

THE SPELL

PET TORRES

Copyright © 2014 by Pet Torres books

Copyright © 2014 by Pet Torres

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or used fictitiously Have Been and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, or locales is entirely coincidental Organizations

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The Spell

Book One

In the

Tear of Princess

Series

BY

PET TORRES

Copyright © 2014 by Pet Torres books

For more information

EMAIL

pettorresbooks@gmail.com

Revision: December 18, 2014

Title: The Spell

Author: Pet TorreS

Electronics edition: (2014) Pet Torres books
Dedicated

To my parents

To my sisters

To my nephews

Acknowledgments

To God

To my dear readers

Lana del Rey

Lorde

I got enthusiastic about their songs to write this Series.
Prologue

Princesses don't cry...

This was something I heard a lot of when I was growing up.

I recall that as a princess I was very happy beside my father, King Saulo. My father governed the province of an earth far from this one.

In the castle resided my father, my aunt, myself and all the castle guards.

I remember I grew up with the protection of King Saulo as he reigned. I didn't have a normal life because I was always escorted by several guards and I could never exit the immense gateways of the castle.

It was necessary for my protection.

Like all royal dynasties we had enemies everywhere. The most astonishing thing is that our most immediate threat came from within our palace, people among our royal family.

Chapter 1

Dorotéia

"Tomorrow will be a big day!" I said as I walked from side to side in my bedroom. The hem of my long, dark dress, embroidered with precious stones flowed gently over the floor. My fire-red hair was adorned with a gold tiara. After all, I was King Saulo's sister-in-law and I needed to keep myself looking like a lady of the aristocracy.

I wanted to be more than that however. I wished to reign. I wished to govern Saulos's earth.

"I see you are very animated, Madam Dorotéia!" Said Escariodez. He was my right arm in the castle. After my husband's death, Saulo's brother, Escariodez, became my lover.

Escariodez was a handsome and charming man. Despite the fact that he was blind in one eye he was still an attractive man. He hid his eye with a black patch. But that made him even more attractive and mysterious.

"Escariodez the big day will come tomorrow! On my adoring niece Salomé's birthday!"

In this moment, I walked to my bed and sat down on it, felling its softness under me. My heart beamed with enthusiasm as my mind imagined the day I had waited for.

My niece's birthday.

"Tomorrow Salomé will cry bitterly."

Escariodez smiled at my brilliant plot. Only he and I knew about what was set to take place the following day.

***

King Saulo

During this time, I went to the bedroom of my only daughter. In the future, Salomé would be sitting on my throne. She was my heir after all. I had only her, my daughter and my successor.

There was no other heir to govern the Sun Earth over and above me. So that role would be taken by Salomé in the time to come.

"Dear, I came here to wish you goodnight!" I said and walked toward my daughter's bed. Salomé was still lying in her bed under her opulent bedspread. Her long red hair was set in a long tress, thrown over one of her shoulders. Her skin was pale and her honey-colored eyes were about to clos with sleep.

"Dad, I was hoping for your embrace for the night!"

She said to me and opened her arms to get hold of me. I embraced her carefully like the careful father that I was. I kissed her head one or two times.

"I would never forget to wish goodnight to you," I smiled over her fire colored hair. "You're my treasure, my dear!"

She smiled at ease and embraced me stronger.

"No gold in this castle could substitute the immense love I feel for you! You were my best gift from God!"

"I also love you so much, Dad!" Salomé said and smiled up at me again. She looked very happy with my declaration. I reached out and took her chin in my hand. I stared down at her angelic face.

"Tomorrow will be a big day! I will introduce you to the nobility. You will be eighteen, after all."

"Dad, I am very nervous! Everyone will look at me and everyone will want to talk to me."

My daughter glanced to the sides. I could tell she was anxious. It was as if she was already before all the guests.

"Salomé," I smiled at her and released her chin. "No one will approach you without my permission."

Chapter 2

Dorotéia

Hours before the Princess' birthday banquet

"There are only a few hours left to make everything work perfectly, my dear," I said as I held Escariodez's face.

He smiled as he looked at my dress adorned with precious stones. My lipstick was blood-red and on the top of my head was a gigantic tiara with more precious stones.

I was by now, prepared for the big banquet. The same one which would be put on in honor of the eighteen-year old Princess Salomé.

"When Salomé has spilled her first tear tonight, her life will change from water to the wine," I affirmed, gazing up to my bedroom ceiling.

The light that shone down from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit up my face. I could not contain myself from my loud and noisy laughter. Escariodez began to smile with me as well.

"You're perfect! −My future queen!"

I turned and faced him saying, "I CAME TO THE WORLD TO GOVERN. I WILL NEVER BE COADJUVANT, MY DEAR!"

King Saulo

"My dear, let's go!" I said, walking through the gigantic bedroom of my daughter Salomé. In this moment, she was standing before her round mirror. By her side, there were two servants. They were helping her put on her neck a gold collar with the picture of diamond tiara and a sun.

This collar symbolized the position of Princess of the Sun Earth.

Her hair was loose. My daughter was beautiful in her long dress which was navy blue and embroidered with precious stones.

Salomé had a beauty worthy of her reign and her crown.

"I...think...I...am...ready..." She stuttered, walking on her crystal shoes in my direction. She already looked like the queen of our castle.

"Dear, you look so beautiful!" I held her chin and held it carefully. "I believe the princes that are present at your party will want to fight among themselves in order to get a dance with you."

Salomé interlaced her arm on mine and walked beside me. , However, her cheeks became ruddy after my attempt at a humorous commentary.

"Majesty, you told me you wouldn't permit that anyone to approach me tonight."

"Yes, my dear." I looked at her profile. "But I will not interfere with the princes that ask you to dance."

Salomé

We arrived at the dance hall. Several guests were waiting for us. I stared apprehensively at the multitude of people.

There were several princes from multiple provinces.

Ladies of the nobility were accompanied by their daughters who were around my age.

The guards made a barrier with their own bodies for my entrance to the hall. I walked beside my father, King Saulo.

I tried not to glance to the side in an effort to avoid facing all those people on all sides of me, like a metal chain.

Even so the princes were so handsome, as much as their crowns but they didn't succeed to get a hold of my attention entirely.

For a moment I looked down at the ground and didn't get to raise my head again. I didn't look like any princes of the nobility. It was expected though that I should lift my head and prove my authority over those people.

But it wasn't what I did.

My body felt almost like it wasn't mine. It still helped me arrive at my destination and sit down in my chair beside my father. I sat before those people. They were all very well-dressed and perfumed with most costly perfumes. Their gold sparkled on their clothes, their necks and over their heads which were adorned with crowns, tiaras and other adornments for hair.

I looked to one side and Aunt Dorotéia smiled falsely back at me. But I could never imagine her smile was so false.

By her side, was Escariodez, with his black eye patch on his eye. His dark clothes matched his long, dark hair which came down to the top of his neck.

"His Majesty, the King Saulo, will celebrate with all of you present, the eighteen springs of his only daughter, our dear Princess Salomé."

The emissary of the king spoke these words loudly and after that the guards played their trumpets.

Aunt Dorotéia's face contorted with envy, thinking highly of my beauty and all my wealth. That was only the beginning.

In next to no time, my father rose from his gold seat and looked over at his emissary who was walking towards him. In his hands he was carrying a diamond tiara on a red velvet cushion.

My father held the tiara and gazed down at me, moving his face prudently for me to lift up in that instant, before everyone.

"Today I introduce my only daughter and heiress of my throne," he said in an elevated voice. Little by little, his hands holding the tiara, he lowered it toward the top of my head. Glancing around the great hall at everyone there he declared,

"Princess Salomé!"

In this moment, there was a deafening rain of applause. I made a grimace discreetly and didn't dare to look up or to my sides.

Nevertheless, I felt all the princes and all the people in that place gazed only in one direction. I was their aim, the aim of their envy, their ambitions and their admirations.

Before the banquet was served, the King demanded his servants bring out the wine glasses. They should be served to each guest there. My father held his glass, raised it high and he made a toast in that moment in front of everyone present.

"Viva our Princess Salomé!" he exclaimed.

"Viva!" Everyone responded in unison and at that instant. I looked down to the ground. My cheeks became red once again. The tiara seemed to weigh heavily on my head.

I thought I must look like the most stupid princess in the universe.

Finally, my father tasted the wine which was in his gold chalice. Soon after that, each guest did the same and they brought their glasses to their lips and tasted their red wine. It seemed they were satisfied with the taste of their drinks.

Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, my father let his wine glass smash to the ground in a fit of aggression that made everybody stop. The noise of the object smashing on the floor made everyone there stare at him.

Aunt Dorotéia extended her neck to gaze attentively in our direction.

"Faaaatttheeeeer!" I shouted loudly when I saw him falling backwards onto the floor. He didn't seem to be breathing at all.

"Faaaatttheeeeer!"

Another shout echoed through the great hall. All the people there stared at us. They weren't sure what was going on.

What was happening there?

No-one got it.

"Father, talk to me!"

I fell on my knees beside his body which was extended on the floor. My father was pale, his lips were purple, but his eyes were still open.

A group of people formed a circle around us.

"Father, talk to me! Talk to your daughter!"

My pale fingers shook his face. I needed to hear his voice at that moment. I needed to know he was still alive.

However, that didn't eventuate.

Soon my honey colored eyes closed and blocked out everything around me.

"Father, don't do this to me!"

My hands touched his chest, I needed him to still be alive, still be with me.

"Dear! Don't drive yourself to despair!" Aunt Dorotéia said at my back.

The King's emissary knelt down beside me and he touched my father's neck, trying to feel his pulse, his heartbeat.

I heard him breathe out loudly and he looked up at me. I could see it in his eyes.

At this moment I heard the worst phrase I had ever heard in my life.

"King Saulo is dead!" Were the words that came from the lips of my father's emissary.

"Aahhhhhhhh!" I shouted out in despair. I tore away the brilliant tiara from my head in a violent manner and threw it down to the other side of the great hall. As if that would have helped in any way.

The date of my eighteenth birthday had become the worst nightmare of my life.

The worst springtime of all springtimes...

So at this instant, I remembered the time I was just seven and my father carried me in his arms, filling me with his kisses.

"You're my little Princess! Princess of the Sun Earth."

I found myself coming back to my reality and saw my father's body extended on the ground like a Persian carpet, completely without life.

I never imagined the end of King Saulo, the end of his reign.

Even though I knew his passing away would have to come some day, I still wasn't prepared for it.

The tears that I had been holding back came pouring down. Those same tears slowly touched my father's face as they fell.

Aunt Dorotéia looked to the side, at her lover Escariodez and both of them made a discreet movement with their heads, affirming some secret between them.

As my tears fell, a glaring radiance emerged on the castle ceiling. The people were astounded. I looked up at the glaring radiance and saw a strange energy coming in my direction.

My body was sucked by that energy. Within seconds, I disappeared from the great hall.

My tiara, which had fallen to the ground, was picked up by Escariodez as he walked up to it and lifted it. At the same time, a discreet smile appeared on his lips.

The spell of my Aunt Dorotéia had worked. She had poisoned the king. In such a case his reign was ended and there was now no government ruling the Sun Earth.

Only I could govern it after his death.

But aunt Dorotéia bewitched me with my own tears. I shouldn't have cried. I didn't realize it but the first time I cried my life would never be the same again. My aunt had seen to that.

This damned tear, which had appeared after my father's death, on my eighteenth birthday, was the cause of everything that was to follow.

From then on, everything began down at zero.

Almost everything...

Chapter 3

Françoah

In the afternoon, a glaring radiant light arose in front of me. A flash of lightning crossed the path of my dark horse.

In a hurry someone crossed in front of us. My horse, completely frightened, lifted himself up on his hind legs and I lost control. I didn't expect that reaction of my animal that incessantly looked so calm, so tame.

