Burnt Lies

And So It Begins

Cameron 

She really did blush a lot, there seemed to be a permanent tinge of red on her cheeks. Her soft brown eyes would glance at me every time she thought I wasn't looking. 

It was now just me and her in a room as our parents wanted us to get to know each other better. We had sat in silence for a couple of minutes now and I was just waiting for her to ask the first question. 

After a lot of silence she finally plucked up the courage to ask me the question that had been brimming in her mind, "Are the stories true?" her voice was delicate so quiet you might have missed it if you weren't paying attention. But all my attention was on my wife to be. 

I gave her a wiry grin, "What stories darling?" I leaned forward slightly to be closer to her and much to my surprise she didn't recoil or lean backwards she stayed firm in her seat ignoring the close proximity between us.

"You know, the stories about how ruthless you are?" she seemed unsure of herself when she asked and she couldn't even hold my gaze as she waited patiently for the answer. 

"Yes they are," I paused to analyse her reaction but it wasn't one of surprise, "Does that frighten you?"

Her eyes snapped forward at my comment, her gaze more determined and self assured, "No that doesn't frighten me, I have been surrounded by violence my whole life, I just wanted to know if it was true. I just need to know who I am to marry,"

"And if I said you were being married to a monster?" my voice was deathly quiet as I whispered the words to her, seeing a flash of something akin to defiance in her caramel eyes. 

"I have no choice. Whether you are a monster or not I will have to marry you, so I just have to get used to it,"

I hummed in response, finding her reasoning sound enough, "Well Alara," she tensed slightly at the use of her name and even more so when I rose from my seat and edged closer to her. 

I lifted a stray strand of hair from her eyes, watching another blush bloom beneath my fingertips, her breath caught in the back of her throat, "Don't expect anything close to love from me, don't get in my way, let me do what I need to and we should get along just fine,"

"Sounds easy enough," she replied after a moment of introspection her eyes flickering to where my hand had been just seconds before, "Maybe this won't be so bad," the latter half of her sentence seemed to be more to herself then me but I responded anyway. 

"I wouldn't count on it," I said just to scare her a little bit, "I can be very," I paused for emphasis, "very hard to deal with. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into." I flashed her a grin before walking back to the other side of the room.

She immediately stood from her position on the sofa and rushed over to me, she grabbed my arm causing me to turn around, "I'm not afraid of you, you know,"

I gazed down sharply at her hand on my arm, watching the nimble digits tremble as she realised what she had initiated by grabbing my arm, "If you wanted to touch me so badly you should've just asked sweetheart,"

Bewilderment graced her delicate features, "What-"

But it was too late, I manipulated her arm so that she was spun around, her back now pressed against my chest. I could feel the thundering of her heart and the quickening of her breath as her head rested just below my chin. She smelt of cinnamon and sweet icing. 

"You're heart is beating awfully fast for someone who's not afraid," I mused.

She inhaled sharply, "I'm not-"

"Afraid? Yes you already mentioned that darling," she managed to spin around so she was facing me and we were still so close. I could see each freckle on her face, the gold specks that floated in her irises and the glow of her brown skin in the natural lighting. The perfect curve of her lips as she spoke. 

"Yes. I'm not afraid of you Cameron Grayson and I refuse to ever be."

"So much confidence, but we'll see about that darling," I let go of her and she didn't move until a moment after still getting lost in my eyes and not realising she was free to move.

When she did she quickly retreated to the other side of the room, crossing her arms over her chest and presumably replaying the events that had occurred. She became so lost in thought she must have forgotten I was even there. Her eyes became slightly glazed as she pondered over what to do next. 

"Oh before I forget," I dug into the pocket of my leather jacket and pulled out a blue velvet box, I tossed it to her and she caught it, effortlessly plucking it out of the air. 

She had quick reflexes, that was good. 

She opened the box which revealed a diamond engagement ring, it wasn't any ordinary ring it was curved and twisted into a rose that held the centre diamond and was dotted with smaller diamonds.

"It's beautiful," she stated softly, pulling the ring out of its box. 

"Don't expect me to get down on one knee and propose, put the ring on and just pretend like I did,"

She scowled at me, scrunching up that petite nose of hers trying to look intimidating but just ending up looking like a petulant child. 

"Would it take so much effort to get down on one knee?" she questioned slipping the ring onto the correct finger, it fit like a glove. 

"Yes, yes it would."

"Wow, this is so how I wanted my engagement to go," the sarcasm dripped from her voice like venom. 

I just laughed, "Don't expect too much from me sweetheart,"

She laughed back, "I wasn't going to, but it does puzzle me that you can call me darling and sweetheart but can't just bend one knee and get it over with,"

"I bend for no one," I paused flashed her a grin and added, "darling,"