61: Moonlight Whispers

Quincy St. Martin

I blink slowly. The moon is still bright, and the stars are still twinkling in the purplish dark sky. The sound of the waves hitting the shore, and the wind are rhythmic.

I’ve fallen asleep out here, on the beach.

A warm hand is pushing my hair back, brushing against my cold cheek.

“Quincy…”

I turn my face up and blink a few more times until his face comes into focus. His gaze is intent. His tousled hair is blowing wildly and his skin is flushed.

Half of his face is covered in stubble. I lift my hand and touch his fuzzy cheek. The air is cold, but his skin is burning hot.

“You’ve been running,” I whisper. My voice is being carried away by the wind and swallowed by the rolling sound of the waves, but he can hear me.

“Yes,” he says, leaning into my touch.

“Did it help?”

“A little bit. I could still destroy things around me,” he answers bluntly and sits on the ground beside my lounge chair. He takes my hand in his and says, “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” I reply, sitting up to face him and planting my feet on the sand next to his knees.

“But I wanted to mark you when you clearly don’t want me to. I still want to mark you,” he admits, hanging his head down.

“I do want you to mark me,” I admit. “But it’s a big step,” I quickly add when he raises his head up in surprise, his expression hopeful.

“I want to clear a few things up,” I say, “and I want to know what I’m getting myself into before that happens.”

I can see his eyes light up even in the pale moonlight. He brings my hand to his lips and kisses the back of it like he’s worshipping it.

“Anything you want, ~moya printsessa~. Ask me anything and I’ll answer truthfully.”

“First, I want to know the deal with that woman, Lady Celeste.”

His hand tightens around mine, and the set of his jaw tells me that he’s grinding his teeth.

“My parents have been pressuring me to mark somebody as my mate and take my place as the king for several decades now. My mother, Queen Sophia, has had her mind set on Lady Celeste, her best friend’s daughter, as my mate for as long as I can remember.”

“Oh.”

“So, it’s an old story. Queen Sophia and the royal advisor kept pushing me to mate her, and I kept running, traveling the world, in the hopes of finding my erasthai, one day,” he explains, looking at me.

His eyes are so intense. I lower my eyelids to stare at our joined hands.

“You’ve never once been tempted to mate her?”

“If you’re wondering if I ever touched her or was interested in her that way, then the answer is no. Growing up, she was always a whiny, annoying little kid who followed us around the castle like a lost puppy. Give her an inch and she’ll take a mile.”

I knew the type.

“After mother announced that I was to mate her, I couldn’t stand her. Now I can’t stand even the smell of her,” he explains.

“She’s here now… What are you going to do with her?”

He draws a sharp breath. “I don’t know,” he answers unhappily. “I was supposed to have a conference call with the king, the queen, and the royal advisor the day I found out you were missing, but, well, I skipped town before the call.”

He smiles. I see the smile doesn’t reach his eyes this time.

“I knew there would be repercussions for leaving here without honoring that scheduled conference call, but I didn’t think that my mother would send her here with an ultimatum.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, staring down at our linked hands.

“Hey, look at me.” He lifts my chin up so I’m looking back into his eyes. “None of this is your fault, my love.”

He left to save me without taking the call, so I do still feel sorta guilty, even though I didn’t ask to get kidnapped and taken back by my old pack.

“Any more questions you would like to ask me, ~moya printsessa~?”

“What about Helen and all the other women?”

“What about them? I told you they were in the past.”

“But you were alone with that Helen woman…”

“I was never alone with her. We were outside of that hotel with everybody else waiting for you. She tried to initiate a conversation with me several times, but I ignored her. On the plane, she came into the cockpit when I was talking with the captain, and I left.”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“She’s a manipulative social climber, and I wouldn’t touch her again with a ten-foot pole. I don’t understand why Lord Archer took her as his companion.”

I wondered the same thing myself.

“How can I convince you that I don’t want anybody else? Quincy, I’ve waited centuries for you. You’re my one chance at happiness. Why would I mess up my chance? Why would I waste my time hooking up with women who don’t matter to me when I’ve already found you? I’ve told you what I want, and I don’t have time for games.”

I smile inside.

“I only want you. You’re more than enough for me, but I can’t speak for you.” He looks angry again.

“Are you still concerned about Gideon and Oliver?” I ask him.

