Amara Meadows has always placed her job first, but with her journalism career slowly failing, she seems lost.
Although when she ends up spending a month in the palace covering the coronation of White Bridge's prince, she finds more than herself.
F...
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Even though Xavier fell asleep shortly after he had woken up, I decided to stay anyway- just to make sure he's okay. If it had been me in that bed I wouldn't want to be alone. The guards pulled a bed from one of the empty rooms and pushed it next to Xavier's. I wasn't exactly tired, so I ended up staring at him for way too long before finally drifting off as well.
I don't know if it was my body relaxing from the shock or simply being so close to him, but I don't think I've slept so soundly and peacefully in a long time. Although the pure idea of peace was interrupted when I heard someone laughing inside the room. Unwillingly I open my eyes, sluggishly wiping the sleep away. Xavier's naughty smile is the first thing I see when I sit up and I guess he must be feeling just a bit better than yesterday because he looks absolutely fine.
He's looking at my head and the mess it very clearly must be in should be the reason for his laughing fit. I smile in reply, rushing a hand through my hair to try and salvage the issue. As soon as I do that his gaze moves to the rest of my body. He slowly takes in the dress that flows down from my chest, but he looks away quickly when he reaches my legs, very much revealed by the lightweight material. His lips tighten as he pulls his hand through his hair.
"Like what you see?" He tilts his head and scoffs, probably not as amused as me by his own words.
"You're a tease, Miss Meadows." He tries to shift his body to face me and his arm accidentally hits the metal part of the bed in the process. His face becomes dark as he flinches. I stretch forward and reach for his other hand, forcing it into mine so our fingers can lace together.
"I'm here for you, okay?" He nods and I realize the craziness of my statement. "What exactly are you doing here, Xavier?"
He pulls his hand away from mine and tries leaning forward, a gesture which is no doubt causing a ton of pain in every part of his body. But despite that, he still reaches for the blazer at the end of his bed. He would've pushed himself until he had it in his grip, but it's hard watching him. I stop him by grabbing hold of his leg and taking the blazer in the same action earning a sigh from him as I hand it to him.
I fold my legs, using the dress to cover them while Xavier struggles to retrieve something from the blazer's pocket. I leave him be as he does, knowing he won't be happy with needing more help from me. Needing help in total isn't easy for him. Imagine being in a strange place with no one you know, unable to perform typical tasks. Although he also needs to realize that he'll need some help as he recovers, especially if he needs to get home soon. The king and queen must be pretty pissed, apparently, he and Marie left without telling anyone. I wonder if Irene is worried too? It can't be good for your status if your husband fled the country. Actually, I shouldn't go there.
He finally pulls the folded sheet from the pocket and hands it to me. I unfold the two stapled papers, all while keeping my gaze on Xavier, waiting for him to speak. Accepting the silence I look down at the words scribbled down. The first paper is the letter that I wrote him and it has a bit of a stain at the top which looks a lot like dark coffee. I flip it over and on the second page, I find his handwriting, dark and defined, just like always. It is the coronation speech I helped him write, in the middle of the night hunched over a large piece of chocolate cake. Although there's a single line crossing everything out except for one word at the bottom. But the word is a name and it's not just any name- it's mine and I can feel the confusion taking my face by storm.
"I was standing on that podium with everyone staring back at me and even though all those words were whispering through my head, only one kept screaming over the noise. I realized that the letter and all the memories, none of it would be enough. " I turn around to face him and his eyes drill into mine as he filters through his words. "I realized that I would have everything in this world, except you."
The realization hits me like a bullet and the pages drop to the bed. I never saw his coronation ceremony, I missed the reruns and I missed the recap as well. I haven't seen the newspaper or magazines either and my boss almost blew a fuse when I subtracted my paper. I move the papers away and grab his file from the table behind me and there it stands, in large capital letter.
Prince Xavier Lucca.
"What does this mean?"
"It means we have two years to give it a try. To see if this is more than unsettled emotions. I want to have the option of love and more than anything I want it to be with you. Although the question is, what do you want, Amara?"
What do I want...
Hell if I know. Whoever really knows exactly what they want in life. I guess I thought I did for a while and then I met Xavier and suddenly it's all just a blur. I know there's more to life than just falling in love and living happily ever after and I know there's more to us than that. But being with him would be one hell of a kick start to a new life.
The pure idea makes my heartbeat rise, either from excitement or fear, because this is crossing into a whole galaxy of unknown territory. This might explain my inability to form a usable sentence to tell him how I feel or what I want for that matter.
I move onto his bed, being mindful not to hurt him in the process before placing my hand onto his wounded chest. I take a much-needed breath before leaning forward, feeling his heartbeat quicken under my touch and because of that, I pause. I find myself craving him in the most innocent way possible. Just wanting to feel his hands on my waist or taste his lips and all fear of being rejected is thrown away when I feel his warm breath against my face. The first time our lips touch it's like butterflies dancing in the air. His one hand tugs me closer and emotion takes over the kiss, turning it into something with so much hunger while still holding so much vulnerability at the same time.
Our breathes alter as we pull away. Xavier's hand hovers on the small of my back and both my hands slide over the bandages. Every time this had happened it had been a source of words neither of us had the heart to speak and this wasn't any different. Or maybe it was, because, unlike the past few times, I knew I'd get to this again and that was enough to make me feel pretty damn happy. That's what I want, this is what I want. Because I don't know what love is, but I know that I want it with him.
He gently tugs me down so my head is against his shoulder and I tilt his chin down slightly so that he can see me.
"I just want you, Xavier Luca."
||
So the Amara and Xavier ship is finally sailing. Is there smooth sailing ahead though?
What does this mean for Xavier's claim on the throne?
How will the king and queen handle Xavier's decision?
