Michael felt quite fresh that night and still buzzing with the moment he had shared with Rose in the garden. He could not sleep. He lay there on the bed staring at the ceiling replaying the scene in his head. He had already begun to imagine the future with her and all sorts of scenarios went through his head.
For some reason, her scent still clung to his nostrils as if she was present in the room. That's when Michael realized it was coming from the book that she had handed to him. It was grasped tightly in his hand and for the first time he acknowledged it.
Michael stared at it in confusion. Why did she give this to me? It was a beautiful purple hardback with the title Eye of the Storm. The description in the book was as follows:
In the peaceful land of Walmin, two lovers, Violet and Petr meet for the first time. Unfortunately, they find barriers between themselves. She a princess, he a soldier, their love is forbidden and with Manus, The Traveler of Worlds, The Destroyer of Worlds, pursuing the princess, it seems everything is going against them. Will their love prevail or will it end in tragedy?
Michael couldn't help but wonder, does she love me too? Why else would she give this to me? His heart was buzzing again. The idea that someone as beautiful as her would have feelings for him made him feel over the moon.
Michael opened the book treating it with care and respect as if it was a holy book. He began to read and was surprised to note that his reading was quite fast. He wondered if that fact had something to do with his past.
The story started off with the following passage:
In the land of Walmin, the ritual of birth was an intriguing event. Every person born was born with eyes the color of the sky on their birthday. There were a lot of people with the common sky colors: blacks, blues, oranges. But in the palace of the King Vedaj, on the rare eclipse that occurred only every hundred years was blessed with the birth of a baby girl. The moment she opened her eyes, everyone exclaimed at the uniqueness of them. They were the color of dark violet just like the sky had been during the eclipse. Her mother named her Violet and she grew up to be a beautiful woman.
Her whole life people praised and envied the uniqueness of her eyes. But they did not know how lonely she felt. The law of the land was to blame for that. In the land of Walmin, only people of the same eye-color could love each other. Blue was for blue, black was for black and so on. Love between different colors was a grave crime one that was punishable by death. It was very tough to keep it secret as well because children bore from the bond between different eye-colored parents were born with different eye colors as well. A child of a blue eye-colored mother and an orange eye-colored father would have one orange eye and one blue eye. These children were banished to one of the adjacent lands, Nia, an island with foreboding living conditions as they were considered impure.
All of Violet's friends had found someone except her. There was no one born of the violet hue of her eyes. It was a living curse to be alone and she longed to be with someone. No one said it to her face but they snickered at the thought of her being alone.
There was also the looming danger of Manus, The Traveler of Worlds, The Destroyer of Worlds. The people of Walmin had once fought him off a long time ago but he was back. The rain of blood that had fallen a few months after her birth had signified his return. She did not remember that day of course but her mother had described it to her. The sky was the color of blood and heavy, hot rain had fallen down on the world. The land of Walmin was no longer safe or peaceful as the war had begun.
Twenty years later, they were losing the war. It had gotten so bad that King Vedaj had to bring in the best soldier in his army to guard his daughter. His name was Petr, a quiet, forlorn man and he was the son of the general who was a close friend of Vedaj. Petr was supposed to stick close to Violet wherever she went. The idea had initially not gone well with the princess but finally succumbed to her father's wishes.
The first thing the princess noticed about him were his eyes. They were blood red, not the reds she had seen in the people born during the sunsets. They made him look daunting yet his face had a gentleness to it that she could not understand.
Michael was thoroughly intrigued by the story as it went into the details of the princess's life and the various conflicts that she faced. It also showed the buildup between Petr and the princess as they start to get close to each other. One particular scene followed later on which Michael had a hard time reading. It was almost identical to the moment he had shared with Rose in the garden.