Wild Jewel [Enter a world of Faerie Romance]

Wild Jewel - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When we are completely drenched and our own body heat seemed to have become as cool as the rain, Leodáin shows me a secret door that I’d never seem to notice before, which lead through towards the bed chambers. He must’ve figured out that I’d wanted to avoid the court and my father for a while still, which made me feel so much more dependant on him.

I feel bad for my dress being ruined. The hem on the skirt looks as though it had been held a good five inches deep in mud, the entire gown completely soaked through. I shiver from the cold dress, my hand being the only warm part of me as Leo holds desperately to it leading me through the tunnels.

“I had no idea such things could exist without being exposed. How did you find these?” I inquire.

The only light we had seems to be from the torch he was carrying, yet I could only identify a hint of a smile on his beautiful face.

“Around the time when you first arrived here, actually. We both seemed to want to avoid each other at the time,” he explains, “I was in my bed chamber one night, when I noticed something peculiar about the stones in one of the walls. After a few long moments of investigating my discovery, I managed to push it open to a tunnel. Any time I could have spent away from you I tried figuring out the tunnels every day. All of the tunnels link to every room in the castle, I realized, including your bed chamber. Though I never visited it after the first time I realized it, so my memory may not be tangible.”

I smile at the wonders and the possibilities this opens to me. How I could sneak out of the castle without anyone noticing. How I could sneak from room to room going unnoticed.

He leads me through a maze of tunnels and very quickly I get lost thinking about them. I am merely hoping Leo remembered the way.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“I can’t distinctly remember which was towards your chamber was, but it is the only tunnel I almost never used, so figures to will be the only one I am unfamiliar with.”

I nod unsurely at his remark. But very quickly I begin to have full faith in him, as he finally stops at a dead end turning to smile at me.

“Here it is,” he notes.

I meet his smile with a smirk of my own, “Thank you, Leo.”

“I shall see you in the morning, I hope,” he wishes, nodding to me and at first he seems uncertain to walk away, then after a moment, he is turning slightly on his heel to leave.

“Leo?” I quickly call.

He turns back to me, “Yes?”

I step toward him and meet his lips with a soft kiss. The familiar burning runs through my body again as I place my hands against his chest, Leo's hands on my small waist. The kiss is gentle and comforting, but it is enough to make my heart race again.

I break the kiss and meet his hungry eyes, “I think I’m falling for you, too.”

He kisses my forehead gently, “Then I’m glad,” he mumbles against my forehead.

I hug him closer to me, taking in his beautiful scent for a moment longer before speaking. “I have to wait for the court to calm down about my outbreak before announcing that I have now accepted your proposal.”

He pulls away to look at my face. A look of happiness appears in his eyes. “You want me as your husband then?”

I smile to him. "Who else would want to stay with you after so many years of you being an ass?” I laugh, and then I grow serious. "I just hope what you told me was not a web of lies."