Chapter 48
They were exactly as I had imagined them. His lips.
Soft as silk and so gentle, as though he were afraid that a single touch might break me. He held my face with one hand while my arms wrapped around his neck.
"Princess," he whispered against my lips. And all I wanted was more. I needed more.
I caught the back of his neck and pulled his head toward me again, connecting our lips once more.
My heart was pounding so violently inside my chest that I thought he might hear it, but I didn't care.
The only things that mattered were the softness of his curls falling across his face, tickling my cheeks, and the taste of his damp lips, now mixed with mine.
Slowly, he parted his lips from mine and rested his forehead against mine. His eyes were still closed, his cheeks flushed.
"Is this real?" he asked. I ran my fingers through his curls, brushed them behind his ear, and let my hand travel down until it rested against that sharp jaw.
"What do you think?" I asked before gently turning his face and pressing a kiss to his cheek, then resting my forehead against his again. His body began trembling with quiet laughter, and like a cat, he gently nudged his forehead against mine.
"My princess," he whispered before finally opening those two beautiful eyes.
They looked at me as though I were the most precious treasure in the world, as though everything he had ever wanted was standing right in front of him.
"We have to go back now. The sun is already up, and they'll be looking for us." He said it quietly, but I could hear how much he didn't want to leave either, how badly he needed this just as much as I did.
"You're right," I answered, still under the spell of his lips.
They were damp and plump, practically begging me to taste them again. Still, I knew it was best that we return. I tried to turn and take a step away from him, but he caught my hand and pulled me back.
Once again, his lips touched mine, and his tongue took command of the kiss. This one was brief and different from the one before. It was more dominant, and yet in the way only Lysande could manage, gentle enough to make me let him into every thought in my mind.
Every memory I had now felt stained by that kiss.
Then he pulled me beneath his chin and wrapped his arms tightly around me. His strong arms circled my back while his face disappeared into my hair. He took a deep breath, as his lips brushed against my exposed neck, making me shiver.
"Now we can go, Princess," he whispered against my neck before intertwining his fingers with mine.
And so, with his rough, scarred hand wrapped around mine, we went to the horses, caught them, and rode back toward the court filled with people who expected something from me that I could no longer give them.
Because now it was clear as the morrow before us.
All the stories, songs, and fantasies inside my head were no longer about a lord or a prince.
They were about one soft-spoken, dark-haired knight.
"Sister, where in the seven courts have you been? I've been looking for you all over the court!" Meera's voice interrupted the guards announcing my entrance into the dining hall. Some of the lords rose in greeting while the others remained seated.
"Good morrow, lords and ladies. I hope you managed to get some rest after last night," I said with a smile to everyone present. Prince Haarza, who was sitting beside his sister and happened to have an empty seat beside him, rose and approached me.
Meera, as always, along with Corian and Sando, followed his every step with expressions somewhere between amusement and promised disappointment.
"Princess." He dipped his head before me, took my hand, and brought it to his lips. They were far too soft and nothing like Lys's. It almost made my face twist in disgust, but I managed to stop myself.
"Prince," I answered politely.
I heard Lys behind me shift one step closer in his armor.
"My princess, you look ethereal this morning. May I say that you are even more beautiful than last night? Your face is practically glowing." He was still holding my hand and looking at me with those bright eyes.
"Thank you for the compliments, Prince. I don't know what I've done to deserve them." I saw that he wanted to say something else, but fortunately Meera's earlier question saved me. "And to answer you, sister, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go riding with Ser Lysande."
Meera's brows drew together.
"You rode?" She looked genuinely surprised.
"Ser showed me another side of horses that I never knew existed." Fortunately, Haarza stepped slightly to the side, making it clear that his first attempt at courtship was over.
"Pray, be seated, Princess." He gestured toward the table, and I walked past him with a polite smile.