Quickly, I felt my body going back and passing lightly over my horse's backside. I fell to the ground hard and my horse fell to the other side. Soon, that bizarre figure that had passed our way, stopped walking and stared at us. Fear was in her honey colored eyes. She stopped and looked at me fallen on the ground, holding my left arm. I was feeling pain. I think I had fractured it.

"Are you crazy?" I shouted at the young woman with honey colored eyes. She wore a clear kerchief to cover her head. There was no hair showing on her head. Her long dress was navy blue and looked so old and torn. The strange girl looked like a beggar.

She became even more afraid when I shouted in her direction. She began to move away quicker until she entered the forest. In this manner she disappeared among the shady trees.

"Steady!" Exclaimed my sister as I sat in the chair. She, my sister Francisca, swathed my arm. I was feeling too much pain to even speak so I squirmed in my chair. The fall of my horse had caused me inexplicable pain.

Every time I remembered that scene, the bizarre girl crossing my path as I rode my horse, I cursed her a thousand times or for all the pain and suffering she had caused me, deliberately or not.

"Stupid girl!" I murmured squeezing my eyes. My pain was intolerable.

"Which girl are you talking about?" Francisca asked me, narrowing her light chestnut eyes in my direction. She did not understand anything. I hadn't made it clear to her the real reason for my rough fall.

I glanced to the side and started explaining.

"Some strange girl crossed my path during my ride earlier today. My horse became alarmed and ended up throwing me to the ground.

"Upon my soul! Did a bizarre girl really do all this? Had the power to frighten your horse and throw you down so hard you broke your arm?"

Her voice was loud and I could tell she was very surprised at what I had just told her. I made grimaces, but was completely serious. I was not joking. My fall had ruined my afternoon.

"I believe she is not in her normal mind! Maybe she has escaped from some madhouse. Her state was miserable. There was a kerchief on her head. It looked like she had no hair on her head... and she looked very strange.

Francisca raised her eyebrows at me and finished swathing my arm.

"Now I feel sorry for that girl," she confessed.

Francisca was my middle sister. I had another sister called Fabíola. There were three brothers and three sisters in my family. I was twenty-one, Francisca was twenty and Fabíola was nineteen. Our parents were dead, so the three of us lived in a humble house in a small village.

Francisca and Fabíola took care of our house and I was in the habit of hunting and working in the village. That was what brought in some money for us to live.

Some minutes later, Francisca and I stared in the direction of the front door. Fabíola had come back from the market bringing some fresh vegetables and fresh bread in her straw basket. Her hair was up in a tress.

"What happened?" She asked looking over at my swathed arm. Soon after, she placed her basket on the wooden table.

"Our brother was thrown down from his horse by a bizarre girl that crossed his way." Francisca explained to her.

Fabíola put a hand on her lips and tried to hold back a laugh. However, she remained completely serious when she imagined I might have been badly wounded.

"Wow! Today is your time of good luck!" Fabíola joked.

I gazed at them both angrily. My sisters were making me very annoyed. My cheeks started to become red with anger.

"I'm going to my bedroom," I said getting up. "My bedroom's walls don't annoy me as much as you two do."

"Sorry, we were just trying to soften your pain,"

Francisca said, gazing at my back. But I didn't waste my time in gazing back at them.

At this point I preferred the silence of my bedroom. It was there as soon as I stepped into it and turned the lock in the wooden door behind me.

Chapter 4

Francisca

On Sunday morning, Fabíola and I went to mass. That was our routine every Sunday. Françoah always accompanied us to mass, but on this day he didn't because he was feeling so much pain in his arm. He preferred to stay and rest in bed.

At the end of the Mass Fabíola and I made our way back home. Suddenly we were distracted by a person walking in front of us. Someone walked with much difficulty and she looked quite weak. However, fighting her weakness she tried to keep going. All of a sudden, her legs gave out and she ended up falling to the ground.

Fabíola and I became frightened as we heard her falling to the ground.

We looked at her and saw a girl face down on the earth. She was quite dirty and it looked like she hadn't eaten anything in days. Her head was covered by a white, soiled kerchief and she was wearing a navy blue dress.

She tried to look up at us, and murmured something with difficulty.

"Please, I need help! I'm hungry... I'm thirsty..."

"What should we do now?" Fabíola asked me with her mega round eyes. She looked very worried and it was clear she didn't know what to do.

"We cannot leave her this way! It would be a sin! We have just come back from the church! God always advises us to make acts of mercy and this is one of them."

We arrived home, bringing the girl with us. She walked with much difficulty and we had to hold her up as we all walked back home. The girl looked very weak and was in need of food and fresh water.

As soon as we reached the living room, we put her down on the couch. Fabíola ran to the kitchen and brought a mug with water and a piece of bread.

First, the young woman ate the piece of bread and immediately took all the water from the mug. She passed the back of her hand over her pale lips and removed the residue of water and bread from it.

The young woman in her old, worn clothes looked at us with gratitude and smiled weakly.

"Thanks! You two have killed my thirst and my hunger that has been torturing me for some days now."

"What is your name?" Fabíola asked as she was sitting beside the young woman.

The girl with the soiled kerchief on her head looked confused and glanced to all sides. It was clear she was trying to remember her name.

Finally she said, "I don't know it."

"Don't you know your name?" My sister asked looking quite surprised.

"I... don't ... remember ...it..."

"Who are your parents?"

"I ... don't...know...I...don't ...remember..."

"Stay calm." Finally I spoke and then I went over and sat beside her as well. I held her left hand, saying to her, "I believe you've lost your memory. A very terrible thing must have happened to you... maybe some accident or..."

At this instant, we interrupted our conversation when we heard some noise at the front door.

Françoah entered the house and walked to the living room. He didn't even see the guest sitting on the couch. Soon, Fabíola rose from the sofa informing him, "Brother, we have a guest."

Immediately, Françoah walked closer and gazed at the girl on the sofa. At this instant his gaze could see the young woman seated at my side. I was still holding her hand.

The girl with the kerchief on her head stared in the direction of my brother, up at his face, and she saw the color of his green eyes. She remembered him from the road when his horse had thrown him to the ground and he had shouted at her,

"Are you crazy?"

Slowly she lowered her eyes and looked down. She saw his swathed left arm and knew it was him.

Françoah stared directly at the young woman. He recalled the glaring radiance, the fall of his horse, his own fall and as well the strange girl who crossed his path.

"I don't believe it!" He said, and started to walk in the direction of his bedroom. Seconds later his room door echoed as he slammed it shut with strength.

"Why he's annoyed?" Fabíola questioned without understanding her brother's strange reaction.

"I'm going to talk to him."

I rose from the sofa and walked in the direction of his room. As I got there I realized it was locked.

The girl stared, quite troubled by Fabíola's response imagining she was causing troubling for us all.

"Françoah," I called out as he unlocked the door and I entered his bedroom.

He was standing with his hands on his waist. He looked quite upset about something.

"What is that creature doing in our house? Where did you find her?"

The way he spoke was so rude and with no compassion. It surprised me.

"We found her on the way home. She needed help. She was thirsty and hungry." I tried to explain to him.

He interrupted me.

"That creature is the one who crossed my path. It was for that reason that my horse threw me to the ground."

I felt a little dizzy hearing my brother's declaration. I never imagined we would bring to our house the girl that broke my brother's left arm.

Could it be a coincidence of destiny?

"Françoah, she needs our help. That young woman doesn't even know her own name or who her parents are."

He shrugged his shoulders and compressed his lips, searching for a place to fix his green gaze.

"What's the problem? We have nothing to do with it. See well, if she doesn't know who she is – it is her problem and not ours."

"Françoah, I don't know the why of it, but we must help her. This could be some signal from God. A test perhaps. Think about it with me. We found her on the way back home just after Mass."

After that, he seemed to stop and think. He was silent.

Salomé

Francisca and Fabíola were very kind to me. Their hospitality was something I was most grateful for. They arranged an old dress for me. It was clean for me to put on after my bath. The dress was light blue, the color of the sky.

Slowly I walked to the dressing table which had a mirror. I looked at myself in the mirror. Francisca and Fabíola were standing behind me. They were looking at me carefully.

I gazed at myself in the mirror, at my own face, and saw my head was entirely without hair. I didn't remember I had been born like this. That is, I was so different to the other young women. They had hair on their heads, generally their hair was long but not me. I didn't have any hair at all.

Leisurely, my hands passed lightly over my head. I felt my scalp. It was slippery and cold. I had an immense desire to cry but my tears didn't come into my eyes.

"I don't cry," I murmured staring down.

"Really I don't know what happened to me."

I glanced to all the sides and added, "I don't remember anything, nothing at all. Not even who I am. Or where I come from..."

Francisca and Fabíola exchanged glances. I could tell they were feeling bad for my sad reality. I was alone. I had no one in the world that I could count on and call my family. I didn't have a father or a mother.

Not that I could remember anyway.

"I'm horrible!" I affirmed staring back at the mirror and seeing myself in it. I looked at myself with such great sadness.

"Don't' say that!" Francisca exclaimed behind me, wanting to shelter me in her arms.

"You don't look so ugly," Fabíola added with a lot of fear.

"I need some kerchief to cover my head," I said, turning to face them. "I cannot stay this way and allow people to see me."

At this moment my mind saw the image of Francisca and Fabíola's brother. He would smile at me or he would think I was a monster. I was sure he thought badly of me especially after I had crossed his path and had him thrown down from his horse.

Some minutes later, we walked to the kitchen. Francisca led me to the chair at the table. She sat down on another chair and her sister Fabíola sat at my side.

"Won't Françoah have dinner with us?" Fabíola questioned glancing to the empty seat next to her at the dining table.

"He will come to eat when his stomach has thundered."

Francisca got ready and started to make use of our dinner. She had made pea soup and some pieces of bread.

I tasted the first spoon with my head down.

An instant later we heard a noise. Someone was walking in the direction of the dining table. That someone sat down silently in his seat at the head of the table and one of his sisters began serving him pea soup.

"Oh." Francisca said. "We forgot to express gratitude to God for our food."

She got up. Fabíola did the same as well, imitating her middle sister. I looked a little lost and remained sitting down. Francisca glanced at me, so I got I figured I should get up as well.

I rose from my seat and glanced discreetly to my left. Françoah remained seated in his chair, tasting his pea soup. The steam rose into his face.

"Françoah, we do this every day," Francisca said to him. Soon, Françoah grimaced and abandoned his spoon in the bowl making a loud sound.

He remained silent, however. Maybe he was so stressed by my presence. If that were the case then my presence troubled him greatly.

He got up and Francisca said, "Let's hold hands and thank God for our food every day."

Automatically I glanced to my left. My gaze met Françoah's face. He was so serious. He glanced at my face as well and he perceived I was with another kerchief on my head, hiding my scalp with no hair. So he sighed loudly imagining he would have to hold my hand. He could not run away from that.

Slowly his hand was extended in my direction and my fingers touched his. However, we avoided any eye contact. We were both looking in other directions. I didn't want myself to face his rude countenance another time and it was clear that he didn't desire to see the girl that had almost ruined his left arm.

At the end of our prayers we sat back in our chairs and started to eat in silence for some time.

"We have to choose a name for her," Fabíola said looking over at me. "She cannot stay without a name."

I raised my head and glanced at Fabíola, however I continued to eat and remained silent.

"What would you like to be called ?" Fabíola insisted.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I... don't...know..."

"What do you think; Ana? Maria? Joana?"

Francisca spoke without pause. I glanced at Francisca and then immediately at Fabíola but never to my left side. I acted as if Françoah didn't exist and wasn't present at our dinner. As if he was just a voiceless seat, with no thought no feelings and no vision.

"MIRNA." A rude voice pronounced.

The three of us stared in the same direction, to Françoah. He still looked very serious.

"It's a beautiful name."

"Yeah, brother, this name is excellent!"

Francisca was now smiling at him. She looked happy with her brother's participation in our conversation.

