-FINDING LOVE-

Hi!

So, I tried to get this chapter out as fast as I could, and now with school starting again and all, I'm glad that I got it done! Hopefully, some of you find the time to read it, despite school starting. I also want to thank you for all your wonderful reviews; they really encouraged me to get this chapter out as fast as I could.

aphrodite's mistress: Thank you, I'm happy that the story was good was enough to suck you in!

soulsistersinaslan: Thank you, and you're going to have to wait till the next chapter to see Raye's role =)

HisWabbit: Thank you so much for reviewing twice! And thank you for the praise; I can't believe you stayed up to read the story.

LGCoffeeAddict: Thank you so much! I had hoped it was improving, and I'm happy that the readers are noticing a difference. I hope the flow is smoother now, but it's still as intriguing as the first chapter.

Momo Cakes: Thank you! Your review really brought a smile to my face. I hope you like chapter 6 as much as you did the others. Thank you so much for taking the time to review =)

Once again, my normal rant: Please review if you like the story, I love getting feedback.

Chapter 6

Rays of blinding sunlight entered through the sheer, drawn curtains waking Serenity from her slumber. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she watched as the sunlight seeped into every nook and cranny of her bedroom and bounded off the locket resting againsther chest. She had fallen asleep with it on again.

Serenity rolled over in bed, not wanting to get up yet. She dreaded the very idea of starting the day that would ultimately end in a one-on-one training session with the Prince.

After staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, she knew she had to get up and do something. After bathing, she dressed and made her way down to the dining hall for some breakfast; pleased she'd managed to learn how to work the fastenings on her dress in less than a week, finally able to dress herself without the help of maids.

It was still early; the sun having just risen, Serenity found herself eating breakfast alone. She preferred it this way; at least she wouldn't have to see his face again so soon.

She gulped down her eggs benedict and orange juice. She was used to rushing her breakfast so she could make it to her classes on time, back home.

Serenity decided to visit the palace gardens to distract her from thinking about the meeting.

As she made her way down the pebbled path and into the gardens, she felt the guard's eyes trailing her. She had noticed them watching her with such intensity every time she left the palace as if she were still considered potentially dangerous and untrustworthy. She entered the hedged maze that led to the rose garden and took a right at the corner.

The Prince probably believed that she would try to run away from the castle, which was why the guards remained alert whenever she left the impressive structure. Making another right turn, Serenity contemplated the running away idea. She probably should, but something stopped her. Aside from the fact that she didn't know where to run, how vast the castle grounds were or how heavily guarded its walls were made her take pause. There was another reason: they needed her, how could she bring herself to walk away from that? The bleary situation, to which she would find upon returning home, wasn't at all enticing.

Looking up, the fragrant scent of roses overwhelming her senses, she stepped into the alcove and found herself encircled by beautiful ruby-red roses. She took another whiff of the addicting aroma and felt herself calming down, her breathing steadier.

She loved it here, reaching up on tiptoe and touching a particularly long stemmed rose that had bloomed beautifully, careful so as not to prick her finger on its thorns, she inhaled its heady perfume. Serenity knelt on the ground and lost herself in her thoughts and the beauty of the roses. She was tempted to hide out in this alcove so she wouldn't have to face the Prince this evening; but her happiness was short-lived as Raye's voice drifted into her heaven-on-earth, "Oh, there you are. I thought I'd find you here."

Surprised, Serenity jumped at the sound of Raye's voice and pricked her finger on a thorn. Stubbing the flow of blood with her thumb, she turned around to greet Raye.

The raven-haired woman noticed her injured finger and apologized profusely, "I'm sorry Serenity; I shouldn't have surprised you like that."

A drop of her blood fell to the grass and a most unusual thing happened; the locket began to glow. She became aware of its warmth through the fabric of her dress.

She looked up to see if Raye had noticed, but she seemed more preoccupied with the fact that Serenity was in pain. Her worried eyes fixed uponSerenity's finger and she didn't seem to care much about the locket.

She smiled, shrugging off the incident, "It's all right; I was too caught up in the beauty of the garden to notice you."

Raye returned her smile, taking in the majesty of the garden, "You really love roses, don't you? You always look so happy and carefree here."

