Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
“How do you almost kiss someone? You either do or you don't,” Pia argued with me as I followed her to a table in the kitchen and sat down with my lunch.
We hadn't seen each other much this past week, so I was just getting to fill her in on everything. I decided to keep the prophecy between Sebastian and I for now, at least until I got a better understanding of it.
“I dunno, that's just what it was. An almost kiss.”
“Well did your lips touch?”
“Urm, yeah I guess kind of.”
“Then it was a kiss,” she said, tossing her hands up.
“No…it really wasn't,” I fought back.
“You are ridiculous, you know that?”
“Why?” I exclaimed, flashing her a look of confusion. “He almost kissed me, not the other way around.”
“Whatever.” She finished chewing. “How long do you plan to dance around the fact that you like each other?”
“I'm not dancing around anything. That's not something you just blurt out to someone.”
“Well, why not? Look at Kohen and I. We started off as friends with benefits and now we are soulmates.” Her eyes brightened at the claim.
“Does he know this?” I asked sarcastically, followed by a laugh.
She flipped me her middle finger.
“Well last I heard you two weren't that serious,” I imitated her previous claim.
“Things have changed.”
I leaned back in my seat and took another bite of my food. The way things had been going lately, it seemed like Sebastian might have feelings for me, too. What was the worst that could happen if I told him? Besides him turning me down, or his father finding out and appointing me a new guard.
Pia waved her fork in front of my face. “What's going on in that head right now?”
“Nothing,” I lied and took a mouthful of my lunch.
Pia rolled her eyes again.
“Someone’s feisty today,” I snorted.
She looked back at her own food, picking around it with her fork. “Whatever, Maeve, but I swear to the gods, if you don't tell Sebastian, then I will.”
“Tell me what?”
I almost choked. My eyes widened on Pia as she looked up behind me.
You suck, I mouthed to her, before turning around and flashing Sebastian an innocent smile.
“Good afternoon, Crown Prince Hawthorne,” I greeted him facetiously.
He looked unamused. “Any chance you’ll soon let that go?”
“No. Probably not. I rather like your formal title.”
The black pants of his uniform tightened around his leg muscles as he sat down next to me, his diamond dagger glistening in the binding around his thigh. “Did you have something to tell me?”
I caught a glimpse of Pia’s smirk, which vanished quickly when I kicked her from under the table.
“Nope.” Pia was not getting her way today.
“Huh…that's interesting. Because I swear I heard—”
“You heard nothing.”
Pia groaned, tossing her head back and shaking it. I was sure I’d hear later about how annoyed she was at my determination to keep my feelings harbored within me.
Sebastian looked at her. “What's your problem? Kohen finally come to his senses?”
She stuck her tongue out at him, not responding to the satirical comment. The two of them acted just as siblings. Picking and prodding at each other every chance they got.
Turning back towards me, Sebastian asked, “Are you almost ready?”
I swallowed a sip of water and groaned, “Unfortunately.”
“What? Don't fancy meeting with the king of Caelestis this afternoon?”
“Never have and never will,” I replied, pushing up from my seat. I waved goodbye to Pia, who looked fairly displeased, then meandered after Sebastian through the cool corridors of the castle, an uncomfortable silence joining us on our travels.
Eventually Sebastian cleared his throat, disrupting the tranquility of our walk. “Should I be worried about what you're not telling me?”
My pulse quickened. “No. Drop it.”
He, of course, did not drop it.
“What were you two talking about?” he pushed.
“Nothing. Really.”
“Then why are your cheeks turning red?”
Damn it. I could feel the heat of my blushing skin, but hoped he wouldn't notice. “I’m hot.”
“Really? The snow on the ground outside would beg to differ. Maybe you should take your cloak off.”
“No, thank you.”
Sebastian stuffed his hands into his pockets and bobbed his head as he tried not to smile. Or was he trying not to laugh?
I came to a halt, crossing my arms over my chest and tapping my foot. “What's so funny?”
He stopped walking, too, and turned his torso to face me, grinning. “You told her.”
“Huh?”
“You told Pia about the other day in my room.”
My face went blank. Keeping anything from this man was damn near impossible. Not to mention that I was taken aback that he even brought it up.
