Orange Roses - REVAMPED

Chapter Eighteen: A Prince's First Kiss

"Keeva said it was part of the side effects of the spell." Drake said.

"We don't have to talk about it now." My head began pulsating at the idea. My heart thudded hard against my chest. I didn't want him to think too much about how he revealed himself. Or maybe I didn't want to think about how he exposed himself to me. 

"Matty." Drake said. Guilt twisted in my stomach. "You shouldn't have gone into my head if you didn't want this conversation."

"Excuse me, I was saving your life!" I said. "If you didn't want me to do something about it then you shouldn't have been stupid and got caught by the Dreamwalker!"

"That's my job, Matty! That has always been my job since meeting you. I will always protect you because that is my job. No matter what you think or do, I'm going to stay here and protect you." His voice grew a little higher. "I need to know if you saw anything in my head that might make that job more difficult." 

"Why?" I asked. "Why do you need to know? The only thing I saw was your wife." I thought about the blue-haired woman. The beautiful blue-haired woman who could make Drake smile like the world was okay. 

"Just my wife?" Drake asked. "I don't... I don't believe that." 

"Well, I'm a bad liar so if you don't believe me that's on you at this point," I said. I didn't want to talk about this. I didn't want to talk about the dream about me in his head. Because that meant more talking and more exposing. I didn't want to get into it now. I couldn't. Especially not with Erasmus so close now. 

Drake looked down at me. Emotions danced over his face and I could see he was trying to pull something up. A wall sat between us. This emotional wall had to stay there, I felt. For now. I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't say anything. It wouldn't be good to say anything. What good would it do? Drake was my protector. 

"Would you even want to lie about this?" Drake asked. 

I blinked and I felt heat traveling from the back of my neck to my face. The way his mouth felt on mine flooded my memory. I remembered how warm his mouth was and how strong and steady his hands were on me. I knew I liked it. I liked how he held me. I wanted him to smile at me like he did with his wife. 

"No," I said. "I don't think I could. I don't think it'd be fair. I just saw your wife."

"What about her?" Drake asked. I could tell he was a bit uncomfortable with how his shoulders tensed. 

"Uhm, well, you two were in a river. Uhh, naked. You seemed very happy." Not seemed, he was happy in those dreams. Thinking back on the dreams, I realized Drake didn't have any of the scars that I was used to seeing when he took off his shirt. He must have gotten all those scars working for the Lunae Lux Court. 

Drake actually grinned. It was a soft grin that I had seen in his dreams. I wanted to make it mine and fold it within me. Keep it as a way to feel better about myself and to remind myself of the way he wanted to kiss me in his dreams.  

"I was." Drake said softly. He leaned over and gently took a bit of my hair between his index finger and thumb. I knew he wasn't seeing my blonde hair, but blue. Pretty blue hair with perfect skin. 

Ah hell, I'm jealous of a dead woman. 

"We liked pulling pranks in the human world," Drake said, "we would go outside of London to enjoy the nature of the human world before doing our tricks." 

I nodded. 

"You were bathing in a river. I thought it was Faerie though." I said. 

"Maybe we were," Drake said, "my memories of her have a habit of bleeding into one another. What else did you see of her?"