He doesn’t answer me. He lets go of my hand and turns his face away. His chest heaves, and his eyebrows come down. His lips form a tight line.

I move to sit on the sand with him, in front of him. As soon as I get into his line of sight, he turns his face the other way. I try not to smile. My prince is hurt, but he’s way too adorable.

“Caspian.” I cup his face in my hands, trying to make him look at me. I sigh when he refuses to turn his head. He’s so stubborn!

I lift myself up to sit on my knees. We’re almost at eye level this way.

I wrap my arms around his neck, and when he doesn’t push me away, I kiss his eyebrow. His skin feels warm on my cold lips.

“When I think of you with other men, I feel violent,” he says. “I want to destroy everything. I want to kill those other men. I want to hurt you, not physically but mentally like the way I’m hurting, yet I can’t stand the thought of you hurting. The thought of hurting you hurts me even more.”

I see how much he hurts.

“I want to keep you all to myself because in here”—he taps his head then slaps his chest—“you’re fucking mine. ~Mine~. You belong to me forever. Just me. It hurts that it’s not what you want.”

“Caspian.” I tighten my arms around him and kiss the side of his face where I can reach him.

“That’s what I want. You’re the only one that I want.” I take a deep breath and continue. “Gideon…”

His hands come up to grip my hips like a warning.

“Gideon is loyal to you. I think he’s a good person to keep as a friend, but I don’t want him. He’s not your competition. No man is. And Oliver… Well, I promise you that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to worry about with Oliver.”

He pulls back to look at me with narrowed eyes. “I heard you said you can’t imagine life without him.”

“Ha! You’ve been stalking me!” I accuse him. “And eavesdropping. My Nana said eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves…or about others. Or something like that.”

The stare he gives me tells me that he’s not impressed. I guess I can’t put off talking about Oliver any longer.

I clear my throat. “I think I should introduce you to Oliver. But you have to promise me something.”

“I’m not making any promises I can’t keep. So, no, I’m not promising anything when it comes to your precious Oliver,” he growls.

“Oh, come on, trust me. Oliver is not a competition, like ~at all~! Please, just promise me that you won’t laugh or make fun of me when you see him. And ooohhh, don’t tell others about him.”

I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he keeps staring at me as if trying to see what’s inside my head.

“Please? Just promise me, no laughing and making fun of me. Like at all!”

Now he’s looking at me like he’s not sure whether to laugh or to stay angry.

Finally, he sighs and nods his head.

“Okay, I promise,” he says.

His hands, which are holding my hips, glide around my waist to pull me closer to him.

“But if he proves to be a competition, I’ll destroy him,” he whispers against my ear.

His voice sounds playful and teasing this time, and I melt into his arms.

“You are mine. My princess.”

His lips meet mine. Sweet and gentle. Just as I’m about to deepen our kiss, he pulls back and lifts me up to lie me down on the lounge chair.

The chair has barely enough room for the both of us, but he climbs on and pulls me snug against him, his chest to my back.

He pulls the blanket over the both of us, but I no longer feel cold. His body shields me from the wind, and his body heat is enough to warm me up.

We lay like that in silence, listening to the wind, the waves, and each other’s breathing.

I feel the rise and fall of his chest against my back, enjoying the thrill of having his powerful body against mine. Everything feels right in the world when he’s holding me like this.

“Quincy?”

“Umm hmm?”

“If I lost my crown… If I lost everything tomorrow, would you still want me? Would you stay with me?”

There’s something in his voice that makes my heart clench. I turn my body to face him. He grabs my waist so that I won’t fall off the chair.

“Caspian. I don’t care about the crown or about anything else. I only want you.”

I trace a finger over his bottom lip.

“If we only had the clothes on our backs, we’d make it work. I’ll put in a good word for you with my manager, and we can both work at the café. We’ll survive on ramen noodles and sleep on beaches like this, and you can keep me warm.”

I feel his lips stretch into a smile before I hear his chuckles. “It’s us against the world?”

“Us against the world. Forever,” I agree.

“Now tell me that you love me.”

What? I draw in a sharp breath. My heart stops beating for a second before it starts galloping in my chest.

He presses his forehead to mine and demands it again. “Tell me you love me, princess.”

I take a deep breath and whisper, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”