If he had any gift it was to look sotempting. I closed the distance between us and pushed him down in the grass, pressing my chest on him. His hands caressed my back and rubbed along the bare skin of my arms. Ugh, how could his touch make my senses go crazy? I kissed him harder, his tongue brushed against mine. I slid my leg over to straddle him. His fingers dug harder into my back when I did. Trailing my lips down his neck and to his chest, he quietly moaned at my touch. My head felt lighter, my body heavier. He intoxicated me and I wanted more. I couldn’t help myself; I drug my tongue across his hard abdomen. The salt of his skin tasted… good. But suddenly his hands clamped down on my arms and he moved me off him. My eyebrows lowered in confusion. Didn’t he like it? His reaction to me suggested he did.
“Vis,” he breathed, heavy like he’d been running. Slowly, he released his grip on me. After a moment he seemed to collect himself. “None of that unless we’re ready for a lot more than kissing.” He arched an eyebrow enticing me.
Ugh, I wanted to but I wasn’t ready. My eyes fell to the grass.
He went to the edge of the lake and splashed water on his face. After a moment he turned back to me. “We should wait,” he said softly. “I want to, believe me. But I want it to be special. And I won’t until I know you love me.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him. The hard, arrogant Zyacus wanted to wait for love. But the way he phrased it sparked something in my mind. He didn’t say he wouldn’t until he knew he loved me. He said until he knew I loved him. Does that mean he already knows he… loves… me?
“And as the future king and queen of our kingdoms, we have to be… careful. Your father would murder me if you became with child unmarried and still attending academy. Then he’d probably bring me back to life so we could wed. And if I’m going to marry you, Vis, I don’t want it to be because a child forces you to be with me.”
I immediately thought of his parents. Zyacus being in his mother’s womb was the reason Enden and Saveena married. Not out of love but for propriety and power. That must bother him.
I pictured myself with a swollen belly and shuddered. I wanted that but not for a very, very long time. I stood and brushed the grass off my pants. “I agree. We will wait.”
Grinning he put an arm around my shoulder and we walked back toward the party. “But if you keep kissing and licking me like that it’s going to be grueling to hold off.”
Chapter 17
When we rejoined the party, a group surrounded us, mostly clamoring to talk to Zyacus and firing off questions. “Will you be in the tournament?”
“Who’s your favorite professor?”
“Do you think the blood drinkers will come back?”
He answered them all with ease and grace. I stood beside him, watching how they admired him and it made me adore him even more. I also noted which girls gave me the death glare. Keeping mental notes on who I’d have to watch out for this year. Out of the corner of my vision Jennika emerged laughing obnoxiously loud, clearly trying to draw attention to herself.
“Are you planning to marry Princess Visteal?” one girl blurted out. “We’re all dying to know.”
Heat immediately flooded my body. What a rude and awkward question to ask when it would be common knowledge if we were betrothed. I took a step back to let him have the attention and avoid the answer to that question but Zyacus wrapped his arm around my hips. He leaned over and whispered, “Stay with me.”
I gritted my teeth and eyed the girl.
Zyacus pulled an easy smile. “I haven’t asked her yet but,” he turned to me and winked, “she is the most talented, wonderful, and beautiful girl I know.” He pulled me against his side as if to say, she’s mine.
Holy unicorn, this boy had his charm on high tonight.
“But some of us have heard you’re betrothed to Jennika,” the same girl said.
And she ruined the moment. My smile dropped.
“You heard wrong,” Zyacus said but a few people turned to Jennika, who for once looked embarrassed. Who wouldn’t be if the man you thought you would marry was draped all over another girl? I actually felt a smidgen bad for her. Just a smidgen though. Part of me wanted to laugh in her face. The conniving whore didn’t deserve my sympathy.
“Sometimes men are distracted by pretty, shiny things but they always come back to what’s good for them,” Jennika said, and lifted her glass to take a sip. The laughter from the crowd following her comment made my blood blazing hot.
Wench. “And sometimes the pretty shiny things are what’s good for them. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut your mouth.”
Everyone turned to me and then back to Jennika waiting for her response. Ugh why did this have to be a big scene? I planned on getting back at her without a crowd. I thought about spiking her drink with the plant from herbology; she’d be paralyzed as I threw her into the horse manure truck and have to sit in it for hours. But the more I thought about it the more I realized it wasn’t worth the trouble. She was just a desperate girl trying to hold onto something she never had.
“Let’s not spoil my party with petty conversation,” Zyacus said and tugged on my arm.
As we turned to walk away, Jennika said, “After he beds her, he’ll come back to me. She’s a challenge, and we all know that’s what the prince likes. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten her yet.” She raked her eyebrows. “Or maybe he
