“There have been many days I wanted to run away.” Looking at the water, he said, “But I know I won’t. Porthos, one of my tutors, told me one day we’d have to fight against a terrible force and I’d have to stop it.” He shrugged. “Maybe the old man’s crazy.”
“You will be a good king whether you want to be a king or not.” I didn’t know what force his tutor could have meant but there were many terrible things in this world.
He took my hand, pulled me against him then wrapped me in his arms. “I hope so.” Squeezing me tighter, he lifted me up and nibbled on my earlobe.
I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck. He set me on my feet then tugged his shirt off. In the pale light of the moon and stars I could see his body’s perfection. As my eyes roamed over every curve of muscle, he laughed then splashed into the water and dove under. When he popped up through the surface, he wiped his face. “Damn this is cold.”
“What are you doing?” I called, going nowhere near that water myself.
He vanished and appeared beside me, dripping wet. “Fulfilling my end of our bet. I know it’s a little late and a river and not a lake but better than never.”
The sudden mischievous look in his eye had me backstepping. I pointed at him. “Don’t.”
“Oh come on, Princess I just want a hug.”
“You’re wet!” I squealed when he chased after me.
Magnus’s laugh rumbled the ground. I sprinted for the dragon but Zyacus caught my wrist from behind and spun me around. “Kiss me and I won’t hug you.”
“Fine.” Smiling but keeping my hand against his chest so he couldn’t hug me, I leaned forward, and pressed my lips to his. When he wrapped his arms around me and pressed his wet body against mine, icy-cold river water soaked into my clothes but I laughed. “Liar! You said no hug.”
“Oh, did I?” he said squeezing harder.
After a moment I realized I was pressed against a shirtless, dangerously sexy boy and pulled away. “Now that I’m soaked and it’s late, we should head back.” Ugh I couldn’t stop staring at him.
He glanced at the night sky. “Yes, if we’re lucky we’ll make it in time for curfew.” When he picked his shirt up and finally slipped it on, he said, “Don’t be too disappointed now. I know you like looking at all this bare skin.”
My cheeks burned. “Oh, hush up. Could your ego be any bigger?”
Smirking, he said, “I think it grew a little more when I noticed the Princess of Delhoon couldn’t keep her eyes off me.”
I gave him a soft, playful shove. “Bastard.”
He laughed. “Back to name calling are we?”
“Only when you deserve it.”
Chapter 30
The time up to the winter formal went by quickly. As if time itself sped up since Zyacus first kissed me. He and I could barely stay away from each other. When we had to be apart, I felt a pull, a yearning to be near him. I think if we hadn’t known each other for years, and hadn’t been bantering, and fighting and flirting for months, I’d have been much more shy with my first kiss, my first real feelings with a boy. And Zyacus made it easy. We didn’t do the hot and cold game anymore. He didn’t hide his feelings for me. It was like once we both admitted our feelings, a snap of the fingers and we were in it.
Every morning he waited at the bottom of my stairs, and every evening after classes and sparring lessons or whatever activity we had, we found each other. We spent hours laughing, talking, or stealing kisses in a darkened alcove. He made my heart race and distracted my thoughts, and if it weren’t for my classes really upping the brutality and how sore I was from the week, I would go to him straight after my last class today.
But I was limping after the lesson in Advanced Swords. Madison put us on two teams for an open battle, somehow Zyacus, Lora, and I ended up on the same team and we destroyed the other side but it took a lot out of me. I still got hit and bruised and was exhausted. I told Zyacus I would meet him in the dining hall for dinner but a nap was in order.
I crashed on my bed and snuggled in my blankets, pulling them up to my neck and was out in minutes. When I woke up it was dark. I waved a hand and my bedside candle lit up. Setting my feet on the floor, I felt a piece of paper crinkle under my toes. Someone had sent me a note while I’d slept. I smiled thinking it was probably from Zyacus. I grabbed it and pulled at the corners. It was folded several times which I thought was strange. When it finally opened, I read:
I haven’t forgotten the delicious aroma of your blood, Princess. I can’t wait to taste it.
At the bottom of the page was a bloody set of lips imprinted. I crumpled the paper. That sick bastard Senica wasn’t gone after all. With everything that happened with Zyacus, and talk of the winter formal, I’d almost let the danger of him slip my mind.
Jumping at a knock on my door, I hurried to open it. Bindy stood on the other side. “You’re late for dinner, and Prince Zyacus is waiting at the bottom of the stairs. I caught him trying to sneak up here.”
“I hadn’t realized I’d slept so long.”
Bindy looked at the crumpled paper in my hand. “What’s that?”
The blood was showing on the outside. “It’s…” I trailed off and handed it to her.
Her face was stone after she read it. “It’s possible this is just to scare you but we can’t take that risk. You are not to go anywhere alone. Go to the prince,
