I'll Protect You (Original Version)

Confessions of an iron-heart princess.

 "Logan!" I protested. "Let me down; I don't need your help!"

Surprisingly, he let me go, and I fell onto the rough sand. That was unexpected and totally uncalled for. Instantly, I was on my feet, prepared to fight with him when he turned around, the most betrayed expression on his face.

"That's right," he laughed darkly, "you don't need my help. You don't need anyone's help. You don't seem to care about who offers you help because you're just so dense!"

Okay, now this was unexpected.

"I do care!" I argued back.

"Really?" he snapped. "Then why didn't you stay at the palace? Why didn't you listen to me and take care of yourself?" He surged forwards and gripped my chin in his fingers. "Do you not feel those bruises? Those cuts on your face? Is that what you call taking care of yourself?"

"Yes, actually! It's not your business of what I choose to do, Cross!"

"Oh, just shut up!" he groaned, stepping away from me. "This is what I mean: you don't care! Did you even stop to think of what kind of situation you would put your entire family through if you didn't survive this? What you would put your kingdom through? What you would put me through?"

Guilt washed through me. Yes, I had thought of that. But thoughts of my brother went through. No, not just brother. Brothers. Archer would've done the same thing if he was in my place. Before he left, he made me promise that I would keep this family safe no matter what. Archer had been prepared to do it; there was a reason why he joined Order of the Dragons. It was to protect us, even if it meant death. And that applied to me as well.

"No, I don't think," I snarled. "I act. For your information, if it wasn't for me, you gys wouldn't have found Jasper. I know what I'm doing, and I know about the punishment for it. So leave me alone, Cross! Why do you care so much if I got hurt?"

"Because I'm your bodyguard!" he half laughed, half shouted. "That's what I'm supposed to do!"

"No, as a bodyguard, you're supposed to keep protected as you guard me from harm. If I'm already in trouble, it's your job to fight off the trouble. It's not your job to shout at me about what I'm supposed to think! Tell the truth, Logan," and I paused, breathing unevenly. Shouting was taking up all my energy. "Why are you angry about this?"

"Fine," he retorted, and the bitterness in his voice slapped me hard. So much that I took a tentative step back, not believing the venom I was hearing.

"It's because I care too much. It's because I don't want to see you get hurt. It's because I like you, alright? There, I said it. I like you."

It was as if someone had taken a blow to my stomach, and then my lungs, and then fed me this type of poison that turned me into a human statue. I couldn't breathe. An indescribable feeling pooled everywhere in my stomach. A fluttery, light sensation that reminded me of the butterflies in the spring.

Don't even get me started on my heartbeat.

"Wha...what did you just say?"

He made a noise, a sound that explained that he was incredibly frustrated, annoyed, and also on the verge of jumping off that cliff above us. "I. Like. You. The most irritating thing on this earth is that I like this girl who is always constantly moments away from death, or a bullet to the heart, or a knife to the throat, but she won't even let me do one single thing to protect her."

Behind me, an agent was shouting at us as they passed the dock, beckoning us to come closer to the water so we could hop on board and head back to a more secure place. We didn't pay much attention to it.