Rosalind’s POV.
“Does it hurt?”
I looked at Prince Cillian who was using ice on my partly swollen face. I couldn’t believe he had been on his way to see me when he had intercepted the assault.
I wondered what he had come to see me for so late then I flushed more. I didn’t need to know. I didn’t even want to know.
He looked so handsome and good-looking this up close that it was dizzying. So dizzying that I didn’t respond immediately.
His close-shaven jawline was so smooth that it could cut glass and his cheekbones could have been that of a capital model.
“Rosalind?” His hazel eyes met mine questioning.
I flushed. I had forgotten to answer the question.
“No, not really. It’s mostly numb.”
It was. Only dull pricks still came from the area and I resisted the urge to touch it. I would heal fully later tonight or tomorrow morning due to the slow omega healing that I had.
Prince Cillian didn’t seem to buy my explanation.
“Then why are you wincing?”
I’m not wincing. I’m trying to move away from you because you being this close is messing with my head.
His hazel eyes were wide and honest, his hand inches from my face as he held the ice cube.
“You know you can tell me the truth, right?”
My tongue felt tied for some reason so I thought of another perplexing topic that I found flustering.
“Prince Killan…” If I closed my eyes I could still see him ripping out the hearts of those men. I could see the glance he slid to me when the last one dropped dead. A look I still couldn’t decipher.
Why did Prince Killian do that? I thought he hated me.”
It wasn’t like killing four men in cold blood was a declaration of love but it wasn’t something someone would do for their enemies either.
Prince Cillisn took his time to answer my question.
“My brother is complicated…” He didn’t even know half of it. Prince Killian who had fingered me, threatened me then went on to kill for me in less than twenty-four hours. Complicated was a gross understatement.
“Today, I was also quite surprised but he isn’t a bad person. Despite your first impression of him. That day he was just being protective of me.”
Yeah right. Prince Cillian was a good person who liked to believe in the best of others. That was the only possible reason that he could have interpreted his brother’s actions that day as ‘protective’.
Or maybe it was but I didn’t know Prince Killian enough to deduce that.
Prince Cillian’s eyes were soft then they grew despondent.
“He might seem cold and arrogant but in the end, I feel he wants what is best for this country at large and works to make it happen. Maybe even better than I do.”
Why did I feel like he compared himself a lot to Prince Killian and for whatever reason found himself coming short of his expectations?
I placed my hand over his other hand on his bed and met his gaze.
“You might be right to some extent. You know him much better than I do after all but don’t discount yourself. You are the nicest person I know.”
The nicest, most compassionate and selfless person that I knew. He shone almost as brightly as the sun and drew me to him even though I knew if I got too close, I would burn.
“You care about your people enough to go all the way to the districts to see how they are doing. You do way more than enact laws and enforce them. You see how these laws impact us as individuals. Your sensitivity is your strength. That’s what I like the most about you.”
Prince Cillian smiled at me and it was an intoxicating one because I wanted him to keep smiling at me that way.
His tone was dangerous when he spoke.
“You like me?”
My face burned and my mouth went dry.
“I…Cillian, I don’t think we should talk about”
He leaned in, his voice low and thick.
“Say it again.”
My eyes looked up from the bedding I was examining with sudden profound curiosity unable to resist that edge in his voice.
“What?”
“My name. You always call me my prince or Prince Cillian. I want you to call me by my name.”
Warmth pooled between my thighs and I fought the urge to run them together.
“I’m not sure if that is appropriate, I am a servant, an omega. I shouldn’t be able to call you by that.”
He dropped the ice and ran his cold fingers down my arm causing me to shiver at his touch and proximity.
“I don’t want labels to matter between us. I see us as equals.”
He was filling my head with ideas that promised to hurt me so badly if I indulged those thoughts. He was my prince and I was no one. If I forgot that, I would find myself doing crazy things.
I looked at the deep blue duvet. It was beautiful with so many intricate designs that would hold my attention rather than lose myself in his gaze.
“Look at me,” Prince Cillian commanded. “Don’t make me order you to say it.”
“My Prince” His arm suddenly went around me and before I could blink, I was on his lap straddling him, a knee on either side. I balanced myself by placing both of my hands on his chest.
For a moment we were frozen. Me and my prince who was always there for me. I couldn’t think and it felt like my lungs had stopped functioning.
