“But that’s not who you are. That…isn’tyou.”
“Being Quill, being with you, is the most I’ve ever felt like myself,” he assured me. “The name is the only part that wasn’t true, but it represents me almost more than Silas does.”
“I understand that…but you’re thePrince. And I’m nothing more than a common peasant, even if you believe I am special. There’s no real possibility of us being together. Not once you turn eighteen. Once a beautiful princess is brought for you to marry…”
“I will not be marrying anyone butyou.”
“You willhaveto marry a princess, Silas.” The name still felt strange coming out of my mouth. “No matter how you feel or what you want…”
“Listen to me,” he murmured, tilting my chin upwards. “The only person I will marry isyou,” he repeated. “Should that be what you wish?”
I sighed through my nose. “How can a prince be so delusional?” I teased softly.
He bit his lip to prevent a grin from forming, then pulled me in for a kiss. Electricity shot throughout me as our lips touched, and I began to force it down as best I could.
I’m kissing the Prince of Otacia. I’m kissing Silas La’Rune.
My fingertips started to buzz, and a familiar hum in my chest began.
Keep it down,I ordered the magic, closing it inside a box.
He pulled away, still holding my chin. “How is it that I was blessed enough to find you?”
I rolled my eyes and tried and failed to hold in a smile.
“I’m guessing you still can’t tell anyone about me, save for your mother. Why is she okay with this? Seems rather odd.”
“Not yet. I will still have to be secretive about you until I can find a way for us to marry,” he said softly. “As far as my mother goes, I’m really not sure either—maybe because she and my father are so…distant. And she sees how happy you make me.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“I love you,” I stated, running my hand through his raven-black hair. “But I will never be a princess, Silas. Certainly not a queen.” I kissed his cheek. Next year, Silas would be eighteen, and everything would change. He would be introduced to the kingdom. He would be free. “One year. You have me for one year.”
“I guess I have a year to convince you otherwise, Flower,” he said with his signature lazy smile. I elbowed him playfully, chuckling as I did so, and he flicked my nose. “Gods, I missed you,” he breathed. “That was unbearable being trapped, unable to speak with you.”
I snuggled into his arm, my voice turning into a whisper as I said, “I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you out—”
“Do not be sorry. I deserved it.” I shook my head, and he kissed the top of it in response. “And I’m sorry you had to spend a day in those wretched cells. Makes me ill just thinking of it.”
There. There was my opening.
“It wasn’t great,” I said carefully. “But thankfully, the guard was kind, made it less scary. Tallon was his name?”
“Torrin,” Silas corrected and looked down at me. “He was kind?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to seem suspicious.
“I wouldn’t say kind, but not cruel. He let me send a message to my mother.”
He smiled. “Torrin is a good man. He’s actually the one who trains me now.”
I straightened. “He is?”
“Yes,” Silas raised a brow. “Why, do you like him?” He sat up. “I am not one to share, Lena.”
I pinched his side, and he playfully swatted me away with a big grin on his face. I pressed my lips against his again, hard, causing us to collapse into the grass. He laughed against my mouth and wrapped his arms around me tightly as we continued to nip at each other’s lips.
The thought of Torrin lay in the back of my mind.
Will he turn out to be a friend? Or an enemy in disguise?
