FATE #3 *(A ROSE IN BLOOM)*

FROM THE GROUND UP*

GENERAL POV

Pearl sped through the door and unto the roof , hopping from one roof to the other in search of the person in the cloak.

Jemilla was still in the palace under an invisibility spell to lure her out of the palace, in other for her not to know about anything she's about to do, with her sorcery or vampire sense...

She sped to the throne room and walked to the throne, traced her hand on it and silently thought. 'I was so young back then, barely knew much and cursed out with anger and desperation, to me my child was legitimately the heir, hardly did I know the King had no hand in her plot... I'm sorry for bringing such grief to you Pearl, your father, your mom and your brothers...
If only the revelation had been revealed earlier, pushing you into this mess is my greatest regret, time to undo the curse and make this sacrifice!
All the same, I'm satisfied that vengeance was handed over to me... She cheated me!'

She slashed her palm with one of the seals and allowed her blood drip onto the throne... She shut her eyes and pitched a spell, a fireless smoke ascended from it, she stood in front and kowtowed for a while...

Immediately the smoke settled in the sky a flock of approximately twenty crows flew near it and appeared to be sucking in on it.

Pearl saw it from afar and decided to return and Jemilla completing her quest there departed..
After successfully getting every reporter out of the palace, Lucious' thoughts were at crossroad, to trust his brother who was far from being trusted, in other to get rid of Zherra, or watch Pearl one day lose her soul in the hands of Zherra.

He wasted the afternoon deliberating on this, Pearl visited Devan in his oubliette, she glared at him wishing there was a way to punish him without hurting her mom!

"Hey, with everything aside I'm quite older than you okay, your dad was only a year older than me, show respect and quit doing that, there's nothing more you can do to hurt me anyway, why build the rage?" He said to her avoiding making eye contacts with her.

Pearl on the other hand suspected he was trying to hide something. "You're hiding something aren't you huh?" She probed and inquired of the guards what he's been up to since morning.

Stealing their thoughts she found the gab in there and questioned them about why they slept off.

Seeing there was no way to get the answer from him, she felt the ground with her eyes shut and realized Lucious visited him earlier, but Jemilla had already done what she had to do in other for her to not know about her visit...

She visited Lucious after that encounter... "Are you in need of anything, huh?" He solicited when Pearl sighed heavily thinking she rushed a little, she didn't know how to bring it up... "Come horsing with me, please! We can both use that to clear our minds!" She conceded it.

"Alright... It'll be fun!" With excitement he got ready to leave with her, the sun was still up and burning hot, he wandered why she'd prefer such a time... "Isn't it a little sunny for that, huh?" He queried, she looked up at it and back to his face.

"oh sorry, I only thought of myself, it's to be expected since I'm not a human, so what else can we do huh?" Lucious held onto her hand.

"I don't see you like that, you're still Pearl and it'll never change!" He let go of her hand and unbuttoned his shirt. "come, we can still horse together!" He held her hand and run ahead, all eyes that fell on them was full of questions, Pearl only kept her gaze on him smirking into a smile.

She decided to be Pearl and enjoy a normal day with him... Bringing the horses over, he helped her mount it, his mannerisms were completely that which he'll do to a human.

Pearl upon seeing his energy, thought it was amazing, they rode away smiling to each other. Meanwhile, Jemilla was observing them, she had an idea that instant and thought about how to get Lucious on her side ...

They raced against each other and enjoyed every bit of it, it was their first time but it appeared as if it's been forever, Pearl's bright smile  was a relief to her mother who wouldn't stop admiring them.

She was more than excited to see her daughter living stress free the remaining day. Through her laughter the thought of what the king said to her resounded in her mind. She shook that thought off and walked away leaving them be.

From the far side of the stable, Thessa sought to observe, after hearing rumors circulating about it, she was saddened seeing them bonding, she thought Pearl sincerely had a thing for the king, now she wished it was a time between herself and Lucious.

Coming off their horses, Lucious held her hand and they run from end to end, and hand in hand enjoying the wind, Pearl noticed it's been long since she actually run as a human.

She felt changing her mind, was worth it. They sat on the ground  for a while since Lucious was out of breath and lied back on the ground panting heavily whiles she stared at him...

Observing him for a while, she grabbed sands in her hands making sure her hands were no where near him, she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.

Taking a moment to glance at her, without a warning he tossed her over and let his feelings carry on from there, through it all she was holding on to the sands neutralizing the sparks storming out of her hands under full force.

Getting lost in the moment, a burning sensation ran through her right shoulder, where she had her first bite, it was so painful that she groaned to it.

Lucious fell out of the sequence and tend to her, he saw nothing since it had been healed off...  "What happened?" He inquired. Recollecting what had happened she tried to hide it from him. "It's nothing, I only felt someone was watching us!" He darted his eyes over to her hands and noticed the sand.

He recollected what happens with her hands... "Did I push you too hard huh?" He inquired when she dropped the sands. "No no no no! I just didn't put on the gloves because, I didn't think I'll need them so I..."

He pulled her in a tight hug and stood silent for a while.  Being in his arms for a while she thought back to why in that moment she had with the king, the sparks never appeared, not even a little, though Zherra was connected to her system.

It happened with Damian and now Lucious but never the king, though she knew she was very much in the moment with him... She concluded it may be because they're humans and buried her face in his chest, she smelt her scent on him... "Time went by so quickly, shall we leave now? It's getting dark!"

Lucious took her face in his palm and inquired. "Yes, we shall!" Mounting the horses again they rode away, Thessa had already departed.

Pearl decided not to bring up her discovery and walked with him to her chamber. "I love you Pearl, I'm sorry for delaying that... I should have told you earlier!"