“
I can’t be your king.”
As reasons go, it’s a good one. But I know there’s more behind it, and that’s what I want. An actual explanation.
“So, if I were just a simple girl, from a simple family, and not the princess…?”
Rhys’s hand finds my waist, and he nudges me back until our faces are as close as they were before. “I wouldn’t be able to walk away from you.” He lets out a self-deprecating sort of laugh. “What am I saying? I know better, and I still haven’t been able to walk away.”
My heart breaks a little. Why must life be so unfair? Why was Braeton taken from me; why was I sent in his place? I don’t want to be queen—I don’t want to choose our king.
I just want Rhys.
“Just for a few minutes, can’t we pretend there isn’t a title attached to my name?” I whisper, running my fingers through the damp hair at the nape of his neck. “Would that be so wrong?”
“It would be,” Rhys answers, his voice full of conviction.
Yet his hand tightens at my side, drawing me even closer, his physical response at odds with his answer.
His eyes are on mine, the intimacy of it almost too much to bear. “But I don’t have the will to stop you right now. If I am what you want, then I give myself to you. However, please know these fleeting minutes are all we have.”
I lick my lips, and his eyes follow the movement. My breaths are short and fast, and Rhys’s fingers press into my side in the most intoxicating way.
Making a decision I’ll likely regret, I slowly pull back. Disappointment flashes in Rhys’s green eyes when I put space between us, but I stand strong.
“If minutes are all you can give me, I won’t waste them now,” I tell him softly. “I’ll save them, hide them away. Outwardly, I will keep our relationship purely platonic, but sometime—when I need you the most—I’ll make my request.”
“Amalia…” Rhys says, sounding pained.
Unable to help myself, I lean in and press the briefest kiss to the very corner of his lips. For a moment, I wonder if the knight is going to lock his arms around me, hold me here, convince me to use those minutes now.
But he doesn’t.
“You can deduct a second from my total,” I tease softly when I pull back. I then climb out of the hot spring, dripping water along the stone.
”
”
Shari L. Tapscott (Forest of Firelight (The Riven Kingdoms, #1))