That could have been a good signal. Maybe he was beginning to accept my presence in his house, at his dinner table.

I put my hand on my lips, full of timidity. However, I was happy because he had said something about me. In other words, he was trying to choose a pretty name for me.

That was something that touched me deeply. It seemed he was concerned about me.

"What do you think of this?" Francisca asked looking at me.

I looked back at my bowl and after that at Françoah and at last my eyes met my plate with the delicious pea soup.

"I...do think...it is fine!"

"Perfect!" Francisca said almost immediately. "Your name will be Mirna until you can recall your true name."

"What if I don't ever remember my real name?" I questioned with concern. Every one of them remained silent. They imagined this might be the case. I could never bring to mind my name and my exact origin.

Mirna

The house wasn't very spacious. There were only two bedrooms. Françoah had his bedroom separated from his sisters' bedroom. Francisca and Fabíola prepared a place for me to sleep in their double bed. That double bed belonged to their parents before their deaths. We dressed in our long nightgowns and then we went to bed. Francisca and Fabíola lay on each side of the bed and I lay between them.

All three of us were lying on our backs gazing fixedly up at the ceiling.

I was feeling a little happy lying there between them. They felt like my sisters.

Sisters that I didn't know. I didn't even know if I had any real sisters.

My God, I didn't know anything about my life

Not even any track, even any past recollection, nor even any memory.

My mind was like an empty trunk without treasure.

"One day I will meet a prince," Fabíola said wanting this earnestly. "He will fall in love with me."

"Prince?" I questioned while I frowned. That word seemed familiar to me. I was sure I had that word before.

"Yeah, some handsome prince!"

"Fabíola is so dreamy!" Francisca explained and shook her head at it all. "A prince would never marry a plebeian."

"Plebeian?" I questioned again. Our subject was interesting and a little frightening.

"The King and the Queen would never permit any one of their children to marry a poor young woman. Some young woman that doesn't belong to royalty."

"King?" I questioned again. "Royalty?"

I put my hand on my head. It began to ache. Some images came to my mind. At this moment I saw a diamond tiara being thrown to the ground, a tear falling down.

"My head aches!" I murmured holding it with my own hands.

"What are you feeling?"

Francisca sat up in bed and put her hand on one side of my face.

"I am going to search for some remedy for you."

She threw her sheet to the side and tried to leave the bed, but I said something that mobilized her movements.

"It is not needed! I am well."

My headache disappeared after that. But the images remained in my mind. I still recalled the tiara and the tear as well. Nevertheless, I imagined that this had no logical connection to my life and my past.

I was a poor young woman. A diamond tiara made no sense in my existence.

Not even a little bit.

Chapter 5

Françoah

Early in the morning, I sat down on a trunk and was holding a sharp knife. Before me was a steel basin with three preás. I held one of them and started to remove its fur with the steel of my knife.

The day was starting to heat up. The sweat started to descend on my forehead. I leaned my forearm against my head and removed the sweat from my skin.

Again I began to remove all the fur from the preás with my knife.

I glanced in front of me and saw someone coming out of the house, walking with no hurry in my direction. Her long, light blue dress softened her image and she looked even more innocent.

After that she stopped walking and stood in front of me, moving the kerchief on her head.

"Hello!" Mirna said and tried to smile at me, but quickly she locked her lips when I raised my head and gazed into her face. I was absolutely serious.

"Hello!" I responded, lowering my head again and continuing with my work in silence. My voice had been a bit rough. I wasn't accustomed to being so genteel to the young women.

"Eh... Oh...I...came...here...to... thank you for the choice of my beautiful name last night."

Her gaze was on me. I stopped what I was doing but continued looking at the dead animal in my hands.

"You don't need to thank me... that wasn't any genteelness."

I paused and gazed up at her face.

"That was just a necessity."

She gave a shrug at me and remained silent.

I noticed her gaze was glued to my green eyes.

"You couldn't stay without a name." At this moment, I threw a preá in other basin. "That isn't it?"

Mirna frowned when she saw the animal falling stretched out into the basin.

"What's this?" Mirna asked me then, removing her eyes from mine and gazing to the animal in the basin. I believe she felt sorry for the dead animal.

"A preá." I continued scraping other preá. "Haven't you even seen any preá in your life?"

Mirna shook your head. 'No.'

"Oh, I forgot you lost your memory." I murmured with my head down.

"A preá wouldn't be the first thing you would remember. He isn't beautiful..." I started to become sarcastic. "He isn't attractive for the young women of your age."

"He is not very pretty." She confessed, trying to be friendly.

"Okay." I gazed in her direction again. "Little pretty" is a word worthy of this animal." I said and went back to what I was doing. "Wouldn't it be better if you had said he is horrible?"

"Oh, he isn't as horrible as you say. Not like this."

Mirna bent down and tried to touch the dead animal in the basin. But, she froze when she heard my order.

"Don't touch him!"

Immediately, she looked up at me and pulled her hand back to her side. She stood upright.

"He doesn't have an agreeable smell." I tried to explain to her. "His disagreeable smell could remain glued to your delicate hand."

"All right!"

She touched the kerchief on her head and glanced back at the residence behind her.

"I am going to try to help your sisters in the kitchen."

I remained silent, gazing down. The preá's fur was falling into the basin.

Gingerly Mirna turned and started walking with her back to me, going back to the house.

After a long time I raised my head and looked at her back. She was almost at the backdoor. I looked back down and continued my work. It had to be finished soon.

Chapter 6

Mirna

"Oh it is wonderful!" Fabíola shouted full of enthusiasm as she rotated round from side to side in her tea-pink dress.

"Now you incline your body to one side and turn again," I said and Fabíola did the same. Francisca was sitting on the couch observing us. She looked amazed at my agility and ability to dance the noble dance.

"Where did you learn these things?" Francisca asked. Her eyes shone with longing. "You dance perfectly. Look like a noble lady."

"I don't know... my body acts alone," I responded paying reverence to her.

"Teach me more!" Fabíola exclaimed, taking some leaps. "When I meet a prince and he has asked me for a dance, I don't want to disappoint him. I want him to see that I can dance well."

Francisca shook her head. She thought it would be impossible for something like that to take place. Her sister would never cross paths with a real prince.

"All right," I said. "Hold your skirt and then turn three times to your right side. Then after that pay reverence to the nobleman in front of you."

The two of them moved and turned from side to side and did everything I said to them.

However, I turned farther and paid reverence to an imaginary nobleman in front of me.

I raised my head, my cheeks became red. My legs felt weak. All of a sudden I found myself before Françoah's green eyes. I was standing facing him. Completely grave, gazing at me. I had paid reverence to him by accident.

Françoah had come to the living room and we hadn't seen him at first because we were too wrapped up in our dancing activities.

"What's this?" He asked rudely, his voice felt like some hand pushing me back. Automatically I fell to the floor. It was clear I had underestimated my own weakness.

Fabíola and Francisca stared at me with their mouths open. Not even they understood my retracted and cowardly reaction to Françoah.

"What's happening here?" He insisted irritated. His cheeks were red with anger. "I expect a response now!"

So I crept on the floor and got up slowly. "Excuse me! I was just teaching your sister Fabíola how to dance."

I responded with my head down. I knew Françoah's furious eyes were on me. I could feel them burning into me.

"Yeah, brother, she was just teaching me how to dance a beautiful dance" Fabíola hastened to up to explain. "When I meet a real prince, I don't want to frustrate him with my inept dancing skills."

Françoah shook his head indignantly.

"This is ridiculous!"

He walked to his sister Fabíola and stopped, facing her. "Fabíola, remember who you are. We are common people. We will never mix with people of royal blood. So live your reality and stop dreaming of enchanting princes!"

He moved away from her and started to march in the other direction.

"Princes exist, but they will never allow us to enter into their world filled with gold, fortunes and power."

I stared up and saw a shadow before me. Now Françoah stopped in front of me. His facial expression was harsh and I felt uncomfortable.

"Mirna, don't feed the stupid and naive dreams of my sister. Fabíola needs to understand we are poor, are common people" He faced me coldly. "And common blood will never have any chance to step on the stage with royal blood."

I nodded my head, agreeing tamely with him.

"I beg your pardon! This won't happen again."

Fabíola began to cry and ran to her bedroom. She was disappointed with her brother's hard attitude. All her dreams of meeting a real enchanting prince had been completely smashed in that moment.

"Don't feed Fabíola's dreams. She is very sensitive. I fear she may come to suffer so much because of it." Françoah explained.

"All right," I said. "I'll do what you have asked of me."

"Fine!" He said and uncrossed his arms. He walked to one side leaving my way free. I glanced up at his back. His dark clothes, the noise of his boots on the floor, it all made him look like a true hangman.

Chapter 7

Mirna

"What is this on your neck?" Francisca asked looking at my neck. I pulled my medallion out from the neckline of my dress and stared at it in surprise.

"It looks like a medallion made of rare gemstones," she commented approaching me. Finally, her fingers held my medallion and she looked at it with admiration.

" There is a sun and also a kind of tiara engraved on it."

Francisca looked into my face at that instant I felt a little dizzy when I was reminded of the diamond tiara and the tear.

"Are you feeling unwell?" She held my arm, thinking I was about to collapse.

"I'm feeling dizzy."

I tried to lean on something, but Francisca led me to the bed where I sat down slowly. Trying to remember my past was something that always made me ill. I did not know why.

What was behind my past?

Maybe there was something bad, something so bad that I had blocked it out.

Maybe my lack of recall was protecting me from some sort of danger.

Chapter 8

Mirna

"Françoah has arrived," she informed us hearing the noise of the horse hooves drumming against the ground outside the house.

"He's arrived early from his work," Francisca commented and began to put some plates on the table.

"Great, so dinner will be served earlier," Fabiola exclaimed and jumped off the couch. She stood in the middle of the room. "I'm starving."

Immediately, I smiled at Fabiola's comment. Sometimes she looked like a little girl. Maybe she had forgotten that her childhood was over a long time ago.

For a girl who wanted to hook the heart of a prince, she should not act in certain ways. Her behaviour would seem completely inappropriate in the eyes of a nobleman.

The front door opened and Françoah came into the house, carrying a yellow cape in his hand. The cape looked like it was for a female.

"What's this in your hand?" Francisca questioned, looking down at the yellow piece.

"What a beautiful cape!" His other sister exclaimed.

"Good evening to you all!" Françoah said. He sounded excited. He had never been so cheerful. Obviously something had affected him in a very positive way.

"This cape is a special gift for a very special person,"

He finally confessed.

"Umum."

His sisters murmured, looking at him.

"Who is the special person?"

"Soon you will know."

Francisca and Fabiola looked at me, wondering if that special person could be me. My cheeks began to redden and I lowered my head.

If that cape were really for me I would be very surprised – and excited. If I were a special person to him, it would be incredible indeed.

How should I act in receiving that gift?

Should I thank him? Or should I refuse the gift?

"Now I'll take a bath," Françoah said and turned to go to his bedroom taking with him the yellow cape.

Promptly, Francisca and Fabiola ran up to me while I was sitting on the couch. They sat next to me and smiled.

"Do you think that special person is you?" Fabiola spoke first.

"That would be wonderful!" Francisca hugged me. "My brother has never seemed so excited about anyone. I think he's in love with you."

"In love?"

I began to feel very flushed. It hadn't seriously crossed my mind that I would be the one he was attracted to. I was a shy young woman, I did not wear pretty dresses, Idid not perfume myself with costly fragrances and I had no hair on my head.

Although, I must admit I was sometimes was a little confused when in his presence. The way his green eyes looked at me, but I never wanted him as a spouse.

Far from it.

"No! No!"

I said getting up from the couch.

"I think you are both wrong. There must be some special girl in your brother's life. But this girl is not me."

"What if it is you?" Fabiola insisted.

I looked at hear, fear creeping into my mind. I hesitated to answer her question, but when I was going to say something, Françoah's bedroom door opened again and he came out of his room.

