Darkness Rises-Harry Styles

Chapter 16

"Do not let the shadows of your past darken the doorstep of your future."

Rose's POV:

I woke up in my room, looking around as the pale sunlight shone into my room, lighting it up. It must've been pretty early, but I didn't really mind. I had fallen asleep in Harry's room yesterday, and I'm guessing that sometime during the night he took me in here.

I sat up in my bed, wincing at the pain in my back. I shuddered as I remembered yesterday's events, the memories flooding my mind in the most awful way. The Northern region of Dragmere going into an everlasting sleep, James' betrayal, Harry standing up for me and then killing James, the spell being lifted, and then Harry holding me in his arms last night until I fell asleep.

So much happened in one day, it seems surreal. I was almost hoping that it was going to be a nightmare, that I would wake up and everything would be perfectly fine today. But the pain in my lower back is proof that yesterday did in fact happen, that James tried to kill me in order to take over the entire kingdom.

I let out a sigh, slowly getting out of bed, ignoring the pain in my back as I began to walk over towards the shower. I opened up the door, my eyes nearly popping out of my head as I saw Harry standing in there with only a towel wrapped around his waist. I saw his tattooed body and his toned muscles before my eyes widened even more as he turned to look at me with his eyebrows raised.

I finally reacted, slamming the door shut as quickly as I could and turned around, trying to keep my cheeks from blushing, but I was failing horribly at it. I put my hands over my face as I heard the door open again and I kept my back turned towards the door.

"Did I surprise you?" Harry asks amused, chuckling as I heard him come closer to me. "S-sorry. I d-didn't know you were using my shower." I stutter and he chuckles again. I feel his hands on mine, peeling them away from my face but I screwed my eyes closed, not wanting to peek again...just in case the towel fell.

"Open your eyes, Princess." he says teasingly and I gulp, shaking my head nervously at his request. He laughs at me and I feel my cheeks heat up. "Come on, I'm covered." he says and I furrow my eyebrows. He WASN'T covered just a second ago. "Just open them, Rose." he says and I sigh, giving in to him.

I slowly open my eyes, squealing a little as I see him still just in a towel, smirking at me as I tried to look away from his half-naked body. "Harry, you lied to me." I whine and he laughs, shaking his head at me. "No I didn't! I said I was covered, I didn't specify what was covered." he says cheekily and I give him a glare, trying not to let my eyes trail down his body.

I would be lying if I said he didn't have a good body. He was toned, muscular and had some tattoos on his chest and arm, making him look masculine yet unique at the same time. I turned away from him, embarrassed by my thoughts and let out a huff.

"Put some clothes on!" I protest and he takes my hand, spinning me back around and making me go smack into his bare chest, my hands pressed against him as I blushed furiously, looking up at him as he smiled down at me slyly.

"I think I like going around like this." he says with a wink and I blush even more, looking away from him so he couldn't see how red my face was. "Don't be like that Princess." he whines, cupping my chin with his finger and turning my head so that I was looking at him again, his green eyes shining mischievously.

"I-I've never..." I stop, trailing off because I didn't want to share the truth with him. He'd definitely make fun of me for that and I didn't want him to.

His eyes widen in realization and I curse mentally, wishing that he wouldn't have caught on to what I was going to say. "You've never seen a man shirtless, have you?" he asks me and I frown, closing my eyes shamefully until he grabs my chin, my eyes coming open at the contact.