"No... don't..."
The young prince with freckles on his face suddenly opened his eyes on the redwood bed draped in velvet curtains. With a swift motion, he kicked off the blanket covering him and sat up abruptly.
"No! No! No!!!"
Looking at the lavishly decorated familiar sleeping chamber and smelling the faint incense the maid had lit before he slept, Joshua, dressed in silk pajamas, couldn't help but let out a long sigh as he leaned slowly against the headboard amidst the crackling of burning wood in the fireplace.
*It was just a dream...*
After panting against the headboard for a while, calming his overly rapid heartbeat, the freckled prince, whose pajamas were soaked with cold sweat, rubbed his eyes, wearily got out of bed, and walked across the pure white wool carpet towards the armchair opposite the fireplace. He then slumped into it, staring blankly at the flickering flames inside.
