AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Don’t use his name. Don’t sit by him. Don’t ogle his perfect shoulders and chest and...
I shake my head. I’m supposed to hate him, and I suppose part of me still does. Although it’s getting harder to understand why. He didn’t hurt my mother, or me. He’s only a little older than me, probably wasn’t even in the Guard when my mother was taken.
“We should get back. It’s getting dark, and it would be wise to eat something before we sleep.” My train of thought is interrupted by his words, the reminder of fresh meat pulling at my hollow stomach.
I want to scream to free myself from my racing thoughts. But the way he said beforewesleep. Does he think I will sleep by him? Or is he saying he wants to sleep by me? I feel as if I’m going crazy. Of course he doesn’t mean anything by it.
Roan— I mean the captain— offers a hand out to me as he stands. I grab it, my skin prickling where we touch. I pull my hand free as soon as I’m upright. But as I take my first step through the rocky riverside, my feet latch onto something strong and steadfast. They lose solid ground, and I stumble my entire weight forward. I’m falling before my mind catches up to what has happened and before I can stop it. My body crashes into him, hardly nudging the man backward. He grips me tightly, unwilling to let me fall.
“I’m sorry,” I bluster, still trying to make sense of what just happened. Behind me lies an exposed tree root, my foot still trapped underside it and caught in its grip. I grasp at his shoulders, trying to unhook myself so I can stand independently once again. “Stupid roots blend in a little too well,” I continue, trying to appease my clumsiness. I peel myself away from his damp shirt, my hand feeling each muscle as I move from him. It’s times like these that I wish my memory wasn’t so damn good.
“I’m glad I was here to catch you.” He genuinely smiles. Not a smile like he’s embarrassed for me and doesn’t know what else to do, but a real smile as if he understands. “Just last month I fell over my own sword. Flat on my face. I’m not sure I’ll ever live that one down.”
“I suppose we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t act dim-witted on occasion,” I say, trying to keep my traitorous smile and pounding heart at bay.
“Agreed,” he responds.
I realize I’m staring up at him still, like a buffoon. He simply stares back, his eyes searching my face. I take a deep breath before untangling the last of myself from his arms.
It’s like I’m an imposter in my own skin as another shiver rolls up from my hands. The ghost of his own gripping me still lingers even though we’re no longer touching. I stare at them as I walk back to our camp, confusion as present as the heat raging deep inside me. I don’t know what this is, and I’m as afraid as I am intrigued.
I’m almost done. I’m almost free.Don’t screw this up.
Starting some side romance on a hunt for a princess isn’t and never has been in my plans. Especially when I promised to hate the entirety of the Guard for all of eternity after everything with Mother. But it’s hard to forget the way he looked at me before Jaren showed up. The way we spent the night. The way he closed the space between us. Waking up this morning cradled in his arms.
He’s Captain of the Guard, and who am I? Daughter of no one. Friend of nobody. I don’t even know my last name. The relationship would be short lived, a mere fling to stack in his memories ofthat one time.
I’m nothing near a proper lady— one who deserves a fine man, a fine house, and a bunch of little babies to grow up and carry on the family name. But I’m more than a book to be stacked on a shelf, never to be read a second time.
Each muscle in my face is taut as I roll through my options: continue on with the captain, spoiling whatever happy future I could possibly find. Or stay away. Find the princess, earn Prue and my freedom, and be on my merry way— finding those who took my mother from me, those who would hurt others for their own gain, and making them pay ten fold.
My mind is made up, and everything clicks in to place.
This won’t happen. This can’t happen. No morealmostmoments. No more intimate names. And definitely no more sleeping in his arms.
This is it. I willnevertouch the captain again.
31
Roan Montgomery
Irunastonedown the length of my sword, polishing the metal with each scrape and pass.
The fire is warm against my face. I stare into it, catching glimpses of Ari’s sleeping form in between the wisps of flames. My body is exhausted, but my head is unwilling to shut down.
Why does being so close to her feel so good? Merely catching her in her fall, her form against mine for only moments, was enough to completely undo me. Could she see how my body responded to her in my arms? Could she see the things I was thinking in that moment? If I wasn’t a gentlemen, those thoughts would have compelled me to keep myself wrapped around her for much, much longer.
Heat flushes across my skin as I imagine what it would feel like to kiss her— to feel her lips against my own, her hands gripping tightly around my neck, bringing me closer, wanting more. I close my eyes tightly, attempting to rub the images away with the heel of my hands. But when I open them again, she’s still there. And not just her physical presence sleeping across from me. This infuriating thief has taken root inside of me, despite my attempts to keep her at bay.
An image of Lena pokes into the fray.
I love her. I truly love her. But the love of a brother to a sister, a daughter to her father, or a friend to a friend. And she is— she truly is my friend. I tried the last three years, since her mother and father asked for our betrothal, to see her as someone I could love romantically. But the more I pushed myself, the further away our love was pulled.
Bringing two great houses together, the Montgomerys and the Chattans, would be a great feat. And I have confined myself to the idea of a marriage of convenience. A marriage to please the people around me. A marriage for the alliance it would bring, and the resurrection of the son and prince everyone lost.
I always thought loving Lena would be much like painting. Layer by layer you draw, brush, and stroke the canvas. Each day a new detail is added, a new color, a blending of hues and shapes molding themselves onto the paper. Days, months, and years may pass as the design unfolds itself from something unrecognizable, mere pigmented dots and chromatic lines growing into a landscape of glowing intensity. Until we finally step back and witness the exquisite portrait of our lives together— a tapestry woven from time and choice.
It becomes a beautiful creation inspired simply by choosing each other in each moment. By showing up each day and stoking that friendship, we would watch it transform into a picture of a love we both wanted. I never doubted Lena and I could learn to enjoy our lives together, built from the years of our friendship.