The three of us looked in his direction. He was dressed in clean clothes. And he was quite perfumed.

His fingers moved through his dark hair in an agitated manner. It was slightly wet with the water from his bath.

"Uau!" Fabiola exclaimed. "I've never seen you looking so good! And so attractive, my brother!"

Françoah smiled discreetetly and continued straightening his dark hair.

"I'm curious to know who this girl is!" Francisca said smiling.

Slowly I looked at Françoah again. The skin of my face heated up as I imagined that my name could come out of his lips. His green eyes came upon me and then moved to his two sisters.

"Upon my soul! How curious you are!"

Francisa and Fabíola laughed together.

"Yes, but now I will serve our dinner and after that you will tell us who that special girl is," Francisca said.

"Well girls, I will not have dinner with you tonight," he immediately informed us and finished buttoning the cuffs of his dark shirt.

"You won't have dinner with us?"

Fabiola seemed indignant.

"I am very sorry." He looked at her and then looked at each of us. "I have an rendezvous this night."

"Rendevous?" Francisca asked and looked at me after that. "Who is the girl? Can you tell us her name?"

"Cassarola," he said without any other details.

Automatically I lowered my head. I felt sad not being the woman as per his sisters' insinuations, the ideas that I was the special person to him. That I was the one about to receive as a gift the yellow cape.

"Cassarola?" Francisca and Fabiola asked in chorus.

"Yeah. What's the problem?"

Françoah turned serious again as he looked at his sisters.

"No." Fabiola responded immediately and looked at us. "There is no problem. I just think Cassarola does not suit you."

Françoah stared at her seriously. "Does not suit me? Why?"

"Her parents like wealthy suitors for their daughters. That's what I usually hear people saying at the fair. Her parents have refused several suitors for their daughters for they had not sufficient funds," Francisca explained.

"Bah! Do not talk nonsense!" Françoah said turning to the side. "Casserole likes me. She confessed it to me this morning and asked me to go her parents' house for me to affirm a commitment with her."

"And do you like her?" Francisca asked at his back. Françoah stopped walking and looked back, staring at his sisters. "What do you think?"

"Your interrogation answers my question."

Francisca looked at her sister.

"I almost forgot the yellow cape!" He murmured. "Cassarola will love the gift."

He withdrew from the living room and went back to his bedroom.

"He likes her."

Fabíola made a disgusted face at me and her sister Francisca.

"Upon my soul! I'll have to bear that intolerable girl as my future sister in law," Fabíola said.

I remained silent, looking seriously at them. Frances looked at me and confessed truthfully, "'I wanted so much for that special girl to be you. I even imagined seeing you next to my brother at the altar."

"Upon my soul!"

I reddened a third time.

The bedroom door opened again. The conversation between us became stopped. Françoah walked to the front door carrying the yellow cape in his hand.

"Have a great dinner, girls!" He said without looking back at us.

The three of us remained silent, watching him as he walked to the door.

"Good Luck!" I said getting up and looking at him. At that moment Françoah touched the front door handle, trying to open it. But he looked back at me, in my direction and stared at me quite surprised.

We looked at each other for some moments and then he spoke. "Thank you."

Then he turned and opened the door, going out hurriedly. He realized that I only wished his happiness at that moment. I just wished that everything would go well in the house of his beloved Cassarola.

Chapter 9

Mirna

After dinner, we cleared the table, washed the plates and after that we went to the living room. Fabíola and Francisca looked respectively curious. They both wanted to know about the commitment of their brother with regards to Cassarola.

They wanted him to return home soon and tell them how all went.

It was just over ten pm when we heard the noises of the hooves of his horse.

"He has arrived!" Fabiola cried and ran to the open window.

At that moment the front door opened and Françoah came into the house like a storm. The front door was shut with force. He had slammed it behind him.

We looked at him and saw his downcast expression. All his joy when he had left hours ago, it had left him completely.

"What happened?" Francisca asked worriedly. Then she got up from the couch.

"This was the worst night of my life!" He exclaimed and walked toward his bedroom.

"What happened?" Fabiola insisted, staring at him.

"Leave me alone!" He yelled back at them then entered his bedroom and slammed the door strongly, closing it again.

We realized that he brought back the yellow cape. He was holding it when he had entered.

"I think everything went wrong tonight!" Fabiola murmured while walking on tiptoe towards us.

"He brought the yellow cape back with him."

"I'm sorry for my brother," Francisca confessed. "He likes her."

Fabiola looked at me sitting on the couch and then she had an idea.

"Mirna, why don't you try talking to my brother? Maybe you can make him feel better."

I supported my hands on my chest and asked quite scared, "Me?"

"Yes, Mirna. Do it," Francisca said. "It may be that he feels less 'failed' in your company."

Two light taps on Françoah's bedroom door and the place remained quiet.

"May I come in?" I asked with a friendly voice.

Again, he did not answer me.

My hand went down on the doorknob. I put my other hand on the wooden door and pushed it back with the utmost care.

As his bedroom door was opening I started seeing the various angles of his room.

First I saw an old wardrobe, a closed window, a small table next to his bed, a yellow cape and finally a single bed.

Françoah was sitting on his bed with his back leaning against the wood of the bedhead. His arms were resting on his knees and he brushed his rosy lips on one of his wrists. He did it so coldly, with his distant and sad gaze. His mind seemed to absorb all the scenes that took place in his beloved Casserole's parents' house.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" He asked, still rubbing his own lips on his wrist. His gaze was still far away. He knew it was me because of my voice and the color of my light blue dress.

"I came to talk a little with you."

I pulled the door carefully and I turned slowly in order to move toward his bed and offer him it a friendly shoulder.

He looked very bitter.

I stopped beside his bed and remained standing, watching him with such pity. All his rigidity had broken in that moment. Now he seemed like a helpless child who needed his parents to protect him from the dangers of life.

"May I sit down?"

He did not answer me, much less look in my direction. Although he was in need of help, he was firm in his pride and chauvinism.

Without his permission, I sat at the foot of his bed and rested my hands on the skirt of my light blue dress.

"Cruel young men usually sit on their beds with their riding boots."

I made this comment, seeing that he was still in his black boots. He did not care even about the clean sheets of his bed. There was some grass glued to his boots and others had fallen on his sheet.

Françoah raised his head and looked at me sternly. His green eyes were clouded with such sadness.

"I'm not serious..." I said blushing, after his serious and extremely strong gaze. "I just wanted to amuse you a little."

"Do you think you will achieve this with stupid comments?"

He shook his head, enraged.

"You do not know me girl."

He stared at me again.

"I hate stupid comments!"

I shrugged my shoulders and threw my body back. Sometimes his anger scared me as did his completely green gaze.

"I beg your pardon."

Another silence descended on us. Françoah looked to one side and began to face the clear wall of his room.

"Don't you want to tell me what happened in Cassarola's home?"

My voice was so soft and it made Françoah gaze back at my face. At that moment I fitted the kerchief on my head.

He sighed and lowered his head, that way looking at his mattress through the opening between his legs.

"Nothing happened as I had imagined."

He raised his head and looked to one side.

"Cassarola's parents prohibited our dating."

He looked up and sighed, with a weight in his heart. With an large injury in his chest, it seemed.

A wound of love.

"All because I have not a place to drop dead."

He completed.

I closed my eyes, feeling sorry for his suffering, for his love disappointment.

"I confess that I am very shaken by it. I wished from the bottom of my heart that everything would go well. I hoped you would come through your front door bringing good news about your commitment with Cassarola."

My hand held his left arm, the one he had injured after falling from his horse. But now his arm was healed. No more wearing bandages for his pain.

Françoah looked at me with respect and confessed to me then, "I know you've been on my side. I realized this when you wished me good luck tonight."

His right hand's fingers touched my hand and squeezed it gently and briefly.

His attitude made me feel better. I knew something between us had changed from that day. A clean and sincere friendship could be developing between us.

Then his hand ran to one side and he held the yellow cape in his fingers. He looked up at me and said with some resentment, "You keep it."

I blushed. "I can't accept-"

He interrupted me. He pushed the yellow cape to my lap, insisting then.

"Please keep it, or I'll have to throw it in the trash."

I touched the cape with fear and persisted.

"You can give this cape to your sisters."

"No, no." He looked to one side. "They would quarrel with each other because of this cape. I know them very well. Being your cape, they cannot dispute it."

His explanation seemed prudent.

"All right." I nodded and held the cape at the height of my stomach. "Thank you."

'It is I who should thank you for not throwing part of my money in the trash," he confessed and looked resigned to the situation.

I got up from his bed and lifted the cape above, telling him, "Do not worry. I'll take care of this cape as if it were a valuable treasure."

"Don't exaggerate!"

Françoah forced a smile. In reality, his soul was bleeding.

"I did not want this cape to be in my hands, but in Cassarola's hands."

Françoah looked at me and shrugged, looking like a defeated man. He looked to one side and then confessed to me,

"When I laid my eyes on this yellow cape, I imagined Casserola in it. She would look like a goddess."

At that moment I looked down at the yellow cape and I realized that this piece should not be mine at all.

" I cannot accept it ..."

I shook my head and threw it on his bed. Françoah stared at me in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"I cannot accept a gift that was not bought for me."

I bit my lips and stared at the wall.

'I'm afraid that you would see me in this cape and imagine that I am your Cassarola. This would torture you even more."

Françoah held the cape and looked at it.

"All right, you have the right to refuse my gift."

"I'm so sorry."

I looked back at him and saw him embracing the cape, so I figured he was imagining he was embracing his beloved Cassarola in that moment.

"I'll leave you alone."

He looked at me again.

"Good night."

"Good night," he replied and remained watching me going towards his bedroom door. Before I was out of his bedroom, I heard his voice again.

"If you change your mind, the cape will be with me. It can still be yours."

"I will not change my mind," I said swallowing hard. I didn't want myself to be thought of as second or an alternative in his life.

I opened his bedroom door and left with my head held high.

Chapter 10

Fabiola

"Mirna, wear some makeup! This will make you prettier!" Francisca said holding a makeup case.

"No!No!" Mirna replied, avoiding contact with the make-up box.

We were getting ready in order to go to a party in the city. It was the arrival of winter. People gathered around a campfire. They roasted several game rabbits on it. There were also musicians and some alcoholic beverages to warm us from the cold.

Mirna stopped in front of the dresser and looked at her face. She held a kerchief and looked in the mirror again. Mirna wanted to have some hope that one day she would look in the mirror and see some hairs on her scalp.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the bedroom door and opened it.

"Girls, are you ready?"

Françoah looked towards the mirror and saw Mirna standing before it in her blue dress. He was quite surprised at Mirna's image in the mirror. For the first time he saw her head uncovered. There was no hair on it.

Mirna looked in the mirror and saw that he was paralyzed looking at her. It seemed he was very impressed with her beauty.

"Oh my God!" She muttered and hid herself behind Francisca, trying to hide her head with her kerchief.

"Françoah!" I exclaimed looking toward the bedroom door.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were ready."

He walked back and closed the door after him. Francisca looked at the door and saw that Françoah had left the room.

"What a shame!" Mirna said, red in the face. "He saw my bald head."

"You are red!" I said looking at her face.

"You are shaking!" Francisca said holding Mirna's arms.

"Mirna, do you like my brother?" I asked seriously. Mirna looked away, completely embarrassed.

"Of course not ... imagine ..." She looked at me and also at Francisca. "I just do not like people to see my bald head."

Francisca winked at me behind Mirna. Mirna's response was not sufficiently persuasive.

Mirna

"This is yours," Françoah said, handing me the last cotton candy. Fabiola and Francisca watched us while they ate their cotton candy silently.

"Thank you." I smiled awkwardly. "Don't you want to eat it?"

He lifted a mug of red wine, saying then, "Wine does not match candy!"

Soon he tested his wine and stood next to his sisters. Now the way was clear for me to look in front.

