Island Dream [a Damian Priest fantasy story]

21 Yours forever

The two of them stared at the blonde woman dumbfounded. While Sanja couldn't hold back her tears, Damian's face was filled with rage.

"Damian? Please tell me she's not serious?" asked Sanja, struggling to hold herself together.

Was everything... really everything just a lie? Had everything she knew about him and everything he had told her been made up because he had no other choice at the time? Because he had nowhere to go, just as she had nowhere to go now.

"Sanja, please. Don't get too worked up. I promise you-" he began.

"You'd better tell her now, Damian. There's no point in keeping up this game any longer. We are meant for each other. And that's why we're getting married. You're nothing but a little wild woman," Minette quickly replied to Sanja before Damian could finish his sentence.

"I guess that's all I need to know." she whispered and ran out of the stable as fast as she could.

"Sanja, wait! Let me explain. It's not what you think." he called out and wanted to follow her.

But Minette grabbed his arm and held him back. Furious, he tore himself away from her touch. He stared at her. And it took him a lot of self-control not to hurt her.

"What the hell? Why are you saying things like that? I never wanted to marry you. We were never engaged! All it was was that Parliament thought it was a good idea to arrange a marriage for us. I may do a lot of business with your father, but you're certainly not one of those," he hissed at her before turning towards the door.

"I know for a fact that you love me, Damian. I felt it the moment I saw you for the first time. You couldn't take your eyes off me. You were enchanted by my grace, my charm and beauty. You don't have to deny it. That's not fair to her," said Minette.

"Have you lost your mind? All I did was be polite. I'm always polite to everyone. Because I treat everyone with respect. Never in my life would I marry a self-absorbed, arrogant woman like you. There was a reason why I went on this ship. I just wanted to get away. Away from you and your advances, because you didn't understand the word no. And now... Get off my property before I call the guards," he shouted at her before finally setting off in search of Sanja.

In the meantime, it had started to rain heavily outside. And so it was difficult for Damian to see anything. His eyes wandered around to see if there was any sign of Sanja. Where could she have run off to? He quickly made his way towards the main house, because that made the most sense in his opinion. Once inside, he ran up the stairs to the bedroom. But she wasn't there.

With a frustrated growl, he ran to the study and the library. But she wasn't there either. He searched the whole house. Without success. She wasn't here.

"What's happened?" Rhea asked suddenly as she came up behind him.

"Minette has happened. Have you seen Sanja? Please tell me you've seen her!" he said so quickly that his voice cracked.

"I think I saw her running into the forest... but I'm not sure. Come on, I'll help you look for her." Rhea replied.

"I'll do that. Please make sure that Minette has left the estate. If I catch her here again, I won't guarantee anything." he said before leaving the house again.

The rain didn't make it any easier for him. He was quickly soaked to the skin. The wind blew his dripping wet hair into his face. Even the trees offered little protection against the elements. If anything, they only made it more dangerous.

"Sanja? Sanja?" he called out again and again.

But Damian's voice didn't carry. The wind and the rain were too loud. His eyes desperately tried to see something. But everything was a blur. The deeper he went into the forest, the rockier the ground became.

It took many, many minutes before he finally spotted something under one of the large oak trees. There she was. Sanja was crouched on the ground under the tree, holding her side. She was covered in mud.

"Sanja, are you hurt?" Damian asked immediately as he dropped to his knees.

"Don't touch me! Go away, leave me alone." she said in a trembling voice.

"Please let me explain." he pleaded.

"It seems like you've had plenty of time to explain it to me." she breathed, staring at her hand.

"It's not like she said. We are not and never have been engaged. It was planned by Parliament and her father. But I never agreed to anything. I love you and only you. You know that," Damian explained quickly.

"Then why did she show up here? How do I know you're not just doing all this for us because there's no other alternative?" she whispered.

"Is that what you think of me? That I'm such a man? I love you, you stubborn woman! And nothing and nobody can change that. You know what I told you is the truth. You know that I hardly thought about my life here once I met you. You have my heart and it will be yours forever. Please. Let's go home. Are you hurt?" he replied as he placed his hand against her neck.

He wiped the mixture of tears, rain and mud from her cheek with his thumb. Sanja sniffled softly. She always knew she could trust him. It was just that it was all so unexpected. Suddenly she was questioning everything, even though her heart knew better. Her head asked the questions anyway.

"I fell. It's bleeding." she finally said, looking at her dirty hand.

"Come on, let's go home. We need to clean this up. Does anything else hurt?" he replied, looking at her hand.

There was a nasty gash across her palm. Blood was dripping down. Apparently she had landed right on a sharp rock.

"You don't understand..." she whispered.

"What don't I understand?" he wanted to know.

"It doesn't heal.... It doesn't immediately start to heal..." Sanja replied as she realized that she had lost the last connection to her home.