Serene’s POV

My eyes flew open at the mesmerising sight in front of me. There was a magnificent-looking oasis at a distance of about 100 meters from us. A lonely tree stood at the edge of the oasis. But the breathtaking part was the arc of millions of stars which seemed to begin from the top of the tree and spread all over the oasis to its other side. Sarite our smaller moon seemed to be hanging in between the star arc and the oasis, like a shining globe.

I was in awe of this view my mouth hung open and my eyes lit up. "That’s breathtaking," I exclaimed at Zeph who smiled at my reaction. "Come, let’s sit by the edge. We have a spot there." He propelled me forward by my hand.

There were several stones around the oasis and boys had already taken their favourite seats on them. Rian and Rumais were gathering firewood to light a fire. Zavrian was clearing the place for fire by kicking away small pebbles. Kilamin was sitting at a distance from us. I could hear the distant chirruping of insects.

They soon got the fire lit and all of us sat around it. Zeph had his guitar in his hands. "Will you be singing a song?" I asked curiously. I had no idea he could play the guitar, there was so much I didn’t know about him.

"I only play the guitar, Rian is our singer."

I peeked at Rian who quickly lowered his gaze. "Oui, don’t be shy Rian. Come sing for us." Ralph gave him a huge pat on the back, encouraging him, and he nodded. Zeph began to strum the chords of his guitar playing a beautiful melody as his lithe fingers seemed to float over the guitar strings.

Rian began to sing, his voice soft and pleasant to hear. The song he picked was imbued with emotions and was almost sad, telling a painful story of unrequited love. I placed my head on Zeph’s shoulder as he continued to play his guitar softly and tune fully while listening to Rian sing. This was so peaceful, full of tranquillity. I wished the world would stay that way but deep down I knew this peace will end one day.

Rian finally ended his song. "Wow, that was very beautiful, Rian. You have such a melodious voice." I complimented him and he thanked me, his cheeks going red.

Zeph played a few more tunes for me and then everyone wanted to hear stories of how we had met in the Institute. We narrated our versions while three younger ones held onto every word we said.

"I have another interesting story, which I am sure even Ralph is not aware of." I turned to Zeph and gave him an amused, almost mischievous look. He understood what I was referring to.

"Don’t you dare, Serene?" He tried to place his hand on my mouth so I wouldn’t speak but I escaped his clutches.

"Ohhhhh, we wanna hear it," Ralph shouted and Zavrian clapped with excitement. "No, I forbid it," Zeph said angrily.

"Would you let me tell them the story or would you prefer I would give them a demonstration." I arched my eyebrow at him.

"You don’t have your bow with you." He smirked.

"I have it in my bag back at your house."

"Ugggh, Serene. They will pester me till the end of times." He almost pleaded.

"Well, will serve you right for being so broody." I shrugged.

"Please! Princess Serene tell us the story." Zavrian pleaded.

"Of course, so in the start, Zeph acted like a real prick. One day we had this assignment where we had to fight this enormous monster called a ’Schlangto’ and Zeph decided to be mean to everyone calling them useless. He acted like an emotional girl. So, I stabbed him with my ’Arrow of sadness’ so that he could properly cry. He cried about how beautiful the sky was and how he wished it would rain. That was so satisfying to watch." I completed my story with the boys rolling over with laughter.

Zeph glared at me, "You will get payback for this. I won’t forget." He threatened.

"Well, it was my payback for your laughter at that spider incident." I blew him a flying kiss, he didn’t appreciate it and kept sulking.

"Princess Serene, you are amazing. Will you show us some of your powers?" Rian asked shyly.

"Of course, tomorrow?" He nodded.

We shared some more stories as I snuggled with Zeph, although he kept his arm around me, he was still brooding.

"We should get back home now. Ma will be waiting for us." Ralph and his brothers referred to Ana as Ma after the passing of their mother.

"Ralph, take the boys and go, Serene and I will return in a while," Zeph informed him.

"Let’s go boys," Ralph ushered them before leaving.

"Kilamin, you can go with them. Zeph and I will return soon."

"I can’t do that, Princess Serene. I can’t leave you alone." He glided toward us and stopped a few feet from me. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"It’s quite alright. I am not alone, Zeph is with me." I tried to reassure him and really wanted him to leave so I could give Zeph his gifts.

"I am sorry, but I can’t do that." He eyed Zeph with scrutinised intensity.

"I am ordering you to leave." He was pissing me off. "I have orders from your father, if you won’t comply with my stay by your side when we are outside, then I am afraid I will have to take you back home. Even if I have to do it forcefully." He was as expressionless as always.

"How dare you talk to me like that?" My whole frame shook with anger as I stood up and tried to approach him. Zeph held my hand and pushed me back.

"Serene, calm down." He told me composedly as he made me sit beside him. My eyes were still on Kilamin and he stared back with any expression.

"Kilamin, you can stay we will leave soon." He nodded in return and headed back to the distant rock he was sitting on.

"He is right, it’s his duty to protect you. He is only following orders. Don’t be so hard on him." Zeph tried to put some sense into me. I knew they were right, I just wanted to sit alone with him, under this heavenly lit sky.

"Fine, take his side." Now it was my turn to sulk.

"Don’t be like that," he tickled me all over, extracting a smile.

"I have so much to talk to you about, but I don’t want to do it with anyone around."

"Don’t worry we will have plenty of time, now that you are my girlfriend. We can discuss whatever we want with ease." I almost froze at his words and gave him a look of utter disbelief. It was the first time he had acknowledged me as his girlfriend. He smiled at my reaction and kissed my forehead lovingly.

"Happy now?" He arched his eyebrows at me and I just threw myself in his arms for I couldn’t explain the jubilation I felt at that moment. The moment he had decided to own me, the moment I decided to be his forever.