My eyes drift down to his narrow waist, and over his bum.
“You staring at my ass?” he asks without turning around.
My eyes widen. “No,” I lie.
The Prince chuckles, the sound sending more shivers teasing through my core.
“If you were walking in front of me, I’d be staring at your ass,” the Prince says, glancing over his shoulder. His lips tug into a grin, and the heat of his gaze makes my cheeks burn.
What am I doing here? I should be in the kitchens with George, learning how to make pastries. Instead, I’m being dragged off into the woods by a Prince.
I shake my head to push the thought away. The woods open up and we arrive at a small clearing overlooking Farcliff Lake. The forest stops on a cliff’s edge, and a gentle wind washes over my face. The far shoreline is lined with trees, and the waters of the lake look clear, blue, and cold.
Prince Luca smiles. “It’s places like this that make me feel like myself again. Small enclaves where my feet carry me, away from people and their problems. All we did was walk for ten minutes and look where we are.”
His eyes move to me, and I see a softness in his eyes I haven’t seen before. Then, a flash crosses his face.
“Should we jump?”
“W-What?” I stutter, glancing at the cliff. My stomach surges, and I take a step back. “No.”
Isn’t that how he injured himself in the first place? He went cliff jumping with his brother, Prince Beckett, and Queen Cara, and jumped in a spot where the water was too shallow.
Does he have a death wish?
Prince Luca laughs at the expression on my face.
He cups my cheek. “The only thing that makes me feel more alive than walking is an unbelievable surge of adrenaline.”
Prince Luca grins at me, drops his hand, then takes off sprinting and launches himself off the cliff.
I scream, the sound echoing across the lake as Prince Luca flies through the air. He flips, landing feet-first in the water with a tiny splash that would make Olympic diving judges proud. I stumble to the edge, gasping.
My heart races and I scream again. “Luca!”
The surface of the lake stays dark and utterly prince-less. The wind rustles through the trees, and a songbird calls out behind me. My breaths are short and quick as I scan the water.
Nothing.
“Shit. Shit. Ahh…” I fist my hand into my hair and then tighten my bun, my eyes scanning around me. I left my phone in my bag at the castle. Going to get help and coming back would take at least twenty minutes. There aren’t any boats on the water over here, and not a single soul in sight.
I crawl to the edge, a rock tumbling over the cliff. It lands in the water with a splash, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.
The seconds tick by, one by one.
Thump, thump, thump.
All I can hear is the beating of my own heart as panic starts to lace my blood.
He’s dead. Drowned. Broken his back again. He’ll bob up to the surface, face down, and I… What will I do?
My mind spirals deeper and deeper into black panic.
Then, with a crash, Prince Luca breaks the surface. He flicks his head back and a shower of droplets dot the water. His smile is blinding as he glances up at me. His arms spread wide, and his laugh echoes up toward me.
“Come on!” he calls out. “It’s great in here.”
“No fucking way!” I scream.
The Prince laughs, beckoning me with his hand. “Come on, Poison. Live a little!”
Staring down at him, something shifts inside me. Maybe it’s his smile, or it’s the fact that my whole body feels like it’s on fire when he’s around.
Maybe it’s the fact that he lost his ability to walk after a devastating injury, and I just watched him jump off a cliff without hesitation. He stared in the face of his deepest fears, laughing as he punched through them.
Whatever it is, it compels me to stand up. It almost feels like I’m watching myself from above as I take four steps back from the cliff, sucking in a breath to steel my nerves.
Then, I run toward the edge of the cliff.
For the few, short seconds that I fly through the air, I can’t think. My mind is completely clear. It’s clear of the jealousy that has plagued me since I was a kid. It’s clear of fear,