The Princess's Guard ✔️

4

"I know, but I hate hiding. And I hate that you won't truly give yourself to this relationship."

I hush him, glancing over my shoulder. I know maids can lurk.

"For now, we are just friends. Especially with everything that has just happened..."

He bites his lower lip, eyes glittering suggestively. "Yet you let me do all those horrible things to you."

I smile at the thought. It's my only glimmer of happiness these days. The only time I can forget who I'm meant to be.

"I wouldn't call them horrible, exactly."

Louis draws me closer to kiss me. His lips feel so warm, so familiar. I allow my problems to melt away, to become nothing as I enjoy this moment.

He winds his hands through my hair, deepening the kiss. I sidle up closer to him, letting my hands run down the firm planes of his chest.

"Kiva."

I've never flinched away from someone so fast in my life.

I know who has spoken before I look up at him, my heart plummeting down to my stomach.

"Oh...Ark," I breathe, scrambling to my feet.

He leans against the archway of the back entrance, a cold, unforgiving look on his face. My throat immediately dries. He hates me enough as it is, and now, he's caught me out here with a stranger.

"What are you doing out here?"

His voice is deceptively calm. Louis now stands next to me, stiff and uncomfortable beneath Ark's scrutiny.

"Nothing. I was just getting some air," I choke out, wiping my hand over my damp forehead.

Ark isn't stupid. I know what he saw.

His gaze sweeps over my friend. "Who are you?"

"He's nobody. He was just leaving," I interrupt, nudging Louis with my elbow. He rubs his arm, looking between me and my new guard.

Ark doesn't look convinced. "What's your name?"

"Louis."

I can see the fear in Louis's eyes. He won't admit it to me later, but the emergence of Ark from the shadows has unnerved him.

"I suggest you leave, Louis, and don't return without explicit permission from the King," Ark instructs.

Releasing a long, slow breath, I look to my friend. He frowns, backing away, boots crunching into the snow, never taking his eyes off Ark, until he turns and disappears into the night.

He knows what the consequences would be were my father to find out about our friendship.

Whirling around, I scowl at Ark.

"Seriously?"

His expression is unreadable, but his eyes are cold. "I told you not to take lovers."

"You did. But you never told me about continuing with a current one," I snap. My hands roll up into fists, which Ark's gaze dips to. He knows I wouldn't hit him though, not when I know his past.

"No attachments. You need to concentrate on your training," he mutters. I wish I could tell whether he is angry or not.

And I wish I knew whether he is going to tell my father.

"We aren't attached. It's just some fun," I tell him. Not that it matters. I'm not going to let some man come into my life and tell me who I'm allowed to be with and who I'm not.