*Ciana*
I wandered through the palace trying to see if anything felt familiar. According to Brook and Warren, I’d been there almost a year. I couldn’t rember anything about it. None of the rooms or decorations looked familiar.
I felt like I was seeing it all for the first ti.
Yet, my feet knew where to take . I didn’t recognize anything I was seeing, but I wandered purposefully to the library. I suspected I could find a map there to reacquaint myself with the palace and the surrounding territory.
“Good morning, My Lady,” soone said, nodding their head as I walked by.
“It is good to see you up and about, Miss Black,” a servant said, bowing.
I waved awkwardly at everyone I passed. They all seed to hold a high amount of respect and reverence for . That wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t know already.
Still, it wasn’t the usual kind of respect I should have been shown. In the palace, I was just an Alpha’s daughter. At the palace, I wasn’t anything special.
I spent so ti studying the maps and the surrounding territory in the library. Growing up, my father had get into the habit of reading maps and learning about my surrounding areas when I got to a new place.
When I looked at the map of the palace grounds, it didn’t look familiar, yet I used the most efficient way to get to the library purely based on my instinct. My feet seed to know the right place to go.
My body’s autopilot taking where I needed to go probably ant that what everyone was telling was true—I did spend ti here.
I passed a picture of King Theo on the wall. A portrait that must have been painted when he was in his late teens. I paused at the painting, still trying to wrap my mind around how we had beco friends.
Sohow I felt it looked different. For no reason whatsoever, I thought it was a nicer and more welcoming fit than a painting of a pitch black wolf with srizing eyes for this spot.
I focused my gaze on the king’s face. Did I really want to be “friends” with a guy that jumped and kissed the mont I woke up after being unconscious? From the way the others reacted, it appeared that it was normal for to be kissed by the king.
I shook my head and kept walking. It was hard to believe. All I rembered of him was how arrogant and ruthless he was, like his late father. And that kiss attack wasn’t helping see him differently.
My stomach squird and I looped an arm around myself. At the sa ti, when I thought of him, he had that stomach fluttering effect on .
The jackass kissing creep! It was all his fault!
I got to the garden and imdiately spotted Prince Warren. Unlike his brother, Warren was a gentleman, polite and considerate. With his warm smile, he was so easy going and it was nice to be around him.
“Hello there, Your Highness,” I greeted, bowing my head to him.
“Ciana, you don’t need to address so formally. Call Warren. We’re definitely close enough for that,” he smiled.
“Really?” He seed really familiar. And not just because I had missing mories of him.
“Really. We are... very good friends,” he nodded politely.
I tilted my head and looked at him for a little longer. He was a little uncomfortable due to my gaze. After clearing his throat, he said, “I apologize if I had food crumbs on my face.”
I let out so laughter. I knew he was a prince and I should behave elegantly around him, however, I found Warren’s embarrassed face quite entertaining, just like how friends teased each other.
“Prince Warren, you’re so graceful, elegant, and kind-hearted. King Theo, on the other hand, he’s so... rough,” I giggled, “If it was up to , I would support you as the king over Theo.”
Warren chuckled and shook his head. “I appreciate your complints. However, Theo is a great man and leader. You’ll rember that soday.”
“I hope so,” I muttered. I didn’t say it aloud, but if I didn’t rember it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to believe it.
That night, after attacking my lips, he didn’t even have the courtesy to apologize to ! Then he just stord out of the room like I did sothing wrong to him! Whatever, I bit my tongue. He was the king, so for this ti, I would just have to be a grown-up and deal with it.
Warren sighed and I looked him over. His eyelids were a little droopy and puffy. There were so lines around his mouth, like he’d been frowning a lot.
“Ciana, did you find sothing new on my face?”
“Oh, sorry,” I said, deciding to be honest, “I just... you look tired. Are you sleeping okay?”
“The king has assigned a lot of work. It has kept busy and... off my normal sleep schedule,” he explained, fighting back a yawn.
“Why does he make you work so hard? He can’t do that, can he? Or if he has to, he should be leading by example.”
“Oh, believe , I’d never seen anyone more workaholic than Theo—”
“Save it. I know he’s your brother and you’re defending him. But the facts speak for themselves. For example, I’d been wandering around leisurely, and sohow I could barely go 10 minutes without running into him. Either my walking route just overlaps with the king’s workplace, or he is just as free as .”
He acted like those were all casual encounters. Did I really look that naive? After the “Kissing Creep”, he had earned himself a new “Stalker” tag.
Warren tried to suppress a smile from his face, but he failed. He forced himself to look serious. “He’s the king Ciana, leaders lead, they don’t have ti to do. That’s why they have people like us.”
I rolled my eyes. “That is such a cop-out. He’s a hypocrite!”
Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to the side. He closed his eyes like he was trying to think of sothing to say.
I looked around the garden a little and saw a flower that I recognized. While Warren stood there uncomfortably, I went over to the flower and picked it. Lifting it to my nose, I inhaled deeply, breathing in the floral scent.
“Here you go,” I said, tapping Warren on the shoulder and handing him the flower.
