"why? Wha…." she stuttered, he walked up to her, moving her shirt aside, she realized the bandage had fallen during their sparing, showing her birthmark, "I asked my father…about your kingdom…..the princess Lorelei, has been missing for some years, they said she was kidnapped, but…. Well I had reasons to believe something about you was off" he said, "like?" she asked, "first of all, your attire, when I first walked into your little bear den, they were for cold weathers, so I knew you weren't from the town, the way you spoke was also weird for someone supposedly born from poverty, then the day we brought you here, your lips were a rich red, a lip color only those of rich could afford, the way your dressed was like you've never been to an area where the weather is almost always warm, and your underga- i mean, your fighting style, you have to have been trained by knights to know how to fight with such speed, and strength, how to instruct another on their skills….you had a teacher, and not just some old retired man…." he said.
"Then earlier….when we…..were stuck, your scent, my father the last time he went to that kingdom, the king gave him a gift, for him to hand over to Lora, she loves the design so much she's only used the perfume once, but it's strong, so it's a smell impossible for you to forget, I remember father saying the scent was one of a kind, only other person carrying it…..was the young princess that the whole kingdom adored for her unusual beauty, talent, and her rough mouth….. I wasn't completely sure, it's been years since my father had gone there, maybe it was true you were a parentless child, from that kingdom, maybe you weren't poor, but a rich kid, your parents die, you lose your rich life, but decide to run away taking a few things a sentimental value….but then that mark….that birthmark was one many talked about even now, it was used as a lesson to young girls that even the most beautiful flowers have flaws, now taught that a person beautiful can have beautiful flaws... to have a birthmark in the shape of many tiny hearts…then your eyes" he went on, picking up a mirror, and handing it to her, Lilith gasped, her color contacts were gone, "it wasn't until we were walking that I noticed….Lorelei is a name that fits you very well I see…" he said with an unusual smile.
He walked up to her, stood closely in front of her, "Why are you here?" he asked, his voice dropping, the smile on his face dropping, and his eyes darkening, Lorelei sighed, "Just as I've been saying, I hated being a princess! My grandmother…when my grandfather passed away she was only lucky that father was the only one out of her sons who stayed by her side, otherwise she would've lost her place in that castle, and her brother would have taken the throne, he became king of another kingdom and drove into the ground, once his father-in-law and wife died, when that happened she realized just how lucky she is to have my father, but my brothers, even my step brothers don't plan to take the throne after my father passes, and not many men turned their heads to look at my mother or sisters, they look like every other women the only difference being their status, then there was me… looking like no other women there, soon I became the modeled girl, and in her eyes what would make sure she'd be alright if there was no one to take the throne, if a man said he liked his girls in purple she'd make me wear purple the awful tight, uncomfortable, breath sucking dresses, that I couldn't breath in, because older men liked their women thin, I wasn't even dressing for boys my age! No! I was dressing for grown ass men the same age as my father! Old enough to be my grandfather, she'd take photos of me half naked without me knowing and sell them, then hide the money for her self, she'd take me places children shouldn't be because the men there are known to touch on children, and show me off for money, sell them some of my hair, or undergarments that I've worn, then there was the fact that because because I was a pPriNceSS, I had to sit there and listen to men tell me what they wanted to do to my body, boys rich, or poor telling me I'd better be a good wife or they put me in my place, so I'd show them their place, but get yelled at because "tHat'S whAt boYs d0"!.....being watched 24/7 by everyone, can't have a moment alone! I have to learn this and that, and that and this, do you know that women tried to make me watch, my father and mother have sex! When my dad stopped that at the door, and kicked my mother out of his room, my mother tried to get me to sleep with one of my brothers!! And then tried to make me dress seductive, for again grown men! Making sure I can't enjoy any of my life, and when I refuse, "You love me don't you sweetie do this for me, I don't have much time and I'm just doing this to help you!" oh and the tears the tears coming, to have a love hate relationship with my mother because she can't stand the fact that my father loves me more than her, that her husband loves his daughter more than her, that a man loves the child she birthed more than her, she thinks I'd take my father from her, imagine not being able to hug your father for too long because soon your mothers face will start to twist, and she'll whine, and cry, and throw a fit for no reason, and boom the whole cheerful, warm mood is ruin, because she's preaching about how I'm being sneaky, to hear her tell you, her own daughter that your just a girl who will be tossed to the side when another girl born with looks no one in our town has seen beforehand she might just look better than me, but then turn around snapping out of it, to beg and apologize, because if I'm not happy with her neither is father. then they told me, after driving away the boy I loved, that I needed to get ready to meet my husband, he was already "married" but he "convinced his wife", that a queen should have great looking children, daughters and sons, handsome, and beautiful to be birthed by me, and he offered a good price so without my father knowing, my mother brainwashed into thinking she could have my father to herself if I was gone, was going to help my grandmother sign up my marriage papers, so that when my father tried