Chapter 42 #2
I twitch a smile at how defiant we are at not wanting to express our deepest secrets.
We eat, and after another bite, juice spills on my shirt, causing Prince Reen to call me a slob, disgusting and unhygienic, which leads to our following conversation.
“What the fuck were you doing in my closet, Pandora?”
I snort a laugh, food spitting out of my mouth. The chair squeaks as I lean back, wrap my arms around my stomach, and my shoulders tremble. He rambles about how many times he could have killed me but had to resist the urge because he found it entertaining, knowing I was hiding in a fucking closet.
“Stop,” I howl with laughter. “It’s not like I wanted to be there!”
He grunts his response.
“And talk about horrible imagery. I was forced to see you naked one time.”
Prince Reen chuckles. “You had to, did you? You couldn’t, I don’t know, fucking have closed your eyes or looked the other way. Someone forced you to gawk at me when you saw me naked.”
My face burns. “Shut up.”
“My thoughts exactly.” He rises from his seat. “Finished?”
As I rise, two courageous teenagers gravitate toward Prince Reen, their phones clutched in their hands.
He eyes them, and his lip curls in utter disdain.
The heat that can turn into flickering flames ripples across his shoulders as I near him, and I know he’s not in the right mood for fawning fans and their complete obsession with someone they don’t know.
To save the young girls like I saved the shop clerk, I take hold of Prince Reen’s hand and drag him toward the music. His eyes turn wild, burning red, and when I face him, his hand reaches for my throat, and a livid expression crosses his face, but it doesn’t scare me.
“Dance with me,” I say.
Prince Reen arches his chin higher. “I don’t dance.”
I glance at the girls who took a few discreet photos and are now leaving. My shoulders ease, and I turn my attention to Prince Reen and the set irritation on his face.
“Don’t you want to live a little?” I say.
“No.”
“Not even a teeny bit?”
“No.”
I smile smugly at him. “Do you only know one word, Reen?”
“N—” He pauses, his frown deepening while mine broadens into a grin.
I pull him towards the elemny dancers who dance for pure enjoyment.
Like how Typha danced at the Crystal Ball while I stood in the shadows, envious of her carefree manner.
Or when I noticed everyone having fun at the academy dances while I stood on the outskirts and examined facial expressions.
My mind craves to be one of them, and in the short time I have left, I’ll do anything to have this moment before I die.
The music turns upbeat. Dancers move away from one another when we join the circle.
A woman takes me by the shoulder and pulls me toward her until we form a line.
The man closest to Prince Reen tries to do the same to him, but thinks otherwise when Prince Reen gives him a daring look of utter fury.
Instead, he steps back into the line and folds his arms across his chest.
“What are we doing?” I ask the earth elemny with dark skin that’s standing beside me. “I’ve never really danced before.”
She smiles, but there’s no humour or weirdness over it and says, “Follow my lead. It’s easy.”
The earth elemny reminds me of Sara.
My heart beats erratically when the woman curtsies. I arch a brow at the thought of grovelling towards Prince Reen. So, instead, I wrap my arm in front of me and bow mockingly. When I look up, he twitches a smile.
Then, the women move. They wear long, flowy dresses that breeze through the air while I dance like slaughtering lambs. Every movement they make reminds me of flowing water, and mine reminds me of cutting someone’s throat.
The dancers twirl toward their partners, and when they grow close, they link arms and spin. I move toward Prince Reen, and as I connect my arm with his, he cringes but doesn’t shove me off him. More than likely, he’s entertaining my form of fun.
A man reaches for me, and when my hand clenches into a fist, close to clocking him in the nose, I notice the other women in the dance moving away from their partners and linking arms with strangers.
Releasing Prince Reen from his confines, I take hold of a man’s arm and another’s. The world spins. Neon lights, an orchestra of music, and gleaming stars blur as if they are raining down from the sky.
I’m high at this moment. My smile reaches my glistening eyes, and the flutter in my heart hits hard at the thought of this freedom.
The taste I’ve wanted but could never gain.
I am acting out my wildest dreams. And with every twirl and arm I link onto, another part of my life that I hold on to sheds until the woman who wants a life of her own emerges.
I reach for another arm when I hit a furnace instead.
The song slows, and the dancers partner up.
The dominant's hands settle against the submissive’s hips while the submissive moves across the dominant’s shoulders.
They look longingly into each other’s eyes, and a wash of blue, green, silver, and red intermingles with one word: Love.
Prince Reen’s hands settle on my hips. My muscles tense at his hand over the fabric of my scars. But before I flee, his hold tightens until my body presses up against him, and my hands rest on his chest, feeling the confident beat of his heart.
My focus shifts from the dancers to the man holding the souls he has killed in his eyes. They’re ablaze but guarded—the look of confusion with a hint of protectiveness.
He moves, and I follow his lead. There is a sense of grace in his movements, something I never would have expected.
But then again, fighting has the same style and elegance as dancing, does it not?
His moves make me understand that while I fight like a barbarian, he moves like a flame licking up a log sparked by flint.
My eyes close, and I tilt my head back and drink in the moment as he lures me into a slow dance.
A wash of crimson moves across flesh, and sharpened claws sink into flesh and rip out hearts. He caresses every kill and salivates in the gracious moment, while I move on to the next without batting an eyelash.
Prince Reen takes care of what he does and how he does it. I see it through closed eyes, and when his fingernails dig into my flesh, I feel the heat of a fire elemny different from the others. Sorrow fills him with how he feels, and a soul lost from Eraminia that he can’t find.
My eyes open, and I stare into his eyes and finally figure out my hunter. He has no soul to take. Replacing his soul is a fire that no one can distinguish.
“I figured you out,” I say.
He leans in, catching me off guard when his lips near mine. Closing my eyes, I accept it because this is what I wanted, right? I wanted Prince Reen to show affection toward me that would make him hesitate.
Except my heart beats faster, and a longing in my clit throbs until I imagine his fingers rubbing against it.
I’m fucking horny for my hunter.
Before anything happens, the hands on my hips let go, and I open my eyes to Prince Reen smirking at me.
Embarrassed, I step away when Prince Reen raises his hand, catching me off guard as he pokes my forehead.
His eyes crease, and a smile unlike any other I’ve seen him wear reaches his face.
“You’re cute when you show your true colours. ”
I hitch a breath.
Prince Reen’s smile then turns sinister, and a fire behind his eyes burns as bright as hell. “Remember, no matter what game you want to play, Pandora, know I am better at it than you.”
I swat his hand away and mutter, “Fuck you.”
He chuckles darkly. “At this given time, you probably fucking would, wouldn’t you?”