Chapter 8

EIGHT

Cobar

The ballroom stretches out in front of me, a display of the finest food, gems, and ladies from the four kingdoms. I finish my drink and know that tonight I'll end up in bed with someone, or a few someones. It's how it always goes. And yet, the notion makes me feel hollow. Almost pained.

The women. The drinking. The dancing. It all distracts from the fact that I'm alone, ruling a court that has little need of a ruler outside of the fae's petty fights and the essential role of using my magic to feed the borders around the fae lands. Yet, it's still a position that essentially separates me from all the people surrounding me. Beyond the princes of the other courts, there's no one here I trust, no one who has my back, no one who cares about the things that haunt me late at night. They're just here for a good time, or to sleep their way into a higher position within my court. They don't care about me; they're here for themselves.

The music changes, and I rub my chest, trying to rub away the lonely feeling that's blossomed there. I need someone to joke with. Someone to laugh with. Someone to make me forget about this hollow feeling.

Cassia lands in my line of sight. Only, it's like until that moment I'd forgotten her. I didn't know that I had found my mate, but the second I see her, I remember it all. The solstice ball, seeing her in that golden dress, the way she looked at me. It all comes back to me in a rush.

It's hard to breathe. It's hard to think. The world fades away outside of her, and all I want is to touch her. To be with her. She's the woman I've waited my whole life for. With her, I'll never be alone again.

Images of my life with my parent's flash through my mind. Me as a little kid, desperately wanting to be with them like the way other fae kids were with their parents. To be a family. To feel loved. Even just to have their arms around me. Instead, every time I saw them, they were naked, or half-naked, flirting with other people. Giving those people all their love and attention and leaving me with a series of tutors and advisors, lonely and longing for a family.

Not that I wasn't okay with my parents having multiple lovers. There just wasn't room for me in their lives too, for some reason. One small kid was just more than they wanted to deal with. My only role was to some day take over my father's responsibilities… that was my only purpose to them.

With my mate, I'll be her everything. She'll never want for anyone outside of us, me and the other princes. We'll fulfill her completely, and when we have children, our love will grow. There will be so much to give that our child will be the same–happy and loved beyond compare.

I'm smiling as I cross the room, closing the distance between us. And then I'm there, with her, breathing in her sweet scent, staring at the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. Her long blonde hair is left loose around her shoulders, falling in waves, and her big hazel eyes hold mine, even though I can't read what she's thinking. She's not a delicate woman either. She's shapely, with the kind of strength to her figure that says she's known hard work.

"You look amazing, " I tell her, my heart racing.

She looks up at me with those eyes of hers, smiles, and looks away. I need more. I need her to want me. I need her to like me. To love me.

I have to fix things. Isn't that what Sulien said? That we'd approached her so poorly that we were the ones that might have scared her away?

"Cassia," I begin, but before I can finish, there's another man at her side. He holds himself like he's confident in approaching my woman. He's taller than her, though not as tall as me, with brown hair, an easy smile, and the cheap clothing of a human.

"Did you miss me?" he asks her with a smile, and her gaze moves to him.

Miss me? Him? Who is he?

"No, not really," she tells him without missing a beat.

Some of the pain eases from my chest.

He holds out a hand to her. "Dance with me."

"Why?" she asks, lifting a brow.

He leans in closer. Too close to my Cassia. "Please. For old time's sake."

She doesn't look happy, but she takes his hand.

I'm reaching after them, but they're already on the dance floor. My chest feels tight. She's my mate. The woman I'll marry. The woman I'll have children with. Why is she dancing with another man ?

My hands curl into fists. His hand is in hers. His other is at her waist. I can practically feel the heat of his hand on her skin branding my own.

I'm going to cut off that fucking hand.

My skin is tight. My chest is too. He spins her around. She doesn't smile, but she stays in his arms. They're talking. I teleport closer, suddenly dancing with some random, faceless woman as I lean in, trying desperately to hear their conversation.

"I've missed you," he says, and the tone of his words is low and intimate.

Are they lovers? That burning feeling inside of me deepens.

