Algernon Black

(Chapter 132) Greenhouse Escapades

Lucy stood outside blowing warm breaths onto her hands while looking down the hundred-foot drop over the cliff's edge. The only thing preventing any accidental falls was the iron railing, but it was short, only up to the middle of her knees. With all the power the last good king had, he made the railing so small, Lucy thought to herself, which was the only other thing that had been able to cross her mind since fleeing the boy in the ballroom.

"It's cold out here," Algernon said, suddenly appearing behind her. "Especially for someone in a dress like that." His tone wasn't mocking or rude, but Lucy wished it had been, it would have been far less strain on her heart.

"The fresh air is good for me," Lucy replied, looking anywhere but him.

"Doesn't mean you need to be cold." Algernon shrugged off his jacket and settled the thick black coat across Lucy's shoulders where she instantly felt a surge of warmth flood more than just her skin.

"Thank you," she mumbled, hugging the collars of the coat to hide the blush on her face. She breathed in Algernon's lingering scent intertwined in the wool as the clean musky floral of him started to overwhelm her senses and mind like it did whenever he was too close.

Algernon took a moment of pause to appreciate how cute Lucy looked engulfed by his jacket,  but it was her reddened cheeks that reminded him of the conversation they hadn't yet finished.

"Lucy," Algernon softly beckoned.

Lucy froze, not from the night's cold, but because of his solemn tone of voice. She swallowed a lump of restless nerves clogging her throat.

"Can I kiss you?" Algernon asked, stepping as gently as he could closer to her.

Lucy faltered backward from the shock, but the back on her legs had nowhere to go but to collide with the short railing. Her knees buckled and she would have tumbled over if Algernon hadn't saved her by grabbing hold of the sides of her waist.

His body provided a hundred times more heat than his jacket, but it was Lucy's racing heart that made her blood burn as she stared directly into his chest, too afraid to look as the hold that had prevented her from falling to her death, now prevented her from moving out of his arms.

Algernon didn't release Lucy or allow her any space; instead, he raised a hand to her chin, lifting up her gaze.

"Well?" he asked, not demanding but more as a hopeful request.

"I don't know," Lucy said, shutting her eyes and facing down. She tried to create any space between them, but it was as useless to budge the wrought iron railing as it was Algernon.

"You don't know?" he inquired in all seriousness.

"Yes," Lucy meeked out, pathetic to even her own ears.

"Yes?" he asked back hopefully.

"No!" Lucy panicked, opening her eyes, but then instantly averting them away. She peered past the railing, to the impossible height she had almost fallen to. She knew the plunge into darkness would have been a terrifying fall to one's death, the one in Algernon's eyes seemed even worse. "I don't know." She continued to panic. "Wha-" What is going on, Lucy tried to say, but couldn't form the words as the extra blood her heart was pumping clogged her throat.

"Then let me kiss you here to help you decide," Algernon replied, bowing down to press a kiss to her exposed collarbone.

"And here," Algernon said, raising up to kiss her neck. Lucy's mind evaded her in everything but the sensation of the kiss as the spot his lips grazed trickled a warmth over her skin that seeped into the deepest parts of her mind. "and here," he murmured, kissing her cheek.