to marry me off to his choice, it wouldn't work as I am already a wife to someone else, they wanted me and his first meet to start with sex, I'd leave to go to his castle having sex all the way there, then have sex in front of his wife…his doll wife!!.., I met him once before, before he paid them, he told me how he was going to have me one way or another, and when he does we'll have sex in his wife's blood, I learned later that his real wife tried to run away, but he'd always find her so, she killed herself to escape him, according to him it was getting harder to have children, and her silence was hurting his feelings during sex….bacsailly ending my life like she did, wouldn't set me free, I served him a drink when I was five, so to him that meant we were meant to be together, so that's why he wanted me, as for her, she smiled, and bowed to him as he walked by, for others, knowing that his first wife decided to die than marry him, and that he married a doll no one offered their daughters to him, he drained her of all her blood when he found her body, and kept it to do it in, do you hear the disgusting, and ridiculousness in that, I was 13!!!.....I was only 13…" she shouted leaning against the wall as she tossed the mirror, "I didn't come here to get close to Lora or harm her, nor do anything to the kingdom here, I know that technically our kingdoms don't actually get along, more like friends with a grudge,.....I was trying to hide, I came here with help from the one person in my family, who didn't hate me, or obsess over me other than my father, he brought me here, and that was the last I saw of him….but time after time after time we'd run into each other, and she was usually in trouble, poison berries, drowning, sneak attack, lost in the woods in the rain….. Then she found me, and she'd come to the den every day until I gave in and accepted her as a best friend. Then I learned the day I met you that she was a princess, I thought she was just some bored rich girl....and here I thought Nelly would be the one to let it slip.." she said
"The doctor?" he asked, Lorelei nodded, "the boy my mother drove away was his family, and him" she said, "Is he the boy you loved?" James asked, Lorelei shook her head "No.." she said "Follow me" he demanded, with no energy to fight Lorelei followed James to his room, while it's true Lora's room was most of the third floor, his room was tall, being barely able to see the ceiling as she walked in, "Your hair if you were born with red hair like they said…I'd like to see it" he said pointing to his restroom, she walked in and a few minutes walked out, drying her hair, the towel covered her head, so he waited, when she dropped the towel he stood there staring, "Are you sure you are your fathers child?" he asked, "100% sure I'm not, but no one cared, it was a new face in the kingdom, my mother was the wife of a royal, and that was good enough for them" she explained he nodded, walking towards her, he touched her hair, it was damp, and soft, "tan your skin, use some other scent to bathe with, I'll get you some new color contacts, and use something stronger to keep your birthmark covered, that and your smell is what would give you away, with that you won't have to hide your hair color like this, whatever you're using is making your hair tangled, we have a few girls who come here with similar hair color like your's" he said as he sat her down, she nodded, "About Lora, I don't want her to know…" Lorelei said, James hummed as he brushed her hair, he was in deep thought about all that she told him, then when they were in the room, the way she acted made so much sense, all he could wonder was how could someone treat a whole child that way, "If you don't mind me asking…. You left when you were what? 13?14? Years old…what do you think happened after you left and since you've been gone, all I know is that lining up the timeline, your father locked the castle after you left" James asked.
"Really?" she asked, he nodded, "well, I know my mother snapped out of her rage after seeing me gone, I know she must've felt awful for how she was acting, and my father most certainly scolded her for it….fastward to a couple of days, my brothers are worried though they won't show it, my step brothers continued to look for me by their own choice, dad became easily irritated with mother acting like she did nothing wrong, Grandmother has been bedrested, realizing she went too far, after my father found out about her plan, he most definitely kicked her out of the castle… the town probably is in shambles, with the king, not letting anyone in or out.." she said, looking out the window, holding onto her birthmark, "We'll keep this between us...I won't tell anyone chuckle you'd probably kill me if I did, I will admit, your skills in combat, surpass mines greatly" James said, Lorelei chuckled, shaking her head, "No as word of my existence wouldn't reach outside the castle, I'm only worried of how Lora would response to the news" she said looking up at him, he looked down at her, and thought, "Yeah….it's best not to tell her, and to have a good story if you do….she may be sweet, but if you two get too close,and you hold on to this…..she'll treat you like someone who committed the biggest, and worst act" James said, Lorelei nodded. James finished brushing out her hair, "I'll have the things sent to your room by the morning" he said, she nodded, as she walked into her room, closing the door behind her, as soon as she shut the door close, the smile on James face dropped, he stood there watching the door, Seth looking just as emotionless as him walked up behind him, "Watch her door, report to me everything, where she goes, what she does, what she says, stay close to her during the day, and night if you can no matter what, especially if, and when she's with Lora, I'll look into how true what she told me was" he ordered, Seth nodded. In Lorelei's room, her smile almost dropped, she was already planning where to go next, writing a letter to send to her uncle, she placed it under her pillow, turned off the light, and laid in bed, a dagger in her hand, one eye open, and on the wall, pretending like she can't feel….she took a deep breath in, "Seth…."