Her attitude made it clear that she wasn't younger than I was.
Okay, so she was older then. I didn't care about stuff like that — Not one bit.
The thought lasted a fraction of a second until I remembered how Arthur seemed to have been frozen in time, and only then, it became upsetting. She had stopped laughing when I looked at her, she went quiet — she had the most provoking triumphed look I had ever seen on her face.
Now she was toying with me.
I marched forward, closing the distance between us in two short strides. My hand caught her left wrist. I ignored it when she tried to yank herself free and I bent down significantly to reach her, my lips found her ear.
"You can do better than this," I used my breath to whisper rather than my throat.
I had regretted overthinking our proximity in that forest, she could bring a man to his knees if she wanted just by giving him one of her brain splitting headaches, the same one she gave me when I was about to leave the classroom.
Thank goodness for that talent of hers.
She twisted her wrist once more as if to pull away from me, it was useless. I wasn't going to let her go this time around — unless she hurt me.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" Her doe eyes pleaded with me "Or did you come here to finish what your FATHER started earlier?" She poured all the venom she had inside of her in that one word.
My grip on her wrist loosened. Remorse was filling me.
"I'm sorry... for what happened today, I mean" I clarified. I wasn't sorry for touching her as long as it was not beyond what she allowed me to.
And I planned on touching her some more.
"Do you call this an apology?" she asked bitterly.
My eyes drifted down to her plump lips, incredibly inviting, I took a deep breath. Debating on whether or not I should just go for the kiss and then make out with her senselessly. I had no idea what was stopping me from doing just that right this second. I knew we'd both enjoy it tremendously.
She held very still for a long moment while my eyes were craving her lips, I couldn't bring myself to look back into her eyes, too afraid of finding a look that demanded I stayed away from her, I wasn't sure I had enough resistance in me to still manage to do that.
I clenched my jaw, hearing the sound of my teeth grinding a few times in my ears, hating that I was overthinking it all over again. Why couldn't I treat her normally like I did with the rest of the girls out there?
I expected a sarcastic remark as I hesitated, not pulling away but not pushing forward, but nothing came.
Not able to resist the temptation much longer, I brushed my thumb over her soft lips, expecting a slap in the face any moment now, so when her eyes closed instead of doing that, a shock ran through my body at the thrill I felt. I was filled with the giddiest sensation.
She was giving me a green light.
I ran my fingers through her hair, remembering how much I felt like touching it the first time I ever saw her. My other hand was still holding her wrist, so I just pulled her to me. Her eyes opened lazily, I was happy to find them brown and warm, they had a primal glint in them, then they closed again.
With two green lights in a row, I had won the freaking lottery.
I kissed her forehead through a triumphant smile on my face, inhaling the jasmine that was more intense than it had ever been before, I placed her hand that I held by the wrist over my chest, securing it over there, half expecting this moment to end abruptly if she yanked her hand away, but what do you know, she kept it there.
I wanted to celebrate my victory. A multiverse of infinite possibilities was manifesting right in front of me, so I brought my nose closer to hers and felt her breath on mine; there was no room left between the two of us anymore. I held her gently, cupping her face with one hand, and pressed my lips onto hers ever so lightly, leaving her one final chance to pull away from me.
Her soft full lips pressed onto mine, deepening the kiss.
It became so intense in a nanosecond, and I lost myself in the moment completely.
We probably stood there for around 10 minutes, making out. Her entire body felt warm to the touch, but I had no plan of taking things further than that so I kept my hands in check. I enjoyed feeling her heart racing against me, my legs were shaking a bit through the entire thing as if it was my first time kissing a girl.
But was this her first kiss?
She rose on her tiptoes, allowing me to straighten up a bit.
Hell. I just felt how uncomfortable that was for me.
My arms closed tightly around the middle of her back, I needed to keep her safe and comfortable too, my objective was to pick her up swiftly and firmly support her from below... as soon as I felt her arms and legs wrapping around my neck and waist, I moved one hand under her thigh. Then, giving her enough time to adjust her weight, I moved my other hand under her other thigh. I didn't look around for something that she could lean against to balance her weight — I could hold her like that for as much as she'd let me.
The moment was incredible and I was eager to have her lips on mine again.
But suddenly, I had a very bad feeling.
My confusion about the contradiction didn't last long. I heard it loud, clear, and close. A wolf howled right from the outside.
It wasn't just that.
I had no idea how, but I understood what it was saying. The wolf that howled cried my brother's name.
I swallowed, feeling my throat so dry, that I couldn't make one sound.
Elizabeth unwrapped her legs from around my waist, and I felt a different kind of shiver passing through me. I needed to hurry to the crying wolf, but I hated leaving Elizabeth behind. I placed her back on her feet, and as soon as she was back to standing alone, she turned away from me and headed towards the opposite direction of the door, deeper into the same room.
"Wait," I pleaded.
She paused but didn't turn around to face me. "Our kiss..." she trailed off, and my heart sank, her warmth hadn't left my body just yet. "Consider it a kiss goodbye, your majesty."
She started walking again, but this time I didn't follow her.
I ran in the direction of the wolf who was howling again from outside the mansion.