The Blood Of Royals

Chapter Eight

Roman strode down the steps with swagger as he bared his teeth in a feral smile. He wore a black waistcoat with about a dozen gold medals clipped on, and a red sash was draped across his chest and this time he wore a sword made of pure gold on his hip.

He had golden twirls painted onto the sides of his face, and golden glitter seemed to have been blown onto his eyelids. On anyone else it would have looked ridiculous, but on Roman it looked bewitching and he knew it.

What surprised Lianne the most was the simple golden band he wore on his raven-black curls. 

Did generals really wear crowns?

The nobles all rushed forward as they oooh and awed at Roman who spread his wings wider to part the crowds, all the whole Lianne and Roman held their own little battle of will as they refused to look away from each other, Roman's eyes becoming drenched with something dark that made Lianne shiver.

Lianne flashed him a feral grin that was anything but friendly before looking away as though he didn't deserve her attention, but in truth his gaze was making her body betray her. 

Holding her chin high Lianne turned to Lucien "Is your offer still open Prince?" She asked and caught Lucien off guard until be blinked and seemed to remember "always Princess, does this mean we are friends?" 

Lianne nodded and flashed him a grin completely ignoring as Roman finally stood before the King, and only looked once Lucien's attention flitted back to Roman.

"Your Highness" Roman thumped his chest twice and dropped to one knee as he bowed deeply while tucking his large wings behind him, Roman remained in this position till the King finally spoke

"Welcome back Roman, you have done magnificently as usual" 

Roman seemed to revel in the compliments and nodded his head in response.

"Although, I thought we had agreed no harm would come to the child" the king spoke with a newfound edge and Lianne bit her tongue as she realized the king meant her shoulder.

Roman's dark brows furrow deeply "I do not understand your meaning " Roman finally spoke and once again it irked Lianne how her body responded to his silky voice, all she seemed to do was shiver around this man.

"Don't play the innocent Roman, Little Lianne is harmed, or have you not noticed it?" Lucien accused Roman stiffly and his entire body tensed beside Lianne.

Roman's eyes darkened and a tremor went through his wings at the way the prince so casually mention Lianne's name, as though he had some sort of claim. Roman finally allowed his eyes to search every inch of Lianne and his eyes settled on her shoulder for what seemed like forever before finally going back to meet Lucien's questioning gaze.

"That was not me, that bruise is far too recent to have been from me" Roman stated a matter factly before returning his gaze to the king.

"My King, I find I no longer wish to stay," he said while his gaze flicked quickly in Lianne's direction before returning "I have a full day on the marrow and I must investigate a new threat" 

The king calculated Roman thoughtfully before finally answering " Very well Roman, you are dismissed, although I would ask you escort Niko to the warrior's camp on your way" 

To Lianne shock, Niko was the one son she hadn't noticed and he seemed no older than ten, and they were taking him to a warriors camp?!
Niko slowly approached Roman who quickly guided him away with a wing and together they exited rather rapidly.

"But he's so small" Lianne whispered into the ballroom to no one in particular but Lucien heard

" My brother is a prince, don't fret over him, he holds more power in the tip of his finger than most nobles here"

Still, thought Lianne, he was a child.

"Princess, tomorrow we discuss your marriage in detail, be there will you" The king spoke from his throne and Lianne's entire body froze and she went rigged, she wanted to strangle something, roman if possible.

"All will be fine Princess" Lucien whispered quietly. But everything was most certainly was not going to be fine.

And for the rest of the night Lianne didn't utter a single word, instead, she fumed and seethed till she saw red. Her entire body portrayed bloody murder she guessed for no one talked to her for the rest of the excruciatingly long night.

She hoped they knew she was pissed, because she had no intention of marrying anyone let alone a stranger.