The Night of Pretend

Chapter 2 - The Ball

"Would it be wrong to say congratulations?" Nala asked as I was overcome by the smell of my shampoo.

"Only if it'd be right to summon an executioner for you my dear, Nala," I mumbled into the depths of my pillow.

"I take that as a no... But you did great down there, everyone is excited for the future of Lumen."

"What about mine?" I rolled over to face her as she sat with her tanned legs crisscrossed at the foot of my bed.

"Great question..." Nala and I both jumped at the new voice that spoke out in the room. The voice that never seemed to fail at sending pure, uncut anxiety throughout my entire being. Klein was simply one of those people that you felt that you couldn't trust.

And the more you got to know him, the more you could feel it simmer in your conscience.

He was a dishonest man.

"Surprise surprise, Queen Adeline," Klein smirked from the doorway, in which he didn't announce himself. "What a nice ring to it."

"That was extremely impolite. You are not to enter without acknowledging your presence first," Nala practically hissed.

"My sincerest apologies, advisor." He overemphasized, reminding Nala of her place, knowing quite well how to grow under her skin. "But as the King of Macedon, I wanted to speak personally with the Queen," he cleared the doorway and stepped forward into the room, signaling to Nala specifically.

"Alone," he smiled.

"Of course... Your Highness," she spoke through gritted teeth as she exited the room at an obnoxiously slow pace.

The door was slammed shut before she cleared the path entirely, and then it was us two.

Klein waltzed over with his head too high for his own ego before he sat down on the bed next to me. With his signature smirk printed on his face, he sat back on his hands and his expression became more relaxed as he kept an intense, unshaken eye contact with me.

He won.

"What do you want?" I spat out. The unnerving frustration that burdened my soul came out in those four words, and I didn't know what would happen next... Never had I ever spoken so rudely to anyone, as it was unruly for a princess to be snarky.

And it was clear that the uncertainty of how I just carried myself had spilled out in my demeanor.

Klein's heightened look of amusement proved that he knew everything I was feeling.

"Mind running that by me again, love?" He leaned in close, placing his hand on my inner thigh. Spiked chills shot through my spine.

In close call situations like this, I normally come up with some excuse to slip out of his grasp. But, alerts had been blaring so loudly in my mind that I couldn't formulate a plan. My mind blurred together all the possibilities of what to do and in response...

Nothing came to.

The only thing I could focus on was the racing sound of my pulse gradually increasing as it played louder and louder in my ears.

"Adeline," his face got intense and his grip got stronger... closer. "I want you to take my hand in marriage," even though I knew this was coming—apparently sooner than later—my heart skipped multiple beats, and I couldn't seem to place when it resumed.

"Klein... I don't—" Before I could finish, Klein closed the distance between us, passionately locking lips with me. He smelled like discontent and tasted like mint, stealing my breath as I became lightheaded by the second. He took advantage of my submissiveness, as he aggressively kissed my lips. Shifting and contorting me to his will, slowly taking my breath away while he forced his tongue down my throat. I could feel myself slipping away from the moment, drifting away into the back of my mind finding solace as I forced myself to disappear from the present.