Impossible to Love

THE STARLITE HEART

BOOK I

IMPOSSIBLE TO LOVE

Heena Patwa

Smashwords Edition

Text Copyright © 2016 Heena Patwa

All Rights Reserved

The dedication to this book cannot be to anyone but my sister, my sole motivation and the reason behind everything.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter- 1 The Battle of Xeo

Chapter 2 The Starlite Princess

Chapter 3 Nymph knowledge

Chapter 4 The Stroll

Chapter 5 The Ball

Chapter 6 After Effects

Chapter 7 The Ceremony

Chapter 8 The Grounds

Chapter 9 The Royal Secret

Chapter 10 Neal’s Story

Chapter 11 The Invitation

Chapter 12 The Trap

Chapter 13 The Prince’s Problem

Chapter 14 The Smell of Paint

Chapter 15 The Fight

Chapter 16 The Two Princes

Chapter 17 She Loves Me

Chapter 18 Back at Home

Chapter 19 Turbulence in the Water

Chapter 20 The Tea Meets

Chapter 21 The Confession

Chapter 22 The Master & His Pupil

Chapter 23 The Awakening

Chapter 24 The Sickbed

Chapter 25 Death of the Doomed

Chapter 26 The Patient

Chapter 27 The Shadow’s Work

Epilogue

Prologue

There once lived a magnificent ruler

With the whole world as her empire.

The empress on envisaging her final hour,

Called her three children to her.

My time has come, and I must leave, said she.

When I’m gone, this world will be your responsibility.

The three heirs looked at her holding their breath,

Waiting in anticipation, the final decision before her death.

She continued, "Since I won’t favour one of you above the others,

I have decided to divide my realm into three independent spheres.

Tell me my children, what is the greatest power of all?"

Love, all three of them replied without a moment’s stall.

The queen was much pleased with the reply

And said that one wish to each of them she would supply.

The eldest of them was a girl; Nymphadora was her name.

She wished for the power to seduce each and every man.

Very well, said the mother.

"Like a man falls in the water

Every man will fall in love with you

And after he makes love to you,

He will draw his last breath

Like he drowned in the ocean’s depth.

The siblings were in shock.

The mother spoke,

"Go into the ocean, you won’t drown.

I give you the water crown."

The queen gave her the sphere of water,

And nymph was called her every daughter.

The middle child was a boy named Star.

He got so terrified by his sister’s power

That he asked to be very very far.

He said, I don’t want to fall in love, ever.

Very well, the queen said as she had before.

"You will not feel love, neither the pang nor the pleasure.

You will be free as the wind," said the empress.

Before he could smile she gave the curse.

"The wind will blow away

Any love that comes your way.

As you are not willing to give love

You shall not receive love

From nymph or human. That is only fair."

The queen gave him reins of the air

And the ability to fly as high as he might.

His descendants are called the starlites.

Now the queen turned towards her youngest,

Who was by far the most…..

The prince shut the book with a heavy hand. He killed the light at his table and the room became as dark as the night outside. Coincidently, it matched with the tone of his hair, his eyes and his mood. He had just finished writing a letter to a queen. His new resolve would be giving as much displeasure to the reader as it had given to the writer, but it was necessary.

The past few months in the hilly forest had given him a lot of time to think. He had thought about his life, the lies it contained and the future it held. But most of all he had thought of that one person.

In contrast to before, now the thought made him smile. He tried to hide it from himself, unconsciously drumming his fingers on his palm.

Looking out of the window, he thought about the events that had happened during his absence. The building on this side of the castle was home to the royal ministers and officers of high rank. The sky was not cloudy enough to hide the stars and the moon. It enabled him to see the traces of fire damage on one particular part of the building.

The noise of the guards changing places claimed his attention. It was midnight. He looked at them with displeasure. When death came none of them could help.

His thoughts wandered back to her.

I wish I were a starlite. Then maybe I could fly over to her window.

His subconscious laughed at the irony of the situation. If he were a starlite, he would not have such feelings towards her. I don’t love her, he reminded himself. It’ll pass.

He walked away from the window and into his inner room. This little room contained only a cupboard, a chair and a table containing one big three dimensional map of his empire. On illuminating the room, the map became more comprehensible. It showed a peninsula surrounded by ocean on three sides and snowy mountains on the rest. A huge wall ran along the entire coastline. It was built centuries ago to keep the nymphs out. The ocean contained the words ‘Nymph Territory’ just as the mountains contained ‘Starlite Territory’.

Not bestowing a single glance upon the map, the prince took out a set of keys from the table’s drawer. The keys opened a cupboard. It was filled with documents, seals and other such items but its main purpose was to conceal a secret passage to another room.

This secret room contained only one piece of furniture, a cupboard. Paintings covered almost every part of the four walls, most of them featuring the same female. The centre of the room contained a blank canvas, ready to be filled.

The prince opened the cupboard. It was divided into two parts. The left part contained colours, brushes, plates and other such things needed to make a painting.

For a clueless spectator, the things in the right part would not make any sense. It was a curious set of things for any man to have in his cupboard, especially so if he happens to be a crown prince. But that’s what secret cupboards are made for- to hide what society thinks to be abnormal. The right part contained seven things- a bowl, a teacup, a chess piece, a silver ring, an ice blue ball gown, a small knife with clotted blood on the blade and a feet long braid of platinum blonde hair.

