James’ pov
From all that I had expected Blair to say, I hadn’t for a moment assumed that this could end up being what she’d say. It had taken me completely by surprise.
It also didn’t help that I just knew that she was being honest right now. Perhaps, it was the way her voice wavered at some point, or it could be the way the pain was strongly etched on her face.
“Blair, I –” I began to speak, but she quickly shook her head without glancing up.
“There’s no need for that.” She said, voice flat, but the emotions were right there, underneath her voice.
“I’m sorry I shouted at you that day, I hate that I’m the cause of your trauma back then. I had no idea that was the cause of your fainting spell, I really am sorry.” I murmured, pointedly ignoring her statement.
“It’s okay, that was in the past.” She spoke once again.
“It still doesn’t make it okay.” I pointed out.
“It wasn’t just your voice that made me faint, my phobia is for extremely loud noises. Although the shout had something to do with it, it was also because of the flashbacks I had at that moment, coupled with the fact that I was weak and dehydrated. So, it wasn’t totally your fault.”
“Still, I’m very much sorry.” I murmured after some time has passed, and this time, Blair didn’t bother to respond.
“I want to say I can’t believe your father’s brother did that to your family, but I know just how betrayal works, so I’m really not surprised. Sorry you had to experience that at such a young age.” I murmured after a few minutes.
“I want to say it’s okay since that helped me escape getting into a contract marriage, but it’s not because I lost my home, my family, my birthright! I had to live in hiding, because I knew I’d be dead if it’s revealed that I didn’t die in that accident.” Her voice shook a little this time, and without thinking, I reached out and clasped her hand in mine. She stiffened a little but didn’t say a thing, and neither did she pull away.
“How did you manage to stay in hiding?” I asked after a few moments and this time, her grip tightened around my fingers, just as she turned around to stare at me properly in the face.
She shook her head a little to get her hair out of her face as she began to speak.
“Well, for starters, I had to sleep on the streets for months.” She admitted, and although a sad expression crossed her face, she refused to avert it from mine.
“Don’t feel pity for me, please.” She warned as I spoke, but I ignored her.
“How was that possible? Without anything happening to you…”
“Oh, things did happen to me.” She said with a crackled laugh and as a few images appeared in my head, I felt bile slowly rise in my throat.
“You know as I princess, I was raised to be prim and proper, to know how to play the piano and read poetry. I was homeschooled my entire life, I had to learn seven different languages while growing up as well, along with all the etiquette of being a future queen.” As she spoke, If I had been having doubts of if she was being honest before, then here’s all the proof I needed.
“I didn’t know how to do a damn thing. I stood out in the midsts of people in the streets. I was swindled a whole lot until I learnt to become tough. I was taken advantages of, countless times. I had quite a lot of bad days at first. I even attempted to kill myseld at once, but now I’m glad I didn’t.” A small, sad smile stretched out on her face at the last part of her sentence.
“I’m glad too.” I informed her and she squeezed my hand in response.
“When one man asked me if I was the princess because of my supposed resemblances to the princess, I knew it was dangerous for me to keep on moving around like that. My hair was extremely long then, but I cut it really short because of that. I changed my name as well.”
“Really?” I marveled and she nodded once.
“Yup. I looked way prettier with my hair longer.”
“You look prettier to me this way.” I informed her and she grinned a little while rolling her eyes.
“Stop being corny, now isn’t the time.” She argued and I chuckled while nodding my head, with my thumb stroking her knuckle.
“What’s your real name?” I found myself asking after a few moments. That made her pull backwards a little .
“Are you being serious right now? You don’t know the princess name??” She asked and I snorted before rolling my eyes.
“No, I don’t, I never really paid attention to those things.” I explained and she rolled her eyes before responding.
“It’s… Hyacinth.”
“Damn, that’s a… really beautiful name.”
“But, please continue to call my Blair. It’s the name I’ve come to really be attached to.” She requested and I nodded my head.
“Of course. Blair it is.”
“Is that all?” She asked after a few moments and I nodded my head slowly.
“I believe so.”
As she pulled off the couch and was about to walk past me, I tugged her downwards until she was sitting on the couch once again, closer to me this time.
“One more thing…”
“I didn’t think you did some sort of bad thing, okay? I was just really curious is all.” I explained and watched as she slowly nodded her head.
“Thank you for telling me all of this. For trusting me with it.” I continued and she nodded her head as she spoke.
“I trust you.” She whispered.
Next, I leaned forward even more, sliding my hand around the back of her throat to tug her forward until my lips were lightly ghosting over hers.
As the kiss deepened, I knew letting her go was completely out of the question.