The Snow Prince - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,6

onto my side and leaned on my elbow, resting my head in my hand as I looked at him. “She’s throwing these elaborate holiday dinner parties. I have to court the girls.”

“What does that even mean? Court them?”

“Show them around the castle. Tell them about my life. Take them to my Dad’s gravestone and talk about how important royalty is, how important Frostmonte is.”

“So that’s what dating in a castle is like,” Henry said. “Gross.”

“I don’t know what dating is like anywhere, let alone in a castle,” I said. “I don’t want to do it.”

“Maybe you’ll have fun,” he said.

“Not gonna happen.”

“Maybe you’ll get to kiss someone,” he said.

“Ew, Henry.”

He puffed out a laugh. “Sebastian, you can’t actually still be grossed out by kissing. We aren’t kids anymore.”

“I’m not grossed out by kissing. I’m grossed out by kissing these poor girls who I know I’m never going to want to marry.”

“Why not? You might like one of them,” he said.

I pulled in a sharp breath. “Not in that way.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Believe me, I do,” I said.

He paused for a moment, searching my face. “How do you know?”

“Stop pushing it,” I said too loudly. My heart was suddenly pounding again, my whole body hot with frustration.

“Sorry,” Henry said softly, holding his hand up to catch snowflakes and watch them melt on his palm. “Just trying to make you feel better about the whole going-back-to-castle-jail thing.”

I swallowed over the tightness in my throat. “I… I don’t think I like girls, Henry,” I said.

I hadn’t planned on making the admission, but it spilled out of me. “At least, I haven’t liked a girl yet,” I said. Maybe I could. I don’t fucking know.”

He furrowed his brow, looking at me. “You don’t?”

“I know I don’t like them as much as I like… you,” I said.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “We’re best friends. Girls are different. Relationships are different.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” I said, my throat dry.

He was staring at me intently now, like there was an electrical current between the two of us.

“How do you mean it, then?” he asked. For the first time in forever, I heard hesitation in his voice. Almost as if he was afraid to ask the question.

Like he might care a lot about how I answered it.

I reached over and picked up the bottle of liqueur, draining the dregs of it to give me the type of courage I normally never had. I could feel my heartbeat in every inch of my body.

I was actually going to do something. For once in my life. No matter how terrifying it was.

I leaned forward and closed the distance between me and Henry, pausing for a millisecond with my lips just in front of his. I hung in the moment, like I was waiting for some sort of signal. I could smell cocoa and orange liqueur.

And then I felt it: his hand at the side of my face, gently cupping my cheek. It was all the signal I needed.

I let out a small sigh as I pressed my lips to his.

My heart skipped a beat as I felt the rush of warmth of his lips on mine. He was always warmer than me; of course his lips were no different. Having his mouth on mine activated something inside me, like a small glowing light finally flickering on for the first time.

And I realized I should have started kissing him a long time ago.

Kissing Henry didn’t feel scary. It didn’t feel like something forbidden or wrong or like breaking a rule.

It felt right, actually. Deep in my bones.

Like kissing my best friend. Kissing the one person I knew cared about me. The real me.

I was so turned on it almost ached, but that wasn’t even the most important thing. All I could think, over and over again, was that this was where I belonged.

He kissed me back, slow and sweet, then kept his lips soft as he pulled away.

“Sebastian…” he said, his voice gentler than I’d ever heard it. “You never told me you…”

He trailed off, his eyes searching mine again. We were still so close, and I realized I was holding the top of his forearm gently, like if I let go he might fade away like a dream.

“I love you,” I said. My throat was tight again, but I didn’t feel like I was going to cry. More like I might explode. I wanted to stay right here forever, huddled in the snow with the one person