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5
Alina
It was a cage.
But cage or not, it felt more welcome. When he pulled me to him, just as closely as King Corbin had done, King Reece's hands felt warmer, sending a tingle down my spine. But I would not be fooled. I tried to pull myself free, but his grip only tightened, the smile on his face growing sharper, just as his gaze did.
It felt like escaping the shark only to run straight into a wolf. Those dark blue eyes pierced into me, trapping me, as I asked myself over and over what I was going to do.
"Are you talking to yourself?" he asked with an amused smile, as he twirled me around the dance floor, his hand on my bare skin. I felt the eyes of all the attendees on us, heard their judging whispers flitting to my ears.
I squirmed under his scrutiny, hyperventilating because of their judgment. "I suppose I was, yes."
He laughed. "And do you do that often?"
"I suppose I do." He twirled me towards the very center of the dance floor and I had to admire the smooth way he led me, the way his feet landed where they should, not stepping on mine, just strength and grace leading me around for all the eyes to stare at me. At us.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing the other women talking to each other as they watched. Even some of the men seemed to have a few words to say about the way he danced with me. I stiffened and looked back up at him. His hands held me gently, but somehow I knew they would snap tighter were I to try to move away.
"I would apologize for taking you from Corbin, but I am not sorry in the least. I do apologize for being rude. I promise to provide you with conversation." A light touch, a hand on my cheek.
"I talk to myself because, most of the time, I am the only person who I can hold a conversation with, Your Majesty. I’ve had little choice, since I have had few companions...” I trailed off, testing the limits of his grip on me. As I suspected, it tightened the moment I hinted at stepping away. “I really should get back to Corbin. It is what’s expected, and nobody paid me any mind then. That doesn’t appear to be the case now.” I looked back around, and I could not have spoken more of the truth. Eyes were on us even when propriety dictated that they pretend we weren’t the topic of their gossip.
"Yes, it seems that way doesn't it?" He sighed and stopped dancing. He stood there, a silent presence speaking volumes with one look. The stares were cast to the side, and conversation and dancing resumed. He offered me his elbow, and I hesitated only a moment before I laid my hand on it.
We walked in silence, feeling the eyes on us as this virtual stranger led me towards something that felt momentous, and somewhat dangerous. My eyes cast about, hoping to find Aric's. Perhaps he could come to the rescue. But for the first time, my brother would not be my savior, and I had no choice but to go with this cold man who ruled Oshal.
Refusing would create a scene.
He nodded to the guards who lined the small hallway off the grand ballroom before leading the way towards a small side door. A man dressed in nondescript grey stepped forward to open the door and precede us outside. A guard, no doubt to ensure it was safe. But without waiting for a signal, my captor pulled me forward and into the dark and dewy beauty of a luminous rose garden drenched in mysterious moonlight.
The gasp escaped my lips before I could keep it in. My fingers itched to touch, yearned to experience. While our palace in Lantis was not ugly, and was as luxurious as any normal palace could be, it had no true natural beauty like what lay before me. Everything at home was manufactured to be perfect as my mother demanded it—a facade that was empty and emotionless.
But I struggled to remind myself, just because it was beautiful did not mean that I was safe. Not when I was with the King of Oshal. The rumored cruel, sadistic king. I looked around and saw no sign of the guard who had walked ahead to check the gardens. A quick look behind me revealed no one else, as well. If there were guards, they were surely hidden and unobtrusive.
As the cold, biting breeze whipped the dress around my ankles, tore some of my hair from its updo to caress my cheeks, I felt a chill wrap around me that had nothing to do with the wind. I took a step back, but he matched mine with a step forward, not allowing me to increase the space between us.
"Are you scared of me then, my Princess?" His voice was soft, almost soothing. It was in direct contrast to the heat that sparked from the searing look in his eyes. The predator stalking its prey. Even in my innocence, I instinctively knew what it was to be wanted.
"I am afraid your reputation precedes you, Your Majesty. As I am an unwed princess making her debut, I fear what being out here alone with you will look like." I bowed my head as I muttered, "The wolf. His prey. And the cage that holds her."
He cocked his head to the side, studying me like one would a specimen under a microscope. "Yes, people do find much amusement in speaking about me as though they know me." He reached up, a thumb caressing my cheek. It singed my skin, lit a fire in my gut. "They like to talk about me. Much like they talk about you. Rest assured, I will never hurt you.”
But he said nothing about my reputation, and at that moment, there was nothing more I hoped for than to be anywhere else. Even as every other fiber of my being strained against the princess to simply be a woman who was allowed to feel desire.
"Do you want to go back in? To the safety of the other people who watch you with judgment in their eyes?" He walked ever closer but unlike I did before, I did not move. I couldn't—not when it felt like my feet were frozen to the ground. Rooted too deeply in the way his gaze skimmed over me. Inside my head, I heard the clang of metal like a cage door shutting behind me.
I swallowed as I tried to form the words. "Yes, please. I think I need to go back inside."
A smile—predatory but not cruel. "Liar." He grasped my hips and yanked me to him, and even the fabric of my dress and of his suit were not enough to hide the hard ridges of his muscles underneath. He was so close his breath mingled with my own as I drowned in the blue of his eyes, like an ocean deep and unfathomable. Seductively dangerous. "Do you truly wish to go back?"
My hands reached up to grip his shoulders because it felt like I would fall at any instant and needed the anchor. "I do, yes," I said breathily.
"No." And I saw him smile one last time before his lips crashed down on mine. Like waves against the sand, the sensations of his mouth on mine was powerful and unstoppable. He tasted like wine and a sharp, hot taste I could not place.
Should I ever think of it in the future, I would simply call the flavorReece.
I'd dreamt and yearned for a first kiss the likes of which they wrote about in great romance novels, but had resigned myself to the fact that a princess from a kingdom like mine would only ever have that in my head.
