Loving a Prince Charming - By Danielle Monsch Page 0,10
right away, instead pacing the long length of his room. Seth knew that the worse the news she had to tell, the more Kira needed to collect herself before she began to speak, and considering she’d circled the room three times and still had not looked up from the carpet, this was going to be very bad.
Kira pulled herself up, her body going soldier straight and battle-ready. Another bad sign. “I heard some very disturbing news in town. A part of me doesn’t want to tell you, but…”
She started pacing again. And while her actions worried him, it didn’t stop a slow flame of contentment from burrowing itself in his chest. Her distress was because this had something to do with him. Her anger and frustration at the situation was because he was involved.
Kira was her most fascinating in battle mode, and the more she paced the more that part of her came to the fore. Her stride lengthened and firmed, her steps near gliding over the carpet, the walk of someone who was ready to battle in any direction at a moment’s notice. Her posture shifted so her sword was within reach and ready to draw without any obstacles to slow the action. Her face became unreadable. Not angry, but blank, with no emotions an enemy could use to detect her next movement.
She walked toward him again, and he wanted to gather her up in his arms and swing her around. Her face would lose the blankness and her mouth would form an O of shocked surprise, a development he’d take advantage of by placing his mouth on hers. Her lips would be warm and soft, and when they parted he would slide his tongue inside and battle with hers.
Seth gasped, the image so strong he could almost believe her taste was on his tongue. “Kira!” he shouted, as much to shock himself as it was to shock her.
It worked. She stopped, her face losing the blankness. Replacing it first was surprise, followed by determination and worry, before finally plunging into a deep-seated misery. She drew in a deep breath. “Sorry. I think for the first time, I really don’t know what to do.”
Kira was bossy and always knew what to do, even when she didn’t – she made a decision and went for it. This indecision did not suit her, and he didn’t want to see it on her again. “You do what we’ve always done. We tell each other and figure it out together.”
The misery was still etched too deep into her beautiful face, but a genuine smile formed on her lips and her eyes shifted from a dark and stormy green to a brighter, more verdant shade. “Yeah, that’s what we do. Whatever’s before us, we figure it out together.”
Seth rose, using the same gentle movements he would to calm a bucking filly. He reached out and took her hands in his, entwining their fingers and rubbing his thumb over the birthmark on the inside of her wrist, a move he always used when her emotions were riding high. “What’s happening?”
She cleared her throat and blanked her face. This time was on purpose, the way a soldier would when giving a disturbing report to a superior officer, devoid of any personal hurt or worry. “Tolshire has been evacuated by order of King Matthias. There has been another layer added to the curse. The fairy who cursed Rosamund said that when the curse is fulfilled, a dragon will appear to attack anyone coming to save her. The residents of Tolshire are being herded to refugee camps and instructed to not return to the city until after Rosamund’s twenty-third birthday.”
The air around him became weighted, making breathing impossible. His lungs could not bring in enough air no matter how hard his chest worked.
Warm fingers squeezed his own ice-cold ones. “Seth,” her beloved voice whispered, and only the warmth the bone-deep contentment her presence always provided kept the ice from sinking into marrow and muscle and straight into the heart of him.
Stay in the castle.
Damn his father. What game was he playing? “My father knows,” he said, and Kira’s eyes widened as the same realization hit her.
“Why would he not tell you?”
Seth shook his head. “My father doesn’t tell me most things. We have to try Taren and see what he knows.”
They snuck out the window and made their way to the little house Kira lived in with her father. They opened the door to find Taren still awake,