The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Chapter 25 ✰✦✰

✰✦✰ Chapter 25 ✰✦✰
" Heinous Lip Crimes "

JACKS HELPED ME back onto the ship. Once I was standing upright, he handed me my clothes and I thanked him, dripping with water and exhaustion.

We'd had to swim all the way back to our ship from that cliffside we'd jumped from and it had taken us a good hour. A very painful hour, spent by complaining a lot alongside Miles, which was odd because we never agreed on anything really. And since we couldn't exactly just get back to the docks without Guards recognising us, we'd climb onto our ship in secrecy.

The ship's magic must've sensed the urgency of the situation and managed to get us back to sea within minutes.

Meanwhile, we went to our rooms—that meant Darius and I had to return together—to shower and change.

I slumped down on the small seating area by the window of our room and studied the calm waves of the sea, wondering how it could be like that when we had almost just died.

"THE PRINCESS SHALL DIE!"

"SHE ABANDONED US!"

"THERE CANNOT BE PEACE WITH THE SOLARIS MONARCHY!"

But I was here now. That had to count for something. . .

Still, I knew that Darius and I were most likely going to fight about something ridiculous, so I decided to just give in and tell him, "You can shower first, I'll wait."

Darius turned around, already pulling off his soaked shirt over his head. His amber eyes flashed when they met mine and he shrugged. "I can wait. You need it more."

My jaw fell. Again. "What?"

Darius cringed at his own wording and corrected himself, "I didn't mean it like that. You seem a lot more tense than I, so you should probably go in first."

My eyes narrowed reflexively. I didn't know why he was suddenly being so nice and I didn't even know if I wanted to. "Did you plant some sort of bomb in the shower beforehand to blow me up?"

Darius blinked at me. "Are you being funny again?"

"It's not that outrageous a thought."

"It is," he assured me. "I think you need to tone it down on the trust issues, I'm only saying you can go first because I'm not being an arsehole."

I stood up and grabbed my clothes. "For once. . ." I mumbled under my breath before entering the bathroom.

Darius scoffed and wedged his hand between the door and the doorframe to stop it from closing. "You've always got to have the last word, don't you? Even if it's not a fight."

I clenched my jaw, piercing his gaze with mine.

"Well, I'm so sorry, Darius Ambers, for not wanting to trust someone who hates my guts and still kisse—defends me."

Oh. My. God. Why did you have to mention that? My cheeks flamed mere seconds after I said it.

His eyes swirled with confusion and disinterest at the same time. "That kiss," he said, taking a step closer to me, "was solely to save our lives."

"I know. Can I shower now?"

"No. No, if it truly bothers you so much, let's discuss it."

"No. No, I don't care anymore."

"Says every woman but never means it."

"What would you know about women?"

His height suddenly dominated everything—towering over me but I refused to submit. "I'm starting to think you'd like me to answer that question by showing you, Solaris."

I felt so, so warm. "I don't."

"No?"

"Never."

"Hmm. So what's the problem, dearest? Let me know so I can fix every tiny flaw that threatens your perfect, uninterrupted life."

"Fix yourself."

His lips grew into a grin. "I bet you'd love a man to fix themselves for you. Tell me—has any of them done so?"

My stomach felt like it was bleeding with nerves—the type one read about in fairytales. "You're deflecting. But you're right about one thing—I am angry about the kiss."

"Yeah," he said lowly. "You're still thinking about it."

"Because I'm angry!"

"Unless you find yourself suddenly having bad, bad dreams about me, Princess—"

I smacked his shoulder but his grin only evolved into a proud smile as he glanced down at my lips again, messing with me. It was working. The bastard was getting to me.

I returned to the topic, "You could've handled it differently."

Darius bit his bottom lip, folding his biceps over one another. "Differently? How?"

"Well, for starters," I breathed, "you could've just picked me up and ran off"—I waved a hand at him—"or you could've hidden me. You're bloody big enough to."

Darius ran a hand over his face in frustration and looked away. Shook his head a couple seconds and then met my eyes again. "Fine. I'm sorry, Princess, but it was the first thing I thought of."

The worst thing wasn't that I knew he wasn't apologetic but that I knew how that nickname made me feel, even with my blinding hatred for him. "Don't you think that's a little disturbing?" I deflected, canting my head. "That that's the first idea you come up with to distract assassins? Are your hormones that out of control?"

His eyes glittered with playfulness. "Didn't feel disturbing to me."

"I'm serious," I pressed harshly.

The amusement was expelled from his being. "I know," he seethed. "You make it sound like I committed a heinous crime."

"Might as well have done. Felt like it on my lips—"
"So dramatic—"

"—should've stopped the assassins and had myself executed after that epically awful kiss—"

"I meant what I said earlier, Solaris," Darius leaned in, "It didn't feel like you hated it that much in the photo booth."

I glared up at him, feeling the lessening space between us.

"If you're honestly upset," he added quietly, "then I apologise sincerely. As much as you rile me up in ways I believed impossible, it was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. In that moment—in that space, which was your idea—I couldn't think of anything else. I'm sorry."

The candour of his apology had my head spinning.

So, without a second thought, I closed the door on him and he managed to snatch his hand back in time.