"It's absolutely stunning, I just feel drawn to it…I don't know why," said Serenity, her gaze sweeping across the rows of roses.

"Yes, Endy really outdid himself with this garden," said Raye.

"I'm sorry, what?" she sputtered.

"Endymion made this garden, he designed it. And he tends to it himself, he doesn't let any of the palace gardeners near it," said Raye, in a matter-of-fact voice.

"He designed this? Him?" asked an astonished Serenity. She couldn't comprehend how such a chauvinistic pig could create such a masterpiece.

"Mmmm-Hmmm," said Raye, clearly not at all perturbed by this fact.

How could such an arrogant man contribute to something so utterly beautiful? There must be something about him, a side of him, which she had yet to see…

Raye's voice crept into Serenity's thoughts, "So, I wanted to ask you if you like to accompany me to town for some shopping? You haven't left the castle walls yet and you could probably use some fresh air."

"I would love to," she replied. I could use the distraction, she mentally noted.

With that said and done, they were off to a small, nearby town called Ravenhearst.

The day came and went, like a quick burst of wind, and before Serenity knew it, she was sitting in the dining hall eating supper. The day had flown by but she had thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Ravenhearst was a quaint little town, wedged between two valleys on a rise. The people were kind and survived mainly because of their artisanship. They made beautiful handcrafted jewelry, carpets and shawls.

Serenity had admired many things in the marketplace she and Raye had visited. Raye had attempted to purchase some of the items for Serenity, but she wouldn't have any of that. She was more than grateful for Raye's company; she could not let Raye buy her things as well.

Serenity's locket had been hidden beneath her gown as Raye had suggested before they left. They did not need the town people to be suspicious or to pry into the Royal family's business. Serenity had been grateful for that; she didn't want extra attention directed towards her anyway.

The main purpose for their visit, however, was to visit the seamstress. Raye needed to be fitted for a few more gowns and this time, she would not take no for an answer, as she had Serenity fitted for a few more gowns as well.

Sighing with contentment, she finished the remnants of her dinner; it was nice to forget about her worries for a while. She had felt at ease today with Raye, and so carefree. They had even munched on a freshly baked loaf of bread and had tasted a cocoa sponge cake at the bakery that afternoon.

Now, as the afternoon wore thin and gave way to the evening, Serenity desperately held ontothose residual feelings of happiness. She didn't want to think about what the evening held for her, nor had she a clue what to expect from a meeting with the Prince.

She looked up at his chair at the head of the table, just as empty as it had been yesterday. She wondered what had kept him from dinner; had something happened again?

She eyed her plate, It was empty, her spoon suspended in mid-air. Oh great, her dinner was done. After staring at her empty plate for a few more minutes, she knew she had to stop avoiding the inevitable. Raye had left the dining hall quite a while ago; Serenity took her time eating her mashed potatoes.

She sighed, got up, and dragged herself with some reluctance to the library. She was worried about this training session. Part of it had to do with the Prince himself, and the other had to do with her own concerns about her powers. She didn't think she could do it. She didn't even know what it was. She had never worked her "powers" before; and she had no confidence that she could actually heal somebody. What if she failed?

She also didn't want to be in a room alone with the Prince, finding herself responding…oddly to him. She never felt that way with anyone before; and as much as she claimed she didn't want to be alone with him, she had to admit that a spark of excitement overpowered her whenever she saw him. Why did this happen? She couldn't stand that arrogant ass!

Her thoughts had led her right to the library door. Hesitating, her hand poised to knock; she stared at the mahogany door. Why was she being such a coward? Maybe he wasn't even inside; maybe he had been called out on some urgent business once again.

With her heart stuck in her throat, Serenity rapped her knuckles on the door. 'Please don't let him be there, please don't let him be there, please-'

"Come in," beckoned a baritone voice.

Lovely, mentally revoking herself for her childishness, Serenity turned the brass doorknob and entered the library.

The sight that greeted her was unexpected.

The Prince was sitting at a worktable, situated near the fireplace, knee-deep in thick textbooks. He pushed his hair out of his eyes whilst leafing through pages of a massive textbook. He wore small, tidy black glasses perched upon the bridge of his nose, and they didn't seem to take away from his good looks, but enhanced them as he looked like a studious individual. He also seemed unaware of her presence as she watched him.

