69. Taking Risks
Chapter sixty-nine
Taking Risks
T hey traversed the cobbled streets back to Farrowvale Palace, Emmerich holding her steady as her sharp heels caught in the grooves. Hand in hand, their gazes never leaving each other as though they were the only two people in the entire world. Even with Wrenn Bleeker keeping pace behind them, her gaze ever-watchful, as though every person who staggered past was a threat. Yet once the gates of the palace loomed, Solveig felt that carefree air evaporate around her. For two ordinary people wouldn’t be returning to a palace.
“Don’t run off on me yet,” Emmerich whispered. “Let’s go to the beach. It’s too nice an evening to stay indoors.”
Silently, Solveig let him pull her forward. The sounds of the crashing waves growing louder as she bent to slip off her shoes, the tiled patio somehow still warm against her feet. As she was about to step down onto the sand, Emmerich turned to grip her waist, lifting her gently down next to him.
A faint flush creeped across her cheeks that she tried to hide as she bent to pick up the wine bottle. But Emmerich brought a finger to her chin, lifting her face to his as the sea breeze blew tendrils of raven hair across her face.
“Don’t hide from me.”
“I’m not,” she argued, tasting the lie on her tongue as surely as he heard it.
“Keep telling yourself that, love.” He shook his head as he entwined their hands once more, leading her further out on the beach to where a blanket and basket already sat waiting for them.
“You planned this?”
“I set it up after you and Adira left.”
Emmerich led her over to the blanket, where they sat, watching the waves; sipping on the wine from the party as they devoured the selection of treats he’d prepared. Time passed quickly as they enjoyed each other’s company; chatting aimlessly, until they both grew quiet, a newfound tension springing up around them. Solveig sensed the nerves pouring off the prince but was afraid to ask, afraid to acknowledge that something had changed between them.
“What is it?” she whispered finally, watching as his throat bobbed.
“I keep waiting for you to say something,” he forced out, rubbing a hand across his face. “Anything to let me know I’m not alone here.”
“You said we’d forget about the rest for tonight.”
“I can’t keep ignoring it Solveig, can’t pretend as though what I feel for you is nothing. I need you to be honest with me.”
Emmerich pulled her gaze back to his so that he could see her desperately trying to rebuild her walls. “Look at me,” he begged. “Let go. Stop worrying about the rest of them.”
“I can’t.”
“Will you tell me about the locket?”
“Anything but that,” she pleaded, hand gripping the collar of his shirt, as his drifted across her shoulder. The palace lanterns illuminated their faces.
“What are you hiding, Solveig? What hurt have you caged so tightly that you can’t speak of it?”
“Please, Emmerich… I can’t,”
His gaze became determined as he reached for the hand at his collar. “Come sailing with me,” he pleaded, this thumb drifting across the back of her hand. “Leave all of this behind. The rumours, the legends, the pain, leave it here and run.”
“I can’t run. I’ve sworn a duty to my people, no matter the cost to me.”
“Even if your soul is the price?”
“I traded my soul a long time ago, a twisted shadow is all that’s left.”
“You haven’t lost your soul, Solveig.”
She turned her face away as tears burned, staring out at the dark horizon. The crashing waves were an echo of her turmoil. “I wasn’t always this way. They used to love me. I was happy. Then it all crumbled around me. I never wanted to become a legend, a monster. I wanted a simple life with my love, but that dream was stolen from me. So I sold what was left to survive my new reality. I revelled in the power I discovered in the darkest parts of myself until that was all I was. Darkness. Roiling, aching and monstrous.”
“A monster wouldn’t have saved Malik. A lost soul wouldn’t have rescued Renit and her brothers. If you were truly all those things, you wouldn’t have saved me. You would have watched my blood spill at your feet with glee. They have you convinced that you’re the villain, but you aren’t. Don’t let them destroy you, Solveig. You’ve given them enough. Come sailing with me. Let me show you what true freedom feels like.”
Emmerich was leaning back on his elbows now; giving her space as she bared her soul. He stared out toward the ocean that called him home, as the breeze played with the curls that spilled over his forehead.
Solveig copied his movement, laying down as she spoke. “You once told me your ship has but a solitary bed, in the captain’s quarters. Your quarters.” She eyed him, daring him to deny it. “So, unless you plan on sleeping out under the stars for the duration of that trip, you’re shit out of luck.”
Emmerich’s head flew back suddenly, a full belly laugh escaping him. Solveig was too busy glaring at the dark waves that she realised too late as the prince went from lying beside her one moment. To hovering above her in the next.
The air fled from her lungs, mouth growing dry as a pleasant warmth tingled all over where his body was oh so close to touching hers. The despair that had twisted within her moments before fled, as the glow of his attention penetrated her shadows. She squirmed beneath his intense perusal as his gaze slowly raked up her body until their eyes met once more.
Emmerich lowered his head until his lips were at her ear. “I don’t know why you’re concerned, Princess. I would be the perfect gentleman.”
Solveig turned her head to the side slightly, bringing their lips dangerously close to lining up as their breaths mingled in the slither of air between them. Slowly, she raised one hand to his side, the other gripping the back of his neck as though to close the distance between them. She smiled, venomous and sweet, before turning the tables on him entirely. Shifting one leg between his to gain enough leverage to flip him onto his back, their positions reversed.
In the flurry of movement, she slid one hand beneath her skirt to where a dagger lay hidden at the base of her spine; holding it to the prince’s throat. Careful to not spill a single drop of blood.
“A perfect gentleman,” she whispered, “wouldn’t put a princess in a position where she may break her vow to another.”
“A vow made under duress hardly counts.”
“What if that’s all that’s stopping me from falling to the shadows completely? If I break it now, what will become of me?” She sighed, bending her head to bring her lips to the other side of his throat; feeling his heartbeat fluttering as she held the dagger resolutely still against him. Inhaling his warm scent.
“If only things were simpler,” she murmured. “If we weren’t who we are, if we weren’t where we are from, if I hadn’t made a vow to another. If. If. If.”
“If what, Princess?” He gulped, attempting to control his movements, causing Solveig to smile slyly at him. Her green eyes darkening as she mirrored his previous manoeuvre, bringing her lips up to his ear as she whispered.
“If none of those things were true, I would have let you kiss me again in that library. Perhaps we would have stumbled our way to the archives and scandalised the ancient historians there. Maybe we would burn too bright and too hot, risking setting thousands of years of priceless history aflame.”
Emmerich scoffed, raising a hand to where she held the dagger, and Solveig allowed him to lower it away from his neck. Pushing himself upward, holding her still in his lap, chest to chest. “There wouldn’t be any stumbling Solveig,” his voice commanded as the dagger fell to the blanket beside them. “I’d know exactly where to touch you to set you aflame.”
Solveig sighed bitterly, wrenching her gaze from his again, “but we are who we are, and we cannot do this.”
Emmerich loosened his grip, allowing her to pull herself free as she stood. Returning the dagger to its hiding spot, a chill skittered across her skin at the loss of his comforting warmth. Still, Solveig paused for a moment.
“I’ll go sailing with you, Emmerich, but you will keep your hands to yourself.”
As she turned to walk away, he jumped to his feet, grabbing hold of her wrist gently. “I will stay out of your bed for as long as you wish, but I make no promises to keep my hands to myself. Lest my manners force me to hold to it even after you renounce them.” He brought a hand to her face, stroking her cheek softly. “All you have to do is say the word, Solveig. I’d see you burn this world to the ground and reign over its ashes a dark queen.”