Chapter 5 : His Body on Mine

t the crack of dawn, a piercing knock hit the princess' door, and without hesitation, the queen's personal attendant, the one sheathed in a black pantsuit, marched in aggressively with orders from the queen.

"Every day at 6 am I'll be doing your makeup. You're to assume the role of Princess Iris. Your life as you once knew it, as a maid, doesn't exist anymore."

I was caught off guard. If that was the case, Princess Iris would never be returning?

"Now, as Your Majesty mentioned, you have two weeks. These two weeks you may spend as you like," the queen's attendant added, "Whether you want to enjoy your time indulging in all the exquisite delicacies available to a princess, you may do that, but just know your decisions have unwavering consequences if the prince doesn't accept the engagement."

As if I could…if only my and my sister's lives weren't in my hands!

"Understood," I acknowledged.

There were no other instructions given to me. How was I supposed to win over Prince Leonardo? How was I to even approach him? I'd never even dated before. Two years wouldn't be enough time, nevertheless two weeks.

The personal attendant grabbed me from the bed and plopped me in the makeup chair, replicating my look exactly like the day before. After a few minutes of different brushes painting my face, she swirled the chair around and left me to my own devices.

I sat there, in the white-leathered chair, hopeless and helpless. I didn't know where to start. How could I in fact even make conversation with the prince when the only words he spoke so far were his rejection?

Delaying the inevitable, I made my way into the princess' personal wardrobe and picked out a nice springtime outfit I thought would lighten the prince's rather icy mood.

My eyes were captured by a frilly short-sleeved airy dress with a lightly-embroidered flower pattern along the hem. It didn't quite look like Princess Iris' style–she was more hardened and frigid like her mother–so it made sense the tag was still on.

I slipped the light dress, sighed, and peered down at the garden. I needed some fresh air.

It was early enough in the morning that I didn't see more than one maid on the way outside, and at the entry hall door, there were two guards.

Outside, the crisp morning air bit at my cheeks and fingertips, stirring me awake. I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh smell of daffodils, jasmine, and tulips. The nocturnal insects' songs had died down and given way to the peaceful hum of light spring wind in the trees accompanied by a couple of early birds' chatter.

I needed this. This peace and quiet and beauty, however long it lasted.

Maybe more people also needed this, like the prince.

The prince! Yes, maybe he would like flowers. Who wouldn't?

With that revelation, I picked a whole handful of flowers–Monadiko, a flower special to Sablestone–for him.

I didn't know the prince at all but I needed to start from somewhere.

I made my way out of the garden with several multi-colored petals.

Already by seven o'clock, I could feel the sun working hard to warm up the earth.

I wiped the tiny beads of sweat coming up on the back of my neck and headed inside to deliver them to the prince's room.

However, when I was near the palace entrance I saw Prince Leonardo and the man I presumed to be his Beta walking out to the training grounds. I could just barely make out the shaking laughter coming from the Beta.

Prince Leonardo…He was expressionless like at the dinner party. Was he always cold, grumpy, and menacing? It didn't seem possible that he'd have any light in him.

However, I couldn't resist the pull toward him and I found my feet carrying me dangerously close to them.

My heart was already thumping crazily in my chest from the sudden exercise and the once airy dress, which was unusually tight around my breasts, now felt suffocating. It almost made me miss my black and white maid's uniform.

I stopped in the gateway of the training grounds to take in the scene. Off to the side, Prince Leonardo was stretching out his arms, squinting as the early morning sun shined down on him.

All of a sudden, he seemed to sense something and jerked his head around in my direction. I didn't know what had come over me---if it was curiosity or the heat clouding my judgment, but I hid in a bush so I could stay and watch.

Now my interest wavered from wanting to see the prince share a laugh with his Beta to seeing if Prince Leonardo was truly the bloodthirsty warrior everyone hailed him to be.

His Beta waved him into the center of the dirt-covered training ring. The two men squared up to each other and took turns swinging and dodging punches.

Leonardo's fists were lightning-fast and he landed a few blows to his Beta's cheek early on. When the Beta tried to grapple the prince to the ground, Prince Leonardo wrapped him up, swept his legs around and slammed his Beta to the ground with a harsh thud like the full-sized man was an ant.

