Genia's eyes widened in surprise. This man had seen her bathing last night. That meant... she shouted angrily, "How dare you do such a dirty thing? Should you even be ashamed?"
Genia felt ashamed just thinking that this man standing in front of her had seen her taking a bath yesterday. How could she face him? She was furious, but how could she possibly face these beasts? He would kill her with just one blow of his claws.
Hearing Genia's words, Alex's face momentarily twisted. His composure wavered. He averted his gaze from Genia and took a deep breath.
"You talk too much," Alex said flatly, but his words lacked the harshness they had previously.
"You watched me bathe!"
Genia's anger now overtook her fear. "You violated my privacy! Just because you're a prince doesn't mean you can spy on anyone. You're a... a pervert."
Alex narrowed his eyes. The word "pervert" was new to him, but the tone in which she said it made him understand. He fixed his cold, grey eyes on Genia again.
"I don't come here to spy," Alex said, his voice a little hoarse now. "That waterfall... it's not just a spring. It's a memory of my mother. The magic that my third mother, Mara, manifested. It only appeared to those she loved, or those who needed it."
Genia's anger suddenly cooled. She saw the deep sorrow on Alex's face that he tried to hide. She knew the pain of losing loved ones, though her world was different. "Mara?"
Genia asked softly.
"Yes," Alex replied. "And she's gone. The clan fell apart after she and the other three mothers left. We brothers, once each other's strength, are now strangers to each other. Why this waterfall appears behind this house, I don't know. But this is the only place I find peace. As a child, I once accidentally saw my Mara mother magically create this waterfall. I was very young at the time and didn't understand what all this was about. All I remember is that my Mara mother made me promise not to tell anyone about this waterfall and its magic. I've been coming here every night to see this waterfall since he left."
Genia realised that Alex's words were not just information, but a confession. He was showing his weakness. In this harsh world, where power was everything, a prince expressing his sadness was nothing short of a grave risk.
"So you come here every night?" Genia asked, her voice softer now.
"Yes," Alex replied.
"And last night, I saw you. But you were facing away. So I didn't see your face. Then you suddenly turned away. I stumbled back in fear when I saw you turn around, but I forgot I was sitting on a wall, and I fell as I slid back. That's why you heard me scream."
After listening to Alex, Genia thought to herself, "So this means he has not seen my face. Otherwise, he would have known that my face is ugly."
Although Genia covered her face again to check with Alex, the scarf was already there. "What did you see?" she asked.
Alex replied after a long silence, "I saw a girl who seemed not of this world. She was alone in the water, happily jumping towards some rabbit. Even just a short while ago, your eyes didn't hold the fear that any Clan girl usually has when she sees a Tiger Beast. There was anger in your eyes. And a strange challenge."
Then Alex remembered that he did not know who this girl was and what she was doing here in this house. The house had been closed for years, ever since my Mara mother left. He asked Genia, "Who are you and what are you doing here in this house?"
Genia took a deep breath. She thought about how Alwx was looking at her. Was he seeing her only as a body, or had he truly recognised the soul within her that was a girl of the modern world? She said, "My name is Genia, and I'm from Monkey Clan!"
She told Alex the same thing she had told Kevin. She didn't want anyone to catch her lying that she was from the Rabbit Clan, not the Monkey Clan.
" Monkey Clan, if you're from Monkey Clan, what are you doing here in the Black Tiger Clan?"
As far as Alex knew, the people of Monkey Clan always lived together; they never separated from each other, so what was a female of Monkey Clan doing in his clan?
Hearing Alex's question, Genia told him everything that had happened to her, how she escaped from those people and how Raghav brought her with him to Black Tiger Clan to get his friend treated.
Hearing this, Alex remembered that he had thought about Kevin bringing a girl with him to the Black Tiger Clan, but he did not know that the girl sitting in front of him would be that girl.
" But the people of the Monkey Clan are very ordinary?"
Alex could not stop himself from asking Aditi the question that came to his mind.
"I'm no ordinary person," Genia said firmly. She was from a different world and had a different experience, so she was very different from all of them.