"Prince." I heard Lys's deep voice greeting him from behind me, followed immediately by the heavy sound of his footsteps as he approached.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I didn't realize how much time had passed, and the servants informed me about breakfast rather late," I said as I walked past the occupied chairs and reached the only empty one in the middle of the table, directly beside Haarza.
Before Lys could reach me, Haarza hurried over and pulled out my chair.
"Your Highness." I bit my tongue to keep from saying what I wanted to, but I certainly couldn't hide the unwilling press of my lips after he did it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Corian sitting beside Meera, while the only empty chair for Lys was all the way at the end of the table, nearly seven seats away from me.
Haarza sat to my right, but before Lys even had the chance to head toward his assigned seat, I turned toward the lord to my left.
"My lord, please." I gestured toward him, and he blinked at me in confusion. "My Blood Knight sits beside me, Lord. Everyone, move over one seat and free this chair." I said it politely enough.
And so, the great lords of the wealthiest kingdom moved aside, making room for a knight to take his place among them. My knight.
"Lysande, please." I pointed toward the chair.
The only sound in the small dining hall, with its wide-open windows and autumn wind stirring the curtains, was the scrape of the chair against the floor. Lys's broad shoulders almost touched mine as we sat beside one another. Like Corian, he was one of the largest men at the table.
"And what do you say, sister? You went riding?" Meera asked again, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled around them.
"I must admit, I hope you rode the horse I gave you, Princess. That would certainly make this already beautiful morning ever so much more delightful." Haarza spoke beside me in his heavy accent laced with sweet poison.
"Unfortunately, Prince, I must bear the bad news and disappoint you. Although he is a beautiful and powerful beast, he is simply too large for me. We don't have a saddle that fits both my size and his."
And it was the truth.
After we returned, and of course stopped once more between the tall rose bushes so I could taste his lips again, we went back to the stables and stayed there briefly.
There, after some convincing and with Lys's slightly jealous eyes watching, I climbed onto that enormous beast with his hand beneath my foot.
And yes, he truly was far too large and broad for any saddle we had.
"Ah, then I must send you a saddle as well, mustn't I?" Haarza said cockily, and I stared at him blankly in return.
"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you, my prince. Your horse will be magnificent for pulling my carriage."
"Ah, Princess, there is no inconvenience when it comes to your happiness. Serving you is a reward in itself."
Once, words like those would have made my heart race and sent heat through my cheeks and lower between my legs.
Now, I only nodded politely, hoping he would turn his attention to someone else.
Beside me, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lys gripping his salad fork so tightly that his knuckles had gone white. With that fork, he stabbed a piece of meat. I gently nudged his thigh.
He looked at me from the corner of his eye.
Then I picked up the proper fork, the one with two prongs instead of three, and stabbed a piece of meat on my own plate. He nudged my leg back, put down the three-pronged fork, and picked up the two-pronged one instead.
"So, brother, have you seen Faran?" I asked Sando.
He slowly lowered his glass. "Why do you need him?" he asked, but his eyes flickered toward Meera before returning to me. I shook my head slightly, indicating that I would tell him later.
He tilted his head in response.
"Faran is in the city." His eyes blinked a little too slowly. Faran was in the brothels.
"Ah," was all I said before Princess Yan's voice interrupted me.
"Princess, I was hoping you would join me for a walk through the gardens later. I've heard so much about them, and I still haven't had the opportunity to see them. They say they are especially beautiful this year."
Her black eyes and pale face looked at me with grace, but there was also something expectant hidden beneath them.
"Of course, Princess. It would be my pleasure, but I hope we can do it before evening. I didn't sleep at all after the ball, and my eyes are practically closing on their own."
She giggled at that. "Of course, Princess. Then before evening?" I simply smiled and nodded before finally turning peacefully back toward my plate.
Some casual conversations among the lords and princes began passing around the table, but my entire attention, until we finally rose and made our way toward our chambers, remained on Lys.
I watched him from the corner of my eye as he tried to learn the rules of table etiquette, struggling with the different types of forks and spoons, while I occasionally nudged him and pointed toward my plate to show him which one to use.