For some reason, I was surprised to see that they weren't taking it easy on each other. I wondered if I would see them shift.

Aside from the Luna Queen, I hadn't been around many wolf forms in a palace because shifting was forbidden. Even my own father didn't shift around me. He saved that side of himself for work and apparently didn't see the need for it outside of that.

"Woah, Alpha, you don't need to go so hard on me. We're on the same side," the Beta joked, touching his cheek to survey the damage.

"Dylan, you should know, friends and enemies can be interchangeable roles," Prince Leonardo stated coldly. His eyes narrowed.

So, the Beta's name was Dylan....

"We've learned a lot in the trenches, haven't we?" Dylan sighed, nostalgically.

The prince stuck his hand out and helped Dylan up from the dusty clay ground. Dylan brushed off his pants and added, "That reminds me. How have the treaty negotiations been going?"

Wow. After the treaty dinner, it seemed that Hoarfrost officials didn't waste any time ironing out the details.

"They added extra territory to sweeten the deal. Torflora," Prince Leonardo relayed.

Dylan exclaimed, "You mean the one riddled with rebels and rogues? D*mn, that's going to be a pain in the a*s to clear out…"

"That's not going to be a problem because there's no way I'm agreeing to the marriage in the first place."

My heart sank.

The prince's voice was cool, even a bit gravelly, as his eyes looked determined. I'm sure he meant every word of what he was saying which only made my job seem even more impossible.

I wanted to ask, 'why stay?' to the prince. Of course, I couldn't and I assumed it was because he was representing his pack and it was customary to at least try to come to a deal, but still I wondered.

There was an empty silence between them before Dylan interjected, "Well, it's d*mn hot out here. I'm going to get some water. You want anything?"

Then the prince shook his head no and Dylan went into the clubhouse near the tennis courts.

I was both allured and terrified by the power the prince commanded. The sun beamed off of his golden eyes, and lit his pupils like embers, ready to burn through anyone who crossed him.

He took off his canvas jacket and t-shirt, revealing his torso and defined abs. Every ridge, every muscle, and every contour was magnified by the sun's rays. There wasn't an ounce of sweat on him, but his skin was light and looked buttery smooth.

I'd never seen a man shirtless in my life and now I was only a short distance away from this brooding, sweltering warrior.

I felt my face burning and blood rushing through my body. My throat was a little dry and my heart started to race...

After the prince's shirtless body was engraved into my memory, I had a feeling it was time to go and leave the Monadiko flowers in his room before he got back. But, just as I shifted my feet, the prince looked my way as if he saw through the bush.

I froze. Did he see me?

I swallowed hard as I saw him walk toward me. My heart was thumping. Goddess, what was he going to say when he found out I was sneaking around peeking at him during his training?

I was so panicked that I almost cried.

Luckily, he stopped a couple of feet in front of me and sat down on a bench right in front of the bush.

I couldn't move. At this distance, any noise could expose me.

What had I done to myself? Why did I hide here in the first place?

We were so close. And, he was shirtless…

I swallowed hard, looking at the Monadiko petals in my trembling hands, my eyes glued to his muscular back until my gaze wandered down to his contoured waistline. I wanted to speak his name but my voice failed me. My throat felt dry like it was burned by fiery tinder.

I couldn't just hide here all day. I had to get away…

As I extended my leg to slowly crawl away from the bush, all of a sudden I heard a swoosh, and I was thrown into the soft grass onto my back, causing me to lose my breath.

In a state of dizziness, I noticed the prince's face hovering over me, only a few inches away.

Before I could realize what had happened, a dagger was pointed in between my brows.

All I could see was his piercing golden eyes drawn close to my face. I noticed the swirl of light brown in them, hidden behind their bright golden intensity. He had surprisingly long and thick eyelashes that only made his golden eyes more prominent.

Somehow he'd managed to pin both of my arms above my head with one of his massive hands, and with his other hand, he held the dagger.

I felt him straddling my waist, his legs pinning down my thighs. As his pelvis rubbed against my groin, I could sense my whole body heating up.

