The Shadows Between Us

For some reason, my lovers cease to give me expensive presents once I turn down their proposals.

Alas.

His last word was my name. His last thought was of me.

I won.

I haven’t had many opportunities to make friends, and it has been my experience that most ladies do not like me. Not when I’m their competition for the attentions of men.

All the time in the world is worth nothing if I don’t get to spend it with you.

“My little hellion. Quite the force to be reckoned with, aren’t you? Oh, say you’ll marry me, Alessandra!”

“And then we spent all those meals together, separated by a damned table. And you told me about your dreams. About your fears. And I wanted nothing more than to grant your dreams and remove your fears.”

I can’t stand being alone for one second longer. I can’t stand being apart from you for one second longer.”

“You asked to spend more time with me. It was the one thing I thought I could not give. Because if I spent more time with you, I would fall for you even harder. This girl who didn’t care that I was a king. But then you spent that evening with Leandros, and I realized the one thing worse than not having you was not having you and watching you be with someone else. So I tortured myself by spending more time with you.

When I first saw you, it infuriated me that you never looked at me. Not once during that inane ball. It wasn’t until I approached you that you deigned to meet my eyes. And then you insulted me. You mocked me every chance you got. You didn’t bow and roll over like every other human alive. You challenged me.

“That’s when I first knew I was doomed.”

He leans forward. “You’re so beautiful it hurts.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“I kept my distance to keep myself from doing something stupid. Something like this.” He pulls me so close it’s indecent as we go through the next steps.

I can’t even hear the music anymore. All I hear is Kallias’s frantic heartbeats, his warm breath against my hair.

When I dare to look up into his eyes, I realize it’s the wrong thing to do.