"Missed me? You didn't miss me when I caught you in bed with Bera," Cassia says, all sass and no bullshit.

He sighs. "What did you expect me to do? You were always working. And when you weren't working, you were taking care of your family. That's not exactly sexy. Bera was around. You weren't. You can hardly blame a man."

I want to break him into pieces. Of course I can blame him.

My dance partner is gone. I'm there beside them. He casts an arrogant look in my direction, then another one. This time he must see something in my expression because his eyes widen and he looks fearful. Good. He's right to fear me.

"You were her lover?" I ask.

Cassia looks in my direction, shocked. "Prince Cobar, this doesn't concern you."

"If it concerns you, it concerns me." Then I turn my focus to him again. "Were you her lover?"

He looks panicked, but nods .

Rage builds inside of me. "And you betrayed her?"

"Prince Cobar–"

I lift a hand to silence Cassia.

The man nods again. "But she was busy, so–"

I punch him. Square in the nose. So hard he shoots back and hits the ground.

The dance music stops. The room grows silent, but I'm not done. I wait for him to rise to his feet, and I punch him again. This time when I spring forward to land another punch, Cassia is there between us, preventing me from reaching my target.

"Enough," she says. "He didn't do anything. Not really."

My gaze feels hot as it lands on her. "You gave him your heart, and he broke it. He betrayed you."

She laughs, shaking her head, but there's no humor in her laugh. "Like you've never betrayed a woman and broken her heart."

I move closer to her. "I have never promised to be faithful to a woman until you. You, I promise everything, including my heart." Cassia turns away from the man on the floor, seemingly content to leave him, and me, behind, but I follow her, catching her hand. "You know I'd beat up a hundred men for you."

She stops, studying me like she's trying really hard to decipher me, and then a slow smile spreads across her lips. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"I give you my word."

She's laughing again, and the sound is light and musical. "I guess that's sweet. Besides, he probably deserved being punched. He was a real ass."

This is progress. Progress in so many ways. Getting to share this moment with her, and making her laugh .

Perhaps I'm even seeing one of the reasons why she's been so hesitant to commit to us, if men have broken her heart before. Especially for such a stupid fucking reason. Who destroys a relationship because their woman is a hard worker who cares for the people in her life? Only a fool, that's for sure. But at least the fool ruining his chance with her allowed her to have a chance with me.

Now, I just need to fix the problem between us.

"You know, I admire your work ethic. I admire everything you do for your family."

Her smile fades and she shrugs, looking uncomfortable. "It's nothing. It's what anyone would do."

She's unaccustomed to being complimented. Interesting. I'd have thought a woman as beautiful and incredible as her would be used to it.

"It's not nothing," I tell her firmly. "It's not."

She nibbles her bottom lip, eyeing me, and I wish I had the power to read her thoughts. Is she still angry with me? Have I begun to earn her trust after everything I've done wrong? Probably not. She undoubtedly still needs to hear the words because sometimes action isn't enough.

"I'm sorry for the way I behaved at the last ball. I was a total asshole. I don't even really have an excuse. But you don't have to worry. I'm not that person anymore."

"You're telling me you've changed your entire personality in a week's time?" she asks me, smirking, but at least her gaze is back on me. She sees me, even if not in the way I want.

"A lot of things about my life have changed in this last week," I reply honestly, stepping even closer to her. Needing her to see how sincere I am.

"Oh, what's changed that much?" she asks, tilting her head, studying me .

"I found my mate." The words rush out of me, stealing my breath with the intensity of the emotions that come along with them.

She doesn't look as moved. "Why would that change who you are?" She gives me a once over then looks out over the crowd of people dancing around us once more. "I'm sure you've broken at least one heart already tonight."

"I'll break them all if that means I get you. Dance with me?" I reach for her hand, and she doesn't snatch it back. I take that as an invitation. I wrap my arm around her waist and walk her to the middle of the dance floor.

"Aren't you a renowned playboy? How exactly is your life going to work with the old ball and chain around your ankle? Surely you'd prefer to stay single."

