Chapter 5 - I Could Hardly Return The Maddening Kiss
1936 Words
THE KING AND THE PRINCE had a lavish lifestyle.
I had to admit it was more extravagant than I would ever have imagined. They lived as if they were completely cut off from the rest of the world. Having grown up in between streets, sleeping from vendor to vendor, and scraped food from the trash, I knew what life was like behind these golden walls and the silver gates. Life wasn’t easy. It was the life not one of them would have known. It was bitter to see such a contrast, but it was real.
It wasn’t made up as I made my way across the hallways and saw much gold. It wasn’t made up as I was served amazingly too much breakfast at every morning. It wasn’t made up when I had almost a feast during lunch and dinner. It wasn’t made up when there were many servants and maids working at their beck and call.
But most of all, it wasn’t made up how I was caged. Locked inside my room except for the designated hours I could go out, treated like a luxurious prisoner to be prepared for the King to feast upon.
Just the thought of it made me shiver in fear.
Today, as I woke up, I wondered if it would be the day.
The day when the King would claim my body and use me as his breeder.
Truth be told, women in this Kingdom weren’t so unfamiliar with the term. Most of the female Wolves were treated solely to give the male Wolves an heir. Even mates, their purpose was clear. To give sons and daughters to continue the family line. The unfortunate ones were sold by their family to gain political rights. Sold to have money. Sold to be breeder. Like I was, it wasn’t something new to me. And I wouldn’t be the last one.
So, I was quick to accept my fate.
Except for the fact that I was mated to his son. The Prince. And I couldn’t accept the fact that he did nothing. He didn’t claim me, fight for me, or release me from his father’s grip.
It hurt more than being the King’s toy.
The maids weren’t here yet, so I used whatever peace I had before they came. They would usually swarm inside the room like swans circling me, turning me into a fake Queen, and guiding me through what I had to do that day.
Rosalie, my lady-in-waiting, would usually follow my shadow everywhere I went before she would remind me that I had to go back to my room, orders from the King himself.
I went toward one of the windows. The curtain was already opened because I let it that way during the night. As I perched myself there, I could catch a glimpse of the warriors training outside. They were well-built. Strong. Powerful Wolves in their human-skin, practicing to defend the honor of the Kingdom.
In between them, a man bigger than them glided over. He went through all the attacks, though trained, but he was lithe on his feet and ardent with his defenses. Sweat trickled down his face, chest, and back, but he was breathing evenly.
At first, he barely noticed me. But as time went on, more and more warriors spotted me in the window. When one of them got distracted, it was enough to make the Prince look up. As soon as he saw me, sparks flew between us. It was like I was charged with invisible electricity. I was sure he felt the same way too.
It was awful how our mating bond was strong, steady, and strapping. It was even harder to ignore it.
I took a sharp intake of breath.
Prince Kaden threw his sword and he stalked away angrily. He was like a storm that went away. I gulped, backed away from the window, and closed the curtain rather roughly. Did he hate seeing me that much? Did he not like the sight of me?
For an entire week, he made it quite obvious that he was avoiding me.
When the King would take me to dinner, talking about absolutely nothing, he would be absent from the table. During lunches, he would excuse himself earlier. When we saw each other across the hallway, he would turn back.
It was hurting some part of me.
I sighed and decided it was no use to think about this. Soon, his father would claim my innocence and I would be forced to bear his children. Knowing that he was my mate who did nothing would only pain my heart.
As I walked back toward the bed, I was being startled by the loud slam of the door.
Prince Kaden was there, breathing like a dragon. Gone was his steady breath during practice. He didn’t look like he was losing any breath earlier, but now, it seemed like he had hundreds of hours of practice. I noted how the sweat on his skin was worse. He was choking on some invisible air.
Before I could say anything, Prince Kaden stormed over to me. He had my back against the wall, shaking the bedside lamp and my wavering heart.
I sucked in a sharp breath. My back was in a painful thud. I swallowed hard against the fear and obvious attraction to his handsome face inches away from mine.
“What-what are you doing, Your Highness?” I barely uttered.
“What are you doing?” Prince Kaden hissed. His words were hot on my lips. I could feel his anger. The infuriation that I couldn’t understand.
