on, the two were inseparable; living a secret life together - in the shadows of the great glittering palace, and the - greater still - shadow of the ancient law that forbade their union.
Eventually, as all good things come to end; their romance was discovered, and the advisor locked away in the dungeon to suffer punishment for corrupting the sweet and pure Princess. Celeste was forbidden by her enraged father from visiting her lover and he locked her in her tower to prevent her betrayal of his order. Celeste wept endlessly, her tears flowing for seven days and seven nights. At midnight on the eighth day, a strange melancholy spirit with large pink eyes and beautiful ebony skin appeared to her. She too had tears in her eyes. "I'm so very sorry" she sobbed to Celeste. For she was the young daughter of Venus, the Goddess of Love and of Saturn, the God of Chaos. This was an alliance deemed unholy by the higher powers, and as punishment to the lustful Venus and the capricious Saturn, their daughter Amare was cast down to walk amongst the people of the Middle Earth. While there is order in chaos, there is too destiny in love - and this unique and forbidden combination allowed Amare to predict the connection between humans, to discern soul mates, and ultimately to make them aware of this bond. She travelled the galaxy, uniting couples where she could. When she first dreamt the love that was to arise in the Moon Kingdom, she could not believe that such a love could exist. She waited for many hundred years for the opportune moment to witness the bond between Celeste and the advisor, and indeed it was stronger than any she had ever felt. She could not help but reveal their destiny to the star-crossed pair. But this had gone badly. The advisor was dying, trapped in prison, while Celeste was wasting away with grief, a shadow of her former self.
Knowing that she could not intervene further in the affairs of the humans of the galaxy without finally alerting the higher power to her presence and continued interference, Amare, having made her apologies, was forced to watch as first, the advisor took his last breath underground in chains, and then as Celeste too, sighed her final lament. In guilt and agony, Amare destroyed herself, allowing her energy to be reabsorbed into the universe. However, in her last moments, her gift was unleashed, and a magic fell over the galaxy that promised that only the greatest of loves to come would not suffer from her absence. The most profound connections of the future would still be revealed. Amare's legacy.
Serena knew this was just a silly old bedtime story, a romantic tale told by lovers to their children in the sultry twilight, but she smiled inwardly at the idea that she and Endymion could be destined for each other in some way.
She saw the tension and pain in Endymion's eyes as he sat next to her, and remembered the other skills Haruna had taught her at the academy. Putting one hand on the Prince's back and one in the centre of his hard chest, she rubbed soothing circles, massaging the anxiety out of his tight muscles. Endymion felt relief flow through him at her soothing and feather-light touch. Staring into her eyes, he momentarily felt as though he could tell her anything. "What ails you, my Prince?" Serena whispered, laying her head comfortingly on his shoulder. When he didn't respond, she plucked up the courage to speak her mind. "It must be quite lonely, being a Prince" she mused quietly. "You're a lone warrior and yet an heir to a planet. A soldier and a diplomat… what a contradiction." Endymion looked at her, wide eyed. She had only known him for less than an hour and yet she had seen, quite literally, inside of him. To the core. Emboldened by the feeling of Endymion's hand softly caressing her elbow as she continued to rub circles into his chest, Serena continued: "Your friends are great generals, yet they cannot possibly understand the choices you have to make and the responsibilities you have to bear. Do you ever think that maybe you deserve… " She trailed off.
"Deserve what?" Endymion asked, his voice filled with quiet bitterness. "Love." Serena whispered in return.
"No." was his harsh reply, as his hand abruptly stilled on her arm. "I don't."
"Everyone deserves love," Serena protested, still rubbing circles. She knew that she was stepping over her boundaries, and that she was at risk of undoing all the good that had come of tonight so far, and yet she didn't care. Being with Endymion, here, like this, felt so right to her. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. She knew it in her bones. He had said he wanted to talk to her. This was it. "I think you do." she said, pushing him emotionally. The Prince laughed harshly. "You don't know me!"
Serena had struck a nerve with him. The nerve. How dare she! How dare she assume to know what I deserve! If only she knew the kind of monster I really am, she'd be singing a different tune. Or screaming it. "Do you want to know how deserving I am of love, young Miss?" the Prince asked, standing up to face the now pale-faced Serena. Sardonically, he told Serena of the sorry events of his birthday, many years prior. He showed her the ugliness that festered underneath the regal exterior. He showed her that he couldn't be trusted. He showed her that of all people, he least deserved love!
Serena listened carefully, saddened by the story. As Endymion increased the level of vitriol in his negative assessment of his character, Serena became even more upset. All this time, he had been carrying this burden, a malignant tumour about which he could talk to no one, allowing it to grow and grow and to consume him. A lost, sad, lonely, young man with a heart of gold who couldn't forgive a little boy his well intentioned foolishness. Serena waited patiently until he finished ranting; he was panting, his eyes dark. "What do you think now? Still think I'm deserving of all of this love?" he questioned her harshly. She stood up gracefully, closing the gap between them and wrapping her arms firmly around his waist. "Yes." she said defiantly into his chest. "Yes."
At that one word, Endymion felt all the air and anger rush out of his body just as quickly as it had arrived. Suddenly exhausted, he dropped his face into her hair, allowing a single tear to trickle out of his sad eyes. Slowly, as though Serena were made of glass - or even smoke, liable to shatter or disappear at any given moment - his arms snaked around her shoulders and held her tightly.
There the two of them stood, wrapped around each other as one in the navy blue starlight, for what could have been minutes or hours or even years. Eventually the two lay down together on top of the Prince's soft silk and fur laden bed, still entwined like the branches of an old oak tree that had weathered the storms of an age. Serena's gentle voice whispering "yes," once again was the last thing Endymion heard before he drifted off into a supremely restful, dreamless sleep; paradise in her arms.