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I was in a deep sleep when I felt a gentle touch at the outer corner of my eye. It traced down my cheek, and then soft lips pressed into my forehead, followed by a softer apology. Chevalier hugged me closer, nuzzling into my hair, and I smelled the roses. I felt the comfort and warmth of his arms around me, the heat of his breath on my skin, and I wanted to stay asleep. I didn’t want to remember the nightmare that was the previous night.
Except a splitting headache from crying myself to sleep wouldn’t let me forget. I remembered all too vividly the panic that made me a sobbing mess, the panic that had been so severe, I’d nearly passed out.
And I was still wearing a corset. And a full dress, of course, but the corset was the most uncomfortable part of my ensemble, and it did nothing to lift my mood.
“You’re still in trouble,” I mumbled, rolling away from him.
He followed me, keeping his arms around my waist and hugging my back to his chest when I tried to put distance between us.
“I didn’t realize how much that would upset you,” he murmured, kissing my neck.
I rolled my shoulder up to my ear, like I was trying to shoo a pesky bug away. “That won’t work,” I muttered.
“Ivetta—”
“You knew what Clavis was up to, and you didn’t stop him,” I interrupted. “You didn’t tell me, because you knew I wouldn’t like it.”
“If I’d thought I was in any danger—”
“He was trying to kill you, Chevalier,” I said, my voice getting harder and sharper with every word. “When someone is trying to kill you, then you are in danger, no matter how much smarter or stronger you may be. What if you tripped? What if you were feeling under the weather? You can’t know everything or account for everything, Chevalier, and I…”
The lump in my throat wouldn’t let me continue. I squeezed my eyes shut, and his lips pressed into my neck again.
“I’m sorry, Ivetta.”
I swallowed the lump down and choked out, “You should be. When I thought something might happen to you…”
He turned me gently toward him again, kissing the tears from my cheeks. “I’m okay, Ivetta,” he murmured between kisses. “I’m not leaving you. I’m okay.”
The hurt was still fresh, but the kisses helped, even though I didn’t want them to. I wanted to stay mad at him longer, resist his reassuring words and make him feel a little of the pain I’d felt last night. But as angry as I was, I was relieved, too. So relieved he was okay, and Clavis was okay, and—
Was Clavis okay?
I’d assumed he was last night when Chevalier came for me, but I didn’t really know.
The question stuck and grew in the back of my mind until I couldn’t enjoy Chevalier’s attention anymore, and I had to pull away, wiping my eyes to see him clearly.
“Chevalier?” I asked in a small voice, half afraid to ask. “Is Clavis…”
Shreds of daylight snuck around the curtains, allowing me to see his crystal blue eyes studying me in the dimly lit room. He nodded, and I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. Clavis was a pain, but that didn’t mean I wanted anything to happen to him.
“You’re angry at me and worried about him?”
My eyes snapped open again at the amusement laced through Chevalier’s voice. There was a teasing glint in his eyes and a finger sliding under my chin, tilting it up, and suddenly, my cheeks were burning, and my heart was pounding. I wriggled away from his hand and buried my face in his chest.
“W-well, I already know you’re okay,” I stammered, wishing he couldn’t feel my heartbeat, knowing he could feel it as well as I could feel his.
He chuckled in my ear. “Then you aren’t angry with me anymore.”
“No, I’m still—Chevalier,” I protested, squirming as he trailed kisses down the side of my face. “You haven’t answered my—”
His lips met mine, cutting my weak resistance short. I smacked his shoulder, but my traitorous fingers curled in his shirt, and my lips molded with his without my permission. This wasn’t letting him off the hook, I told myself. This was just the relief of knowing he was okay. I could stop kissing him anytime. Anytime. And then, it would be back to the cold shoulder, back to making him feel as—
His left hand slid around to cup my cheek as he kissed me again, his lips pressing in harder, his right hand sliding from the small of my back to cup my waist, and I couldn’t remember what I had just been thinking. For a few minutes, the sound of quick breaths between progressively more intense kisses was all that mattered. He was here; I was here; and right now, that was all that mattered.
This was relief. Relief, and something more. Much more.
He pushed my shoulder to put me on my back, and I let him with no complaint, but then he stopped kissing me. I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me, the heat in his eyes tempered by a concern I didn’t immediately understand. Not until his finger traced a line from the corner of my eye again, tracing the tracks taken by tears not so long ago.
“I didn’t mean to upset you that much,” he murmured.
I took his hand in mine and pressed it to my cheek. “I didn’t expect to get that upset,” I said softly. “But when I thought something could happen to you, it felt like my world came crashing down around me.” I left his hand on my cheek and reached up to brush his messy blonde fringe back from his face. The way his fine hair flowed through my fingers felt so natural and familiar. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He leaned in then, his kisses sweet and slow, as if he were savoring every taste, every touch, every sound. I pushed on the back of his neck with one hand and pulled at his collar with the other, bringing him closer. His weight used to scare me. Now, it comforted me, and it made me feel…it made me feel…
Good. It made me feel good.