We come to a stop on the dance floor, and I try to ignore the way her words burn through me in an unpleasant way. Instead, I pull her close to me, and we sway together on the dance floor.

Having her in my arms feels right. It's like the pain in my chest eases, and I can finally breathe easy. Fuck. I want to hold her close, sink into her, and never let her go.

She stares. I realize she's still waiting for an answer to her words. I almost want to laugh. Playboy? No. She owns me, heart and soul.

But if I tell her that, I'm going to scare her again, so I won't. "It could be perceived that I'm a playboy, but in a committed relationship, in my marriage, I plan to be nothing but a one-woman man."

She actually throws her head back and laughs at my statement. Like just the idea of me being faithful is laughable. Ouch. I don't want her to see that I'm offended, especially because she can't possibly know how much her reaction hurts. She doesn't know me well enough, I suppose, to know that I'm being truthful down to my core. To know just how much I want a committed life with her after all I've experienced with my parents.

Finally, she's back to grinning. "We'll see how long that lasts."

I stare for a minute. I'm right that she doesn't know how much her words hurt because she doesn't know me. And she doesn't know me because I haven't opened myself up to her. Something I need to do if I want a life with her, no matter how unnatural it might feel.

"You wouldn't think it's funny if you grew up the way that I did." I try not to sound cold. I try to brush off the feelings that always rise in me when I think about my parents.

She looks skeptical. "You mean if I grew up as a prince in a castle with both of my parents at home making sure I had everything I ever wanted and needed?"

"That's not exactly how it went," I tell her.

"Oh?" Some of the cockiness fades from her expression.

"Sure, I grew up in a castle, with everything money can buy, and yes, my parents both lived there. But that's where what you know about me ends." My gaze falls on her hazel eyes. We're moving along the dance floor with an ease I don't often feel with women. Neither of us seems to be thinking about what our bodies are doing. They're just moving in sync with one another.

I imagine that's how it'll be when we make love. Images rise to my mind, and I swallow hard, trying to will them down. That will come. But first, I need to go slow. I need to let this woman get to know me, so our love will be deeper than what our bodies want .

"The only thing my parents really cared about were their lovers. They didn't care about me. They didn't really even care about the kingdom. They cared about making each other jealous by adding more and more lovers to their beds. After I walked in on one or two orgies, I stopped going to their rooms altogether." I've brought her closer to me, so close that I am looking over her shoulder and not into her eyes.

We dance in silence for a few minutes before she pulls back and just looks at me. "Is that true?"

I try not to be insulted. "It is. In all honesty, the only time I'm not lonely is when I'm with Sulien and the other princes. We are brothers in all things. With them, for the first time, I had people who cared about what I thought. People who cared when I was hurt or sad. And I think, in many ways, I gave that to them too. We princes have been spoiled in so many ways, and yet, we've been hurt in so many ways, too." I laugh. "That might sound stupid when considering all the children who are beaten, who have starved, who have never had a roof over their heads."

"No." The word is just a whisper, and our eyes meet again. "Pain is pain. You don't have to compare it to someone else's to justify that what you went through was hard."

I stare. "You're as brilliant as you are beautiful." And compassionate. And understanding.

She sighs, and her hand slips down my chest, causing my heart to race faster. "I hope I'm just smart enough to stay away from the four of you. You're pure trouble."

I shudder. I don't know why. "Is trouble a bad thing?"

Her eyes darken, but she looks away from me. "Abso-fucking-lutely."

For some reason, I feel proud. I put my hand on hers, and we spin. "What I want most out of my marriage is love. I want to love my wife and my children, and even the other princes, since we're all now connected through you."

"So you're okay being a one-woman man while I'm a four-man woman?" The smile on her face is big and bright, and I laugh.

"That's what the stars had in order for us. I have to be okay with it, and I really think I am." Having wives and children is normally the time when princes separate and focus on their own family. In our situation, we wouldn't have to do that. We'd have friendship, a wife, and children, without losing anything.

"I think I'm becoming more okay with it too," she tells me before resting her head on my chest.

