Two Princes

Chapter 4

For once, Nikolai managed to rouse himself as the dawn sun began to peak through the closed shutters. He left Theo fast asleep, lying on her back with her glorious black hair curling over the pillows, but not before he took a moment to drink her in - the pink cheeks, the red lips, the perfect little breasts just visible under her thin cotton nightgown. He wanted to kiss those lips and those breasts but he had to keep his mouth away from her. She was off limits - she had made that clear to him far too often. And she was a righteous maid, full of high morals and lofty principles that jarred with what he wanted to do to her. He couldn't betray her virtue. That would make him more base than he already was.

But she likes my wild side! he suddenly remembered. And left her chamber grinning widely.

Helene was standing in the corridor outside his door. She was ethereal in a pale morning gown and gazing out of a window at the rising sun, her hair glowing red in the morning light. Nikolai actually jumped when he first saw her, thinking she was some kind of specter, but then he laughed at his stupidity when she turned and gave him one of her best little scowls.

"Where have you been?" she asked in an unusually assertive manner.

He wanted to tell her it was none of her business but was aware of how impolite that would be. She was his betrothed after all.

"Nowhere," he said casually. "Just for a walk."

"You? A walk? At this early hour? And half dressed?" she asked looking him up and down in a disapproving way and noting the untucked shirt and scandalously open collar.

"Yes," he said simply.

She sniffed. "I need to talk to you. Let me in your room."

"Are you aware of how scandalous it will be if someone finds you in my room at this hour of the morning?"

"I'm not a fool, Nikolai. Of course I am aware, but no one will find us. We will lock the door."

Nikolai felt almost scared for a moment. What did she want with him?

"OK," he said reluctantly and glancing around the corridor, he opened his door and ushered her in.

Inside she hovered uncomfortably in the middle of the room, looking around at the sumptuous wall hangings and trying not to look at the velvet draped four poster bed. Locking the door, Nikolai leaned against it, "So?"

She seemed to compose herself before speaking. "We are to be married in a month."

"Yes..."

"And currently we hardly spend any time together. I am busy with the wedding arrangements and you ... well, you are maddeningly illusive."

Nikolai couldn't argue with that. He had made avoiding his fiancee into a fine art.

"And that brother of yours..." she continued, her cheeks flushing. "He lies to me all the time about your whereabouts. He always claims not to know where you are when I know full well he does. You and he are inseparable. Of course he always knows where you are!"

"Not always," Nikolai muttered thinking about his frequent nocturnal visits to the apothecary's quarters. "What is your point Helene?"

"My point is that it has to stop. If we are to marry then you must treat me with more respect."

Nikolai was backed into a corner. He could hardly refuse, but he was worried about the demands she would make on him. He had a month of freedom before he married and he didn't want the time to go to waste on discussing flower arrangements and guest lists.

"We've never even kissed," she said quietly.

Nikolai stared at her in shock. She was still standing as if at attention, her back beautifully straight, her pointed little chin raised in the air. He had never been so surprised.

"We have been betrothed most of our lives and you have never kissed me," she said in her clearly enunciated, elocution perfected voice.

She was right. Nikolai wondered if she had ever been kissed by anyone.

He cleared his throat. "Would you like me to kiss you?"

"Yes.That would be nice," she said as if he had offered her a cup of tea. He had to swallow the laughter when he saw how serious her expression was.

He peeled himself off the door and took a few steps forward until he was standing close enough to her to feel her skirts brushing his shins. She smelled of peaches and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. Her delicacy terrified him, but he swallowed the fear and took a gentle hold of her chin.

She parted her lips slightly and Nikolai expected to feel at least a twinge of desire but there was nothing. He slowly leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers. She felt cool under his fingers and her lips were frozen under his. In experimentation he parted his lips slightly and her tongue flicked out but then she gasped and pulled away.

"Well?" he asked.

"That was most pleasant," she said politely and patting her hair, scurried towards the door, fumbled with the key and then was gone.

----

Helene fled from Nikolai's chamber, walking as fast as she could without actually running. She needed to get somewhere private before she burst into tears, and once she was inside her room and checked her maid was nowhere to be seen, she did just that. She sat down on the little sofa under the window and cried.

What was she going to do? She was marrying a man who kissed her as if she might break. She was marrying a man who had a reputation for being a wild and uninhibited lover (Oh, she had heard the rumours, and she may be sheltered and confined to her rooms much of the time but she wasn't blind and deaf) but he had kissed her so coldly. And what was worse was that she had felt nothing either. One would think it would be exciting to be kissed by a man so handsome and charming, but it wasn't. It was a let down. It had been so disappointing that she was now sitting on this sofa quietly sobbing.

Would Gabriel kiss like that? And Helene's tears were momentarily halted by this shocking thought. She remembered how he had stood in the corridor yesterday, so large and imposing but with those nervous blue eyes that signaled hidden depths. Helene was suddenly very eager to find out what Gabriel's kisses were like.