Dark Prince Rising

Seven

Cira left early the next morning, before Aelon awakened. She didn't want to have to face him again, not after last night. The look on his face had nearly broken her heart. He cared so much about her, and she knew he would be worrying constantly. That thought hurt her more than it should.

She shook her head. Thinking about Aelon for too long made her stomach hurt.

Just as she was slipping though the doors, a figure approached her. At first, she didn't pay the person any mind; guards and servants nearly always filled the hallways.

"Where are you off to at such an hour?"

She froze in her tracks, her heart fluttering and her stomach squeezing simultaneously.

Zael stopped in front of her and took her in, his eyes lingering on the wicked dagger and the anelace strapped to her waist. "You look like you're running off to go assassinate someone," he commented, laughter in his mismatched eyes.

Cira glared and brushed past him. "Mind yourself and leave me alone."

She only made it a few paces away before he fell into step beside her. "Do you mind if I tag along? I've got an empty schedule today."

"Yes." She didn't say anything more.

Zael laughed. It was a musical laugh, like rain falling in meadow. "You're so blunt. I find that attractive in a woman. Too much small talk becomes tiring."

"Then why are you still talking?"

He lifted a single eyebrow. "Goodness. I didn't think you were just rude."

Cira sighed and stopped walking, turning to face him. "I apologize for my rudeness. I just have some business to attend to, and I would not appreciate company of any kind."

"Now my curiosity is piqued." His lips were turned up in a playful smile. "A noblewoman sneaking out of the Palace at an ungodly hour of the morning, dressed like a man and wearing a belt full of weapons. What is she up to? My mind would never again be at rest if I didn't find out."

"My private affairs are not going to be exploited to satiate your curiosity."

"Private affairs? That sounds like something I would enjoy thoroughly."

Cira huffed and turned away, walking faster. To her dismay, Zael easily caught up with her again. Neither of them said anything. When Cira paid a gold piece to the Palace stablemaster for a horse, Zael did the same.

Inside the stables, she finally turned on him again. "Stop following me! It's rude to ignore a lady's wishes."

Zael folded his arms across his chest and leaned against a wooden beam, smirking at her. "You don't look like a lady to me. For all I know, you could be a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man."

Cira opened her mouth to argue, then realized that he was right. Her cloak hid her face, and the clothes she wore masked any trace of her feminine form. Even her hair was braided away from her face and tied behind her head.

"I'll leave you alone if you want me to. Just listen to what I have to say before you make any rash decisions." He pushed off of the beam and slowly sauntered closer to her, so close that she could feel the heat from his body. Cira stood frozen, half of her screaming to run and the other half imagining how his impossibly perfect lips would feel on hers. "I am nearly positive that I already know what you're doing," he whispered in her ear. "A lost brother, no?"

This shocked her out of her trance. She placed both hands on his chest and pushed, and Zael nearly lost his balance. Nearly.

She drew her anelace and leveled it on his throat so quickly that he didn't have time to react. "You know nothing about me," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Turn around and return to the Palace. Say nothing of this incident or I will make sure that you never see the sun again. I don't care that you're a prince."