“Rosalind.” His hands were secure around my waist and his eyes were locked on mine.
“Cillian.” His name escaped my lips as a moan or a plea. I couldn’t tell which.
One of his hands left my waist and he wove his fingers through my hair pulling me closer.
We were sharing a breath now and the world froze at that moment. “Cillian.”
He kissed me and I stopped existing.
His lips moved against mine so softly, gently pulling down my barriers and making me his.
I opened my mouth to him and gasped into the kiss as I felt his thickness between my legs. Our kiss grew more frenzied as our tongues tangled and I moved my hips against him.
His lips left mine and wandered to my nape, kissing and nibbling.
I turned liquid in his embrace, my fingers pulling him closer. I wanted him to bite down harder. I wanted him to claim me as I wanted to him.
He pulled back and his eyes were molten gold as he stared at me with so much desire that I wondered why I had waited so long to do this.
“From the moment I saw you, I have been unable to get you out of my head.”
My heart raced. It had been the same with me. From that moment on the streets when he had defended me I had been lost. I had tried to keep a distance to ignore our burning attraction but it wasn’t to be.
I opened my mouth to speak.
“I” Cillian pressed his index finger to my lips.
Then he moved pushing me onto the bed while he hovered above me. His dark hair fell over his eyes and my fingers reached out unbidden to smooth them back.
Cillian closed his eyes at my touch as though it undid him then he pressed his lips to mine almost hungrily and I responded with almost equal ferocity.
His fingers pushed my skirts up, moving between my legs and suddenly I was back with Killian touching me.
Cillian’s lips left mine and moved to my breasts.
I moaned loudly, my nails at his back and his back clawing at him.
“Cillian please.”
It hadn’t even been up to a day that I was with his brother. I felt dirty yet so drenched that I could hear the wet sounds from where his fingers moved inside me.
“I want you so badly, it hurts.” He said, his voice laboured. “Tell me to stop.”
Stop? I knew we were making the worst possible mistake but if I couldn’t make myself say it.
I felt my inner walls clench around his fingers as my orgasm approached.”I can’t.”
Cillian groaned. “Rosalind, you are killing me.”
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
“My prince, the special ointment and pain reliever you ordered have arrived.”
The world returned and we pulled apart. I scrambled to pull my skirts down my legs and my cheeks felt hot against my fingers.
Cillian went to get the door and I panicked.
What had I almost done? If that knock hadn’t come in then I would have…
Cillian was the best man anyone would ask for but the problem wasn’t with him. It was with me.
He returned with the ointment discarding it on the tabletop and leaned in to kiss me but I moved away.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this. I forgot my place.”
CillianPrince Cillian looked at me with confusion in his eyes.
“Your place? What are you talking about?”
I stood up from the bed, straightened my clothes, gathering the strength to not go back to that bed and beg him to take me.
“I am not worthy of being in your presence let alone having something to do with you.”
“Rosalind, don’t”
I didn’t let him finish, worried he might convince me.
“You know this too. I am not the kind of girl that has flings. I want commitments and that is something you can never give me because I am from the lower class.”
This at least was true. No matter his good intentions, he would mate with a princess. Not an omega like me. It was better to nip this in the bud before I started developing strong feelings for him although I felt it was already too late for that.
“If you will excuse me, I need to get to my room.”
Prince Cillian caught my arm as I tried to leave.
“You are going nowhere.”
“Prince Cillian?”
I saw something in his eyes change when I addressed him as Prince Cillian instead of Cillian.
He let go of my hand.
“With everything that happen with you tonight, I don’t want you to sleep alone. You can sleep here.”
He was right. I wasn’t looking forward to going back to my room to stay there alone where anyone could break in and… I looked around the room. But…
“Here? There is only one bed. What would people think?”
I could already hear the rumours flying. Prince Cillian didn’t seem to care.
“I’ll take the couch. If people want to talk, let them say what they want.”
A prince sleeping on the couch so I could take the bed? Impossible.
“Prince Cillian, you can’t sleep on the couch. I’ll sleep there.”
It even looked more comfortable than my bed.
Prince Cillian shook his head emphatically.
“I don’t want to sleep on the couch but you aren’t allowed to sleep on it either.”
He raised his index and middle finger.
“You have two options. Sleep on the bed quietly or,”
He leaned in. “Invite me to sleep with you.”