Their story was a fairytale.  Princess Charlotte did not understand enough to know that this is not the typical way romances developed.  Her other stories were as absurd as this one.  Jarek rescuing her from the wretched other doctors and horrible hospital and promising her they would all love her.  A sweet blonde Beauty saved from the beasts that would harm her in their misguided attempts to heal her.  The dark royal son delivering a different sort of love to her feet and filling her womb with the ultimate expression of the people’s love.  John who dreamed of her and would do anything to make her his even if it meant letting her bleed him.<br/><br/>Carlton was her perfect prince.  She could not have designed him more perfectly if she’d tried.  The brother of her traitor friend, the man who loved her for who she was, not who she could be or who he wanted her to be.  The man trapped in the web she didn’t even know she was weaving tightly to ensnare him.<br/><br/>She laughed as he dressed her in his clothes, the garment so very large that it dwarfed her.  So childlike as she hugged herself, letting his scent surround her, a smell so different than Kell’s or John’s.<br/><br/>The fresh air surrounded her, strands of gold whipping around her laughing face.  There was no freedom to come and go for this angel.  This princess was trapped in her gilded tower despite the ability of the others to come and go.  Letting the oracle go would mean losing the promised baby in her belly, something the people would never allow.<br/><br/>Her hand was secure in his, fingers intertwined, the other out the window so the breeze could flow through dainty digits.  The woman in the gas station had been inconsequential to Lotte.  She did not know everyone in the cult, not with the recent influx of new people.  Her focus now was on the question he posed.  A question that completely confused her.  Where did she want to go?  This was more than physical freedom from the shackles of her captors; this was a freedom of her mind.  Lotte had never been permitted to make her own choices.  First her parents but then Mother had to die.  Then the doctors but then Jarek rescued her from them.  Kell rescued her from Jarek’s poor choices.  And now Carlton was offering her the opportunity to make her own choices.<br/><br/>Where did she want to go?  Soft pink lips parted as if she was going to speak but no words came out at first.  Quite simply, she didn’t even know what her options were.  “I...I don’t know where we<i>can</i>go.  I’ve never been asked what I want.”  From any other mouth, the words would sound bitter but Charlotte did not understand what her life had been lacking.  From her mouth, the words were innocent and sweet.  “Will you decide for me?” she questioned, explicitly placing her trust in her savior.<br/><br/>Tess placed her trust in Kell, telling him her secret, trusting that it was right to tell him.  There was no doubt in her heart, no worry over the possible danger that she placed herself and her brother into.  He was a god in his mastery of her body.  It was futile to resist; he pulled her prayers from the depths of her core, her rapturous cries echoing around his office.  The prayers of the newly faithful.<br/><br/>She flushed under his praise, assuming the position of the penitent - on her knees, hands lifted from her sides with palms towards the sky, her head back, lips parted to receive his white blessing.  Her eyes, she left open as he commanded, their gazes locked together.  It was so powerful to watch the prince’s face as he became the god and baptized her in his name, marking her work as his.  Tess’s soft pink tongue extended to catch each pearly white strand of benediction.<br/><br/>Tess remained on her knees until he was finished.  It was only when he moved away that she felt permission had been given for her to rise to her feet.  No move was made to clothe herself.  Kell had not given permission for her to shield herself from his scrutiny.  Mind and body were laid bare to him.  There was one more treasure she had left to share with him.  One more tidbit that would prove she was completely his.<br/><br/>“There is one more thing you should know...my objective was to make you love me.  Carlton’s is to make Charlotte love him.”