Is she really? My steps feel lighter. Is she opening herself up to the idea of us? Can she see how she can have love, stability, and faithfulness in our marriage?

"I'm glad," I tell her, planting a kiss on her head. "The only way this works is if you are happy."

I swear she's smiling against my chest. "Happy? What a strange notion." But that's all she says.

"You know you're the envy of every woman in the land, don't you?" Every eye in the room is on us, the tension from the women palpable. But I don't care. This is my woman, my mate. They'll have to accept that their princes are taken. There's no other choice.

"They're probably only excited about the four dicks that I can't escape from," she counters.

It's now my turn to throw my head back and laugh. This woman is different, and I delight in it.

"What are you excited about then, if not the four dicks?" I ask, letting my hand slide a little further down her back.

She shrugs. "I can't say exactly, but I do know if I accept this… if I agree to this whole four royal weddings thing, it'll be nice to know I'm safe. That my father and grandmother are safe. And that if I have kids one day, they'll have love and stability too."

"You will. I swear it." I promise her. Another promise. One I intend to keep.

When our eyes meet again, she looks different. Her expression has changed. I freeze, not quite understanding what she's thinking, but understanding quickly dawns on me when she stands on her tippy toes and places her lips on mine.

The tremor I feel through my whole body when our lips touch is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's like being kissed for the very first time in my life, and it sets me ablaze. My fingers grip her body, and I pull her as close to me as I possibly can. She opens her mouth, inviting me in, and it takes everything inside of me not to growl in response when our tongues touch and glide across each other. She tastes like the sweetest fruit I've ever had, ripened in the sun.

She lets a small moan escape, and I devour her. My kiss is frantic. I can't get enough of her, and I never want this moment to end. I want to spend the rest of my life kissing Cassia.

The ballroom fades away. We're pressed against a door lit only by candlelight. My body presses her against the wood, and her legs spread just enough that I push my erection between them frantically. She gasps, and my fingers sink into her hips as I bounce her against me.

She breaks our kiss. "Cobar, this is too much. "

Cobar. Fuck. I love the sound of my name on her lips.

I kiss my way down her throat. "This is just the start."

She digs her hands into the back of my head as I move lower, pulling me closer. "But I don't know yet. I haven't decided."

Damn it. "There's nothing to decide." I work the laces at the top of her dress, kissing her breasts as I try to undo the rest of it. To free her from her dress.

Her hold tightens in my hair, and I look up to meet her eyes. "Cobar–"

"Yes? Anything. I'll give you anything you want and more."

Banging sounds interrupt our pleasure. She looks confused. I'm hard and frustrated, and then the room melts away as Cassia slips from my grasp. My eyes fly open, and I'm staring at the ceiling of my room, painfully alone.

The banging sounds again. My fucking door. I'd been dreaming. Anger rolls through me, and I throw the blankets off of me, enraged even though I don't have a reason to be.

"Come in," I grumble, wishing I could close my eyes and have Cassia back in my arms.

Forrest and Zane enter, and something's wrong. The look of worry and frustration on their faces scares me as they cross the room in a hurry. Their clothes are wrinkled and haphazardly thrown on, but their shoulders are back and their mouths are set in hard lines.

"What is it? Has there been news? Is she okay? What happened?" I stand, body shaking.

Forrest's voice is harsh as he says, "Sulien's trying to leave without us. He's at the stables now getting a horse ready. "

"Leave? Without us?" I ask, trying to process what the hell is going on.

"Get dressed, pack a bag, and meet us at the stables. Quickly," Zane says, and then they turn to leave.

Shit. My brain's working again, making everything click into place. I rush for my clothes and to pack a bag. I need to be prepared, but quickly.

But why the fuck is he doing this?

Of course, that brute would try to pull something. He's going to try to be the hero and risk it all to save her, no matter what it costs him. There's no way I'm letting that happen. She's mine too. If we need to sacrifice to get her back, it won't be him alone doing it.

I finish dressing and fill my bag as fast as I can, heart racing. Our people would never allow us to make this choice. They would call us fools. But they don't understand this feeling, this connection to our mate.

We'd do anything for her. Even this.