Erica looked stunning with her supple skin and full, long curly hair that bounces off the glow of the soft morning sun.

She wore a sleek, tight-fitting, protective leather bodice that strongly accentuates the fullness of her cleavage...

paired with a thigh-length, short leather skirt and knee-hight boots.

She appeared to have just been coming out of training, as this was her usual training gear.

She bore a soft smile on her reddened cheeks as she approached Zorat, who likewise returned the smile as he gestured for her to come inside the cabin.

"another one?"

Myrra mumbled in shock from the fringes of the woods where her workstation was.

She was just in the process of doing more detailed carving on the wooden sculpture of her lord, she had been focussed on making....

When she saw yet another young lady being invited into her lord’s cabin.

And the one was just as beautiful as the last one.... but unlike the last one Myrra had seen her lord with...

This person she recognized.

This was the hero of Bow, Erica.

They had spent some meaningful moments together on their journey back to the capital and the royal palace.

In those several hours, there has never been any mention from her or the other girls that she had anything going on with her lord.

This caused a look of confusion, marred by insecurity, to bloom upon Myrra’s face.

"Could there be more ?" She pondered, unsurely, as a realization dawned on her.....

that her previous ambitious aspirations to win her lord’s heart all to herself might just be impossible.

But the spark in Myrra’s eyes did not die out in defeat....

It rather burned brighter as she looked straight at the cabin.

"I won’t lose," she added determinedly.

Inside the cabin, Erica was led to sit on Zorat’s mattress while he sat next to her.

She cast furtive glances at him, nervous and unsure of where to begin.

Looking around the cabin she had already been inside of on several occasions....

This time, the atmosphere inside felt entirely different.

Her thoughts kept spiralling back to what they had shared together in the cave.... Causing her to blush harder when she met his gaze.

For fear that she might be sweaty when she comes over later after training....

Erica had decided not to train at all and only watched the others from the sidelines until it was late enough to come over....

She couldn’t come too early, cause that might make her look too needy.

She had finally mustered all the courage she could....

And managed to make her way over to the cabin, but the moment she set her sights on Caleb....

All of that preparation seemed to have been for naught.....

Now she was struggling with several fears she’s had over the week...

All visibly demoting just how badly her confession might turn out today.

With Caleb being on her mind for several days now, every one of her thoughts had been of him.

Erica was known for being very outspoken, but when it came to her feelings.... She always hits a wall.

That’s why it took her so long to end things with Broddy....

and also why it took her so long to get to this point in letting Caleb know how she truly felt....

A sentiment she realizes might just be one-sided.

Considering what they had shared in the cave might just have been seen as a necessity to Caleb, and a way to come out alive from that dreary situation.

But in that chaos, Erica realised something else had bloomed within her; something she could not quite perfectly describe.

She had only been in a relationship with one person, and that person was Broddy.

She met Broddy at the start of her sophomore year in college, and since her perfect spec was the typical bad boy....

They both hit it off and started dating. And that’s how she was introduced to the friend group.

Only after meeting Caleb did she realise the fact that, if Broddy was a bad boy....

Caleb was dangerous.

He made her feel things that she felt were not even possible....

and as she stole quick looks at him now sitting beside her....

At his glistening, shadowy eyes that appeared as if calling to her very soul, underneath those dark luscious strands of hair draped over his forehead....

His veiny manly arms straining to remain contained in that tight-fitting V-neck cotton shirt....

and those teasing tattoo outlines visible underneath his sculpted chest, down to the bridge of his slender waist....

’God, he’s hot!’ Erica exclaimed in her mind, as an all too familiar tingle spread through her thigh.

She wondered if it was her mind playing tricks on her....

but the Caleb she was seeing today was almost twice as hot as she remembered him to be.

"Erica ?.... Did you hear me ?"

Erica was woken out of her thoughts by Zorat’s silky voice....

She realised she had been staring nervously for a while now and had clearly missed what he had said.

"... sorry. What did you say, Caleb ?"

"I said, how was training... You are just getting back from training, right ?" Zorat remarked, staring down at her outfit meaningfully.

It wasn’t the first time that Erica had come straight over from training and taken a shower at his cabin....

His cabin was so close to the training ground....

but it was also less about the shower and more about the company since she always stayed for a while longer before leaving.

"Ah, yes!.. Training was good..."

"I practiced a lot"

"You should join us sometime," Erica added, getting back in the groove of their usual interaction rythm....

Slightly cooling out the awkward atmosphere in the cabin.

"Nah. You know that the Knight commander and I don’t see eye to eye...."

"I doubt she’ll even allow me join you guys." Zorat muttered, sighing.

"The knight commander ?... You don’t have to worry about that, though."

"Why ?. Did she tell you guys we’ve made up or something ?" he said grinning as he knew Azaria would never do that.

"No, it’s not that.... Haven’t you heard?"

"It’s because of all that has happened in the last two days..."

"The knight commander volunteered to go hunt down the former grand vizier... "

"..Victor Malverin."

"Really ?" Zorat uttered, genuinely surprised this time.

"Yeah... well, we only found out this morning, so it makes sense you haven’t heard...."

"Anyway.... She won’t be joining us in our training in the meantime..."

"So you can come whenever you want." Erica added, smiling at Zorat.

But Zorat was having thoughts of his own...

Gone to hunt down Victor ?....

Azaria ?

What a load of bull. Hehehe