Chapter 36: Don’t you hate it when the butterflies in your stomach are acting up?
I stared at him, hard, trying to find any trace of teasing or mocking. Perhaps he was just playing tricks on me? Perhaps he just liked to roleplay as a prince charming?
My mind was fighting...fighting to find any loophole so my heart would cease beating so loud, louder than the fireworks. Fighting to find a way for my mind not to trip and be swayed into the delusion of a fairy tale.
But there was nothing inside the gentle smile and the firm gaze that I could use to trample on the bubbling feeling tickling my heart. Slowly, softly, he turned me to face him, and those tickles made me float even higher.
"Do you think I’ll make you my bride just for the fun of it?" he pulled me close, gently, and I had no will to fight it.
"...why?" I managed to respond after a long silence. "I’m an enemy."
"Are you?" he brushed the hair covering my face because of the wind, and for some reason, I thought he was seeing through me, that he knew I wasn’t actually Valmeier. Maybe because there was a part of me that wanted him to know. "Do you want to kill me, sweetheart?"
"No!" I answered hurriedly that it seemed as if I was snapping.
"Have I been treating you like an enemy?"
I shook my head, the small stones Zia attached to my braid bouncing and clanking against each other.
"But...why? It’s not like we’ve met before..."
At that, I saw a slight change on his face, those ripples in his eyes that always came when he seemed to experience an emotional shift.