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“Come on,” I say. “We should go back to the palace.” Her sisters watch with obvious envy as I take Elizabeth and guide her out of the house. I help her into the car again and take my spot behind the wheel.
“You okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know what I thought would happen,” she says, staring at the dashboard. “It’s like I was expecting them to apologize, or I just wanted them to know I was happy now, like it would be some kind of revenge. But I guess I understand now, at least. They always resented me. They treated me like crap because they knew one day I’d be living a life they could never have.”
“Do you feel better knowing that?” I ask.
“No,” she says, laughing a little. “Not really. But it felt good kicking him, at least.”
I laugh. “Yeah. It was worth the drive just to knock him out.”13ElizabethIt’s early morning when we return to the city. Roark takes us through a secret tunnel system that he says will let us out just beyond the palace gates. I feel exhausted, excited, and nervous all at once. On one hand, I know I’m actively breaking laws I don’t even understand in a city I understand even less. We could probably both be executed for being together while I’m supposed to be promised to Prince Titus, but I feel more alive than I’ve ever felt, and I know I have Roark to thank for that.
“I don’t want this to end,” I say after we’ve gotten out of the car and started to climb our way out of some kind of underground parking garage for super cars.
“I don’t intend to let it,” says Roark. “But it won’t be easy.”
“Can you promise me one thing?” I ask.
“Anything,” he says, stopping to run a hand through my hair and look into my eyes.
“Well,” I say, feeling stupid and needy, but knowing I need to say what’s on my mind anyway. “Everything between us us moving so fast. I just want to know you feel the same way I do, that I’m not just some silly little girl falling in love with a man who might only want to have some fun.”
“Falling in love?” he asks with a grin and a raised eyebrow.
Oh God. My face feels like it’s on fire. I duck my head into his chest, holding onto his shoulders. “That’s not… well--I just--”
“I’m just upset you haven’t already fallen in love like I have,” he says, tilting my chin up until we’re face to face. “Because it sounds like I’m way ahead of you.”
I kiss him, standing on my tip toes and pulling up on his shoulders to reach his mouth as I do, but I kiss him for all I’m worth, like I’m pouring all the anxiety and hope I’ve ever felt into this single moment. And then for good measure, I reach behind him and squeeze his firm ass, biting my lip and pulling back. “Can you say it?” I ask.
“Say what?” he asks.
“You know. Make it official. Say the words. I… blank… you…” I say.
He laughs. “I fucked you?”
I slap his chest. “Roark! Don’t make me beg.”
“Oh? Is that option on the table? Because I would--”
A footsteps scuff against the stone ahead, drawing both our attention. I turn to see two men in royal colors running up the staircase we just kissed in, and I realize rumors are about to turn to fact very quickly.
Roark tenses, jaw flexing as he watches after the men.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“It means my brother and my mother are either about to declare war on us, or I don’t know them at all.”
We make the rest of the trip to the palace on edge. Roark watches every guard or noble who passes us suspiciously until he’s sure they aren’t a threat. Instead of turning left through the main entrance of the palace toward my rooms, he takes me to the right, down a long corridor I haven’t seen before.
“Where are we going?” I whisper.
“Someplace they won’t know to look. Not yet at least,” says Roark.
He knocks hard on a door near the end of the corridor. A man groans from inside before he swings the door open, squinting at us from sleepy eyes.
“So it’s bad, then?” asks the man.
Roark leads me inside without answering the man. “Elizabeth, this is Dirk. If he touches you or even looks anywhere below your chin, tell me so I can cut his balls off. Okay?”
“Damn, I can’t even look at her neck?” asks Dirk.
“Not unless you want to lose your balls,” says Roark.
I smile shyly. “Hi, Dirk,” I say.
He bows, carefully keeping his eyes above my head as he does. He gives Roark a sarcastic look to see if he approves, to which Roark nods. Someone groans from his bed and sits up. My eyes widen when I see two large breasts and a red headed girl with a freckled nose. She frowns, notices Roark, and then pulls the blankets up to cover herself.
