Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 36 Part 2

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Get some wood for a fire, we'll eat fish for lunch." I removed the last of my clothing and placed my hair ornaments safely nearby, then jumped into the water. Jin heard the splash then turned to find all of my belongings abandoned shamelessly on the ground.

Darting back to the treeline, he made himself busy collecting anything flammable he could find. I caught a large fish and tossed it back on shore where I hit it once on the head to end its life. Under the warm sunlight, I put myself together again. The Crown Prince remained frozen with his back to me, likely afraid to continue picking up sticks lest he sees something inappropriate. I smiled at him.

"Jin?" I called him by his first name for the first time aloud. "Bring the wood over?" I asked. He turned around, looking like a true disciple, fetching his master twigs and wood. I smiled as his eyes stared at me widely. Was he unable to take the shock of my shameless acts or was it due to hearing his first name called? I couldn't tell, maybe it was both. I walked to a nearby tree and snapped a green branch off then brought it back to the area. He started building up a fire. I started cleaning the fish with a short knife I carried.

"Where did that come from?" He looked at the knife.

"Here." I lifted my dress nearly to my hip to expose a sheath the length of my hand that hung from under my dress. His face turned red as he turned his head away yet his eyes returned to look one more time. I used light step to land on a high branch of a nearby tree, there was an old abandoned hole in the tree. I pushed my hand inside and retrieved a flint and steel then jumped down again.

"Can you?" I tossed him the tools to start the fire.

I quickly shaved off any dry pieces of bark from the fresh branch and shoved it through the length of the fish. I located two Y shaped branches from nearby and cut them down, then shoved them securely into the ground on either side of the freshly started fire. I waited for the initial smoke to subside and the flames to gather heat then placed the skewered fish above to cook.

I made my way back to the pond and thoroughly washed my hands using bits of sandy gravel from the bottom to scrub the fish smell away. I found Jin sitting in a casual position near the fire smiling. I sat close to him, my body gently leaned against his. His arm wrapped around my back, he placed his hand gently on my arm. We sat like that in silence for several minutes watching the fire cook the fish, the smell of cooked fish filled the area.

"Can you tell if they're still okay?" The Crown Prince suddenly asked, the worry probably lingered in the back of his head.

"Mm." I paused and shifted slightly as I gathered the energy and channeled it out. I could hear Blake bartering with the weapon shop below, I laughed to myself wondering if he'd been in the same store the entire time or stopped there later. Torch and Lei were running through one of the agility courses in a different training ground, located in the woods nearby. Acting like young teenagers they raced along yelling jabs at each other. I laughed heartily.

"Blake's buying a weapon, Lei and Blake are competing in agility training." I relayed.

"You really can just look in on people?" He asked.

"Mm. I have my limits, like I've said before." I nodded. The fish was ready. I removed the pole and walked the fish to a large flat boulder near the side of the pond. I placed it skin down then pulled it in half. I lay the other side skin down as well. Using my knife, I cut twigs into four semi equal pieces and whittled them down deftly to serve as utensils. I handed  over a pair to Jin, we ate our fish happily. We didn't speak as we finished our food then put out the fire and cleaned up the mess, I returned the flint and steel back to the hole above.

"You've done this before?" He nodded towards the tree.

"Mm, I come down here on occasion to eat fish." I smiled. "This is the first time I've brought a guest."

His hand reached out, holding mine firmly. He pulled me towards him and I followed. His other hand reached under my chin, he tilted my head upwards and pressed his mouth to mine. Receiving his kiss, I reciprocated it in return, moving my arms up around his neck I pressed closely against him. His body froze as my breath slowly invaded his subconsciousness. I hadn't meant to exhale this closely, it was unintentional. I pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes. As he exhaled I channeled energy to clear the scent.

"Sorry.." I whispered. His head wasn't completely clear, his hand quickly pressed against the back of my head bringing me to his lips. His lips pressed passionately against mine, his tongue searched for an entry point. I opened mouth and let him in, careful to hold my breath this time.

His body reflexively tried to get closer to me, he forced himself to stop. With his mouth open, he stared at me, trying to pull himself together. I stared back, lips slightly swollen from the blood flowing through them, this close it was impossible to keep my scent from him. His heart raced as my scent clung to his clothes faster than I could disperse it. I suddenly wondered if he saw Ryn sitting in front of him or the fake me. Either way it was a lie, but he looked content with the fantasy. Could I live in a fantasy as well? My heartbeat was steady, a stark contrast to his, I smiled as he watched me.

"Marry me." He asked, seemingly just as surprised by the words that came out of his mouth as I was.