I stuttered to find something to say. “How do you—”
“I know Pia almost too well. She’s easy to read and she loves butting into my personal life. It was an easy assumption to make, and your reaction proved me correct.” He turned on his heel and continued back down the corridor.
I demanded my feet to unfreeze and hurried after him, not stopping until we stood feet before the king's study.
“Wait.” I grabbed his arm to stop him from going any further. “I didn't tell her anything else. Nothing about what happened before we…” My voice trailed off. I didn't even know what to call what happened between us.
My arm fell when he turned to face me. His eyes gleamed animalistically as he slowly stepped towards me, backing me into the wall.
“Before we what?” he asked, the deepness of his tone sending my body into survival mode. He looked at me the same way he had in his room, with an expression full of lust and longing.
I wriggled in my skin, shaking to release the pressure his attention was building inside of me. His face was demanding and a smirk developed on his lips while he watched me struggle to form a sentence.
“Before we almost kissed,” I blurted the words out. I didn't mean to, but knew he was waiting for me to say them.
He came closer, keeping me trapped against the wall. Even if I wanted to get away from him, I couldn't. “Is that what we did?” his voice taunted, a hint of seduction laced between the syllables, slipping off of his tongue like a smooth, antagonizing kiss.
He placed a hand against the stonework above my head and I glanced down to free myself from the heat of his gaze. I worried that if I looked back at him, that I would turn our almost kiss into a real one.
“I thought so…Wasn't it?” The words stumbled from my mouth. The same tension that filled the air during that moment together seemed to have followed us here, and I couldn’t fucking breathe.
“Well that won’t do, now will it?” Sebastian put a finger under my chin, guiding my head back up to look at him. My lips fell apart as my attention was drawn to his mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“I don't like to leave things unfinished,” he breathed into the side of my neck, his lips sweeping across my skin.
“Here?” I questioned. “Your father—”
“I don’t give a fuck about him.”
We were seconds away from finishing what we started in his room, when the door to the study flew open. We jumped apart, and despite his claim, Sebastian sighed in relief when he saw Sawyer’s wide eyed expression instead of his father’s.
Sawyer closed the door behind him, kicking off of it as he strutted for us, a devious smile drawn out on his face. “Whatcha guys doing?”
Sebastian shot him a look of warning, ignoring his question. “Why were you in there?” He gestured towards the study.
“Our fathers called a conference to the throne room in ten minutes. I'm on my way to collect Kohen and the other head soldiers.” Sawyer turned his attention towards my beet red face. “You've been instructed to attend as well.”
“Did they say why?” Sebastian asked.
“Something about Beaumont, but that's all I know.”
My body tensed at the mention of the king of Draemor’s name.
“Oh, and heads up, they are still in there. So you may want to take your public displays of affection elsewhere.” Sawyer winked, then turned his back to us and continued down the hall.
“Are you doing okay?” Sebastian questioned me while he unlocked the door to my new room—my safer room—in the soldiers’ quarters. My rucksack that one of the handmaidens had packed for me hung from his shoulder.
I nodded as he pushed the door open. My room was on the same floor as his, just a few doors down. The king wanted me to be as close to Sebastian as possible in case he needed to “rush to my rescue” in the middle of the night.
I scoffed at the thought. When did everyone decide that I couldn't protect myself? They never even gave me a chance to prove that I could.
Sebastian entered the room first, and I stopped in the doorway to take it in. I had grown to like my old room and dreaded leaving, but the size of this new space made up for it.
The layout was the same, but the walls were painted a dull white. A singular ceiling fixture illuminated the entire room, and the scent of wood from the caramel furniture warmed my senses as I stepped onto the bronze carpeted floor.
“Your clothes will be delivered by the end of the day,” Sebastian informed me, swinging my bag off of his back and passing it to me.
I swiped it from him and moved towards my new bed, dumping the contents out onto the duvet. There wasn't much in the bag as most of my belongings were confiscated when I arrived.
I stacked my emotion-covered parchment sheets, which looked as though they had been read by the one who packed them, and shoved them into the desk, leaving one blank sheet out to write on when I was alone.
Then, I tried to ignore Sebastian in hopes that he'd leave me alone.
I heard the door close, but knew he hadn't left.
“Maeve, you're kinda freaking me out.”