01. The Woman Whose Eyes Were as Blue as a Crystal Lake

Zane, the prince, runs away from the party that his parents are throwing him so he can be paired with potential suitors. But he runs behind the castle to escape his evil mother.

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince, he was so perfect that he was locked away in his own castle. His mother was the evil, she didn't think any girl was good enough for her son. She controlled every part of the young prince's life. Even the king never overstepped his boundaries in fear that she would get angry.

One night, there was a ball that the prince's mom had for the sole purpose of finding a suitable woman for her son, although he was already committed to someone.  And after a long night of arguing the prince's mom still made it very clear that he was to attend the party.

“You will not leave my sight Zane or you will be locked in your room for a week straight,” the queen said waving a finger at the prince

Since the prince's mother never let him leave the castle, he didn't have many friends, other than his evil half-girl half-ogre girlfriend who treated him worse than his mother did.

For hours the queen introduced him to girl after girl, the thought of marriage overwhelmed him, he was too young for that, or was he? The prince panicked and went off to be alone. He saw a stick and a few pebbles lying on the ground so he started to play his own game, which he found himself doing a lot.

The prince was hitting the rocks into the wooded area behind the castle, while he listened to the party going on behind him. Mother has probably noticed I left by now, but oh well anything she would do to me she’s done already.

He was thinking about his girlfriend and how he wishes he could leave her, but he was too kind, and his heart was too big for his own good. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. The prince jumped when he heard rustling in the woods in front of him. Someone was there; he could feel someone.

He stopped and just stood still, straining his eyes to see what was there, he couldn't hear anything, but he did feel in his heart that there was something...

"Oww! What the hell?" an unknown voice roared from the woods

The prince gasped, seeing a glowing figure ascend from the woods, mesmerized by what he sees, he freezes and drops the stick. He was stuck  there unable to move, staring at the figure that slowly approaches him. When the figure comes into view he notices that it's a girl...no it's a woman. The prince’s eyes widen as the thought of his current girlfriend slipped his mind altogether.

The woman comes up to him and smiles and says "Hey! Does this belong to you?" She hands him the rock that he hit into the woods while rubbing the bump on her forehead.

“Oh no I hit you? I’m sorry!” the prince said putting his hand over hers on her forehead. There was something there, an instant connection unlike any other. A spark?

“Yeah it’s whatever,” she said pushing his hand away. “I’ll live, I’ve been through way worse.”

The prince nods and takes the rock back, then lets it fall to the ground. He didn't know what to say to the woman whose eyes were as blue as a crystal lake, and lips so perfect. The prince thought he was imagining her, so he blinked over and over, but no. She was still there, she was all too real.

The woman look at the prince and smiled. Her smile seemed to light up the area around her and the prince and she said "Do you have a name?” She giggles and pinches the prince's cheek.

The prince snaps back and puffs out his chest, "I am Prince Zane. This soon will be my castle and I shall rule this land that you stand on." He was trying to look tough to impress the beautiful woman that

She laughed and turned away from the prince and starts to walk back towards the woods. "You are cute, but no need to show off." The woman said looking back and winks at the prince.

"Hey wait! You never told me who you were!" The prince said not moving from his spot.

The woman stops right before the tree line and turns around, "Depends on who is asking. I could be your best friend..." She disappears then reappears right in front of the prince their lips almost touching "or your worst nightmare.."

The prince jumps back, "How did you do that?!"

She smirked and disappeared again then reappeared behind him and whispers in his ear, "I do the same as you do, I just move quicker than your eyes are able to see. So it looks like I disappear, cool huh?"

The prince spins around half frightened by the woman half intrigued by her. But she was gone.

What was he feeling? It was so foreign to him... He read about it in books, but he never knew it would feel like this... Was it love, or was he going crazy?

"Excuse me? Are you okay?" The woman asked.

The prince steps back away from the woman and starts to turn to walk back to the castle. But once he turns away she is right there in front of him.

"Where ya goin?" she asked looking almost offended by the look of fear in the prince’s eyes.

"Uhh, I have to go back to the castle. My mom said I wasn't supposed to leave her sight, I will most likely get in trouble for leaving the party." The prince was almost thankful for the non-trusting ways of his mother for getting him out of this weird, yet enchanting situation.

"Oh, alright. Well I'll just follow you then, I like parties!" the woman says, "Oh and my name is Kalypso   by the way." She follows close behind the prince who was trying his hardest to ignore the beautiful creature that was so close to him.

"No, you shouldn't follow me. I don't want my mom to see you." The prince whispered, not really wanting the woman to hear him.

Kalypso   ignored his words and continued to follow him, trying to make conversation with the prince, but he never replied with anything too deep, she could tell by the look on his face that he had a lot to say, but just couldn’t find the right words. The prince just walked around the castle, with no real destination. He secretly loved her company, he didn't know what it was about her; her shockingly good looks, her grace as she walked, her smile. He didn't even know this woman, and yet he was falling in love with her.

The prince wanted to kiss her, he wanted to fall to his knees in front of her and tell her how he felt, but he didn't know how she would react, and he wasn't even really sure how he felt about her. So he kept his feelings to himself. They made it back to the front of the castle, they party had died down and the prince's parents came towards them. Zane panicked and stepped in front of the girl, as if trying to protect her from the king and queen.

"And who is this?" the prince's mother asked bitterly.

"She is pretty Zane," the prince's father smiled at them.

"Shut up!" replied the prince's mother, she turned away back towards the castle, "Zane, you come inside right now. I don't want you talking to a forest girl, you might catch something!" and with that the prince's father shrugged and followed his mother back into the castle.

Zane looked back at Kalypso  , sadness overtook her entire body and he could see it. He wanted to take her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay, but he wasn't so sure of that himself.

All he could do was whisper to her, "Meet me back where we met at midnight tonight." He took the ring off his finger and put it on hers, “Please do come, I want to see you.” and he obediently followed close behind his parents.

Kalypso smiled through her tears and nodded when he put the ring on her finger, then watched him walk away.

Author's Note

I probably made spelling errors, hope you like this story guys!