Royals and Rebels 1: The Queen of Coleum

Chapter 9

Nine

I got showered and dressed. He fed me breakfast before he took me back to my dorm. There was no sign of Everly, or Darien, and I figured Everly must have gone home earlier that night. When I got to my dorm, it was surprisingly empty, and there weren’t even any sign of the security guards.

“Thank you,” I said, “I’m sorry things got out of hand. I’ll try to be better, I swear.”

“It’s alright,” he assured me, placing a hand gently on my shoulder, “but please, try to be careful, because Rose…. you don’t know the things that you do to me, or the lengths that I would go to stop something bad from happening to you.”

His eyes darkened as he said those words, making them a smoldering gold. It had been so easy to forget who he was there in his room, but as his intense, searing, gaze pierced me now I knew exactly who he was. Through and through, he was Prince Apollo, of Coleum, the future King.

This wasn’t an ordinary boyfriend I was dealing with or even an ordinary first love or first husband. This was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it with a snap of his fingers. I would hate to think of what lengths he would go to if something were to happen to me. Especially since he barely knew me now. What would happen if we beat the odds, and fell in love? I almost shuddered at the thought, but I managed to keep myself contained.

“Alright,” I agreed, “I’ll keep safe, okay?”

“Okay,” he said.

He stared at me, longing, and desperation filling his eyes. “All I want to do is to kiss you right now, but I don’t want to scare you off.”

I stared at his lips. I remembered the feel of him on mine in the cafeteria, the intense, tingling sensation that had shot through me as we had done it in front of everyone in the entire school. I wondered if it would be as intense in private. He was tall, the kind of tall that towered over me and made me look small in comparison.

Without thinking, I stood on tip toe, and looped my arms around his neck that was lowered towards mine. I kissed him, this time controlling everything, including my fingers running through his blond hair.

A moan escaped him, and he pulled me against his chest. “Woman,” he moaned into my mouth, as if I were a curse, but a curse that he wanted to live through, again, and again. And I felt the same way about him.

He pulled away and looked at me again. “If you keep on kissing me like that, your virginity might not make it to the wedding.”

“Isn’t there a rule against that?” I asked, with a wicked smile, thinking that knowledge would keep it at bay.

He shook his head. “The loss of Virginity is celebrated here in Coleum. In fact, if I were to take you right now, up against the wall, there’d be dancing in the streets because it would that we were that much closer to an heir. To bringing life into the world, to continuing the future of Coleum.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

That certainly was a different view, compared to most cultures.

“When a young woman loses her virginity in Coleum, we throw a celebration called The Awakening. The same goes for a young man. Of course, we do prefer that the couple be of age, but we understand that love is something that can’t be controlled. Or desire for that matter. And I think you’ll find, Rose, that we are not a country that reigns in desire.”

My breath hitched. I hadn’t considered that the views on sexuality might be different here. They were right in between Scotland and Ireland. I’d assumed they’d be similar. But Coleum seemed to have its own identity, its own way of doing things.

“To answer your question, no, we have no prudish views about virginity,” he said, as he reached out and held my shaking chin in his hand, “but, because I can tell you do, and that you are quivering like a leaf at the thought- “

“I’m not that bad!” I objected.

“Yes, you are,” he said with a grin, “it’s quite cute, to be perfectly honest. I rather enjoy innocent, naïve Rose. For that reason, and of course because I’m a gentleman, I’ll keep you innocent a bit longer. But don’t keep me waiting too long Rose. Patience is not a virtue I claim to have.”

I was certain, in that moment, that the boy with the golden eyes was going to be my downfall. I wasn’t sure how, or when, or why, but I was already too swept up in the world of Prince Apollo in Coleum. I couldn’t have gone back to my small, midwestern town even if I had tried. Normal was a thing of the past, and I was completely at his mercy. There was Apollo, and he was my only sun now, my only light in the whole world that I would never let go of.