Chapter 4 | Close Encounter

~ Aurelia~

Time stopped for the two of us. His fingertips dug into my arms as he tugged me towards his firm chest. I was afraid to blink, for I still wasn't sure if it was all a dream. He might disappear from my sight if I took my eyes off him even for a second.

His hand reached out to touch my face and stroke my cheeks, setting them on fire. I leaned into his touch, wanting to feel his rough hands all over my face as much as I could. Unfortunately, he was jolted back to reality when we heard distant footsteps.

He stood up brushing off the mud and leaves before giving me a hand, and that's when I realized that all the paint that he had knocked over from the palette onto my hands was now either on his face or his clothes.

I swallowed hard before catching my breath again. I never saw him from this close before.

"What's your name?"

I glared at him for a whole moment before taking in his words. My voice barely made its way out and I managed a mumble.

"Aurelia" I heard my name roll off his tongue like music.

His penetrating gaze burned through me. I had to look away and focus on one of the many yellow blotches that I dabbed on his white handwoven shirt. His eyes followed mine.

"Wow! You painted me more than your---" He paused to look at my painting, "What's that? A rock?"

A rock?! Clearly, he was blind!

"That's a dragon. Can't you see the fire?" I forgot my inhibitions the moment he insulted my dragon.

He squinted his eyes at the painting and said, "It still looks like a weird rock, and now it has a tail too that I didn't notice before."

He must be kidding me. 

"Can you be any ruder? You knock me off to the ground, destroy my carefully planned color scheme, and now you criticize my painting?"

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't run away like last time."

My heart almost jumped out of my chest at those words but I acted cool.

"What last time?"

"Mm..." He gave me a funny look, "Last time was last night."

"You met some woman last night and she ran away from you? Not surprising at all considering how rude you are."

A mischievous smirk appeared on his face.

"I wouldn't call her a woman. She was a scared little girl who didn't have the guts to meet my eyes."

How dare he?!

"Maybe she didn't like what she saw?"

"What's there to not like about me??"

Wow! He's so full of himself. This is what happens when you obsess over someone just because he's a sexy ass dude.

"For one, I don't like your cockiness."

"Aha! And?" He stepped forward closing the distance between us. I was forced to retreat but my back soon hit a tall wooden fence. He caged me between a climbing clematis on one side and his bare brawny arm on the other.

My knees went weak as he stared deep into my eyes.

"I'm waiting."

"For w-what?"

A peal of laughter burst out of him. He leaned in and his lips brushed my ear as he spoke, "Never mind."

He smelled like firewood, the kind from cherry and pine trees, sending warm tingles all over my body. Frown lines formed on his sun-kissed face and he appeared to be debating something in his mind.

"Don't know why but I feel like telling this to you... It's my eighteenth birthday today."

He was younger than me. Argus never looked so big and strong when he was eighteen. 

"Oh! Sorry, not oh... er, happy birthday. I'm just shocked because I thought you were older, maybe twenty."

I heard someone clear their throat and freaked out thinking it was Argus. I pushed Dominic away and saw a startled Dylan standing behind him. He stared at me for a moment before talking to Dominic.

"I'm taking off. The Prince wants to meet you as well."

"For what?"

"To talk about the Panathanaic procession." Dylan answered in a bored tone.

"Another damn festival. Why do these people have to celebrate every darn thing?"

I couldn't hear what Dylan said because he walked several feet away already, but Dominic seemed to have understood every word. I must be going deaf.

"What did you mean by 'these people'? Aren't you a Hellene?" I asked him when he turned around to face me.

"No, I'm not from here."

I hoped he wasn't going to tell me that he was Adonis himself who descended to the earth. I would definitely believe if he did. With that sharp jaw and cheekbones, captivating lips that I wanted to---

He interrupted my train of dirty thoughts, "I have to go."

"Um... just a moment. Where are you from?" I wasn't sure when I was going to see him again. I wished that he stayed and talked for a bit.

"From Alexandria."

I had no idea where that was at.

"Ever heard of Heliopolis?" I shook my head.

"Nile Delta?"

"Ah, you are from Egypt? Kushite Empire? Or Assyrian?"

"I don't know. My father is from there. I don't remember anything and my mother is terrible at giving any information."

"Where's your mother from?"

"From up north she says. A Nordic witch who is very good at apparating and disapparating."

"Wow! She went all the way to Egypt to meet your father?"

"Are you some kind of a witch too? Why am I telling you all this??"

In the blink of an eye, he was gone. What just happened? One minute, he was freely talking about his parents, and the next moment, he got mad and left. 

"Aaiee!!" I felt someone wrap their arms around me and screamed, "Callie, you are going to give me a heart attack!"

"Why are you so jumpy? Your Princess is going crazy, and you are hiding here."

"You won't believe what just happened!"

"Oh, I can imagine. Looks like the lava from your painting spilled out onto the ground."

"Lava?"

"Isn't that a volcano that you painted?"

"Aargh!!"