AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yu, you seem excited.”
“Very excited. No parties at home.”
His brows rose. “Not even the giants?”
Yu wrinkled his nose. “Giants are enemies. No parties. Party poopers.”
He bit back a grin, understanding the size difference had a lot to do with the giant versus pixie discourse. But then again, their unique brand of aggressiveness might have something to do with that too.
“It’s not a party, per se. It’s more of a welcome banquet. So, more about food and mingling.”
“No dancing?” Yu asked, visibly disappointed.
“Maybe some dancing too.”
That was enough to kick up the pixie’s excitement again. After a few minutes of more puttering, it dawned on him that Yu was already practicing dance moves, awkwardly and wobbly to some but adorable to him. He tried not to react, leaving the small fellow to his devices and continuing to put on his clothes. Halfway through dressing up, a knock sounded on the dressing room’s door.
“Your Majesty, it’s Jyss. I came here to help you dress up.”
Jyss didn’t wait for his response, already sauntering in with a sway to her hips and wearing glittery scraps of clothing that barely covered her chest area. It was standard Jyss attire as far as he was concerned, something he didn’t pay attention to unless he was bored and she was eager to seduce him. None of that had happened in the past few months, mostly because he had been deliberately avoiding it.
“That shirt’s too plain,” she announced, hands already moving to unbutton it and pushing it off his shoulders. Fingers lingered, a brief touch here and there. “We need a flashier shirt for your welcome event.”
“It’s just a banquet,” he said, looking down when her hands trailed over his chest. “We have banquets all the time.”
“Not any to welcome a great prince like you. You look really good.”
“Weren’t you supposed to get me a flashier shirt?”
Her eyes glinted, amused at being caught. But she didn’t remove her hands, stepping closer instead and seemingly inhaling him. Her voice turned flirtatious as she rubbed her chest against him—an action that used to make him flirt back, but now he felt a stirring of discomfort.
His hand wrapped around her arm, debating between gently nudging her back or making a joke first to not hurt her feelings. The door opened again and in walked Emerald, impatiently tugging on her dress until her green eyes landed on the scenario. She froze. So did he.
“Oh. Am I interrupting something?”
It was fascinating how that impatience turned to frost in an instant, drawing him in unlike no other. Then his focus went to her dress, a light green ensemble that flowed around her knees. It didn’t shimmer or glitter like most dresses in the castle and was probably among the plainest except for its flowy, dreamy material, but something about the way she held herself while wearing it had his muscles tensing and heat thickening his blood.
“On the contrary.” He cleared his throat, realizing he was on the verge of openly displaying his arousal. “You look amazing.”
Perhaps it was the huskiness in his tone that turned her cheeks pink, but he liked it. They eyed each other, surveying from head to foot, and he noted her lack of shoes to fit in with most of his folks’ lack of footwear. The sight of her bare toes had him biting back a sound.
“So do all of you,” she finally returned, oblivious to how he was feeling and begrudgingly acknowledging Jyss. Jyss still had her hands on him, just a tad bit possessive until he casually stepped away from the contact. If anything, that only had Jyss turning more indignant.
“His Majesty is getting dressed and I’m helping him. We need some privacy—”
Emerald gasped, a dramatic sound that had Jyss stopping.
“I didn’t realize that he couldn’t dress himself.”
“What?” Jyss asked, confused. “He knows how to.”
“Then why are you dressing him?”
It occurred to him that the witch was being dramatic on purpose, and it was working. Jyss lost her indignance and appeared bewildered before the Fae returned to her default state: trying to rub against him and smirking haughtily at Emerald. Emerald lost her dramatics, her expression turning unreadable.
“I’m an events planner, which means I should be paying attention to what His Majesty wears and how good he looks—”
“I don’t need to be dressed, which I should have told you before you came in here. I also don’t need assistance with stuff like this from here on…so, you don’t need to show up here, Jyss. I would rather you focus your attention on the event, which I’m sure is going to be brilliant.”
