Ro stiffened. Moments passed in silence. He stared. She sat. Frozen in place and unable to take her eyes away from his.
Panic set in, and she shot upright. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, rigid.
She inspected the dug-up dirt on the ground.
"I… I…" she whispered hoarsely, wide-eyed and unable to get the words out of her mouth.
He was here.
Why was he here?
How long had he been there?!
"It is not what it looks—"
"What were you doing?"
His words were dangerously low. Measured. They came with a strange chill that crawled across her skin.
She looked up, and her breath hitched. He was big. Large enough for his shadow to fully envelope her. The moonlight played tricks, and the balcony stood higher than the ground she stood on. But his size…
Ro was barely able to make out his other features. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't. His eyes wouldn't let her. They followed every direction her gaze went, boring into her soul.
"I…"
For the first time, his eyes shifted from hers and trailed downwards.
Ro shuddered and looked down.
The colour drained from her face.
Sweat and moisture from the soil had the fabric of her gown clinging to her like a second skin.
Ro gasped, blood flooding to her face. She slapped her hands to her breasts and groin.
'Oh, no!'
"I'm so sorry!" She swiftly turned on her heels and scampered off, unaware of the fabric clinging to her behind.
__________
The moment she turned around to scamper off, the tug at the corners of his lips morphed into a chuckle. He hunched over the railing, laughing. The timbre of his voice reverberated within his chest.
The laughter died, and he watched the soil. The rushed patter of her feet against the floor still reached his ears, along with her ragged breaths.
He sniffed at the air, drawing the last of her fading scent from the soil.
His eyes flashed briefly, and he frowned. For a spot where she had spent hours, her scent sure faded quickly…
As if what was left had gone along with her completely.
Whatever ritual she did seemed to have strengthened her. And on his land no less.
The nearby vegetation seemed no different than before. The bushes were fine. Geneva had told him she was a dryad, but the nymph had drawn nutrients from somewhere. Not the nearby vegetation.
He straightened, standing tall before facing the direction she had taken.
He would get his answers during daybreak.
He snorted and walked away. What impudence! She had only just arrived and was already vandalising his land.
Her frightened gaze flashed in his mind, followed by the curve of her silhouette. His frown deepened. She had been frolicking in the dirt, so why did she smell nice?
A sharp glint in the dirt caught his eye.
__________
Ro burst into her chambers, gasping. She slammed the doors shut behind her and leaned against the door, her chest heaving.
Why was he there?
A part of her had expected him to stop her there, but nothing happened. She hugged her frame and went still. Surely, she would have left a trail of dirt from the garden all the way into the castle.
Ro cupped her face.
She had just made a mess. A disastrous one.
The attendants and servants would surely keep it in mind. She covered her mouth and moaned into it, sinking to the floor. How could she have been so careless?
She closed her eyes, trying to escape reality, only to find his gaze burned into her eyelids.
Ro snapped her eyes open. And on top of that, she had exposed herself to him. This was foolish. What if she had come across a servant or two instead? They would have also met her in that sordid state.
Like a bucket of cold water, shame streamed down her whole being.
Her hands hung limp at her sides, and in defeat, she made her way to the bathing chamber and washed herself.
Clean and refreshed, Ro sat at the edge of the bed, staring into the dark. She hunched over and covered her face with her palms. The crystal.
She had left it there.
What made her think she would come out to garden and escape his sight in that open area?
'No. I had more chances of being discovered by a servant or attendant rather than the Lord of the House himself.'
Ro shook her head and sat back up. She had to stay calm. The attendants didn't have to know about this.
She closed her eyes and focused.
A few grains. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. Clumps of soil.
All trailing from her chamber down the garden. She could sense them all.
They twitched, shifted, then began to move, retracing their steps. Clumps of sand, unable to slip through door gaps, crumbled into finer grains to proceed. Her breathing quickened.
The last of the grain reached the courtyard, and she gasped, collapsing onto the bed.
A faint pain tugged at the back of her head. She had just re-awakened and was already straining herself after years of neglecting it.
But she couldn't stop there.
She envisioned the ground she had just crawled out of. She froze.
He had seen her there. He would likely know what nymph she was if he discovered the area had been remade. Especially to what it had been before.
Lying to him about it if he asked would be dangerous. Insulting too.
She laid on her side and hugged her knees to her chest. What would she do tomorrow?
Goosebumps riddled Ro's skin that night. Even though she had scrubbed herself raw in the bath, she still felt his gaze on her, hot as a brand.