“Wh-What brings you here today, Your Highness?!” I blurted out, though it was a bit late to be asking that now.
His Highness stopped in his tracks, blinking in the semidarkness, and for a fleeting moment, the look in his eyes changed. His gaze seemed almost wistful.
“I just wanted to see you.”
The sound of his voice nearly called my heart to a stop. His blue eyes captured me in their sights and held me prisoner.
Then, without a word, he reached out and caressed a tuft of hair next to my braid—what was left of the lock I’d cut off at Hersche. When I saw a flash of anguish cross his eyes, it hit me that my maids in the royal capital had always been careful to style my hair so it was hidden from view. Annie, my personal attendant, would often gaze at the remains like she was struggling to conceal a pang of regret.
Before His Highness could open his mouth to speak, I placed my hand over his and told him the hair would grow back soon enough. Still, I knew that wouldn’t stop him from blaming himself. Knowing full well what a shameless act it was, I pressed his hand to my own cheek and changed the subject. “I missed you too, Prince Christopher.”
“Eli...”
Since my return to the royal palace, His Highness and I had greeted each other every morning. He’d been so busy with meetings that he’d spent more time away from his office than in it, but I’d still had the sense that he was there with me. In contrast, despite this being the house where I was born and raised, I no longer felt like I quite belonged here. As for why that was...
His Highness cupped my cheek and brushed his thumb across it. As the ticklish sensation brought a tiny smile to my face, he put what I’d been thinking into words. “Having you around the royal palace has come to feel so natural... It’s like there’s something missing when you’re gone. The palace suddenly feels like such a vast, cold space. At some point, I started taking it for granted that you’d always be by my side.”
“Oh, Your Highness...”
“My heart almost stopped when I heard you’d fainted. I’m sorry for pushing you so hard, Eli. And I’m sorry I couldn’t run to your side the moment you felt unwell.”
When I hastily shook my head, the look in His Highness’s eyes changed to something sweet and tender. His gaze had an almost seductive quality to it.
“I was planning to head back after I’d seen you and made sure you were all right...but when you’re acting this cute, it’s hard to hold myself back.”
My pulse quickened as I picked up on his unspoken request for my permission. I assumed the so-called “cute” behavior he was referring to was my letter to him. As I clutched the paper to my chest, unsure of the correct response in this scenario, His Highness chuckled, lifted me up by my thighs, and pushed me down onto the bed right beside us.
“Y-Your Highness?!”
This unforeseen turn of events sent me into a tizzy. There was His Highness, his golden hair shimmering in the twilight and his blue eyes blazing with mischief and desire mere inches from mine. Furthermore, I could feel soft linens against my back. The moment it dawned on me that I’d been pinned to the bed, my heart began beating hard enough that I feared it might burst.
His Highness rained sweet nothings on me from above. “Oh, Eli... I want to eat you right up.”
“Y-Y-Y-You mustn’t! That would be cannibalism!”
In my panic, my mind conjured images of the rituals a certain tribe native to a southern continent performed for their god, which I’d read about in my books. For a moment, His Highness’s eyes went wide with surprise, but he soon turned his face to the side and bit back his laughter. As I realized he was toying with me, my distress grew to the point that I nearly broke down in tears.
Once he’d gotten his laughter under control—well, no, he still had a few chortles left in him—His Highness planted a kiss on my forehead with a chuckle. “Then perhaps I should get a taste before the meal.”
The plan to eat me was set in stone, it seemed. Before I could give my consent, he showered me with kisses in the name of a “taste test”—on my eyelids, my cheeks, the tip of my nose, and the corners of my eyes. Each time we locked gazes, close enough for our lashes to touch, he gave me yet another kiss that seemed to make time stand still. As I fought to calm my racing heart, which felt ready to leap out of my chest, I pondered something: the kisses he planted on my cheeks and fingers felt special, yes, but those couldn’t even compare to the ones he left on my lips. Why was that?
When I finally opened my eyes again, pining for the warmth that had gone, I found those blue eyes right before mine, shining with as much passion as ever. My hand instinctively reached out to caress His Highness’s cheek. I brushed my thumb over his skin, just as he had done to me, and his eyes glinted.
“Eli... Believe it or not, I’m doing all I can to keep myself in check. Could you please refrain from riling me up?”
I pulled my hand back in a fluster, but His Highness caught me by the wrist. He then placed his free hand next to me on the bed.
“Of course...you’re free to do more to stop me. Much like the nightingale who sings in my honor.”