The fire was roasting a huge ox. There were some men helping to put more game from the hunt on the fire to be baked in that giant bonfire.

Some women danced to a melody. Fabiola got the courage and started dancing near us. However, Françoah watched her with his gaze as a careful brother. He never trusted the actions of his dreamy sister.

"Umum." Francisca murmured. "Look who has arrived."

She and Fabiola looked to the side and saw a pretty girl arriving accompanied by her parents and her two young sisters.

"Who is she?" I questioned looking at her too. She had long hair, dark eyes and was in a wine-coloured, long dress. On her head was a beautiful wreath.

"Guess!" Francisca whispered to me and rolled her eyes. At that time I looked to the side and saw that Françoah looked toward the girl with long hair. His eyes flashed at her. He seemed nervous and turned the cup of wine to his lips quickly.

"Cassarola." Francisca whispered in my ear.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt ugly and inferior to that girl who was so beautiful and showy. Now I knew why Françoah had compared her to a goddess. I also knew that yellow cape would match her beauty and enhance it.

I shrugged my shoulders, feeling a strange shiver, something between me and Françoah. I felt like the ugliest girl in the world and he the cutest boy I had ever seen in my life.

It bothered me to know that he held his gaze with such adoration for a beautiful girl, so well dressed, compared to a goddess by his own mouth.

I sighed deeply, feeling as worthless as an insect. I was just a girl who lived in the house of others and relied on them for favours. They had received me in their house out of pity.

When Françoah presented me with that yellow cape, I wished he had given it to me with his heart.  I wished that he had imagined me inside it like a goddess.

As his goddess.

I was not well at all, I needed to get out of there. That festival was not doing me good. Maybe I should not have left home that day.

"I want to leave."

Fabiola and Francisca looked at me shocked. They realized that I was not well. I was very pale.

"What happened?" Francisca held my arm and looked in my face.

Before answering, I looked to the side and saw that Françoah paid no attention to me. He watched Cassarola all the time.

The beautiful young woman also looked at him. There was an exchange of loving glances between them.

My God, how I envied them at that moment.

I wanted to get and return that gaze with some guy who liked me the same way that Françoah liked Cassarola. In other words, I wanted him to reciprocate that kind of gaze with me. A dazzling, intense and passionate gaze.

But from him, I had only received angry, cold, indifferent looks.

For me, the celebration was over, it had lost its fun. This all happened after Cassarola's arrival with her family. She stole all Françoah's attention. It was all on her now. Even though he was so distant from her and so close to me.

But she came out winning. He was hypnotized by her looks. She had the power to make his eyes shine when they saw her.

Congratulations to you Cassarola! You are the queen of Françoah's heart, the goddess of his dreams and also his reality.

"I really have to go now ..." I mumbled and walked to the side.

Francisca and Fabiola came after me. Françoah walked to one side in order to get more beverage. He could never imagine that we were leaving the party without him.

" Mirna, what is happening?" Francisca asked trying to keep up with me.

"I did not feel well in this place. I just want to go back home."

"All right." Francisca hugged me. "We will go back home."

"I am sorry girls, I do not want to ruin the fun for you."

Fabiola shrugged, saying, "We're not missing anything big. I will never find a real prince at this party.

Francisca rolled her eyes and looked at me again.

"Fabíola, even if this party had princes, they would never look at you, my dear."

I tried to hold back a smile. Now I was starting to feel better. Francisca and Fabiola were trying to distract me with their pinpricks against each other.

We got home and sat on the living room sofa. The gas lamps were lit and the three of huddled on the couch, embracing, trying to distract ourselves with our conversation. The type of conversations that young women had. We could engage in this while Françoah hadn't yet arrived home.

Several hours passed and we were still there, sitting on the couch, laughing while Francisca and Fabiola regaled us with funny stories of when they were children. But the most interesting part was when they talked about Françoah in the stories. I imagined him as a child. He would have been an artful, mischievous and also a very cute boy.

After some time, we heard a loud noise outside the house. Someone had stumbled on something and went straight to the ground.

"Françoah!" Francisca screamed.

The three of us ran toward the open window and looked out into the yard. The moonlight illuminated the outside of the house. In front of the door, we saw someone lying on the ground with his face buried in the soil.

"Oh my God! Françoah has fallen!" Francisca despaired.

"I bet he's drunk!" Fabiola sniffed.

"We need to help him." Francisca ran toward the front door.

We stepped to the outside of the house. Françoah was still on the ground. The three of us approached him. Francisca bent down to him and tried to pull him by the arm. But he was so heavy.

"Help me!" She stretched out her body to try to raise her brother.

Fabiola and I tried to hold him as well. Françoah's face was dirty with earth and green grass. He was sweating a lot and his clothes smelled strongly of red wine.

Fabiola crossed her brother's arm over her neck and with much effort we managed to raise his heavy body. He tried to say something, but changed his words and began an uncontrolled laughter and then a few hiccups.

"He drank because of her!" Francisca murmured full of anger.

Finally, we managed to take him into the house and slowly we reached his bedroom.

Francisca and Fabiola threw him onto his bed. He fell with his belly up. His harsh fall onto his bed did not bother him. He smiled all the time at nothing at all and made some gestures with his hands.

"Ehehehe."

He was trying to say something but couldn't form any words.

Fabiola began to take off her brother's riding boots.

"Mirna, help me take that dirty shirt off him!" Francisca commanded looking at the deplorable state of her brother.

"He never drinks this way! " Fabiola added.

I looked at Françoah lying in bed, his green eyes were closed. He was asleep. Carefully Francisca and I started to unbutton his dark shirt.

Slowly his chest was beginning to come into view. I tried my best to not touch his bare chest as I helped remove his shirt.

With my fingertips I could remove his shirt from his body. I pulled back a little, still watching him as he lay there unconscious. Francisca opened a sheet and threw it on her brother's chest, covering it. She feared that he might catch a cold.

"Sleep with the angels, brother," Francisca murmured next to his forehead and added a respectful kiss. But Françoah turned his face to one side and wrinkled his forehead. Francisca's kiss did not come at a good time. She was obviously disturbing his deep sleep.

"Let's let him rest," Fabiola said grabbing her brother's shirt and putting it on the table beside his bed.

"Brother, sometimes you are a bore, but I love you!"

I smiled when Fabiola murmured these words close to his face. Francisca hugged me and we left his bedroom together. After that, Fabiola came after us.

"I left his bedroom door open so we can hear any noise he makes. After all, drunk people often need assistance, they don't know what they're doing," Fabiola said and rolled her eyes.

Chapter 11

Mirna

"WWW ... AAATER ...."

I opened my eyes after hearing the sound of voices.

"WWW ... AATTEEERR ...."

The voice insisted. I looked around and saw Francisca and Fabiola asleep.

Carefully, I moved off the bed and got out of it, passing between the bodies of Fabiola and Francisca. Even so they did not awaken.

Barefoot, I walked softly into the hallway and the sound of voices rose.

"WWW ... AATTEEERRR ..."

I looked toward Françoah's bedroom. The door was open. He was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, slowly shaking his head from side to side. The gas lamp illuminated part of his bedroom.

My feet padded through his room. I stopped walking a long way from his bed. Françoah opened his eyes with great effort and looked toward my shadow.

"WWAATTERR ..."

I understood that he was thirsty and wanted some water. Hurriedly I ran into the kitchen and filled a mug with water. I returned to his bedroom and approached his bed. He held the mug supported by my hands and drank all the water from it.

I stood holding the empty mug and I was watching him for a while. I wanted to check if he needed anything else. Seeing that all was well with him I tried to get away from his bed. I intended to make my way back to the kitchen and then to the bedroom where the girls were sleeping.

My eyes widened when Françoah's hands strongly held my wrists and his hoarse voice whispered, "Stay here with me!"

His fingers squeezed my wrists. I was scared. His green eyes watched me with contemplation.

I felt I had no legs and no initiative to go far away from there.

Something attached me to his bed.

Slowly his hands went up to my neck and pulled the scarf from my head. I was even more terrified. Now I was before him with my head exposed. He watched me, seeing me completely bald.

Immediately, I tried to get out of his grip. But his hands gently touched my bald head and began caressing it with respect and adoration. He did not care that I was a girl without hair.

Françoah smiled sweetly at me while his hands fondled my head and my neck. I felt his palms bringing my face to him every time.

I could feel his breath.

My eyes closed slowly as soon as I felt his lips touching mine. They were warm and soft.

My body shook as it had never shaken before. My lips had never been kissed.

Again I opened my eyes when I felt that my lips were free. I faced Françoa. I was startled. He had his eyes closed. He had gone back to sleep.

His hands were limp and beside him on his bed.

Half dazed, I looked around, trying to get out of there in a hurry before he woke up or someone woke up and saw me there in his bedroom.

I grabbed my scarf, turned my body to the side and tried to leave the room hurriedly, bringing the empty mug in my hands and also my kerchief.

Once outside I leaned my body on the wall of the corridor and felt my heart beating quickly. I was scared, afraid, happy, at last, I was dreaming ...

That kiss had mixed up my desires.

I never imagined I would be kissed on the lips, never imagined I would be kissed by the warm lips of Françoah Fergone.

I sighed deeply and hugged the empty mug to my chest. I was trying to contain my feelings, my sensations running through my body every time I thought of our kiss.

What a kiss ...

Chapter 12

Mirna

I could not sleep. I spent the night with my eyes open, looking all the time at the ceiling of the bedroom. Francisca and Fabiola were surprised that I had awakened from my sleep before them.

Although they were my friends, I could not tell them that Françoah had kissed me on the lips last night. I felt shame. Fear. Apprehension.

Soon after, Francisca made coffee. Fabiola and I helped her put on the table bread and aluminium mugs.

Françoah was still asleep in his room. He would probably not wake up early.

The three of us sat at the table to have our morning meal. Instinctively my heart raced when I heard Françoah's bedroom door opening suddenly.

Finally he had woken up.

My eyes found the tablecloth during his walk to the kitchen. He sat down in his place at the table. He seemed to be in a bad mood. He did not say any word or even wish a good morning to anyone.

Finally, he rubbed the top of his head and muttered looking down at his mug. "What an unbearable headache!"

I looked in his direction for some time but not at any time did he look at me or in my direction.

"This is called a hangover!" Francisca informed him and bit her piece of bread.

"Brother, you have never drunk as much as you did last night. We had to carry you to your bedroom," Fabiola informed him.

Françoah looked at her. He could not remember anything. His drunkenness was not registered in his mind.

"I do not remember anything ..." He murmured, frowned and rubbed his dark hair again.

I lowered my face, imagining that he also did not remember our beautiful kiss. I again remembered the exact words Fabiola had spoken:

"After all, drunk people often need assistance, they don't know what they're doing."

I assimilated that I was kissed by a drunken mind and not by Françoah himself.

I confess that this breakfast was indigestible. I was feeling like a worthless object, an artifact that amused a drunk with no feelings, no sense of what he was actually doing.

Chapter 13

Fabiola

"Oh my God! " I went into the house bringing my basket full of vegetables and bread from of the fair. "Prince Adonis will come this weekend to our town! My God I have to meet him! He must be handsome!" I said without stopping.

Francisca looked at me in surprise. Françoah was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking out the open window. He had changed the usual time he took his lunch and had to return to work later.

"Prince!" He shook his head. "What nonsense!"

Mirna was sitting on the couch and got a little dizzy after hearing the word 'prince.' Into her mind came the image of a castle.

'Mirna, are you okay?" Quickly Francisca questioned her, seeing her a little stunned.

"Suddenly the word 'prince' seemed so familiar." Mirna said holding her forehead with her hand.

Françoah looked at her from the corner of his eye. His cheeks turned red. His countenance seemed somewhat sarcastic.

"That's what is missing now - Miss Mirna falling in love with a prince!"

He shook his head, wanting to laugh.

"What's wrong with Mirna falling in love with a prince?" His sister Francisca asked immediately.