His body was pressed against mine. The feeling of his bare chest on top of my breasts made my breathing speed up. The core of my body heated up, and I almost felt a warm flow between my legs.

I was trembling, however, not due to fear, but something that was foreign that I couldn't describe.

Finally, he recognized me and moved the dagger a little further away from my face.

However, he still hadn't released me.

Unable to stand his stare any longer, I moved my eyes down from his and landed on his full and moist lips.

Garnet lips.

I swallowed hard again.

A single drop of sweat fell from the arch of his upper lip and landed on my cheek, shocking me back into my senses.

I tried to pull my hands free, but the prince's grip was like iron shackles. I tried to kick my legs but the weight of his muscled body was too heavy. But as I moved, the prince's blade quickly pointed against my throat.

"What are you doing here?" he growled through his teeth.

Glancing over from the side of my eye at the flowers that had dispersed all over the ground, I muttered back, "I...was just bringing you something...."

As I spoke, I felt the metallic tip slightly pierce through my skin. A droplet of blood ran down my neck from where the sharp dagger was pointed.

His brow was knitted more as if something was really bothering him.

I glanced up into his eyes again. What had seemed bright and fiery just a few seconds ago, now were dilating black. The vein in his forehead started throbbing.

Prince Leonardo looked over at the dusted petals then flicked his eyes back to me and then to my neck. Suddenly his face dove down towards me.

My breasts tingled and my heart raced faster.

His mouth edged closer and closer until I felt his wet lips work their way down my throat.

His tongue extended and it was unexpectedly warm against my sensitive skin when I was expecting it to be icy cold. It was like this frozen monster actually did have some warmth running through his body.

I let out a moan that was again foreign to me.

I felt he licked the blood off my neck recklessly, but then he quickly retracted and left me lost in my newfound sensation when he pulled away.

Then, the prince grimaced, looking displeased, and pressed off of my shoulders, releasing me.

He hopped up effortlessly and slid his blade back into its leather holster, which looked a bit worn. He picked up his t-shirt, threw it on over his body, and walked away from the training ground.

Why? Why did he stop so soon?

I glanced over and saw the prince's Beta returning from the clubhouse. His mouth was slightly open, seemingly surprised by the scene.

With my face still burning, I leaned up on my elbows. I couldn't help but feel like I ruined a relatively blissful moment out on the training ground for the prince. Surely, he'd never want to hear my voice again.

The Beta ran over to me, bent down, and assisted me to stand. "I'm so sorry about that, Your Highness. You must have appeared in his blind spot."

I wiped some grass and loose leaves off of me and straightened out my skin-tight dress. The day's humidity made it glaze over my skin. "No… No, I'm sorry," I apologized. It was customary for a maid to apologize to a royal no matter the circumstance. "I shouldn't have—"

"Don't worry, you Highness," the Beta consoled, gently touching my arm. He dropped his voice to a mutter and continued, "Things are just tense because of the peace treaty—"

I was a bit dizzy and breathless and my heart was beating frantically as I saw the Luna Queen tread off back to the palace far in the distance.

The Beta helped me to my feet and he took a clean cloth from his front pocket and wiped the streak of blood from my neck. His touch was cordial, tender even, but it didn't stimulate me like the prince.

His eyes smiled gently as he greeted, "How rude of me. I'm Dylan by the way, the prince's Beta." So, as I figured.

As I extended my hand to introduce myself, I realized how foolish it was. Clearly, he already knew who I was. Dylan kissed the top of my hand like a gentleman and assured me, "Of course, your Highness, it's an honor to meet you."

The kiss was polite, a cordial welcome, but it felt weird having another man's lips on my body only minutes after the prince. I mean, I went twenty years without being kissed and now I was the recipient of two!

"So, how bad is it?" I asked Dylan, wondering the extent of my wound.

"The blade didn't penetrate far enough. Just a slight nick. But, how about I let our resident nurse take a look at you just to make sure," he assured.

"That's too much to ask, really, I'm fi–"

Dylan placed his hand on the spot right over the strap of my dress. He looked into my eyes with a generous smile.

"Please, your Highness, I insist."

I hesitated, and finally nodded respectfully. "Sure thing."