Royalty

Chapter 31: I Don't Like Not Knowing

James' POV

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"James, wait -"

"What?" I spat. Astra fell silent at the look in my eyes. "What? " I repeated, staring her down. Her eyes dropped to the floor.

"Nothing," she responded softly. Her hands fidgeting with her dress again. I tore my eyes away from her.

I don't know why I'm surprised by her feelings towards me. She's not going to be able to see past the fact that I'm a criminal, despite her own bendable morals.

And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what I feel for her. It's new, and I don't like it much. But for some reason right now, she's fueling my anger, and I need to let it out on someone else before I hurt her instead.

"Good. Come on." I whirled around, hurrying up the stairs and back to the main hall. I didn't turn back around to look at her, because if I did, it would be hard to fight the urge to yell at her and kiss her at the same time.

Still, I listened to make sure she was following. Her silence was quite telling -- she either felt guilty, awkward, or confused.

Likely all three, knowing how her emotions usually work.

I don't like her silence, and unlike her, I have no issues stating my emotions when I feel them. I stopped and turned to look at her. "Astra, stop looking like an abused puppy, being pathetic doesn't suit you. I'm not mad at you, for heaven's sake."

She flushed. Dear heavens, she does that a lot, doesn't she? Not that I'm complaining, it looks adorable. "I wasn't --"

"Yes, you were."

I turned back to the door and reenetered the hall, already scanning the large room for the man I was looking for. At last -- something to focus my lingering bitterness on.

Killing someone always managed to cheer me up a little.

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"Ow!" Astra winced.

"If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much. And it definitely wouldn't hurt as much if you'd just dodged the bullet properly."

"Next time, warn me if there's going to be gunfire," she grumbled.

"In my defense, I did tell you in the car that we'd have to kill him."

"Liar. Ah!"

"I am not. Someone's defensive."

"Shut up."

"Don't talk to me like that, you'll regret it."

"I'll talk to you however I damn well please -- Ow! You did that on purpose!"

"Shut your pretty mouth and I won't squeeze as hard."

There's a few minutes of blissful silence in the now empty and wrecked hall. It was supposed to be a simple job, but he had a few more men than anticipated and I got carried away. I give full credit to Astra for knocking him out with a chair.

"Aaand ... There we go." She let out a hiss as I managed to pull the bullet from her arm. "Good job, sweetheart, you didn't scream as much as most people do."

"Thank you," she responded dryly. "Your approval means so much to me." I smirked at her sarcasm, although I'm not sure it was all that sarcastic. I think my approval has more of an effect on her than she thinks it does.

I pulled out the small first aid kit from my jacket and did the best work I could stitching the small wound. Luckily, it wasn't a high caliber gun, and it was from a fairly large distance. It wouldn't be nearly as bad as the wounds in her shoulders from that night at the pool. I involuntarily smirked a little from the memory.