"No prince would look at her in that state."

Françoah was refering to her bald head. The princes would never marry a hairless girl. Nor would they be in love with her.

Fabiola and Francisca looked at him but said nothing. Françoah had been very cruel saying those words.

Mirna got up from the couch and walked over to him, stopped in front of him and tried to tell him something. She had trouble speaking at first.

"Only drunk men would look at me."

She turned back and ran out of the house. She wanted to run away. Françoah's words had been hard for her to hear. They had stunned her ego.

Françoah put his hand into his dark hair. He seemed confused by Mirna's words. The word 'drunk'' reminded him of something secret.

Chapter 14

Mirna

"His Royal Highness, Prince Adonis!" The prince's emissary said, standing on the wooden stage. Around the stage there were thousands of people. However, the majority of them were young women standing there. Most of them had a dream that Prince Adonis would fall in love with them.

The Prince came to the stage escorted by several guards from his province. He was a handsome young man. He had brown hair and blue eyes. His body was lean and strong.

On his head he wore a yellow, metal crown and he was holding a golden staff. His navy blue cape was embroidered with gold thread. Really he was a prince taking the breath away from all the girls present.

Fabiola and Francisca were by my side. Fabiola was impressed by the prince's beauty. She almost passed out watching him standing before her in the flesh.

"Oh my God! Make him fall in love with me!" She murmured, crossing her hands over her heart.

Many girls shouted the Prince's name but he did not look at them. He remained standing, showing himself to be a prince with principles and good manners.

The sun was bearing down on our heads. It was after 3 pm in the afternoon.

Within moments, the Prince looked at us, his blue gaze confronted my honey-colored eyes.

Adonis' eyes widened after that. It looked like he had seen a ghost. An apparition.

I felt dizzy. His face was not unknown to me. I had seen him somewhere. At some time of my life.

The prince was mesmerized as he looked at me and everyone there realized this. Even his emissary who was standing beside him could clearly see what was happening.

Françoah

17:30 pm

After work I took my path back home, riding my horse. That was my routine every day.

Arriving in the backyard of the house, I got down off my horse and tied his reins to a tree trunk next to my house. I entered the house soon after.

I approached the kitchen and saw Francisca standing next to the wood stove, preparing our dinner. Fabiola was cutting vegetables. Her face was solemn.

Something was strange. I felt that. I looked to all the corners in the house but did not see any sign of Mirna.

Impatiently I returned to the kitchen.

"Where is Mirna?"

Fabiola began to cry and got up hurriedly leaving her vegetables. She ran into her bedroom uttering, "I wanted to be in her place! My life is a drag!"

I shrugged when I heard the bedroom door being beaten from the inside by my sister..Then I looked ahead and saw Francisca stirring with a wooden spoon in a clay pot.

"Francisca, what happened to Mirna?"

Francisca turned to me slowly, still holding the wooden spoon. She wanted to tell me something but did not know how to tell me.

"The Prince took Mirna with him."

My eyes widened. I was confused, dizzy, surprised by it all.

" What are you saying? He took her where? Why?"

"He did not say. He invited her to go to the house where he is staying. And Mirna did not know how to refuse his invitation. After all, he is a prince."

I cast worried looks to the kitchen walls. Immediately I turned my body and headed back in the direction of the front door.

Adonis

"Let me see this necklace around your neck!" I ordered as I was standing in front of the young woman with her headscarf. She was apprehensive and looked with caution at my movements.

Slowly she pulled the medallion hidden behind the fabric of her dress and I held it, examining it closely.

'Princess!" I exclaimed.

She pursed her lips seeming to be quite stunned.

"Princess?" She questioned me.

"Since I laid eyes on you I recognized you, Princess Salome."

"Salome?"

She looked around, looking confused. Clearly my words made no sense to her.

Soon, she shook her head, muttering.

'No ... no ... it must be some mistake. I'm not a princess, I do not remember anything."

I let her medallion go and held her arms. She made a brief retreat, looking frightened. But I stared at her face and began to describe what I knew.

"Your Highness, you were with this medallion around your neck on your eighteenth birthday. Believe it!"

"No, no ..."

She did not want to believe it.

"But what happened to your long hair?"

I tried to pull the kerchief from her head, but at that moment my emissary came to the living room and bowed before me.

"Your Highness."

I looked at him and removed my hands from the Princess 's arms.

"Someone has come calling after this young woman."

Seconds later, I escorted Salome to the front door of the luxurious residence where I was staying for a few days.

Salome walked to the gate and stood before a young man who was standing next to his black horse. I hugged her and said something in her ear.

"Believe me. Your name is Salome and you are the princess of the Earth of Sun."

Without saying anything, she moved out of my arms and desperately ran towards the young man who was frowning at us. He was waiting for her with his arms hidden behind his back.

Mirna

I stopped before Françoah. His green eyes seemed to catch fire with the fury he was obviously feeling. However, he did not say a word and lifted me by the waist, putting me on top of his dark horse. His horse reared and lifted its front legs with me on him but Françoah tamed his horse with his hands, gently touching his rear.

"Are you trying to throw me down from your horse?"

I questioned looking down at Françoah's curved image.

"Do you honestly think I would waste my precious time trying to hurt you? The way you did me one day?" Françoah answered getting up on his horse and seating himself behind me. He held his horse's reins and the animal was almost ready to move forward.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Everyone in the town knows about the whereabouts of the prince. Do not forget that."

"It was not necessary for you to come here to take me home. Prince Adonis would ask his coachman to take me back home safely."

Françoah reined up his horse and the animal obeyed his order. He stood waiting for the second order of his owner.

"Get down from my horse then and allow yourself to be taken home by the Prince's coachman, in total safety."

His voice sounded sarcastic to me. He was good at it.

"No, no. I prefer not to abuse the prince's kindness! He was so kind to me, bringing me to his house, offering me tea and some cookies filled with honey."

Françoah sighed and rolled his eyes. I was definitely annoying him, for praising the prince so excessively.

We followed a path a long distance in silence. Completely silent we were. Françoah made it clear that he did not want to talk to me. Not even if it was necessary. He would rather stay silent than speak to me even a little.

Now we were going through the forest. It was starting to get dark. Some birds flew down towards their nests.

Françoah's hand pulled the reins to one side, and his fist accidentally touched my ribs. I felt a strange chill and tried to restrain myself so as not to show my weakness before him.

Any part of his body was extremely powerful to me. It did things to me that I didn't know how to handle.

"What did Prince Adonis want with you?" He finally asked me, breaking the long silence between us.

I looked around, delaying my answer.

"It's a strange subject."

"Strange subject?" he said sounding worried. "Did he want to take any advantage of you?"

"Of course not." I answered quickly. "Do not worry, he was not drunk."

Françoah grimaced and moved his green eyes to his left.

"Why do you put that word in the middle of our conversation?"

"What word?"

"Drunk." His sounded aggressive. "I think you love that word or that it reminds you of some trauma?"

My face flushed with anger, disgust and indignation. He could not remember our damn kiss.

"In fact I hate that word." I looked back, trying to gaze on his face, but I could barely see the forest behind me. "And that word does not remind me of any trauma."

"Okay," he said shrugging his shoulders and looking in front. Our conversation died again. We remained silent for the rest of the ride home.

Fabiola

"They've arrived!"

I ran out the front door and saw my brother getting down from his horse. Then he pulled Mirna by the waist and placed her on her feet before him. Mirna looked at me and I ran up to meet her.

"Mirna, tell me how was your evening in the prince's company!"

She held my hand and we walked into the house. Francisca joined us and the three of us walked to the bedroom and closed the door.

We all sat on the bed, anxiously waiting for Mirna to tell us everything. We didn't want her to hide anything.

She pulled the scarf from her head and wrapped it around her neck. Mirna seemed pleased, not because she had spent an afternoon with the prince, but because she had spent a few minutes in Françoah's company, upon his horse with his arms wrapped around her. She would do anything to relive that moment again.

"Well, girls ... the prince said that he knows me from somewhere ..."

Now Mirna walked around the room and seemed a little bitter.

"He confirmed that I am a Prin ..."

Mirna could not finish her sentence. She saw everything dark and cloudy when a strange insect came into the bedroom and stung her on the neck. It seemed to be a strange beetle.

Immediately, Francisca and I ran up to her. We tried to help her while she was on the floor. She had fainted.

The sting of the insect in her neck was swelling and turning purple.

"Mirna! Wake up!" We exclaimed.

"Françoah! Françoah help us!" I screamed from my bedroom window.

Françoah ran into the house and came to our bedroom in a flash.

"What happened?"

He looked down to the floor and saw Mirna. The young man dropped to his knees close to Mirna's body and he realized that her case was serious.

"Françoah, do something! She cannot die!" Francisca pleaded.

Chapter 15

Françoah

"Bring the yellow cape in my bedroom!" I ordered my sisters.

Fabiola ran to my room and came back with the yellow cape in her hands.

"Here it is," she said extending the cape toward me.

I held it and with great difficulty, I managed to put it on Mirna's body. Finally, I covered her head with the hood. Mirna had not opened her eyes at any time.

I lifted her up, carrying her in my arms and looked for the path that would lead me the fastest out of the house.

"Where are you taking her?" My sister Francisca asked me, coming after us, along with Fabiola. They embraced each other and were obviously very concerned about Mirna's situation.

Mirna could even die.

"To the mountains." I answered without looking back at them. I sought only to arrive as quickly as possible to my horse.

Gently I put Mirna on the back of my horse and got up onto my animal as fast as I could. I couldn't afford to waste any time at all.

"The shaman Mezek can heal her."

I pulled the reins of my horse and he ran forward, leaving behind my house and my sisters.

The darkness in the forest made it difficult to manoeuvre my path on my horse. We were going into thick forest.

There were so many trees, several wildlife crossing our path, venomous snakes, jaguars, monkeys, birds of various species and many other animals.

Creeping plants made it impossible to pass on my horse and I had to cut some of them with my sharpened knife.

Almost at the break of the new day, we came to a hut on the mountain. Some gray wolves surrounded my horse and their howling alarmed the property owner who soon came out of the house, bringing a gas lamp in hand and a machete.

He was a bald old man with big ears. His clothes were made with a coarse cloth.

"Françoah!" The old man said and lowered his machete.

" Sir Mezek, I need your help."

The old man led me into his hut. I carried Mirna's body in my arms. High in the mountains it was very cold. The old man put more fire into his humble fireplace and ordered me to put Mirna's body on his bed.

"What happened to her?" He asked looking at Mirna's pale face, almost hidden by the yellow hood.

Mezek removed the cape from Mirna's body and put it hanging on a nail in the wooden wall.

"My sisters said she was stung by some insect."

Soon the shaman found the sting in Mirna's neck. He examined her thinking the sting was very strange and unusual.

"She was bitten by a black beetle."

He stared at me.

"She cannot resist the fever."

The old man opened his eyes even more when I held the fabric of his clothes and shook him with despair.

"Please save this poor girl! She cannot die!"

The shaman removed my hands from his humble costume, lifted himself up and walked into the other room of the house, saying aloud, "Not everything is in my power, my young man."

He returned to the room, bringing a steel basin with water and clean rags.

"But I will do my best to keep her alive."

Mezek wet the cloth in the basin with water and started rubbing the cloth on Mirna's body. She was burning with fever. Her face was as red as a ripe pepper.

"She is very hot!" The old man muttered and continued rubbing the wet cloth on her body, her arms, neck, hands, forehead, head ...

During this, he began to pray in a tongue I didn't know.

I furrowed my brow. I did not understand anything he said while he blessed Mirna's body.

After a few hours. The cock crowed outside the house and Mezek finalized his ritual. He stood up and picked up the basin and the wet cloths.

" We'd better let her rest for a few hours."

My eyes shone with hope and relief.

"She is out of danger?"

"We will only know it when she has opened her eyes."

