Amethyst P.O.V
I had run through the rest of the village as fast as I possibly could. My feet had begun to hurt badly from all the stone I had run on. As I ran down a dirt road back toward my home, I found a forest with a little lake. I stopped running to get a better look before deciding to hide there. When I finally reached it, I hid behind one of the tall trees. I pressed my back against it and held my feet out so I could see the damage done to them. There was blood and a lot of it. Some of the skin had peeled off from the cracks in some of the stone by the village. Other parts of the skin had just become hard, but the stinging had only gotten worse since I stopped standing.
Looking toward the lake, it was a beautiful blue; not at all like how the other lakes were. I looked behind the tree to make sure no one could see me before cautiously crawling toward it. As I knelt down, I slipped my hand in and felt how warm it actually was. The sun beams reflecting on it caused it to appear almost sparkly. I pulled my feet out from under my knees and stuck them in the water. It felt so good. I suddenly felt myself going deeper and deeper into the lake, allowing myself to let the warmth and cleanness of it wash all over me. My waist long dark hair floated around me as I let my entire body sink under.
I pushed myself back up onto the grass and allowed the rags to all come off before going back in, letting the water wash over me and take me under again. As I came back up, I caught a glimpse of something, or someone, before it vanished behind the tree. Ignoring it, I let my head drop back into the water, letting the top of my head get wet. My eyes went wide as I heard a snap of a nearby branch. I turned toward the sound, but nothing was there. I quickly reached for my clothing on the grass again and ran out of the water behind one of the bushes. I put them back over me before feeling the pain on my feet again.
"You would have done better just staying in the lake, my lady." A deep, rich voice spoke.
I whirled around to see a man with dark hair staring at me with beautiful dark eyes. His lips were curled up in a smile as he held out his hand to me. I looked at his hand before backing away.
"Come now dear," He spoke softly, "No one is going to hurt you or at least I won't."
As I looked closer at him, I looked on his right hand and saw a dark red ring. The royal jewel. I immediately became defensive. They had taken Tobiath and now were probably here to take me too.
"What have you done with him?" I asked trying not to lose my temper.
He took a step closer and as I took a few steps back, my feet had begun leaving blood trails in the grass. He looked down where they were before saying, "You must get those healed."
He reached his hand out to me again. Refusing again, I shook my head and ran. Before I could even make it out of the clearing, I felt a tight grip on my wrist and I was flung back against his hard chest. I held my breath knowing that for my disrespect toward the prince, he would do something awful.
"Please have mercy, please!" I choked out as tears rolled down.
I realized more and more how much pain I was actually in.
"I will not hurt you, my lady. It will all be alright." He whispered gently.
"No!" I screamed fighting to get out of his grip.
"Stop!" He commanded.
I did. Everything seemed to have stopped moving as I began to relax more. I felt my body moving slowly toward the ground before I slipped into unconsciousness.
I awoke to the sound of owls hooting in the trees above us. My eyes slowly began to flutter open. My vision was still a little cloudy, but I could make out the light of the moon and the dark silhouette of the prince.
"What... what did you do to me?" I asked.
I saw him look up at me from his place by the tree across me. His back leaned up against it and his hands had been placed on his face. When he looked up, I saw a tear that had escaped his eye. When he realized that I had spoken, his face lit up. He got off the ground and was in front of me within seconds. Not being able to move, I knew I could do nothing if he tried something.
"What did you do?" I asked again.
His hand came up and stroked my hair softly before looking into my eyes.
"I healed you." He whispered.
I stared at him a little longer before looking back down at my once damaged feet. The blood, the gashes, the pain had all gone away. I was shocked. I looked around. We still sat by the trees and near the lake that now instead of the sun's rays, reflected the light of the full moon.
"How did you do it?" I questioned.
"I cannot tell you that." He replied, his eyes looking down once more.
"Why?" I demanded.
"Please, you cannot know, my lady. If you do..."
"I'm not your lady, Prince Liam." I corrected him.
He just smiled. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
"You cannot know, I'm sorry, Amethyst." My name rolled from his tongue.
I sat back more against the tree, holding my arms to the ground in a way where I would be able to just get up.
"How do you know my name?"
"I know many things." He said casually.
"I will ask you once more, my prince. How do you know my name?" I insisted.
"It is none of your concern... my lady." He replied with a coy smile.
I instantly got up and turned away from him. I wasn’t able to get far before I felt a grip on my wrist. I turned around and was met with dark red eyes. His hood had fallen off and his pale skin almost glew lighter in the moonlight. I began feeling like I was in a trance. He seemed to have some hold on me, but I couldn’t figure out what. All I knew was I truly wanted no part of it.
"Let me go." I told him, breaking the trance.
"You can't leave, my dear."
"I am NOT your dear! And you will release me this instant." I snapped.
One small word said it all and scared me to my core.
"No." He replied before pulling me toward him.
I kicked him as hard as I could before running off. He fell to the ground with a sharp groan, but I didn’t look back. As I ran as fast as I could back home, one thought had me more on edge than ever. Violence against the Royals would never end well.

© Sierra321