The Arsenic Widow #Wattys2015 (mxm)

Chapter Six

I was hoping to have a much longer chapter here, but about a million things came up for me this week which prevented me from having enough writing time. And because I made a promise to update every Tuesday, I had to finish what I had and give it to you guys. I hope you enjoy reading it.

After relaxing for a while and getting used to my new room, which resembled the one I had back in Pondo, I went outside for a breath of fresh air. I couldn't stay indoors for too long before I grew restless with the need to be surrounded by the shaking of the trees and hooting of the birds.

I found my way outside after a long time of entering strange rooms at random, hoping it would lead me away. At one door the word 'pervert' was screamed and I was now sporting a nice purple bruise on my jaw from something heavy hitting me before the door was slammed shut.

It was in the foyer where I finally found an escape and I was quick to use it, but found myself in the most disappointing area. The grass was clipped to an inch of its life so it was prickly and uncomfortable. The trees barely swayed in the wind due to the high walls that surrounded it. I lifted my nose and took in a deep smell of... nothing.

I went over to one of the trees and grabbed a handful of the leaves, bringing them to my nose and smelling deeply, trying to find some sort of aroma. I even went as far as to rip the leaves open in search of something but all I got was a sickly dripping sap and far more disappointment than I was expecting.

"Looking for a hidden message in the trees?" I spun around when the voice sounded behind me. I must have been so focused on them that I didn't even hear the footsteps behind me. It was, of course, Prince Acorn. "I can assure you there's nothing there."

I frowned, dropping the leaves, "Shouldn't you be, uh, ruling the kingdom or something?"

"Did you get that from a children's story?" he chuckled. "Tell me young Incent, what does ruling the kingdom entail?"

"Um," I thought about it, "talking to peasants?"

Prince Acorn burst into laughter, "Is that what you think we do all day?"

I shrugged and looked down at the crumpled leaves at my feet. Acorn bent down and picked them up, "This is a Bower tree," he informed. "They carry no scent, but it has another special trick. The smell also covers the wearers scent."

"Wearer?"

"We take the sap," he peeled the leaves open further and ran one finger along the wet part, "and we rub it on our bodies, especially in the areas we sweat the most. It covers our smell so when we go hunting, no predators can smell us and hunt us back."

"That's quite amazing," I sounded impressed.

Prince Acorn let the leaves fall back down, "I found it myself. It was a bit trial and error of course. I realised that the more a person sweat, the less it was able to cover. So it's not useful in a stressful situation or for someone not used to undercover projects."

I nodded, looking back up at the tree. It seemed unremarkable, with its long, dark green leaves hanging from a short white trunk. The branches were so short it actually looked as if the leaves were sprouting directly from it.

"So," he broke my train of thought, "I've told you something about myself. I founded the uses of this tree. Now tell me something about yourself."

I coughed into my hand to delay in inevitable lies that were going to sprout from my lips, "Well, I am a hunter and an ambassador for the Kingdom of Pondo. I've been sent here in good faith to support you and hopefully add some of my guidance into small decisions. I suppose my best use would be in military and demons."

He nodded, eyeing me thoughtfully, "Tell me, have you ever fought a demon outside of Pondo?"

I shook my head honestly.

"There are different species everywhere," he murmured, looking at the large grey walls that surrounded the palace and guarded it from attacks. "In Corples, we have some of the worst." He pointed to the long scar on his face that ran the left side of his face starting from his brow line and went down to the bottom of his cheek bone. Although it looked like it had come from an aggressive attack, it didn't mar his features. His eye didn't droop and everything seemed normal. "This was left on me during an attack on the palace. The demon could have killed me, but enjoyed playing with me instead. Some demons are mindless killing machines. Others are... intelligent."

My eyes went wide with surprise at the information given to me, "Demons were able to get into the palace?" I began staring intently at the wall as if expecting evil creatures to start climbing over immediately and attacking everyone.

"Once," he replied. "How did this go from you to me?" he grinned and nudged me.

I looked back at him and shrugged, "I don't mind. I would prefer to talk about you than me."

He appeared startled, "Really?"

"Really."

"That's strange," he said softly, getting closer. "Did you know studies show that talking about yourself feels better than an orgasm? It's the rush of being able to talk about something you know, and the excitement of knowing you could make up a lie and have someone believe you. Your body goes through a better and longer lasting rush."

I could feel my face growing red and thanked the God's for my dark skin to hide it, "I-is that right?"

"Well, they're only studies," he took in my reaction with sharp green eyes, "but I'm sure they hold some truth. Why wouldn't you like to experience such a subconscious high?"

"If it's all subconscious, maybe my subconscious doesn't like it," he pointed out.

"And why do you think that would be?" he began walking slowly around me, as if he were a predator who already knew that he had captured his prey but was going to toy with it for a while.

"I'm not sure," I winced. I knew exactly why. My life, here in the Kingdom of Azures, was a lie.

"Do you have negative feelings towards pleasure?" He raised his hands and I flinched, but he was simply drawing his blonde hair back off his face.

"I don't believe so," I lied.

He narrowed his eyes at me, most likely noticing the lie. He nodded slowly and then looked back at the palace, "Don't stay outside for too long. The demons might smell you." He smirked and then began walking back. I watched him for as long as possible before turning back towards the Bower tree. That man was definitely smart. Almost too smart, and it made me nervous. I had a job to do, but it would be so much harder if I had him breathing down my neck.

I'll leave you with a question to answer if you don't know what to write as a review! Do you like how Prince Acorn was questioning Incent? Or would you prefer to hear more about him and have Incent turn the tables?