His voice was harsh.

"What if she does not open her eyes?" I asked walking behind him through the house.

"She'll be dead."

Hearing this, I put my hands on my waist and walked out of the hut. I needed a breath of fresh air. I needed to let go from my mind that horrible image of Mirna asleep, under a cruel internal fever.

I realized that she did not deserve to die, did not deserve to end her life so suddenly. She was young and needed to find out more about life, about her family and her past.

About her passions.

This world owed her that.

I rubbed my hands over my eyes and sighed with fear. I had never felt so much fear in my life as I was feeling in that moment.

I tried to remain hopefull of receiving pleasant news, which could produce an end to the suffering of Mirna and also mine.

Chapter 16

Mezek

"Françoah!" I screamed from my hut window.

Françoah glanced back and walked back into the hut. As soon as he reached the inside of my home, my arm went around his neck and I walked him to my humble living room.

He sat down on an old sofa, covered by a blanket. Soon I sat in front of him and stared at him seriously. Françoah seemed restless and anxious.

"During the young woman's healing process I had some strange vibrations. It's hard to tell you this, but that girl is bewitched."

"Bewitched?"

Françoah pushed his body forward. He was curious to know more about the girl, about what was really happening to her.

"Yeah, she needs to go back to the place where she came from and must seek to undo this terrible magic."

"But how?" Françoah stood up and opened his arms, completely outraged. "If she does not even know who she really is and where she came from."

"I found this on her neck." I informed him, raising an amulet in his direction.

Françoah looked down and saw the amulet in my palm. He squeezed his eyes, quite confused by it.

"Had you even seen this before?"

"Of course not."

Françoah held the jewel and gazed at it suspiciously. He looked up to my face and asked me, " What does that mean?"

"This girl belongs to some royalty."

I pointed my finger at the amulet.

"See it, there is a sun and a diamond tiara on this talisman. Probably she is some princess."

On hearing this, Françoah recalled the moment Mirna taught a noble dance to his sisters and also the time she paid reverence to him unintentionally and fell down ending up on the floor.

Françoah closed his hand and pressed the talisman as his memories were confirming everything I said about the young woman being bewitched by some magic.

"PRINCESS?" He seemed hypnotized by something. "ROYAL BLOOD?"

After that, we heard someone coughing. Françoah looked toward the opening of the bedroom and put the amulet into his shirt pocket. We ran into the bedroom and looked at the bed which Mirna was lying on.

Chapter 17

Françoah

Mirna was healed. I could describe it as a miracle. She left home unconscious and she was now standing before me, without fever and also without the sting mark in her neck.

We stopped in front of Mezek's hut door to thank him and say goodbye. We had to leave immediately so we'd get home before dark.

"I will not put this cape on me!" Mirna exclaimed. She was standing before me and could see Mezek giving me the yellow cape for me to try to cover her.

"What's wrong? You came with it," I informed her and settled the yellow cape on her shoulders. Mirna pouted and I settled the hood over her head. That way she would be warmer and safer.

"Okay." She agreed. "But do not look at me."

She turned her back to me.

"I do not want to be confused with a girl called Cassarola."

I frowned and Mezek realized there was something wrong with that.

"Who's Cassarola?"

Mirna responded quickly, keeping her back to us.

"Cassarola is his beloved."

I shook my head and Mezek winked at me. The shaman realized the implication of what Mirna was talking about and he saw it as a word called 'jealousy'.

We said goodbye to Mezek and returned through the forest. Our trip was now more attractive. Mirna was safe and everything was fine with her. But one thing tormented me, so I continued the journey serious and silent.

"I liked Sir Mezek," Mirna confessed almost smiling. My horse was walking slowly through the woods. For a moment she relaxed her body and let her back touch my chest. I felt her warmth and she felt mine. But these were brief moments, then she settled herself sitting up straight on my horse. Her body turned away from mine again.

"You're so quiet, and have been since we left the hut of Mr. Mezek."

She noticed my silence.

"We need to talk seriously," I replied sternly.

"There's something very important that I found out about your origins."

Her eyes flashed. Mirna seemed happy.

"Tell me now!"

"No, Mirna!" I said with a blank stare. "At home we will talk. These things should not be said during the trip. And what I have to say to you is very serious, other people cannot hear it."

Mirna frowned.

"All right." She complied quickly. "Though I'm curious."

She folded her hands on her chest, praying like a saint.

"Could you start talking a little bit about it?"

"At. Home. We. Will. Talk." I spoke through my teeth. Mirna shrugged and fell silent for a while. She realized that I did not want to talk about it during our trip. I wanted to tell her all that Mezek had told me and also deliver her amulet.

"I forgot to tell you..." I changed the subject.

"To tell me what?"

"This yellow cape fit very well on you."

Mirna blushed. Now I did not know if it was anger or pure shyness. She shrugged and moved her honey-colored eyes in another direction.

"May I interpret that as a compliment or as a laughing matter?"

I looked around, quietly guiding my black horse. The yellow cape covered Mirna's entire body before me. I just felt and knew she was there, inside it. Guarded like a diamond tiara.

"Interpret it as you want, Your Highness."

"Highness?"

Mirna got angry again. It was obvious my tone of voice sounded sarcastic to her and it stole all her tranquillity.

"Why did you call me Highness?"

At this point, Mirna fell silent and looked slowly sideways. She had remembered Prince Adonis, stating that she was a princess. She also recalled a vision where she saw a diamond tiara and a crystal tear falling down.

"What happened?" I asked, realizing that Mirna had fallen silent so fast, not persisting in talking to me anymore.

Since then, we followed the rest of our path without talking about anything to do with her or me.

Our matter was over.

Chapter 18

Mirna

Françoah's hands grabbed the sides of my waist and I was pulled towards the ground before my feet touched the earth. I felt another shiver as he touched me. His green eyes confronted my face which was partially hidden by the hood of the yellow cape.

Gently my hands touched his shoulders. I had to support myself on them and keep my stance.

Again I felt his breath so close to my face. I would bet that another kiss might happen between us at that moment. It didn't matter to me if it was from his initiative or mine.

"You are safe and sound."

I heard this from his lips, and my feet finally touched the ground.

"Thank you."

I looked at his face again. Françoah had a content smile on his lips.

His hand took mine and he pulled me in front.

"We need to talk seriously now."

"Can we do this in less of a hurry?" I questioned nearly tripping on my own long dress. He looked back while pulling me by the hand.

"No, we cannot."

Ahead, he opened the front door before him and we walked into the house.

At that moment, Françoah cooled his movements and his steps slowed, stopping altogether after a while. I automatically stopped walking behind him.

His fingers released my hand suddenly.

Something unexpected was before his green eyes, in the middle of the living room of his home.

'Françoah!"

A female voice said.

"Cassarola!" Françoah exclaimed and stood still in the same place. The young woman with long dark hair rose from the couch and walked to him. Francisca and Fabiola were sitting beside the girl. They were awaiting our return.

I stared at Cassarola. She looked beautiful as always. Her cherry red dress was amazing.

Her lips were rosy.

As always her beauty bothered me. Not because she was beautiful, but because she was a goddess in Françoah's mind.

She occupied his heart in full.

Cassarola turned her gaze to her beloved and looked at me after that. I was standing behind Françoah near the front door.

"What is this creature doing with this yellow cape?" Casserole chafed. "You bought this cape for me."

She turned her gaze back to her beloved. I looked down, feeling like an intruder with that cape, wearing something that did not belong to me.

"Françoah, you said you were in love with me."

Françoah looked to one side. Cassarola put her hand on his chest and questioned him even more upset at him.

"You're dating this girl?"

"Cassarola, Come with me!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the front door.

"Let's talk out there."

They went out into the yard. I however, remained near the open door, looking at the couple. They began to discuss something. Cassarola pointed her finger in Françoah's face and he held her arm, trying to calm her.

"Françoah, I love you!" Cassarola said loudly and I could hear her words. Fabiola and Francisca ran to reserve a place near the open window. They also wanted to hear the couple's discussion.

I remained standing in the middle of the door frame, looking out at them both. I felt a burden descend on me. Deep down, I was afraid that Françoah wanted her back in his life and Cassarola's parents agreed to their courtship.

"My parents prohibited our dating! But I never stopped loving you, my love."

Again Cassarola made another declaration of love out loud and all of us could hear from inside the house.

She held the ends of Françoah's face and they both stared at each other.

Françoah seemed mesmerized by his goddess.

The only thing missing was the yellow cape.

I felt like garbage. A stone in the way of other people, preventing them from being truly happy.

I raised my head and my eyes witnessed a terrible thing. The scene I was seeing corresponded in my soul like a well-directed arrow, or as a sharpened knife, or a steel sword going through the body of some opponent.

Françoah and Cassarola were kissing.

I did not see who kissed who first, who started the kiss.

Now I thought of Françoah who kissed her knowingly and consciously. Unlike me, whom he kissed when he was completely drunk and he did not even remember our kiss.

Our meeting of lips had been registered only in my mind.

A deep pain invaded my chest. I could not watch that scene anymore. That tortured me so much ...

I turned my back and ran toward the bedroom door, went inside it and closed the door behind me. I ran to the bed and threw myself on it. The kissing scene between Françoah and Cassarola was still alive in my mind. I removed the hood from my head and put my hands on my bald scalp.

I felt a deep desire to cry.

Now I knew what was meant by the pain of love.

To suffer for love.

I closed my eyes and a crystal tear appeared in the corner of my eye. After a long time I could cry again. My tears fell down slowly onto the mattress.

Then a flash appeared on the ceiling of the bedroom.

Francisca and Fabiola heard a noise coming from their bedroom. They rushed to their room and opened the door rapidly.

Both were mystified to see that their room was empty. I was not in bed, was not anywhere in the room.

They shouted desperately. "Françoah!"

Even from the outside of the house, he heard the desperate cry of his sisters and answered them, "What's happening?"

"Mirna has disappeared!"

'What?"

He ran into the house and left Cassarola outside. The young man ran to his sisters' bedroom and didn't find me.

Desperate, he stopped in the middle of the bedroom, in front of his sisters and his beloved. He knew there was something important to tell me and this should be said.

I should have known that it was possible I was a princess.

I had royal blood.

But now it was too late. I was not there. Not among them.

I should know by now that princesses should not cry. Mostly princesses who were bewitched with their own tears.

After my tear-of-princess, a flash and a strange energy had absorbed my body to another location.

To another space ...

Far from Françoah, Francisca and Fabiola.

A place which will be revealed in the next story ...

THE END
Excerpt from

THE ANTIDOTE

By

PET TORRES

Book Two

In the

Tear of Princess

Series
Prologue

Salomé

The spell called Tear of Princess transported me to the castle again.

I did not know those people who lived in the palace. My memory did not allow me.

But they recalled that I was the princess of the Land of the Sun.

After my return to my father's castle, there was an attempt of murdering me and the whole castle guard had to be modified.

In the delivery of coats of arms to the soldiers, I had a big surprise.

Fate had brought to my life the antidote I needed for my healing.

Chapter 1

Salomé

A flash lit the ballroom in a castle. It was completely empty and partially dark. There were some lamps hanging on the walls and they faintly illuminated the great room.

I mumbled scared, I was in a not so comfortable position over the floor, on my knees, with my hands holding my own upper limbs.

I raised my head and looked around, at the ceiling of the hall and also to some dark passages that were slightly distant from me.

I realized that this place was not strange. It felt like I had been there some time ago, in a period of my life, which I didn't remember perfectly.

At that moment I thought of the word patience.

I ought to have patience with my own memory. Like all mothers had patience with their children at the stage where they were learning to crawl, to walk and to talk.

Before I could get up and hide, I heard step noises coming from the hall. They were so light and loud, there were half a dozen of them, in the same pace, in the same direction.

"Who's there?"

A voice questioned proud and with plenty authority. I looked at one of the dark passages and saw a man standing in the middle of it, he had dark clothes and he had jackboots.

