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The ripe peach she’d kept in her bag had been squished when she slipped. The juice leaked out of the bag and damped the fabric of her gown.
    “ It’s starting to feel sticky,” she was referring to the juice stain. She got up and headed out of the tent.
     
    Sayan watched as Nala leave the tent.
    He had expected many things from this trip to the Western Kingdom, but finding Nala had not been one of them. Just when he was about to give up hope of ever seeing her again, she fell from the tree branch into his arms. He didn’t know how to deal with the shock. He also didn’t know how to deal with the bottled up anger.
    She appeared in his life the same way as how she disappeared – without a warning.
    The soldiers outside were getting rowdy. Sayan got up and headed out to see what was causing the commotion. Nala was standing by the desert spring and began loosening her gown. She pulled on the belt holding her gown together and the fabrics quickly slipped off her smooth skin.
    Sayan hastily stepped in front of her to shield her away from the lustful eyes of his soldiers. He covered her body with his cloak and swept her off her feet. He could see the objections in the soldier’s eyes but they didn’t dare to voice it. He carried her back into the tent and stopped in his tracks as soon as the tent provided them with privacy.
    “ What did you think you were doing?” He asked in an interrogative tone.
    “ I need to bathe.” Her reply was too casual for what she had just displayed in front of a bunch of horny bastards.
    “ If I didn’t step in, do you know what they could have done to you?” He didn’t even want to think about it. Unlike her, he had seen it more than once before.
    “ Are you protective of me?”
    Her pale green eyes looked up at him. He found it strange that she would even ask such a question. If he had ever felt protective toward a female, it would be her. She knew that damn well.
    “ Don’t ever do that again.” He subtly sighed and then let her down to her feet. She was away from the protection of his cloak now. Her naked body was fully exposed. Sayan avoided looking at her as he removed his cloak and then wrapped it around her.
    “ You’re looking away as if the sight of me hurts your eyes.”
    “ I’m looking away because it doesn’t.” He returned his eyes to look at her. There wasn’t any sign of embarrassment he could detect on her face. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
    She responded with a confused look in her eyes. “It must have been done without my awareness.”
    He felt irritated with her. He pushed her down onto the cushion and mounted over her. Her pale green eyes were still as if she was a doll. He inched closer to her lips, went passed it, and whispered into her ear.
    “ I will never see you as a woman.”
    He rolled over on his back to give her back her space. Night after night he had battled with his insomnia, but that night was different. His body was relaxed enough for his mind to rest. He was able to sleep soundly that night.
     
    The sand had covered their tracks, but Ce knew his way around the territory. There was only one quick and smooth road connecting the Western and Northern Kingdom. Merchants feared this road because it was plagued with bandits, but the Northern Prince would not find it a problem.
    Ce clutched the pale pink gown in his hand as he urged his camel to move forward. When he arrived at the oasis, he found it stuck on a palm’s leaves. He knew for sure it was Nala’s. Her sweet scent still lingered on the garment. He found some comfort that it was the garment and not her corpse left to rot in the desert.
    He had expected this. His only hope was that she survived until he could get to her.
    He quickly hid the pink gown from view when his sister caught up to his pace. Her attention to details did not let him succeed.
    “ That’s her gown is it?” his sister asked.
    “ Nothing gets past you, does it?”
    “ Do you still want her back?”
    “