The Princess's Servant

49. The Poem

She turned in time to watch him unfold the hidden paper. She rushed over with great speed and snatched the letter from his fingertips. The princess held it tight to her breast.

The prince looked at her. She looked at him.

"That was a poem," he told her, pointing at the paper she clutched in her hands.

Sybil attempted a sardonic smile. "And?" She asked.

"And you set it aside," he replied.

Sybil shook her head and straightened out. She kept the paper at her breast. "Yeah, for laughs!" She said. "His writing's so desperate it's almost funny. I can't help but keep something this pathetic, I mean..." She stared down at the poem and frowned.

Holden turned fully towards the princess. "Sybil, why did you keep all these letters?" He asked her. "It seems like a lot of work for someone you say you despise."

She shook her head. "It's a testament, to my devoted hatred. I keep these to remind myself of how much I loath Prince Holden. It is my greatest fear in life that I shall one day forget, and so I read these and remember."

"If you have to remind yourself of how much you hate someone, can you really hate them all that much?"

Sybil opened her mouth to answer but found no words. In a flash, Holden watched as her expression turned dark and as she took something from her pocket and threw it.

Whatever it was hit his head. "Ow!" Holden gave her a 'What the hell?!' look.

Sybil stuck her nose in the air. "The key to that trap of a room you hated so much. Why don't you go discover the answer to that stupid question yourself?"

"You're not making any sense!" Holden protested.

"Get out of here, Wardian!" Sybil stamped her foot.

The prince side-eyed her hard, and picked up the little iron key. He rubbed his temple, flashed her one last pissed-off look, and then left.

Sybil watched as her servant marched down the long hall and didn't so much as breathe until he turned the corner. Once he did, she finally relaxed. Her arms were tired from clutching so hard. She brought the letter into her hands and folded it along its seemes. Sybil reached for the golden box, but as she touched its lid...

Sybil froze. She checked the place where her servant had disappeared and listened for any footsteps.

Silence.

She stood with the letter again. She unfolded the note.

In the candlelight, she made out the swooping lines of her prince's pen. And she read that poem for the thousandth time:

'Across cold skies
The comets sigh
The moon begins her dance
The planets shine
And stars align
To beckon on a glance

But I don't see
Their pageantry
For I have been entranced
By a light I spy
In center-sky —
Fair Venus takes her stance!

Radiant
Charming
Loving
Knowing
It's in Her light that I lay glowing
And whose eyes could stray off course
When one lies in All Beauty's source!

Pleasant
Fair
Growing
Humbling
In Her light my fears are crumbling
Observing Her in sacred space
I see She's Beauty, Love, and Grace

All other lights have faded dim
When Venus starts Her holy Hymn:

"Come find me in a grove, my love
Beyond the flowers and the trees
Come seek me in the clouds above
In your divinity.

Come love me in the shade, my love
Beyond all sense and fantasy
Consume me in the undreamt of
In God's humanity."

She reaches out a hand below
And I grasp it
However slow
But as we touch I at last learn
What it means to love
To burn.'

Sybil turned the paper over.

'Your hair
Your eyes
Your breasts
Your lips
Your form all others has eclipsed
Your scent
Your smile
Your breath
Your touch
A lifetime could not be enough.

And why this star would deign to be
Resting rightly next to me
I will never understand
But who would question bird in hand?

The planets enact their vapid play
Though their illusions hold no sway
Within the heart of true romance
Where lay Venus, I, and chance.

I wrap her arms around in mine
And feel the endlessness of time
And bask within her warming light—
I accept her love for just tonight.

Tomorrow she may well ascend
But for this evening, I'm well content
To know that when she fills the sky
I'll remain with her, and her with I."

Sybil stared at that last line for longer than she knew. When at last she drew in breath, she dabbed her shining eyes with the back of her finger and she flipped over the page again. The words "At Last We Meet" were scratched and replaced with the word "Fantasy."

Reading the title always made Sybil feel something but she never knew what. After a long while more, she put the letter back in the box and closed the closet door.

A/N: The chapter a little early!

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