This is bad. This is really bad. "it hurts doesn't it. It's just for a while" I pat princess's head and heard her neigh softly. Smoothing her brown fur with my palms. She caught a cold and has to be isolated before it spreads. Her constant whining and neighing shows her dislike towards the idea. "let's give it five days" I reassure her. She neighs loudly as she takes her head out of my embrace. I pull her back. "okay, four days" She sends me a look that says"seriously?" I shrug. She gruffs and turns away from me whilst swishing my face with her tail as she made her way further into her new stable. "Okay, okay. Three days" She still doesn't look back so I bring out my secret weapon. An apple. I throw the apple over to her. She feigns ignorance and I pretend to leave. After a few seconds I return and catch her chewing the apple. "Ha!, couldn't resist, could you?" My lips can't help but form a smug grin at her. She gruffs angrily at me before she goes further into her stable with the

"Yes," I reply to his previous sentence. My hands tuck into my pockets as I walk past him further into the maze of trees. Every apple looks juicy and are begging to be plucked. Dad would always apple pick with me and allow me to win. Good days.... Roland's footstep follow lightly but steadily behind me. "I heard about the dispute between our men and I would like to apologize on their behalf" I say loud enough for him to hear. He doesn't respond for a few seconds but when I stop to pluck another apple from its branch, it falls to the ground, rolled between my feet. I turn around to see it stop at Roland's feet. He smirks lightly before going down to pick it. He dusts the surface lightly and hands it over to me. "Things like that are bound to happen. You don't need to apologize" his velvety voice goes straight Into the pit of my tummy. I nod slowly. We continue our walk round the plantation, and I immediately regret not taking a basket with me. "should have brought a basket" I mutte

"Nervous?" She cocks her right eyebrow at me with a grin on her lips. "It depends Rolan, are you?" "No" I answer. She smiles coyly. "Me neither" she says then she tries to move away but I insist on having her close to my body so I hold her still. "Does my touch bite Mika?" I growl into her ear to see a familiar blush creep up her neck. I never liked girls who blushed profusely at any action but Davinia's blush is innocent and from the look on her face, she hates the fact that she does blush and that makes me want to tease her more. "Or it doesn't. I'd love to see how deep your blush can go. I'm glad to be the one to see you in this state" At this she cocks both right and left brow at me and scoffs like she can't believe how innocent she is and how I'm the one who gets to see her blush. I only said that to get under her skin but with the reaction she gave, something tells me what I said is true and I somewhat feel glad for that. "You must be delusional if you think you're t

Rolan's warm hand tries to hold my hand but I'm content with my nails digging into my own skin. He eventually holds my hand and pulls it to his lap. He moves forward, his lips brushes my skin as he whispers into my ear. "You're frowning, Mika. Everyone is watching. Your lips look so edible in that pout" He teases. A laugh unknowingly breaks out of me and I stop myself immediately but it's too late. Everyone breaks into a fit of laughter. I feel my body get hot. "Relax, Mika" He says before pulling away. I watch him from the corner of my eye. A smirk plays on his lips as he takes his cup of wine and nudges it to Uncle's direction. I can feel mother's hot gaze one but I chose to ignore it. Uncle continues. "We celebrate the engagement between Rolan Niklavo Dimitri, the king of the Russian empire and Davinia Jewels Lucchese, the Queen of the Italian empire. She's all yours Rolan, take good care of her" his voice turns deep at his last sentence. Rolan nods firmly before sipping his win

My eyes fly open immediately those words leave his lips. I sit upright to see the longing and love in his eyes. I do love Romeo but this is wrong. I'm thinking of the possibilities of things that could happen if I let him kiss me. The library is silent and chilly as we stare intensely at one another. He is leaning forward. This is wrong. "We can'—" My words get swallowed by his soft warm lips. If my eyes weren't open before, they are now. Romeo is kissing me, his hands slip to my waist and pulls me flush to his body that I feel his ruggness but this isn't right. I don't feel the way I expect to feel. No butterflies, no electricity, no sparkles.... I should stop this. I put my hands on his chest to push him away. "Re—" Someone pulls him away from him and holds him by the collar. "What part of" Engaged "do you not understand boy?" my breathing seizes by the sound of that voice. Rolan Dimitri holds Rex's collar with a look I've never seen on his face before. He looks like he wants t