Serenity closed the door behind her softly. She waited a few moments and cleared her throat, but he'd not responded. He kept reading the book.

"Um…Prince?"

"Mmmm-hmmm?" he responded, his eyes still fixated on the textbook. What was so interesting?

"It's Serenity, I-I'm here for the training…" she trailed off.

His eyes jumped from his book to Serenity, standing before the closed door. "Oh! Yes, yes of course; is it five o'clock already?"

She was about to answer but apparently it was a rhetorical question, as the Prince stood up and cleared a section of the table.

"We can work here; the library is a good place where you can concentrate without any interruption," said the Prince.

Serenity made her way towards Endymion, climbing up the short set of stairs. She watched as he stretched his arms over his head, and in doing so, his navy blue shirt rode up, exposing his chiseled stomach and bulging biceps.

She looked away from the sight and felt herself flush. When she looked back, she saw that he was done stretching, and was now watching her. Now that she saw his face up close, she could notice the dark bags under his tired eyes.

"I was researching healers: their ancestry, powers, and the few surviving ones… basically anything I could get my hands on," he said and he nodded towards the pile of books on the table. "I figured the more I knew, the better this would go."

He was doing research on healers? He prepared for our training session? She couldn't believe that he would put so much effort into this.

Endymion moved off to one corner and Serenity began to go through the stack of books on the table. 'Healers: A Myth or Reality? The Power of Healers, The Legend of Healers, the Most Legendary Healers…' she mumbled the titles to herself.

Serenity heard a ringing sound above her head, when she turned her head to look; she saw Endymion was ringing a bell.

In the next moment, there was a knock at the door and a young, redheaded maid walked into the library.

"Yes, your highness?" said the maid, after doing a low curtsy.

"Bring two cups of coffee within half an hour Melody," ordered the Prince.

"Yes your highness," and with that said, she edged her way out of the room.

"So, shall we begin?" asked Endymion.

Serenity nodded as he made his way back to the table.

"I know you've gone over the history basics with Raye and there isn't much to discuss in that area. What we need to focus on here is the use and control of your powers," said the Prince. "Have you never felt that you could do something unusual, and that something about you might be different to those around you?" he added.

"No, not really…" said Serenity but then a thought struck her. "Except …" she trailed off.

"Except what?"

"Except, I've always healed fast, very fast. Maybe supernaturally so. Whenever I was hurt as a child, my wound would heal completely within a couple of days. I had never thought it unnatural because Grandma had said that she healed fast as well," but of course Grandma Rose had also been a healer.

"I thought so; the wounds of healers recover with exceptional speed because of the healing properties of your blood. That's why you need to use your blood to heal others," replied Endymion, taking off his glasses and placing them on the table.

"So to begin, you need to…you need to draw y-your-" Endymion spoke hesitantly, as if he was afraid of upsetting her.

"My blood. I need to draw my blood," finished Serenity. She remembered the incident that morning, in the gardens. Her blood had caused the locket to glow and it had confirmed what she had believed all along. Her locket needed her blood to work.

Serenity retrieved the locket from inside her gown and jabbed her finger hard against a vine that encased it, effectively opening the locket, a feat that she hadn't yet accomplished. Instinctively she knew to let a drop of her blood fall inside. She closed the locket and watched as it glowed with a golden light against her chest.

Serenity looked up to find Endymion's blue eyes wide open in amazement; as if he hadn't really believed that she was a healer up till that moment.

"Now what?" asked Serenity? Her locket had stopped glowing but she felt energized, almost as if she could feel the power building within her.

Endymion's eyes moved from the locket and met Serenity's gaze. "You need to concentrate. You need to keep out all external factors and find your focus. You'll feel it when you do, you'll drown out everything else and fix upon your own light."

Not with those pools of blue looking at me. Serenity found it hard to breathe when he looked at her like that.

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate and banishall her thoughts, worries and the close proximity of the internally ugly but outwardly gorgeous man, nothing happened. Moving a few feet away from him, she clasped her eyes shut and tried again - twice - but it was no good. Concentrating hard, forcing herself not to think of anything else but it didn't work. She didn't feel any different.

Nothing happened. Nothing worked. She didn't seem to be able to use her powers…

To be continued….

Thank you for reading. Please, pretty please review if you like it!