Hearing Genia's words, Alex replied, "I know."
" You know? But how do you know?" Genia didn't understand why the First Prince had said that.
Alex said softly, "Ordinary monkeys scream, and they run away in fear."
Having said this, he looked deep into Genia's eyes and said to her, "But you... you fight."
A strange tension developed between them. It was no longer the tension born of fear, but rather a pull that bridged two worlds. Alex was now standing closer to Genia, and she could feel his breath on her face.
Genia felt her heart start pounding again, but this time it wasn't panic. It was something else. An excitement she couldn't understand.
"So, what will you do now? Will you tell Kevin about this waterfall?" Genia whispered.
Alex's eyes fell on her lips, which were trembling slightly under the scarf. He said, "Kevin doesn't need to know about this waterfall, and you don't need to tell anyone about my presence."
Genia asked, "Is this a compromise?"
"A compromise…"
Alex simply nodded.
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from a distance. Genia was startled. She quickly looked around. If Kevin or anyone else had seen them in this condition, the situation could have become very bad.
"You have to go!" Genia whispered, trying to push him away.
From Alex's words, she had come to know that some enmity or misunderstanding had arisen between all those brothers. So if someone sees him and Alex together, both of them will be stuck in a different situation, and there may be a fight between the brothers again.
Alex ignored her attempt to push him away. He looked Genia in the eyes one last time, and then, just as quickly as he had come, he turned back towards the wall and disappeared with a leap.
Genia stood there, her breathing still heavy. She placed a hand on her chest, where her heartbeat still thumped loudly.
"First Prince Alex," she mused. "Quiet, mysterious, and… a little broken."
She was still angry that he had seen her bathing, but beneath that anger, a new curiosity had arisen. She slowly made her way back into her house, but her mind was still on that dry courtyard. She wondered if the waterfall would come again. And would she ever look again into the eyes of the hunter who was trying to read her soul?
As she stepped inside the house, she saw Kevin standing there waiting for her, a worried look on his face.
"Genia! What were you doing at the back of the house for so long?" Kevin asked, a hint of protectiveness in his voice. Ever since James had come to meet him, Kevin had been feeling that something wrong was definitely going to happen.
He did not want to let Genia go away from him, nor did he want anyone else to look at her. So when he saw the scarf still tied around Genia's mouth, he felt relieved that Genia had not removed the cloth from her mouth.
However, he did not know that someone else had already set his eyes on Genia and perhaps very soon Rexon would also set his eyes on her.
Genia thought for a moment. Should she tell him about Alex? But then she remembered his sad eyes.
"I was just… I was just checking out that waterfall," she lied, a slight hesitation in her voice.
Kevin looked at her and then sighed. "I told you it could only be an illusion," he said. "Now come inside; you need to rest."
Genia nodded yes and went inside, but there was a small smile on her face. She now knew that she had a secret in this clan that only she and the First Prince of the Black Tiger Clan knew.
As soon as she reached her room, she removed the scarf and looked at her face in the mirror. But there was a sparkle in her eyes now.
"Let's see, First Prince," she said to herself. "The next time you see me, I won't let you take away my peace so easily."
Night fell, and darkness descended upon the Black Tiger Clan's palaces. But for Genia, this darkness was no longer frightening. She waited for the night when that magical waterfall would reappear and when she would again meet the man who had seen her at her most vulnerable, yet still tried to understand her.
Alex stood alone by the window of his room. His eyes were fixed on the garden outside, but something else was on his mind. He could still feel that tingling sensation in his palms... the pressure he had felt when he had pinned Aditi against the wall. He closed his eyes.
Genia's scent wouldn't leave his mind. It wasn't like the beasts he'd hunted before. This scent was so pure, something completely different and new.
"Genia," he muttered softly. He thought to himself, "Genia... that name sounds so perfect. But I know I'm playing with fire. I never imagined a Monkey Clan girl would be able to control me like this."
She was a weakness to him. A weakness that his brothers could exploit. But still, Alex was just waiting for the night. He was restless; he had to reach Kevin's area as soon as possible so that he could see the same stubbornness and rebellion in Genia's eyes again.