Loving a Prince Charming - By Danielle Monsch Page 0,14

Kira’s brows straightened out into two separate arches, one of those arches rising high while her hands came to rest on her hips. He rushed on, trying to fix the mess. “You’ve had enough surprises. You don’t need to follow me while I take care of this.”

And I can’t have you near me while I’m forced to carry out my duty. He closed his eyes and pressed hard against his forehead with the heel of his hand. He shouldn’t have to deal with this. He was giving her up, wasn’t he? He was doing what he’d said he would do. Why torture himself more, by making her stay by his side while he had to do this?

It would be torture. The sweetest torture, just like last night. He didn’t sleep a minute, couldn’t waste such a rare gift. She had been pressed against him, the curves of her body fitting him in perfect symmetry. He had breathed in her scent all night, twisted the soft strands of her hair between his fingers, marveling how the slight curliness of her hair meant the red mass didn’t easily let go of his fingers.

It would be torture, and if he had too many nights of such torture, his promise would be in jeopardy.

Kira frowned. “Yes, we. I have been with you for every step of this, and I’m not about to stop now, the situation of my non-father father be damned! Do you think you’re going to walk into danger without me near you? I protect you – that’s what I do – and you will not send me away.”

Her hands were no longer on her hips. They were clenched fists at her sides, while long tendons in her neck became prominent. Her eyes were the storm-soaked green of the forest, rustling and shifting beneath a howling wind.

She was his protector, his companion, and he could not stop her from joining him. He could not stop her because the only way to stop her was to tell her that he was in danger of crossing the final line that would result in loving her.

And if he told her that, if he gave voice to the deepest murmurs of his heart, then the action of making it real, giving it substance, would make it happen. His heart would be hers. He would be helplessly in love with her and only her.

And Rosamund would be damned.

“Fine.”

Her glare intensified for a few moments until his reply penetrated her brain, and her face and body deflated, becoming confused. “No more arguing?”

“None. You’re right. You’re much better with a sword than I am.” He started toward his room, not bothering to look back since there was no question she would follow.

Sure enough, within three strides she was beside him again. “How do we break this curse?”

“I need to marry Rosamund and have our first kiss. If I do that before the curse takes effect, it never will.”

If it had been anyone but Taren who told him the way to reverse the curse, Seth would never have believed it. It couldn’t be that simple. All the pain, Rosamund’s torture, and it was over like that?

Kira’s features tightened, a hardening of her jaw and gaze, but she shook off whatever thoughts invaded and smoothed out her features before she answered. “That can’t be. Your father and King Matthias would have had a proxy wedding a long time ago if that was the answer. We have to be missing something.”

The air was chilly today, and Seth pulled his coat a little closer. A storm was brewing, and with the talk of magic and curses, his mind took a fanciful bent. Bad omen, bad omen, bad omen. “Taren couldn’t say if they knew or not. His source wouldn’t give him that information.”

“And we trust this mysterious source enough we upend our lives on nothing but their word?”

A crow cawed in the distance. The murder answered. Bad Omen. “Your father obviously thought so.”

Kira looked down. With the toe of her boot she crushed blades of grass into the ground, meticulous with her choices. “Which means we do what?”

“Do you think my father really wishes me married?” The answer would be so simple if that one question didn’t exist. When it came to the subject of his marriage, the choices his father made were unpredictable. Seth couldn’t get a handle on what the king desired.

The boot paused in its meticulous destruction of the surrounding grass. “I don’t know.” Kira’s voice mirrored his thoughts. “Your