“What did I do?”
“You were there.”
“What?” I was beyond confused.
“You were out there,” he hissed. His hand on my throat felt burning. The other one clamped around my small waist. “Looking like that—like this,” he shut his eyes tight as if he was in pain. “Are you trying to kill me? Do you do this on purpose?”
“I don’t understand what you are saying!” In my defense, I didn’t think much about how I looked.
Of how my nightgown might have seemed too vulgar and my bed hair crude. But they were all warriors. Trained and raised in the Kingdom. They were well-mannered men and the Prince couldn’t have been angry just for this, right?
“You are barely wearing anything and you flaunt everything before their eyes.”
Stunned. That was what I was.
Stunned on my feet. I drew back. I looked at him and he was truly saying what was on his mind. I almost laughed out loud. Too loud that other people might hear.
“Are you angry? Are you actually mad?” I burst out. Prince Kaden didn’t blink. “You are mad!”
“Do not do things like that again, Margot.”
The sound of my name on his lips was heavenly. I drank the moment for a second before I twisted my body from him. I slipped to the side, walking backward.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” I snorted.
“Yes, I can.”
“Why? You are no one.”
Prince Kaden clenched his jaw. “I am the Prince.”
“Yeah, but do you know who I am?” I had this sudden urge to nudge him. To make him see how I was able to fight even in my smallest moment. “I am the King’s woman. I am his breeder and I am his. I belong to the King.”
I belong to the King.
That, alone, should be able to make Prince Kaden to snap. To do everything he could to make me belong to him instead.
I did get him angry. But it wasn’t the way I wanted. He was just all talk as he pushed me down the bed and he went on top of me. He pinned both of my wrists above my head and he had his body pressed tight against me. I was writhing both with pain and the sudden surge of pleasure.
“Your Highness—“
“That is precisely why you shouldn’t do what you did again,” he spat. “Do you understand me? You are the King’s woman and you are only for him. Your body, the sight of you, this wild, wild hair, and your lips, everything is just for—“ Prince Kaden paused. He was struggling to say the next word.
I could see his throat tightening around him.
The Prince, the Commander of the Deadchaser Warriors was choking on his own words.
I lifted my chin high. “For who?”
“For the King,” he breathed. “Those are for the King only.”
I couldn’t believe the restraint he had. His loyalty to the Kingdom even though he was playing with his own fate and mate. He was never going to fight for me, is he?
“So, you are angry for the King?”
“Yes,” the answer came a little bit too quickly.
“You don’t want your Warriors to see me because of your father?”
“Yes,” he shoved my wrists into the bed. He inhaled deeply as if scenting me.
My nightgown was a mess. I believed he could see everything because it covered nothing. Prince Kaden shut his eyes again like he was training himself to calm down. When he opened them, the cold unmoving Kaden Darkthorn was back.
“Yes, it was all because of that.”
“I do not believe you.”
“It sounds like your problem.”
“Why won’t you fight?”
“We are not having this conversation right now,” but when he was going to get off me, it was my turn to hold him. I locked my fingers together and I wrapped them behind his neck. I pulled him down violently, rather forcefully so I could make sure he wouldn’t be able to escape. “Margot, let me go.”
“Are you that scared of me?”
“I’m not scared of you,” he hissed.
“You are treating me as if I could turn you into a frog, Kaden,” I was well aware of how I was disrespecting him outright. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was tired of his cowardice. How he was treating me like I was his mate, but he wouldn’t fight for me. “Relax. I would never put a spell on you.”
“Careful,” he warned.
“Even if I do, I don’t think it would work. You would still lick your father’s ass and never be disloyal to this Kingdom—“ I haven’t had the chance to end my sentence when suddenly, the Prince was on me.
He was on me.
His lips slammed against mine in a way that would leave bruises.
I could hardly return the maddening kiss.
Prince Kaden pulled back, wiped his mouth, and he got off me like I was discharging a plague. He looked at me up and down and I could see how clearly that kiss affected him. He didn’t bat an eye at how much I was disoriented from his kiss or how I was displaying every inch of my skin to him.
“Never do any of that again.”
Prince Kaden left.
And I was left wondering if I could ever get that kiss again.
- Writer