The prince gave all of it a fleeting glance and smiled. He took out his paint things. Painting always calmed him. He knew what he was going to paint- a girl with fish like pout and chocolate brown doe eyes, dressed head to toe in white fur. Her square face was a little flushed by travel. It was adorned by a few stubborn strands of hair falling out of her helmet. He remembered her to be splattered with water, dirt and a little blood.

The memory was about a year old but it was as fresh in his mind as if it had happened a moment ago.

Chapter- 1 The Battle of Xeo

Sophie was disappointed with the battle. She had been thwarted even an inkling of the war glamour that she had always yearned to get. The starlite king Ruffle had led them towards an easy victory at Fort Plier- the highest mountain peak in the area. Sophie did not stand out; she had no claim on fame and no stories to tell.

King Ruffle had a consolation prize for her. She was to deliver the news of the victory to their Battle-leader Neal. Neal was camped at Xeo with one of the human troops. It was less than an hour’s journey for a starlite like her.

When Sophie reached Xeo, all her glee disappeared. The gloomy human faces told her that their position was not as pretty as at Fort Plier. She had assumed that being on higher grounds would give them an advantage, but the case seemed opposite.

The humans wore grey uniforms with heavy metallic armour. Sophie felt that it was a poor choice given their situation in the snow-covered mountains. She, like all other starlite soldiers, was wearing a white fur uniform. The only armour she wore was the helmet protecting her favourite body part.

Sophie gave her name and office to the soldier guarding the main tent. She was let in. Almost everybody was surrounding a table invisible to her, with their shoulders hunched and eyes in the centre. She could see only blobs of hair.

We are outnumbered.

I have information that they would be here in less than an hour.

We’ll think of something, a composed voice said. I believe we have some good news.

The group dispersed a little. The Battle-leader became visible to Sophie. She walked forward and greeted him in the starlite fashion by crossing her fluttering palms on her chest. There was now only a table separating the two of them. Neal looked at her, took a deep breath and said, Fort Plier.

We have captured it. Sir, Sophie said looking at her feet. The enemy is either dead or captured. Sir.

The nervousness in her voice was easy to comprehend. She had seen his tall, thick-necked figure in the past during some parade or the other. However, it was her debut in front of those almond eyes embedded in the diamond face.

Splendid, he said but did not look like he meant it. We need more people here, he said more to himself than to her and everybody nodded in agreement.

Fly right now and send as many men as can be spared, he ordered her and added a ‘thank you’ as an afterthought.

Sophie departed immediately but stopped in her tracks on hearing an ear- deafening blast from the camp site. To her utter horror, the camp had turned into a pit of fire. She had no hope of finding anybody alive, but still she returned and looked.

I don’t know what new weapon they have got on their hands, a deadpan voice said, but it is far more advanced than the burning coals we are used to.

Sophie was speechless. The Battle-leader was not only alive but also unharmed; though his white face and grey clothes were covered with soot. What alarmed her more was that he did not seem devastated by the sudden death of his whole unit.

Her eyes were still on the burning wreckage when Neal casually dusted the soot from his clothes and said, I don’t think that anybody else is alive. He had said that without betraying a tinge of emotion in his voice or eyes.

Sophie was in a state of shock even though she had not known any of them. Unlike Neal, she was not very good at hiding her feelings.

Don’t bother going back, Neal said. He was searching in the rubble for anything useful. The king would be coming soon. A blast like this would not go unnoticed.

It will take them about an hour.

We don’t have the leisure to wait for them. Sophie recalled what she had heard earlier. The attack was anticipated sooner then they could afford. She wondered if she should suggest flying out of there. Carrying him away to Plier did not seem like a hard task. She did not suggest it for the fear that it would make her look a coward.

Then we will hold them off as long as we can, she said with a level of determination only novices can have.

What’s your name?

Sophia Antofurota.

Do you have any weapon? He asked getting soot out of his hair.

Sophie shook her head. She carried only a small pocket knife with her which could be no good in combat. The sword was thought to be a useless weight for the journey.

Accessing her own vulnerability, she realised that the prince had no fur or armour to protect him.

We can fly out of here, she suggested.

You can, I can’t, he replied. If I abandon my post, we will lose this battle and maybe the war. If I’m able to protect Xeo till backup comes, we have a chance to end this.

She lifted her head and tried to look as tall as possible (which was a foot less than Neal). Then I can’t leave either.

That earned her an amused smile from the prince. We are in luck. I have got two of these. He handed one sword to her. You will be fighting humans. You know the rules?

She nodded. The battle rules stated that humans should fight humans, and starlites should pretend to be human while fighting them. I cannot fly.

Neal explained the strategy to her. We think… thought that they will come from that direction. Neal pointed at the valley in the left. They will have to climb up here. We had planned boulders and fire arrows for them. But now that they are destroyed, we cannot stop them like I had hoped. Our only way is to fight them as they come.

They could see heads emerging out of the valley. They must have been sent to analyse the situation and report back, Neal whispered.

They won’t. She grinned.

Five men charged towards them with swords in hand. Sophie knew that the enemy wasn’t expecting anybody there. They were here to claim the ruin. Two of the men targeted her while Neal engaged the other three.

One of the men was all muscles while the other was tall and lean. She clashed her sword with the bulky man while ducking from the tall guy’s sword. He was taller than average which proved advantageous for her. Her helmet took the blow and fell off unleashing her braid previously tucked inside it. Sophie had taken the utmost care to safeguard her hair. Long hair did not adorn a battlefield. Her brain spun for a moment by the blow. One of