Lianne was lying underneath him, her legs secured together and flexed to provide him no entrance to her modesty. Her pupils dilated as she began to realize what he was about to do based on the very position they were in.
“Your Highness,” Lianne spoke, her voice trembling. As opposed to her anger earlier, her eyes showed fear now as he looked at him. “Don’t… don’t do this.”
His face lowered close to hers. She, in response, closed her eyes and shifted her head to the side. Her cheeks began to spread a deep shade of red, her hands shook, and her heart pounded agonizingly fast.
“No, please…”
She braved to look at him again as she pleaded her case. She expected his expression to be of greed and lust, much like Cain and the duke, but it was different. Entirely different.
Though Ruen’s orbs were icily cold, it showed a visible fervor and longing. Of love and passion combined. Of the need for her.
Ruen continued to lower his face, wanting to kiss her then.
“Your Highness, please…” she cried out again, but this time, it wasn’t as strong a plea as before.
“Say my name, Lianne,” Ruen commanded, locking her head in place with his elbows and trailing the curve of her lips with his own.
Lianne once again tried to squirm free from his grasp but to no avail. She felt the smoothness of lips, exactly as it was before, and she swore her heart was about to jump out of her rib cage.
“No!” She cried out, sense and reason still battling inside her. “Don’t do this, please!”
But Ruen was deaf to her supplications still.
“Say my name, Lianne. Say. My. Name.”
With one quick action, he molded his lips on hers.
She tried to keep her lips shut, but he pressed her cheekbones to force a gasp out of her, and with no time wasted, he was already probing, sucking, and ardently entering his tongue inside hers; languidly directing it in motion amidst her defiance.
She tried to move her face to avoid his kisses, but he created no space for her to turn.
She felt the warmth of his lips touching her and undeniably, she admitted to herself that it was intoxicating her inch by inch.
She was able to free her right hand from him, so she forcefully pushed his chest away, but he only brought down his weight more against her body and continued to position his knees in between her hips.
She gasped in protest but he didn’t back out.
Ruen proceeded to trace his free hand on her back, every contact of it made her skin feverish and she felt ultimately vulnerable to his exploration. There was no malice or guilt as his hand trailed every curve of her body; from her shoulders to her legs.
Her mind was commanding herself to break his kisses, but her body otherwise was responding to his advances so openly to her apparent alarm.
“Why do you hate me so much!?” Ruen questioned her. His mouth whispering the words close to her ear and then began to softly caress her neck.
“Your Highness! Stop this!”
She pleaded again. However, hearing her speak none of his name, the prince again pressed his mouth to hers, parting briefly to speak.
“Say my name, Lianne. I want you to say my name! Let me hear you say it!” He commanded without hesitation.
Lianne was at a standstill. How could she say his name? How could she say it so casually without falling into her own desires? How could she say his name when she knew it would open up her heart for him?
Ruen caressed her neck again and as he lifted her up to him, he unzipped her dress at the back and unhooked her brassiere with remarkable finesse.
She felt her dress loosening and falling down to her abdomen to her sheer distress.
“N-nno! Ahh!” Lianne cried out, but she was subdued as he kissed her again.
Lianne gave out a small moan when his lips passionately trailed his way from her mouth to her aroused nipples, cupping the other one at the same time and kneading it tenderly.
Her dress bunched up on her abdomen and she could feel his weight crushing her deep down the sofa.
“Ahhh!” A strong gasp escaped her mouth, unable to contain the sensation shooting up all over her body. “Ruen, please!”
He gave a victorious grin as the princess finally spoke his name. It was ecstasy. It was heaven. Just hearing her voice speak his name was pure bliss, and it only made him want her all the more.
“Say it again,” he sternly commanded while giving her the caressing she could only do but moan in ecstasy.
“Ruen, s-top this!”
“Again.”
Slowly panting, she replied instead, “Don’t torment me with this.”
His kisses escalated to deeper, hungrier ones. One hand found its way to the length of her legs and he traced it up to her waist.
To her shock, she felt a slight tug under her dress, and then slowly, his fingers wandered down to the crevice of her wetness.
Lianne could feel his body heating to its core, and she could feel herself responding to his warmth as if she was melting bit by bit.
“Again, Lianne. Again!” Ruen demanded.
“Ruen, no… ahhh!”
How could she be insensitive to his caressing… to his kisses? How could she not deny such pleasure mounting on her? How could she ignore the arousal that he had just broken free, but by the heavens above, this was not right!
Their eyes met and when it did, she realized that he was deadly serious as his eyes were blazing with desire. He was roused himself, panting in slow waves. His face was as flushed as hers amidst the coldness of the room.
Lianne’s angelic moaning ignited a desire in him. How he had suffered so long. How much had he waited for this day that he could touch her without qualm.
But even with such desire, Lianne’s tears started to flow from her eyes. She bit her lower lip in dismay.
‘Not this way!’ she shouted in her thoughts. There were conflicting emotions that clashed on her mind. She couldn’t understand why she was so yielding to a man’s touch, especially his, and yet she wanted to despise every part of it.
He pulled her to sit, arching her back in response as he caressed again the pink flesh of her breasts.
“I want you, Lianne…” she heard him say so softly, but she shook her head in disapproval.
“No, Ruen! This is not right!” she expressed, her tears flowing down her cheeks.
“I want you. Yield to me…” he announced again, this time pinning her down the sofa.
Her eyes stared deep into the core of his flaming gaze and shuddered as he began to caress her trembling hand.
True enough, he wanted her more than anything else, but before she could express her disagreement, her senses jumped anew as she heard a long knock on the main door and then it opened.
The sound surely made Ruen stop and quickly, awareness collided his thoughts upon seeing, this time clearly, her wet eyes.
