Keeping Secrets (An Anonymous Novella)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            Chloe woke up the next morning to a text message. Her phone gave that cute little chime she'd picked out and rumbled somewhat violently on the nightstand.

            Behind her, Ethan groaned, pressing his face closer to the back of her neck so his hot breath warmed her spine. "Why?" He mumbled through sleep. "It's my day off."

            "Sorry." Chloe reached over blindly for her phone and squinted at the sudden brightness.

            "My eyes!" Ethan joked, covering his face with his hands and rolling over.

            Chloe mumbled something about wussy princes and opened her inbox. The number made her freeze.

            Can't w8 2 c u & ur dress 2morrow.

            She pulled up the number on her phone but it was blocked. The blood in her veins turned cold.

            Jason couldn't be behind it. One, did he even know how to block a number? Two, even if it was a joke, why hide himself?

            "You okay?" Ethan must've noticed her go tense.

            Chloe clicked her phone off. "Fine." She curled back closer to him. "Go back to sleep."

            A little bit later, he did just that.

            If anyone would have told Chloe six months ago that she'd be lying in bed and sharing a room with the prince of Sarias, she would've laughed in their face. To this day, she still had a hard time coming to terms with the idea of being Ethan's mate. Yet she couldn't deny that something really special happened when he sang to her.

            The text message woke her up. There would be no way she'd be able to go back to sleep now. So instead she rolled over onto her stomach. Next to her, Ethan laid on his back, already breathing deep again with sleep.

            Her hand came up of its own accord to brush softly at Ethan's hair. Her eyes outlined the shadows along his nose and hard jaw. The dark of early morning made it difficult to see much of the stubble along his cheeks and chin. In sleep, he looked peaceful and handsome and she must've done something really spectacular in another life to get so lucky.

            The tips of her fingers traced upward towards his temple where his Acemark rested. She loved the way the over-lapping lightning bolts worked in perfect harmony. She'd heard of some people having their Acemarks appear more like scribbles than anything else, which sounded kind of horrible. If that didn't make her too shallow.

            Ethan had spent quite a bit of time rehashing their younger years. The way he'd talked about them as kids made her crave the memories she was missing. Instead she had to make do with imagining little Ethan running around. He had probably been a good-looking child, if his adolescence was any indication.

            Of all the memories of her childhood, there was only one she remembered—the lullaby Ethan used to sing to her, over and over and over. So much so that it became their song. Of all the things her ex-father Frank did to her, she was glad he couldn't poison this.

            Humming the melody softly under her breath, she smoothed her fingertips over his Acemark and smiled when it began to shimmer. The words whispered through her mind. Down by the bay, where the watermelon grow, back to my home, I dare not go...