To Become King (Book One)

Nine: Earned It

*Rule 9*
At the age of 18, the Princess is eligible for marriage.

February 1st

Grace's P.O.V~
"Knight, what are we doing?" I asked him as we walked through the downtown area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He was holding my hand the entire time and wouldn't let me walk behind him at all. Since I was taken, he hardly let me out of his sight. I appreciated the concern, but because I knew it wasn't because he cared, it only made me upset. On top of that, it was my 20th birthday and the last thing I wanted to do was be dragged all day. "Knight, please slow down, my legs are shorter than yours." I pleaded, causing him to stop and turn to me.

"Sorry, Kitten." He sighed. "Anyway, we're here. This is the place I wanted to bring you." I looked to the side to see this cute little café. It looked so quaint. It made me smile. Why did Knight want to bring me here? He hadn't even said anything about my birthday, but I didn't expect him to. It was never important to anyone else when I was in the foster system, so it became unimportant to me what age I turned.

"Y-You're taking me out to eat?"  I questioned in confusion.

"What else would I be doing?  I don't fucking go to places like this."  He growled.

"Are you feeling okay?" I teased, feeling his forehead with a small smile. He gave me the most annoyed expression before gripping my wrist and taking my hand off of his forehead.

"Keep touching me and I'll break your wrist," he threatened before placing his large hand on the small of my back and guiding me inside.

"You're grumpier than usual. What's wrong, Knight?" I asked as we sat down across from one another at a small booth.

"Nothing."  He groaned, "just order."  The waitress walked over to our table and asked us what we were having to drink.  I smiled and asked for water with lemon.  Since he was paying, I wanted to be simple and cheap, but he must've thought otherwise because he looked at the waitress and said; "Can you bring us your most expensive bottle of wine and two glasses, please?"

I looked at him in surprise after the waitress nodded and walked away to bring us the drinks and showed him the wine menu.

"Knight, are you crazy?  The most expensive wine on this menu is worth 100 dollars."  I whispered to him.

"I'm not crazy and I don't care.  If I take you out, get whatever you want.  Don't worry about the bill.  That's my job."  He replied, silencing me before the waitress came back with the water and the bottle of wine with the two glasses.  He thanked her and we ordered our food before she left again.  He looked at me and opened the bottle.  "Drink with me?"

"I-I don't drink.  I don't want to get drunk."

"Relax, you won't get drunk from just a glass."  He poured some in my glass, being sure not to put in a lot.  He smirked at me as he poured a bit more into his glass.  He put the bottle down on the table and picked up his glass.  "To your first drink," he toasted.  I picked up my glass and we clinked them together before taking a sip.  I smiled a bit before putting it down.

"It's good," I commented.

"Princess,"  he said after a few moments of silence passed.  I looked up from my lap to meet his hypnotizing green eyes.  Instead of looking directly at him, I began taking a drink of my water as he continued to talk.  "I've questioned this for a little while, but I never asked.  You got a degree in music education, but you didn't become a teacher.  Instead, you stayed at your part-time job with that fucking boss who didn't know how to keep his hands to himself.  Why?"