Stealing His Princess (Kings of Conquest #2) - Adelaide Forrest Page 0,14
on that would be selfish. I’ll not risk my hard work for a tryst with a stranger.”
Pain crossed her face before her rising temper clouded her features. "And that's all it was. Is that it, Aric? Just another stranger to throw herself at you. Name and face nothing but a technicality you’ll forget by morning?” Pushing her away grew increasingly difficult as I wanted to soothe the hurt I’d caused. The sight of it sparking in the amber depths of her eyes was enough to drive me to my knees. Next to Lantis and Alina, she was all that mattered. And she was the one person I could never let know. But for one moment I’d allowed myself the luxury of thinking I could tell her just how much she meant to me.
Then that moment had ended.
"What I say stands, regardless. You're one formal announcement away from being engaged to Holden, or have you forgotten him?”
As harsh as my words may have seemed, the reality was I had forgotten him. When she'd been in my arms, I’d forgotten everything but her sweetness wrapped around me. As if I had the right to be happy with Bristol of Theodosia by letting my desires control me, when what I'd done was no better than my parents before me. I could have further destroyed the Atwater reputation, buried us in the grave others had dug before me.
Bristol scoffed, studying me with disgust in her amber eyes. I'd never thought to have her focus so intently fixated on me, but now that I had it?
I never wanted to see that expression in those stunning eyes. I never wanted to feel the rejection that came with her glare and condemnation.
“And what of you? Holden loves you as he would a brother if he had one. I can’t imagine you don’t feel the same way about him, but somehow you forgot, too. I take part of the blame, Aric of Lantis, but do not for a moment try to lay all of it on me,” she snarled, her gaze turning cold before my eyes as regret slammed into me. “It takes two to kiss.” She drilled a finger to my chest, and I allowed it. If she wanted to inflict even more grief onto me, I was happy to let her when I saw pain settle in her eyes.
I rubbed a hand over where her finger had been, feeling a distinct pang in my chest when I had no choice but to push away what could have been the best thing to happen in my life. “Forgotten or not, we had no right. Not when I’m not the King of Mitnar, and you have no chance of being my Queen.”
"For just a minute, I thought maybe you were different from all the rest," she said with her voice deadly quiet. Still, the fury in it rang through the clear night, echoing off the sounds of the ocean waves in the distance as they echoed that fury.
A siren. A goddess who commanded the sea. The goddess who would grab me by the balls and command me if I ever let her so close.
"But you aren't, are you?" she asked, her face twisting with a shock of grief that took my breath away. It hinted at a reserve of agony I'd never have expected from Bristol. From the glimpses into her life I’d had, she always wore a smile on her face and warmth in her eyes. She always loved openly and without reserve. I opened my mouth to speak but she plowed through, "You're just like all the rest. Seeing only the alliance I'm to form and never bothering to acknowledge that I'm a fucking person too."
"That's not true," I warned, my fury rising with her accusations.
"No? Then why am I not free to explore my passion before I’m married? You’re his friend, so you know better than anyone that Holden is no virgin. No Prince or King goes into their marriage inexperienced, and I would have to be an idiot to think he was. Yet you stand there and condemn me for wanting to feel something. For just one goddamn minute in my life, I want to feel desired before I throw my life away to a marriage filled with only duty." Her hand that had only moments ago rubbed my back gripped my wrist like a vise.
Anger rushed through my veins, the knowledge that I couldn't deny that what she said was true. Holden was