Crave ✔

Chapter 5

Hey guys!

So I won't be able to get all of these chapters out as fast as I have been, I'm going to be crazy busy for a while.

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Sorry for any grammar or editing mistakes!

Enjoy!

-&-

Chapter 5

       Days slowly went by after my encounter with the King, long days that gradually turned into even longer weeks. The heavy snow had finally started to fall, and Lei wanted to leave for the Lower Kingdom in the next day or two. I was nervous, ridiculously so- even though I knew I had no reason to be.

       The King of the North had told me not to leave the town, and our annual trip hadn't even crossed my mind during our entire conversation. But it's been two weeks since then, and I hadn't seen a wink of him. Did I honestly expect to? I knew he said he wouldn't stay away for long, but the look in his beautiful eyes suggested otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if I never saw him again.

       And that fact hurt.

       I put on a smile around Mae, talked to Lei when he stopped by, but my Elder-appointed escort still followed me everywhere, and I walked around the village like one of the dead. But the maddening part was that I couldn't help it. My mind was constantly revolving around him, around his eyes, the warmth of his skin, the strong feeling of his arms.

       It never gave me a reprieve. I was forced to dream of his voice, replay our encounter in the forest over and over again- like my own soul was taunting me over the fact that we couldn't be. Not yet, at least. That was what the King of the North told me. Not yet.

       Then when?

       Mae would follow the guard and I around occasionally, offering to start a conversation or go do something more fun outside the walls. But every time I started to agree, the King's command rang through my head.

       "Stay in your village until I see you again."

       But I had no idea when that would be, or if I ever would.

       That night, after my guard had fallen asleep outside my door, I found myself wandering the perimeter of the village. I had done this a couple of times since the encounter in the woods, and I always seemed to teeter on the edge of breaking his command- on stepping just one foot out of the village, to see what would happen. Would he know?

       Would he even care?

       I was never supposed to have him, and he never wanted me. Did we even have a future? I didn't know what this feeling was. This- this emotional tug pulling me towards his territory, his castle, him. I didn't know how much longer it would let me obey his demand. All I wanted to do was run back up that mountain and-and- and I'm not sure what. But I knew that I needed to see him again.

       Needed to.

       And that scared me.

       Was it me that wanted to be with him so badly- or the gold-power?

       I've felt it stir deep within my chest a few times since I met him in the woods, but every time one of the town's healers or Elders prodded at me- it disappeared. And it was all I could do to shove it down. I was terrified of the power now, terrified of what it could do to me.

       It was the middle of the night, and most of the village was sleeping when I finally decided to cross into the forest. It didn't really matter anyways. I've crossed out of the village numerous times before, and no harm had ever found me- besides sneaking into his town. I doubted any would now.