The Sea Siren

Chapter Eighteen

Vivian

My eyes, wide with fear, lower to his hand viced around my wrist.

"Let me go, Antony."

"This is beyond us now. Run and nothing's settled."

I shake my head, pulling my arm out of his grasp but my legs, crouched in a fleeing position, remain where they are, my eyes unable to leave his. "I don't think it's best to talk about this."

"Why?"

"Because this has gotten away from us. Today is proof of that."

His brows furrow, his gaze sharpening. "This meaning your plans to entrap me?"

That breaks my ability to serve him with upheld defiance. I grab my waistcoat, wrapping it around myself-hiding when he makes no effort to. As usual.

"I'm here, Vivian," he says bluntly. "I'd say your plan worked."

It didn't.

As much as I could pretend it did, I wasn't supposed to feel anything. The compulsion that seized my body in that pool, and again, on this rooftop, wasn't impressively calculated, but led by plain desire.

Dormant desire awakened by taking something that wasn't mine.

A commander.

A prince.

While this moment should be sealing the hopes I carry, wanting to sway his mind, I never envisioned my own could be altered. Rather than admit defeat, I attempt to wash the blatancy from my face, lying onto my back beside him.

I try to rationalize this, desperate to find meaning to this ill-fated attraction.

"This was inevitable."

He drapes some of his shirt over his thighs, joining me on the ground. "Yes."

"I think we should make sure this only happens once."

His face turns, his eyes looking over me indiscreetly. "I don't know if I've ever had a real conversation with you."

"Of course you have."

"No, every time there's a possibility, one of us take the opposite course."

I hold in my waistcoat by the flaps, staring up at the stars. I see his head turn forward, away from me before he speaks again.

"If there was a time to do it, it would be now."

I chuckle. "Why? What purpose would that serve?"

"I'm tired of pretending. Aren't you?" He sighs. "My family, the kingdom, would publicly dishonor me for what I just did. You ensnared me today, as you can any other man."

I twist, annoyance flaring in my chest. "You want a real conversation? First, you'd need to understand that I am no siren, no mythical creature that entraps and drowns men for the pleasure of it."

"And I am no prince," he snaps back, equally as vexed. "We are both misjudged souls, unable to show our true selves. Strip the titles away, the hatred brought on by others and what are we?"

I lower my eyes, but his finger lifts my chin.

"We are just man and woman."

I hate how wild my heart pounds.

"You said I could ask you a question in the forest, any question?"

His eyes become more guarded. "I did."

"Do you think your father will ever stop hunting me? If he knew the truth?"

I expect a lie.

Yes, if you told me everything. Yes, if you came to Vale and explained yourself.