The Selected | ✓

Chapter 29

I don't know how long it's been since I was in my room, with the Sixes- or maybe they're Sevens?- painting over the words on my wall. I've been sleeping in Alexander's room every night for the past two days, and getting changed in the room without any guests in it. In my room the only thing we did was sleep. Here we stay up most of the night talking.

"I love you." Alexander kisses the side of my neck. "God, I love you so much."

His hands rest on my hips. I slide my arms around his neck and fit my mouth to his, my fingers slipping into his hair. He lets out a groan against my lips and pulls back. "My god, you're perfect."

I feel my cheeks warm. My insides feel like honey. "I'm not perfect."

"Yes, you are." He kisses my jaw, and my eyes flutter shut. I let out a small sigh. His lips trail down my neck. "You're beautiful," he kisses the crook of my neck, "smart," his lips slide over my collar bone, "and incredibly compassionate." I'm glad that there's only the dim table lamp on- maybe he won't notice that I'm blushing.

He pulls off the cardigan my maids had me wear and slides down the thin strap of my dress. His eyes move over the bare skin before he kisses my shoulder. A thought occurs to me. "What about Celine?" I ask. He spends the time that I'm not around with her, Blossom, or Tania.

He looks up at me. "What about her?"

"I thought that you and her-"

"I love you, Cassiana. You know that I must keep up appearances."

"I know." I sigh, pressing my hand to my forehead and looking at the sheets of his bed. "But it's just so..."

He gently brushes hair from my face. "So what?"

I suck in a breath. "I just can't do this anymore." I say on an exhale.

He stops playing with my hair. "What?"

"I said I can't do this anymore. I can't stand being in love with you and knowing that while I'm getting changed or talking to Aquia or something, you're off doing god-knows-what with some other girl!" Just saying the words make tears form in my eyes. I'd been trying to hide it from him- really, I had- but I just can't stand it.

He wraps his arms around me, and I lean into his chest without thinking. "Do you really want to go home?"

I shake my head. No matter how stressful this is, I can't leave him. I won't. I wouldn't be able to live with seeing him marry someone else. "No," I tell him quietly. "No, I don't."

"But you've considered it." It isn't a question.

"It can be...tempting." I admit. "Sometimes I consider asking Mason to send me home."

"Why Mason?" He asks, sounding a little hurt. "Why not me?"

"Because," I shrug, "you would try and convince me to stay. Mason wouldn't approve, but he'd do it."

His expression goes from hurt to understanding. He presses his lips to my forehead and lifts me into his lap. "I only love you, Cass, I swear. For me, there is no one else but you."

A warm feeling spreads through me, whisking away the cold, empty one that had been in its place just seconds ago. "You know, before I always thought that it would end up as me being in love with Mason, not you."

"And you did."

"I still do, a little." I admit, wrapping my arms around his neck. "But I love you so much more."

He smiles, leaning down and pressing his forehead against mine. "I knew there was a reason Clara liked you so much."

I grin. "Everyone loves me."

"As long as they don't try taking you from me, I'm okay with that."

"You're so overprotective."

"I should be. A pretty girl like you requires a guard of some sort."

I giggle. Then I get hit with another thought. "Does everyone still think I love Mason?"

He nods. "Yes."

"When will they figure it out?"

"When I choose you."

Something in me lifts. I was hoping that he was planning to marry me in the end- I mean, I was always pretty sure he was dropping me hints- but I wasn't positive that he would until now.

I press my lips to his. "And I can't wait for that day, whenever it is."

A/N: There's a cute little fluffy chapter for you guys. I had this prewritten and it just felt like it belonged right here. So I did edit it some to fit the story better- I literally wrote this when I was still in the first three to five chapters- but I think it turned out good.