“My great apologies Your Highness, but it is of a must that I inform you of your current meeting with the council. Truly, they have grown to think that you are slacking in your responsibilities.”
“Jared.” Ruen gave out a long sigh. Even without looking at the source of the voice, he knew already it was his most loyal butler. “If it isn’t your timing so impeccable.”
He sat at the edge of the sofa and slowly surveyed the damage he had bestowed on the princess.
He saw that she had quickly covered her exposed breasts with her dress. He could not determine the expression on her face as she hid under a red lacy throw pillow.
He knew what he had done was detestable. He knew he had just violated her right as a woman. But, selfishly, he always admitted to himself that that fragile part of hers he always wanted to break. There was no guilt in his eyes. For him, was it wrong to want her that way?
He brushed a tangled part of her hair, then kissed her exposed shoulder before standing up and leaving her without a word.
To his surprise, Lady Faye was already standing inside the room just a few feet from the front door.
His eyes averted hers. He knew he would receive a good sermon from the old woman. The disappointed look in her eyes made him remember the things that she had taught him when he was still young.
He picked up his over-suit that was offered by the majordomo and then walked straight towards the front door passing Lady Faye who in turn whispered a single sentence enough for the princess to hear, enough for her to realize how much Ruen was determined to keep her in the mansion.
“Your Highness, this is not the answer for Princess Lianne to stay by your side.”
Ruen’s brows flinched in disappointment.
“I know Faye, I know. Please do attend to the princess’ needs while I’m away.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the old woman replied as she bowed her head.
Lianne’s tears kept coming and coming as she pressed her face under the throw pillow. She could feel her skin still moist from Ruen’s kisses and her arousal still lingered on her body wanting to be sated.
The front door closed not long and another one opened, her guess was from her bedroom.
There was a muffled noise coming from there and then after a minute, she could feel a soft sheet cover her whole body.
Lianne sensed that Lady Faye was observing her. The lovemarks that the prince had planted on Lianne’s bare chest was visible, but Lady Faye gave no comment about it.
“His Highness isn’t a loathsome person…” Lady Faye started to speak. “Wouldn’t it be better to bury your hate in the ground along with the late king?”
She slowly moved to the sofa finding a vacant space to sit below Lianne’s feet.
The princess inhaled long and deep as she tried to calm herself down. Though the throw pillow was covering her face, Lady Faye could sense an amassing anger behind it.
“How could I do that!” she started with a coarse voice. “I could ne-ver do that… But, I can’t understand myself! I’m confused. I’m so confused.” She lingered on to the word like there was nothing more she could say.
Lady Faye touched the princess’ waist and began to speak.
“How much he must be relieved and happy just to see you had not left the mansion. He even rode the whole night just to reach here on time.”
“I wanted to leave! But, I don’t understand why I’m still here, and now this has happened! Everything he does, always… always confuses me. How could he say he want me so easily when he knows I detest him?” Lianne expressed in a weak voice.
It was not new for Lady Faye to realize how the prince’s actions were misunderstood. Back when he was still a child, he always has a hard time expressing his real emotions.
“My dear, you know very well he is capable of being as cold and apathetic as King Garlow, but he hides his real emotions behind his mask. You will never see through him if you will not let your heart open up. You do not detest Prince Ruen. You detest Garlow and him alone. Do not cloud your mind. Do not shun your heart.”
Lady Faye stood up and walk towards a glass table at the center of the receiving room and placed the small box on it. She opened the box and pulled out the wooden-framed picture of the 10-year-old prince.
She left the picture beside it and continued to lit the fireplace of the receiving room and the bedroom providing the area enough warmth from the cold.
“I will come back for your dinner later. In the meantime, think about what I said, my dear,” Lady Faye remarked.
There was complete silence in the room except for the downpour of the rain outside. Lianne waited for her tears to subside before she sat up and attended herself.
To her surprise, her gaze rested on the picture and it instantly reminded her of what Lady Faye had said and the conversation she and Sir Martin had about the picture.
“I have been in this Kingdom in its early years, My Lady. I was even one of those who attended to the needs of the King. Seeing everyone in and out of the mansion, Prince Ruen, definitely was the one who could be like the King. He was so young, so innocent, with gentle eyes just like this one in the picture, but for some reason, the King really did something to the boy to change him into something as cold as ice.”
That evening, she tried to shower off the remains of Ruen’s scent. To her astonishment, she noticed a couple of lovemarks, red and blotted, scattered all over her body; her neck, clavicle, two in the chest, one in the left breast near the areola, one in the back, and the midline of her thigh and her waist. Her lips were swollen too; the only pure evidence that they had almost made love.
She could still remember the feel of his hands run through her skin as the water began to engulf her.
Though the heat of her body was beginning to disappear, she couldn’t deny that she longed for that warmth even more.
***
Ruen lounged comfortably back in his master bedroom after the long and tiring meeting, wearing his loose cotton trousers and white robe.
His mind was set on the events that happened earlier in Lianne’s room, and the way she looked spread vulnerably under him, made his heart ache.
He was a fool to actually think of it again. He knew she would never forgive him for it. He knew that she would hate him even more for it, and it was more than enough a reason she should leave the mansion.
Her words lingered in his mind over and over again, and it pierced his heart real good.
“His son, huh.” He laughed. “If only you knew…”
Upon remembering that he could actually see the silhouette of her room from over his balcony, he quickly stood up and walked outside.
To his surprise, Lianne was there leaning at the balcony of her room wearing a silk baby pink, lacy nightgown staring at the scenery of a full moon hiding in the mountains.
A smile formed at the corner of his lips, then he gave out a long sigh.
“Lianne, just this way, you’re tormenting me so much. How could you stand there so innocently when you know I’d be watching you from here?”