---- hand in his pocket and dropped his handkerchief into herp.


    Clean up.


    She didn''t move.


    Those eyes were nk, oblivious of her surroundings.


    Lost in thenes of her memory that will only lead her to darkness.


    Alex? Nothing.


    Sighing, he crouched down beside her, damped the cloth in water and slowly brought the cloth to her face.


    He swiped her face clean of the traces of blood, his touch gentle yet precise His green eyes drag along every inch of her face.


    Those thick brows.


    Small yet curledshes.


    Doe-like eyes.


    Chapped lips.


    That slightly crooked button nose.


    ---- Her nk eyes snap up to him and his hand goes still.


    Those hazel eyes...


    they weren''t hazel anymore.


    They were brown.


    Soft brown.


    Filled with warmth yet fierceness.


    That lips had her usual smirk.


    Princess? Reality crashed on him and he moved back from her like he had been burned.


    She is not her...


    what is he thinking dammit! Ie has started imagining her now.


    Clean yourself up.


    T will be outside.


    With this he drops the handkerchief in herp and tushes out of the cave.


    The walls of it seemed to be closing down on him.


    Alexia had heard him.


    She could see the shift in his demeanour, the exhration when he thought she was her.


    Princess Zariyan.


    And she also saw the disappointment, the pain when he realised it was her.


    ---- Just some other ordinary girl.


    She felt slightly hurt, when she shouldn''t be.


    He was an expensive luxury, and her? She was surviving on scraps He may havee back to save her, but she wasnt a fool to think of it as something else.


    Behind that cold experior...


    he is a good man.


    But he only shows his goodness to those who deserve it.


    And she...


    somehow met that criteria.


    She won''t be getting ahead of herself.


    It will only hurt more in the end He disappeared into the misty night and Alex picked up the handkerchief to finish what he had started ---- When he returned, he carried a modest haulsome wild roots, a cluster of berries, and a charred piece of meat.


    However his steps hault when he finds her damp shirt drying near the fire and she sat in aer, Wearing just his jacket.


    She looks away, hugging herself more tightly.


    And he catches a glimpse of her white in bra and panties before he looks away.


    Turning his back on her, he crouched by the fire and arranged the food on a cloth, nudging it toward her without looking back.


    All yours, he said simply, sitting back and wiping his hands on his trousers.


    Alexia hesitated, her brows furrowing as she nced at the food, then at him.


    You''re not eating? He shrugged, his expression unreadable.


    Not hungry.


    Her lips parted as if to argue, but she stopped herself.