Princess of the Sands

The Game

Saphira POV

    "How about a bet then?"  I asked him after his tantrum about keeping me. I could see he was hiding something, and I was becoming desperate to find out what. I quickly came up with an idea that I will win without fail.

    "What do you propose?" he questioned me as he pulled over a chair next to the bed. Thankfully, I was no longer being crushed by his massive weight. Although being face down on the bed unable to move is still not the most comfortable of situations either.

    I was glad he was taking the bait; this was gonna be so easy. "You are so interested in me then let's say you have until the end of the year, that's 6 and a half months, 26 weeks, to make me fall in love with you." I stated waiting for a reaction.

    "If I win, you're saying you will stay, and won't fight me?" he looked doubtful already. "And what happens if I lose? You stay here to be Rapha's apprentice?"

    "No, I get to continue to study under Rapha while you try to win my heart, and if you fail then you will set me and my father up in the upper rings of town for the rest of our lives. You will never have anything to do with me and be unable to harm me in any way." I said with confidence. Let's see how cocky he is now.

    He narrowed his eyes at me, probably looking for any trace of a lie but I was being 100 percent honest with him. "Fine" he said at last "But that means you will have double the workload. You will have apprentice training with Rapha and you will have your duties as a member of my harem."

    Now I was doubtful. I never heard that the harem had responsibilities other than serving Prince Hijiki. Guess I'll be busier than I thought I would be, which means that his highness should have less time to interact with me.

    "Now that that is out of the way, and you are still in my bed. Let's play a new game. 20 questions and you only get 2 passes" he said to me. I was skeptical but it's better than sitting in silence all night. Because I know I will never be able to fall asleep in this room knowing he is also here. I may be able to stand him but that doesn't mean I trust him in any way.

    Rapha came back in before I could reply. He quickly got to work on me, restitching me, rubbing new salve on the skin, and then added a new thin layer of clay before covering my lower half with a blanket. He warned me not to cover the clay with anything so we can keep a better eye on the wound when he returns at daybreak.

    The prince was sternly told to keep his hands away from me and was again told to leave me alone in the room. He wouldn't budge on the matter and Rapha knew I needed rest so he finally gave up. With one last goodbye to me he left to sleep in his own quarters.

    "Now about that game?" the prince questioned me. I sighed and accepted hoping to be done with this sooner rather than later. I told him to give me all of his questions first so that I would be able to see how deep he was going to get into this.

His questions were simple for the first 12 questions, asking how long have I been 16, my favorite foods, colors and so on. He even asked me why I called the Kepten "Uncle Melik" which he was basically my uncle. He used to live in the village and was my father's best friend before he joined the royal guard.

    I haven't been asked a question that I would pass on yet until he got to question 16. "Who did your parents run away from?" he asked. I knew he was going to ask me things I didn't want to answer when I still didn't trust him enough for him to know. So, there went my first "Pass."

    He asked another tough one "how long have you been beaten on the streets?" I couldn't use my only other pass in case he asked something else I really didn't want him knowing, so I had no choice but to answer this one. "I started to get beaten at around 8 years old. Mainly because they tried to hurt my father and I would try to protect him. But other times I was protecting other girls and children in the village."

    I don't think he was very happy with that last answer, but I can't help it, all I said was the truth. The next one was shocking to say the least, and he spit it out through gritted teeth like saying it was causing him pain "Have you ever been touched, or are you still a virgin?"

    Well, this got awkward real fast "Men have tried and have not been successful." I turn my head to face away from him, I don't know why but I feel so dirty when I think of all the things that could have happened to me if I weren't as strong as I am.

    I could hear his breathing was heavy, and he sounded like he was trying to calm himself. It was weird how he was getting so upset, but he did say he wanted me so maybe he already likes me? Oh my Gods snap out of it Saphira.

    He only has 2 questions left, and I still have 1 pass so hopefully I won't want to pass both of them. He asked the next question "Have you ever been in love before?" well at least this one was easy "no" short and simple. I don't think I have ever even talked to anyone close to my age before today, boy or girl.

    He sighed in what sounded to be relief? I rolled my head back over to see his face. He stared at my eyes with such a fierceness that I could feel my cheeks turning red with a deep blush. His last question, "do you think there is even the slightest chance that you could fall for me?" I didn't know.

    I made the bet thinking that there was no way it would happen. There would have been a higher chance of snow here in the desert than of me falling for him. However, sitting here with him, just talking to him like a normal human being, not as a prince and some girl from his harem, but 2 regular people made me unsure if I really could win this bet.

    "Pass." I said. Because what else was I supposed to do? Tell him that in the last hour that I could see he wasn't what everyone else made him out to be?! He had just whipped me earlier this very day and now I'm talking to him as if nothing ever happened.

    "That's 20 questions for you, now it's my turn right?" I questioned him. I wasn't sure how many questions I would be able to push but some things I really needed answers for, and if this was how I was going to get them so be it.

    He nodded and waited patiently for me to start, and I knew I would have to be smart about what I asked and how. So I'll just start with easy things like he did, then last 5 questions I'll ask harder ones. If he passes then I guess I'll have to figure it out as we go.

    Time to start "What is your favorite food?" Gods this feels stupid!