Chapter Nine


Tara did not want to wake up the next morning. She tried to stay in her bed for the rest of the day. But then one if the maids came in and told her that wanted to talk to her in the sitting room. So she got dressed and walked downstairs to the sitting room. She opened the door and saw Peter sitting on a couch. “Please come and sit by me Tara.” She walked over to were he was sitting and sat by him. “There is something horrible I just found out about you.” “One of my spies has told me that King Kevin from France is trying to kidnap you.” He is one of my deadliest enemies.” “I felt like you had the right to know.” “I have ordered twenty guards to protect your bedroom.” ”I don’t want you leaving the castle for any reason.” “I don’t like this idea at all Peter.” “So I’m supposed to stay here and endanger everyone who lives here.” “I think I should leave and go into hiding.” Peter let out a short sigh and said, “You don’t know him like I do.” “You can not hide from this man.” “He will find you no matter where you go.” Tara shook her head and said, “I’m afraid you’re keeping me here because of your feelings for me.” “I still think the best solution to this problem would be for me to go somewhere far away from here.” “I’m not protecting you because of my feelings.” “I am mainly concerned for your safety.” “I’ve heard enough about my safety.” “I’m going to go to my room since that seems to be the safest place for me.”

Tara got up and walked back to her room. After she came into her room, she tried to open her window but it wouldn’t open for her. Peter probably had this window locked after he found out about me getting kidnapped. I need to find a way out of this place. I’m not going to stay and cause more problems for Peter. I should start looking for Nichole, maybe she knows a way out. I can see that Peter does trust her. She should be in the fitting room. She walked out of her room and went downstairs to look for Nichole. She went into the fitting room and saw six women measuring men and other women. She had found Nichole picking out a dress for one of her costumers. “Nichole, can I trust you enough to not tell anyone else about what I’m going to ask you?” “Its all right, you can trust me.” “Why don’t we go to the sitting room so you can tell me in privacy?” Nichole put the dress back and began to walk with Tara to the sitting room.

Both of them had sat down comfortably on two chairs which were right next to each other. Tara began to speak, “I was wondering if you a way that would lead me out of this castle?” “Why would you want to run away?” “You have everything you need here.” ”I don’t want to be a burden for Peter.” “Kevin is only planning to come here because of me.” “But if you ran away, Kevin would never stop looking for you.” “I don’t care if he keeps on searching for me at least he wouldn’t be interested in coming here.” “I admire your bravery for wanting to do this.” “I’m going to help you because I don’t want everyone in this castle to be put in danger because of you.” “If you really want to escape, I would suggest going through the King’s secret door in the back of his closet.” “You will have to find a way to get into his bedroom.” “His bedroom door is always locked.” “He is the only one who has the key for it.” “The king is in his study if you would like to talk to him.” “Thank you for telling me everything I wanted to know.” “I’m going to go see Peter now.”

Tara got up and started to walk to the study. She opened the door and saw Peter sitting in a chair and writing at his desk. She walked over to where was and sat gently down on his lap. ”Peter, I’ve been thinking about what you had said to me for a while now.” “And I just wanted to tell you that I do love you.” “I didn’t want to tell anyone before because I was too stubborn to admit it to myself.” Peter looked into her eyes and said, “I can’t believe this is the same person talking to me.” “I remember when you told me that you don’t like to depend on anyone.” “Now you’re telling me that you’re in love with me.” “I only said that because I kept on telling myself I didn’t need anyone, but you changed my way of thinking.” “I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.” She pressed her lips upon his and gave him a small kiss. “You shouldn’t be doing this to me Tara.” “You’re distracting me from my work.” “You can finish your work later can’t you?” “I really feel like being with you right now.” “So now you want me to drop all of my work for you.” “I guess I can take a day off.” “Today I’ll let you choose what you want us to do.” “What would you like to do?” “You can choose to go to any room if you want.” “You could also ask me for anything you want and I’ll give it to you.” “Peter, I don’t want anything from you.” The only gift I want is you.” “Could we go to your bedroom?” “I’ve been wanting to see what it looks like.” “I said you can ask for anything you want and all you want is me and to see what my bedroom looks like.” “Unusually when I as young maidens what they want, they tell me they either want gold or more land.” “Are you sure you don’t want anything else?” “Yes I’m sure; you’re worth more to me than any amount of gold or land.” “If going to my bedroom is what you really want, then I’ll have to carry you up there.”

“I don’t know if you can carry me all the way upstairs.” “I might be too heavy for you.” Peter stood up and picked her up as she put her arms around his neck. “Well you sure don’t fell very heavy to me.” He walked up the stairs as he was carrying her and dropped her unto his bed. He sat next to her on the bed and said, “you’ve seen my room now what do you want to do?” “I want to lay down with you and just talk for a while.” “That’s fine with me; I told we could do whatever you wanted.” He lied down and put his arm around her shoulder.” “Is there anything particular you want to talk about?” “No, I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re more kind and generous than any man I have ever known.” He laughed, “I wanted to tell you that you’re the prettiest woman I have laid my eyes upon.” She lightly kissed his neck and than his forehead. He looked at her in shock. “I thought you said you wanted to talk.” “I did talk for a few minutes; now all I want to do is express my love for you.” She started to kiss him again as she quickly took his robes off. “Do you really want to do this Tara?” “You could end up being pregnant with my child.” “We don’t have to do this tonight.” “We still have plenty of time left.” “Please Peter; I don’t want to wait any longer.” “I love you more than anything.” Peter replied, “All right, if this is what you really want.” “I do want this; I wanted to do this for a long time with the one I truly love.” He took off her dress and kissed her on every inch of her body.

What happened during the rest of the night had felt like a dream to her.
She couldn’t believe she actually went through with it. She woke up early in the morning. I was hard for her to get out of bed. He had both of arms squeezed around her body. Wow; I never realized his arms were so muscular. She could tell he was still in a deep sleep. She gave him a quick kiss on his lips. He hugged her even tighter than before and placed her on top of him. She whispered in his ear; “please don’t make this any harder than it already is.” She loosened his grip around her and got out of bed. She put her dress on and walked over to the secret door in his closet. She took one last look at him. Look at what I’m leaving behind. Oh well, I need to get away from here. I don’t really have a choice. She opened the door and began to run far away from the castle.