Warren raised an eyebrow at . He hesitated and then took the flower.
“It is Lavendlilly. I heard they are good for helping people sleep,” I added.
Warren creased his brow and studied the flower for a mont. His eyes were distant, lost in an old mory. Then he stared at for a long mont.
So long, I started to feel funny and shifted my weight back and forth on my feet.
“Where did you learn about this flower?” he asked, finally.
“Uhh...”
I had no idea where I’d learned about the Lavendlilly. It wasn’t a flower that grew in my pack’s territory. I couldn’t even rember seeing it before today. But soone had told about Lavendlilly. Of that, I was sure.
“Well, I don’t really rember,” I admitted, shrugging. “It was soone very special to , I think. At least, that’s what I feel.” The feeling touched my heart.
“You’re sothing... Ciana,” Warren managed to utter. He seed to be a little emotional.
“Sothing’s wrong?”
He shook his head and asked hoarsely, “Can I have a hug?”
“Oh...”
It was an innocent enough request and I felt like I had a deeper connection to Warren than all the other people I supposedly knew.
“Warren!”
Both Warren and I started at the intruding, booming voice. In unison, our heads snapped to the edge of the garden where Theo was approaching.
I rolled my eyes. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the last “casual encounter.” I should have known he’d be showing up any second.
“Alistair has been waiting for you,” Theo told Warren when he was closer to us. He had a stern look on his face as he stared at his brother.
“Oh, my eting with him is in half an hour and he usually is right on ti or runs one or two minutes late,” he thought for a mont, and he t Theo’s darkened face and quickly added, “but this must be sothing really urgent. I better go.”
“Well, then, off you go. Miss Black doesn’t need any more confusing thoughts right now,” Theo ordered, motioning for Warren to leave. “Also, if you can review the stack of the national security improvent proposal on my desk, I’d appreciate it.”
Warren glanced back at quickly and waved goodbye. As he left, I could’ve sworn I heard him whisper, “Goddess, sotis I think you keep around as free labor instead of your brother...”
I bit my lip to hold back my giggle as Warren disappeared. When I glanced at Theo, I saw the scowl on his face. Clearly, he’d heard what Warren said but he hadn’t reacted or called him out on it. The two of them were kinda funny, the way I imagined brothers were together.
Still, it didn’t seem like Theo was being that fair to Warren.
I swallowed hard, ignoring the fact that I was having trouble tearing my eyes away from Theo’s handso face. My heart fluttered uncontrollably as he slowly turned to face .
“Your Majesty, Prince Warren works very hard. I don’t think he got much sleep last night in an attempt to et your demands. You might want to try being a little nicer to him.” Even though it wasn’t my place to say so, I felt the need to stand up for my friend.
Did Theo hear ? I wasn’t sure, because his eyes narrowed in on my lips. They glazed over with a lustful look.
My stomach dropped into my feet and I giggled nervously.
“Is that so?” he asked gruffly, still staring at my mouth.
Unconsciously, I licked my lips, and the look in his eyes smoldered even deeper.
“Well, a good leader leads by example, don’t they? If you want him to work harder, wouldn’t it make sense to show that you’re dedicated to your own work, setting the right example?” I asked, raising a challenging eyebrow.
Theo scoffed. He crossed his arms and tossed his head back. “I have sothing more important to do than set an example for my brother.”
“Like what?” I asked, glaring at him. “As a king, what could be more important than ruling your country?”
“Right now? Making sure that the most important woman in my life is safe at all tis,” he explained casually.
It took a few seconds to process what he said. I couldn’t rember seeing Theo with any won other than Brook. Jake was her mate, though, so I seriously doubted that Theo ant her.
King Theo’s mother was in the palace. She’d taken it upon herself to get to know a little better.
“You an Nita?” I asked. “I just had afternoon tea with her a few hours ago. She’s completely safe and sound... actually, she hardly ever leaves her wing of the palace. Doesn’t get much safer than that.”
Theo fixed his eyes directly on my face and stared into like he could see right into my soul. My breath caught in my throat and my skin burned hot as a blush spread over like wildfire.
“I don’t an my mother. I an you,” he said firmly. I was again stunned by the perfect proportion of his facial features. It was as if the Goddess poured all her love when placing them on the man standing in front of .
In my chest, my heart palpitated and I stared right back into his eyes. I felt feverish suddenly. Those bottomless deep, dark orbs could have swallowed whole.
I cleared my throat and looked away from him. Just because he looked good didn’t an that he was good. Appearances weren’t everything.
“Your Majesty, I really don’t know what you’re talking about and I definitely don’t know you! You’re intimidating.”
I bit back the words “arrogant” and “overbearing” so that I didn’t sound too rough on the king. “See, I can’t even go to the library without you skulking around.”
Did honest, normal n follow ‘the most important woman in their life’ around like she couldn’t be trusted?
I added, “You also seem like the type to have a bad temper, and I hear whispers about it in the palace halls. I apologize for my honesty, but I don’t see myself falling in love with soone like you.”
#
Reviews
All reviews (0)