After his question, I remained silent. I lowered my head, trying not to be seen by him.

But my yellow coat stood out in the gloom. The man lifted his neck and looked over his nose, trying to distinguish that yellow thing before his eyes.

"Answer or the guards will force you to do it!"

Immediately the man took three steps forward, escorted by his half dozen armed soldiers with their swords of steel.

My heart raced. I was in unfamiliar territory, before armed and threatening men.

I couldn't run or get away.

All seemed lost to me.

I had no choice but to introduce myself as a civilized and cordial friendly person.

I slowly raised and stood up, looking in their direction. The man of dark clothes, did not seem satisfied with my action. Immediately he ordered me.

"Take out the hood from your head!"

He could not see my face clearly with the yellow fabric hiding my face. My right hand went up at the height of my neck and I pulled the yellow hood back. My face was unveiled and my balding too.

The eyes of the man with black clothes denounced. I could swear he was facing a ghost. A poor soul who needed prayer.

"Your Highness!"

He exclaimed and bent one of his knees, making a bow in my direction. I looked scared sideways. I could not believe he was paying deference to me.

"Your Highness!"

He muttered rising again. He realized that I was confused, looking to him and his guards with steel clothes, stuck behind him. His quick steps brought him to me.

The man stopped in front of me and his right hand touched my left shoulder.

"Your Highness! It is really you!"

His eyes shone with joy at that time I felt I could trust him.

"Why do you call me Highness?"

I questioned seriously looking at it. The man smiled, not taking my naive question seriously.

"Princess Salomé, this is no time for jokes!"

He tried to take me with him, but I kept standing in the same place. My feet did not allow me to accompany him.

"Princess? Salomé?"

I questioned again. A cloud of uncertainty hovered over my head.

The man looked at me seriously, he realized I was not kidding. I was suspicious of him and was unaware of my real name.

"Salomé. What happened to your beautiful hair?"

He asked looking at my balding.

"The King wouldn't like to see her so rebellious."

He imagined that I had shaved my head by free will. But I remained silent.

My hair was not the most important issue at that time. I wanted to understand why he called me Highness, Princess and Salomé.

Would this be my real name?

"Princess Salomé. You don't remember me? I am the emissary of your royal family. I was the right arm of your father for many years."

"And why you are no longer?"

I articulated seriously.

He frowned, looking worried for me. With my senseless questions to him. The emissary thought I should know everything about my life in that castle.

"King Saulo is dead..."

The emissary said cautiously, he didn't want to shock me again.

"Don't you remember that, Your Highness? He died the day of your eighteenth birthday."

"My father is...dead?"

I looked around, it seemed that I was going to remember about his death, but my mind blocked, I could not think of anything, not even his physiognomy.

"Yes, and you disappeared after his death. We looked for you in the whole castle and didn't find you."

"I don't remember anything." My voice seemed depressed. "Not even my father's physiognomy, I don't remember this place, I don't remember that I'm a princess, I don't remember that my name is Salomé."

The emissary looked at me with pity, he knew my situation was serious.

"Your Highness, you probably lost your memory. Only time can fix it."

"Until when will I have to live this way? No remembering the good times of my life? Next to my family?"

I looked helplessly to the ground. Lacked a bit of hope in my life. Sometimes I thought that I would ever remember everything.

Chapter 2

Dorotéia

"What is happening to those damn guards hit the castle bell in middle of the night? Can't they understand that it is time to rest! I don't want to get old early for loss of sleep!"

I grumbled rising from my bed, I put on my slippers and threw a wine colored cape over my long sweater of soft and sleek fabric. My red hair was loose and waved behind my shoulders.

I opened the door of my room and walked down the long corridor, there were some guards standing at the corners of the walls, they were escorts of the royal chambers.

Escariodez left his room, putting his black cloak over his pajamas. Seemed a bit drowsy.

"Why is the castle bell being performed?"

He asked, walking quickly by my side.

" Something very serious must be happening."

I said proudly looking on.

An imagination invaded his mind with a crowd of enemy soldiers, mounted in their horses and attacking the castle.

"Are we being attacked by some enemy troops?"

I looked at him seriously. His question was as stupid as his accelerated steps by my side.

"Escariodez, our kingdom is not at war. No one would attack us without a logical reason."

Finally we reached the presentations hall.

Some guards were around Gerrah holding his bat. He looked toward us and his eyes flashed with exultation.

"Lady Dorotéia, our Highness is back!"

"Highness?"

My eyes widened. At that moment the guards broke through and I saw a girl, protected by a huge yellow cover. She was snob, wearing commoner's attire.

"Salomé!"

I exclaimed scared. I looked at Escariodez, standing next to me. Our exchange of glances was not pleasant. There were concerns and disappointment in our eyes.

However I saw everything dark, the arms of Escariodez sustained me quickly, before I hit the ground.

Gerrah and Salomé looked surprised at me.

"She passed out from excitement."

The emissary said to her Highness. Salomé remained silent, watching me in the arms of Escariodez. Probably she also didn't remember his beloved Aunt Dorotéia.

Salomé

"Come here, darling!" Dorotéia smiled at me, opening her arms from edge to edge. "I want a hug!"

I looked at the walls of her room. She had just awakened from her swoon. Escariodez was standing beside his bed and the emissary Gerrah was beside me.

"Come Salomé!"

Gerrah touched my shoulder. "Go Your Highness! She is your aunt Dorotéia!"

"What happened to her?"

Escariodez asked quite impressed.

"Your Highness lost her memory. She doesn't remember anything."

Immediately Gerrah explained, Dorotéia smiled through gritted teeth and further opened her arms, begging to me.

"Come my angel! I was dying of longing!"

I walked slowly toward her and stopped beside her gigantic bed. Dorotéia pulled my hand and sat me down on her soft bed, right beside her. Her arms crossed my back. She hugged me with falsehood. But no one noticed it. I remained standing with my arms stuck to my stomach. I don't know why, but I didn't feel like hugging her at that moment. Not because I didn't remember her, but for her bad energy. I felt there was some affectionate blockade between her and me.

"Welcome back, Your Highness!"

Dorotéia said close to my ear. I felt a strange chill. I saw the image of a diamond tiara falling to the ground. It was a horrible scene.

"I'm kind of...dizzy."

I mumbled looking sideways, avoiding to face her.

"Your Highness you need to rest."

The emissary added.

"Yes, I agree." Dorotéia removed her arms from my body and looked at my plebeian clothes. "Where have you been all this time to get those horrible clothes?"

His fingers touched my skin with revulsion and disgust.

"Look at this yellow hood! That's so tacky!"

I seriously looked at me in my yellow hood, and my aged dress. I simply thought that aunt Dorotéia was starting to distill her poison trapped while I was away from the castle.

"Gerrah take Salomé for a good bath and throw her clothes in the trash! Especially this yellow hood!"

"Not my yellow hood!"

I clung to my piece and I got up from her bed. I was frightened by my aunt's orders. She wanted to get rid of my humble clothes. Which had a huge sentimental value to me.

I ran toward the door of her bedroom and got out of it more than fast. I ran down the hall and stopped in front of the castle balcony. My hand touched the thick, high pillar, I looked out and saw the night sky, the moon was lighting up the sky.

My eyes were stuck in a direction as my mind remembered a special moment in my life. Which involved my yellow hood.

The time when Françoah put the yellow cape on my back and accommodated the hood over my head. His green eyes stared at me for a while. They looked so earnest and so enigmatic.

Where was he now?

A strong grip involved my chest. I was feeling insecure within that huge castle full of guards and people who claimed to be my family.

It was funny. I felt safer in the humble home of Françoah, in his arms, next to his two sisters, Francisca and Fabíola, than in this stronghold of King Saulo.

"Your Highness!"

The voice of the emissary echoed behind me. I turned my body and looked at him. Facing him seriously.

"Salomé trust me."

He reached out his hand to me and kept saying.

"I saw her grow. His father always had complete confidence in me."

Again his voice seemed friendly. I liked him. Although I didn't remember his role at the castle, next to the King.

I touched his palm and he gently guided me through the castle corridor.

Dorotéia

"Goddammit! Goddammit!"

I said nervously, the flesh of my face trembled with extreme hatred. The return of my niece had delayed my plans.

"I would be crowned queen in a few months! All that I needed was that my damn niece had not returned to this castle!"

Escariodez tried to hug me while I was in my nightgown, turning from one side to another in my bedroom.

"Calm down, my goddess."

"You ask me to be calm?"

I removed his hands from my neck. I was furious.

However, I stopped walking and stared at Escariodez and had a great desire to do something that could calm my nerves.

"Take me to that stupid sorceress! I need to know what is happening."

We put appropriate clothing to leave the castle and we traveled in a luxury carriage. Escariodez and I left the palace early in the morning and we wanted to return before sunset.

"Your spell failed."

I said before the sorceress in her humble dwelling. There were dead rats hanging from the ceiling, herbs scattered in the corners of the house and a smell of smoke from the lit lamps.

The sorceress was an old woman with purple hair, her eyes were whitish. Her skin was wrinkled. She wore a dark dress and a black cape.

"My spell never fails."

She said putting a blue liquid in a small earthen pot.

"So why my niece is back to the castle?"

The sorceress looked at me with her cold, evil eyes. Escariodez was standing next to me, listening to all our conversation.

"The spell 'Tear of Princess' never fails."

I remained silent, staring at her, I felt like flying to the neck of that old wicked woman.

"If she returned to the castle it's because someone made her cry. The spell 'Tear of Princess' does not allow a princess to cry anymore in her life. Unless something can penetrate her soul and make her cry indeed."

"What or who made her cry?"

I asked turning my body.

"Now we don't have a reason or someone to make her cry again in the castle. She lost her memory and doesn't remember anything."

"The loss of her memory is part of the spell. This way there are no emotional causes to make her cry." The sorceress looked at me again. "If she cries again, probably, she will be transported to another place, outside the castle."

"But how will I be able to make her cry again? There are no obvious reasons for that."

The old woman shrugged. "That I cannot tell. The spell is cast over her, but she has to cry again in order to get out of your way."
Books by Pet TorreS

Valkyrie the Vampire Princess Saga

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess 2

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess 3

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess 4

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess 5

Valkyrie the Vmapire Princess 6

Valmont the Vampire Prince Trilogy

Throne of blood

Heir of blood

Reign of blood

The Black Wolf's Mark Series

The Black Wolf's Mark

The Black Wolf's Mark II

The Black Wolf's Mark III

The Black Wolf's Mark IV

The Black Wolf's Daughter Series

The Black Wolf's Daughter I

The Black Wolf's Daughter II

Tear of Princess

The Spell

The antidote

Tiger's Obsession Series

Tiger's Obsession

Robbed Virginity

Ardent Affection

Forced Penitence

Renascent Soul

Illusory Love Series

Illusory Love I

Illusory Love II

Illusory Love III

Illusory Love IV

Vampires Adversaries Trilogy

Vampires Adversaries

Andromeda

Omega

Wolf Academy Saga

The Oath

The compassion

The revelation

The sacrifice

The purification

The unification

The rupture

Love or friendship Series

Love or friendship

Love or friendship II

Love or friendship III

Other books

Arranged Marriage

Ornella

Illusionism Obscene

Leione's Diary

Blood Moon

Emengarda

Destiny with Blood

Violet

Love Wave

E 2000

About the author

Pet TorreS is a pseudonym created by the author with the initial letters of her first name and real surname.

She is a young author that was born in 1980 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Pet attended to Fashion Design College.

But Pet TorreS started to write romances since she was ten, just in 2008, she decided to follow on her career as self-author.

Her work has already sold thousands of copies.  
Pet TorreS had to abandon her work in a ready-made clothes factory to dedicate her books. Today she keeps up herself with her literature.

One of her biggest dreams is herself being eternalized through her works.
Contact with me

Email

pettorresbooks@gamil.com

