Crowned Desires

7} The Ironic Facade

Gray Anderson

As dreadful as the living quarters in the basement were, I grew fond of the utter silence down here at night. During the day, it was bustling with activity. From the servants traveling from room to room, cleaning linens, and the wafting smells from the kitchen, it was anything but quiet. So, the silence was welcomed as I took my bath and decompressed.

I took a deep breath and shed my underclothes. I started by unbuttoning my tunic slowly, letting the fabric fall down my shoulders and pool around my waist before falling into a pile on the floor.

Pale scars littered my tanned and muscular skin all over, some bigger than others, some holding a story and some not.

I slid my pants down, grabbed the bar of soap Geah gave to me, and lowered myself into the tub. The water rippled around my body and instantly alleviated the pressure on my muscles, soothing the drafty cold that lingered down here. I lazily pulled the curtain, which was mostly closed, and began bathing myself. I scrubbed extra hard along my arms, trying to wash off the grossness this castle seemed to leave on me. Of course, it didn't work because the filth of this place wasn't from dirt or grim. It leaked off the people here. I'd have to bleach my bones to rid it of me.

It didn't take long for my peace to get disturbed. In fact, it was done within record time. The curtain was yanked back, making me nearly jump out of the tub. Hot water splashed up the sides and onto the concrete floor from my movements as my eyes shot up to connect with an angry set of blue ones.

"What the fuck, Celeste?!-" I said in disbelief, wondering if the strange fumes of this basement were finally getting to my head or if the crowned princess really was standing before me while I bathed in her nightgown. I was keenly aware of my nakedness when I saw her charged hues peel from my eyes and down my bare, wet chest. My heart rate quickened, and I looked down into the tub, which was thankfully soapy enough to conceal anything in the water, and then back to her.

"What the hell are you doing down here? You're supposed to be in your room at night it's-"

"Dangerous? Oh please, you guards think we are made out of glass. The most dangerous thing in this castle is how you smell, and I'm delighted to see you know what these things are." She kicked her foot into the wooden tub, making the water ripple, her face an extra degree of scrunched disapproval towards me. "

I furrowed my eyebrows together, paranoia creeping slowly up my side when I dragged my eyes around the room. If someone happened to be up and saw us, I would be hanged the next morning. I eyed both hallway entrances as I spoke, "You need to go back to your room the way you came, wherever that was."

"Servants passages."

I felt a growl deep in my throat, the same way she had disappeared before. "I'm nailing that door in your room shut after you leave."

She ignored my comment and leaned forward, bracing both her hands on the side of the tub so her face pushed closer to mine. I could see every smooth outline of her skin leading up to the blue hues edged by her dark lashes. She lowered her voice and dropped her eyelids so those eyes mirrored a fox before she spoke, "I'm not leaving until you answer my questions."

I smirked and gave an amused scoff, not backing down from her. I leaned forward, more of my body revealing out of the water. I could feel the cooling water rolling down my chest. It caught her attention briefly as her eyes flicked down.

"Questions? Here I thought you'd rather die before admit I know something you don't."

"Watch your mouth; you forget who you're talking to." She hissed.

I glanced down at her sleep clothes and flowing unkempt hair, crimped in weird places from the hairstyle it was set in earlier.

"You're right. I do forget I'm talking to royalty when It comes to you."

The slight tinge of color on her cheeks with the glare that formed on her features satisfied me. She opened her mouth to retort (and retorting seemed like an endless circle between us), but footsteps down the hall halted both of us.

"We can't talk here. If someone sees us, I'm a dead man." I took the opportunity with her head turned to grab my towel and wrap it around my waist when I stood up.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she said as she watched me tie the fabric securely around my hip.

Looking at the entrance, I spoke hushedly back to her, "I'm sure you'd like that." I slipped my hand around to the small of her back, urging her forward down the opposite hallway.

~•~

Celeste Lawrence

We both hurried off to some room down the dark stretch of the stone walls, I swore on the way some cobwebs got sucked into my mouth, and I stepped in a puddle of who knows what (thank god I decided to wear slippers). But It was all hard to care about when his powerful hand was on my back, pressing into my soft skin. He jammed a key into the rickety door and pulled me inside like he couldn't get the door closed fast enough.

With us finally separated from the rest of the world, all I could hear was the hammering of my heart and the soft woosh of heavy breaths filling the tense air. I stared at his bare back while he leaned into the door. Every pull of air he took into his lungs made the muscles rippling across his back stretch and flex.

The flecks of water glistened and seemed to roll down his body in slow motion, hypnotizing me. I felt a punch of desire low in my pelvis, so intense my knees felt like buckling.

My mouth went dry, and I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth, unable to look away even as he turned around to face me. That towel hung dangerously low on his hips. The loose knot he tied caught my attention; It barely seemed to hold together around his hips. The strain of his prominent v-line feeds my eyes like a starved dog.

My body went aflame with feelings I hadn't experienced before. A slow smirk slid up his face, making my face fill with embarrassment when I realized my mind was blank and my eyes were glued to his carved-out body.

"What? Never seen a male body before."

Never a naked one, I thought to myself. I played a convincing act, but it was just that, an act. I've studied anatomy, seen the male figure in drawings, and even painted them. But when it came to the physical thing, the closest I'd ever gone was feeling one beneath attire when I was working to get my guards expelled.

The irony of my reputation was that I was an inexperienced virgin. 

~•~