I liked it.
And I liked the way his kisses wandered along my jaw. I closed my eyes and tilted my head to the side, breathing out an “I love you, Chevalier” on the exhale, breathing in his cologne on the inhale.
“I love you, too, little dove,” he murmured in my ear. “But if I don’t leave soon, Gilbert may kill Clavis.”
“Mm, no, he won’t.”
He chuckled. “You’re right. He doesn’t want to further upset you. Now, Theresa, on the other hand…”
My eyes shot wide open. I hadn’t thought about Theresa or my guards since I woke up in Clavis’ private villa. Were we still there? Or had we come back to the estate? Did they know what happened, or were they still panicking because of my disappearance? No, they had to know if Chevalier was saying something like that, and if Theresa knew what Clavis did…
I could picture him cowering in a corner before her wrath, her green eyes flashing dangerously and an accusing finger in his chest. To start.
“She might kill him,” I said, suddenly serious. “Chevalier, stop. We need to—”
“Oh, now, you’re in a hurry?” he teased.
“Chevalier—”
He nibbled at my earlobe, making me interrupt myself with a surprised gasp.
“Chevalier!” I twisted beneath him, pushing his face away. “You were the one who wanted to stop!”
“I didn’t say I wanted to stop,” he replied, an inviting smirk on those wet, oh-so-kissable lips. “Did you find a suitable present for me?”
I pasted the best scowl I could manage on my face and proclaimed, “You’re not getting anything out of me.”
Then he licked my fingers, and I squealed, yanking my hand away and giving him plenty of room to dive back onto my neck. His lips and his tongue were doing things that weren’t fair at all. I had to bite my lips to stifle the embarrassing sounds that would have given me away, but they squeaked out anyway while I squirmed fruitlessly under his onslaught.
“A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will suffice,” he purred, his low voice pitched perfectly to send a shiver down my spine, even without another tug at my earlobe. The combination was deadly. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips, and I couldn’t keep my fingers from curling into his shirt again, nullifying my efforts to push him away.
“Not…fair…mm…”
His kisses were traveling down my neck, and I knew where he was going. My collarbone, the next deadly target, guaranteed to finish me off. If I wanted to survive this and keep his present a surprise, I needed to stop him.
But did I, though?
My internal debate was quick and fierce. It had to be. There wasn’t much time. I decided surprising him in the future was a better option than letting him melt me into a puddle now, and I launched an offensive, tickling the sensitive spot on his ribs I’d discovered in a previous battle. His sudden violent convulsion and wide blue eyes were worth the loss of his kisses. He sat up abruptly, swatting away my hands, but I sat up, too, throwing him off balance and startling him into falling on his back. The corset didn’t bother me anymore when I followed him, continuing the game until we were a tangle of limbs and laughter among disarrayed bed sheets. I wrapped my arms around his torso and planted a big, triumphant kiss on his lips.
“I win.”
He grinned and brushed the curtain of black hair back from my face. “Believe what you like.”
“Okay, we both win.” I rested my cheek against his chest and sighed, and then a smirk crawled across my lips with a thought. “You can play with Clavis on your birthday every year,” I said in the most patronizing tone I could manage without bursting into laughter again. “But no killing.”
He chuckled and ran his fingers through my hair. “I’m older than you.”
“Then you should act like it more often.”
“You cannot claim maturity when you were the one to instigate a tickle fight.”
“You cannot claim maturity when you were the one trying to make me tell you what I got you for your birthday.”
“Using adult methods.”
I giggled. Here we were, cuddled up with our heads at the foot of the bed and our feet at the head, spouting nonsense at each other just to keep talking. “Neither of us wants to go anywhere, do we?”
“No, we don’t.” He sighed and squeezed me tighter. “But I need to speak with Gilbert and Clavis. Then we can leave.”
“Leave?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Unless you’d rather stay.”
I thought about it for a moment. If the palace hadn’t been so far away, I wouldn’t have minded leaving, but I guessed the day was already far advanced. Leaving now would mean we’d have to stop somewhere for the night. And besides, I wanted a bath before we went anywhere. A hot bath and a soothing cup of tea. My head still hurt, too, come to think of it. And who knew how long it would take me to answer all of Theresa’s questions?
“I think it would be better to leave in the morning, if that’s okay.”
He nodded and kissed my forehead. “I’ll send Theresa in.”
And then he was gone, leaving my arms and picking his clothes up from a pile on the floor. It was strange for him to discard his clothes so carelessly. I looked away, blushing, and crawled out the other side of the bed, straightening my skirt as if that helped the wrinkles of sleeping in my dress, and then it hit me.
I hadn’t panicked at all when we were in bed together.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDEiEO3ZqX
