Not My Fairytale

Chapter 10

A Baited Trap

Focus, I chided myself for what felt like the millionth time.

It was no use.

I rubbed the back of my hand down my face, careful to keep my charcoal covered fingers from leaving streaks across my skin. I felt his eyes on me again, but ignored the sensation. Instead, I invested all of my nervous energy into pretending to be completely consumed in my drawing.

I wasn't sure if he bought it.

I had avoided the lake for an entire week. Seven whole days spent locked up within the curtain walls of the castle. If I had thought I was losing my mind then, I wasn't even sure what to call my mental state currently.

When the itching feeling of his gaze on me once again became too much, I shot my eyes up at him, trying to catch him in the act. As with every other attempt, he was already looking away by the time my eyes landed on him, his azure gaze scanning the surface of the lake while he lounged against an exposed root. He wove a long blade of grass lazily through the fingers of his hand, the very image of calm.

I huffed quietly and could have sworn I saw his lip quirk. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he is enjoying this, I thought incredulously. But what I truly didn't understand was why. I turned my attention back to my charcoals with a barely concealed grimace.

I knew one day alone at the lake was too much to ask for. I should have remained in my room. Or, perhaps invited Franco to join me at The Den. Instead, I had scolded myself for being a coward and traipsed right to the one place I knew I would find trouble. And after a blissful half hour alone with my thoughts, trouble I did find.

He had sauntered right up, casually, as if he hadn't a care in the world. If he noticed the way my spine stiffened at the sight of him, or how I still refused to meet his eyes, he showed no sign, simply waltzing over to a root only a few meters away and plopping down against it. He had not spoken a word since.

Clearly, cruel words would not deter this vexing man.

My new plan was to thoroughly ignore him and hope that he would eventually give up and leave me be. So far, he seemed to be doing a better job of ignoring my presence than I was his, but I knew that he was staring at me. I could feel his eyes like a brand against my side, I could see his head turn toward me in my periphery. But every time I tried to catch it happening, he was already looking away. It was absolutely maddening.

I forced my breaths even, only partially paying attention to the branches I was drawing with my charcoals despite my best efforts to focus. I only wanted to catch him once, just so I could tell him exactly where he could shove his stares. And his mate bond too while he was at it. But he was clearly toying with me, and I needed to refrain from taking the bait.

Not taking the bait was significantly easier in theory than it was in practice. My entire body seemed to come alive in his presence; it yearned for me to cross the distance between us no matter how hard I tried to suppress it. And I truly was trying. I had always excelled at restraining the instincts and impulses of my other form, but suddenly it was all I could do not to reach across and touch him, despite my decided distaste for him as a person. My lack of control over my own body was nearly as unsettling as his calm demeanor.

Nearly.

When my need to fidget became almost unbearable, I closed my drawing pad and shot up. "I'm leaving," I spoke abruptly, the only words to pierce the bubble of silence in hours. I didn't allow myself the indulgence of even a single glance in his direction, though I ached to do so.

I turned and walked away from him without looking back.

Angelo's velvety laugh met my ears a moment later, and I knew without a shadow of doubt that he had been toying with me– and also that I loathed him.

I quickened my pace in response.

When I arrived back at the castle, I had to fight to refrain from bolting to Franco's room. Instead, sending Ava to find him with a note inviting him to dine with me in my chambers later in the evening. Then I drew myself a very cold bath.

I prayed the water would wash away the feeling of his eyes on me, or the memory of the way my body came alive in his presence. I had no such luck.

After dressing, I settled for pacing my sitting room after several failed attempts to sit still .When a knock sounded on the door, I nearly ran to open it. 

On the other side stood Franco, still dressed in the formal clothes he had worn to the council meeting we had attended that morning. He looked handsome as always, but that nervous fluttering returned to my gut.

He stepped inside, and I eased the door shut behind him. I knew there was not a whole lot of time before Ava would return with dinner trays for the both of us, but I was desperate for the man that I loved. I threw myself into his embrace.

His arms opened for me automatically, tucking me against his broad chest. "Is everything alright?" His words were spoken against the top of my head.

"Yes," I lied. But in that moment, I needed it to be true. I needed it to be just Franco and I, as it always had been. As I had dreamed it always would be.

At the lake, it had been my body responding to Angelo's presence, not my heart. My heart belonged to the man in my arms, and I was not planning on giving him up any time soon, regardless of the confusing twisting that had begun in my belly.

I reached up with my arms, wrapping them securely around the back of his neck and using them to pull his face down to mine. I pressed my lips against his, hard. His response was immediate, tightening his grip around my waist and deepening the kiss, though I hardly felt it through the mayhem in my own body. The moment our lips met, the twisting in my gut had turned to full blown churning. I tried to push through the discomfort, as I would an injury during training, but it only seemed to worsen. The churning turned to stabs of pain, and I understood what was happening just in time to wrench myself from his arms and bolt to a trash bin across the room.

I emptied my stomach rather ungracefully into the bin. Poor Franco seemed frozen to his spot across the room, in shock. "Giules?"

I sat down beside the little trash bin, pressing my back to my desk and shooting Franco a sheepish smile to cover my true emotions. I couldn't breathe. I felt as if the room were suddenly filled to the brim with my devastation and loss and I was drowning in it. I slowly climbed to my feet, mind racing for a way to excuse my behavior without telling him about Angelo, and hesitant to get any closer to Franco lest my body decide to rebel once more.

"You're not–" he hesitated, "pregnant, are you?"

His words startled a laugh from my throat, though it came out at a higher pitch than usual, "No, definitely not."

He opened his mouth, but before he could speak another word, a nearly invisible seam in the wall behind me swung open, and Ava entered from the servants corridor, carrying a large covered tray. I quickly ushered her to the table in the corner, thanking her quietly before dismissing her.

I waited until the door to the servants corridor had swung shut with a click, before turning and smiling at Franco despite the feeling of my heart tearing in two within my chest, "Let's eat."

~*~*~

How about THAT little game changer?

As always, I'd love to hear what you think!