The Raven Flame [The Crown Saga III] (First Draft)

Golden Ties

"Willow."

I turned my head and looked down from my pedestal to see Tarkan standing before me.

The neck of his green suit hugged his throat tightly, and I quietly wished it would tighten even more.

"Prince Calix," I said, turning my body for me to face him like the lady I still pretended to be.

He took my hand and kissed the ring decorating my finger instead of my skin.

Sly bastard.

"You look stunning," Tarkan said, stepping back to get a proper look at me.

I suddenly felt very naked again and extremely aware of the deep cut that hadn't yet been covered by Mara's future plans.

Instinctively, I brought my hands to my chest to cover up.

Mara and the other seamstress had left the room as soon as they'd seen Tarkan and Caiden enter to leave us with the privacy they thought we needed.

"I thought it brought about bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding," I said, trying hard to restrain myself from spitting the word wedding venomously into Tarkan's smug face.

"We apologize for the lack of contact lately," Caiden said.

I moved my gaze from Tarkan to the man still standing beside Piper — his soon-to-be wife.

It hurt seeing him over there when I still had questions I wanted him to answer for me.

Not only had he left me without a single word after confessing his love to me. He'd also left me to deal with this new, terrifying secret alone — a secret that may potentially ruin me or worse.

Art had been locked inside his study, refusing to talk to me or anyone else.

I'd only had Piper and Faye, none of whom knew about my blood. They didn't know about the kiss either, and the guilt was consuming me from within.

Caiden's gaze met mine, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to appear angry or sad.

His, on the other hand, was easy to read.

Sorrow and guilt pierced my soul as I saw his brows crack. I might also have heard his heart skip a beat.

"I... Uh," Caiden continued.

A comforting smile of reassurance from me might have awakened him from the otherworld of dreams, but I didn't give it. He hadn't earned that.

"We... Um."

Tarkan sighed beside me.

"Our Dad has kept us occupied with the wedding preparations and other formalities that we aren't yet allowed to discuss. We have barely been able to leave the Golden Turret, and this moment has been the first since the Crown Trials ended that we have been allowed some free time," Tarkan explained, keeping a careful eye on his brother. "We had hoped that our father had sent you word, but it appears that's not the case. So, we wanted to come here to apologize personally."

So they had been spending a lot of time with their dad. That ought to have given Tarkan plenty of chances to bring up our little agreement.

"Have you spoken to the king?" I whispered to Tarkan when Piper turned around to speak to Caiden.

"Not yet," he said.

I frowned. That was not the right answer.

"I thought we'd agreed that you'd do this," I hissed, still watching the happy couple with careful eyes. "There is less than a week to the wedding, Tarkan. We can't afford to wait much longer."