"WHAT DO you think? Is your curiosity about what Queen Selena left behind enough to share your secret to me?" the crown prince asked.
Temari's hands began to itch and she curled them into tight fists. The urge to punch his beautiful face was too strong. No wonder she thought that the crown prince offering her a royal secret was too good to be true. This man will never make it easy for her.
[I could just make up a story and tell him something tragic.]
"I will know if you lie, my lady," Rhys said as if reading her mind.
She lifted her chin. "I don't lie. I was not raised that way," she answered.
The crown prince didn't look convinced. Good for him. This country doesn't need a stupid and gullible king. That didn't stop Temari from lying, though.
"How long are you going to keep stalling, my lady? Make up your mind. We don't have all day."
Oh, right. She need to get back before they announce the result of the examination. She glanced behind her, particularly at the wall that serves as the secret door to this room.
"Just so you know, the only people who knows royal secrets are members of the royal family," Rhys said. Her eyes went back to his face. "I am the only person who knows about it."
Temari wasn't able to stop herself from saying, "Then why are you willing to share it with me in exchange of my secret? I don't think you are the type of person who easily opens up to a stranger, Your Highness. Surely your advisors and guards warned you about talking to just anybody?"
"You are right, my lady. They did warn me. Why? Are you a threat to me and to my kingdom? Should I be weary of you? Will you share the secret that I will tell you?" Rhys answered with another question.
"Of course not," Temari said too quickly. Even to her ears, she sounded suspicious. She cleared her throat, took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Fine. I will tell you the reason why I reacted that way when I bumped into you."
"It was not when you bumped into me," the crown prince corrected. He leaned closer to her and his voice became lower. "It was when there was almost no space between our bodies. You panicked and your mind went elsewhere."
That was an accurate observation. Temari hated that he saw right through her. She looked away. Then she gasped when his fingers touched her chin. With a careful hold, he turns her face so their gazes could meet again. This time, he's not expressionless. There was a serious intensity in his forest green eyes.
"Tell me." His tone changed. He was not asking, he was demanding.
Temari swallowed. The authority in his voice made her shiver but she refuses to show fear.
"Fine."
She inhales as she tries to come up with something to tell him. After all, she cannot tell him the whole truth or else he will know that she was actually not a daughter of a Baron.
Besides, telling the half-truth will be easier for her. Making up the half of the story might lessen the pain it will cause her to remember that awful memory.
[I am starting to hate him for forcing me to relive memories I don't want to remember. I really should find that royal heirloom as fast as possible so I can get out of this castle and away from him soon.]
"I'm waiting, my lady. And I don't like waiting," Rhys said arrogantly.
She gritted her teeth before she sighed.
"It's really nothing." It was not nothing.
"I just remembered a man who tried to get… too close to me before." He put his hand under her skirt, torn her shirt with his bare hands and grabbed her breasts. She never wore female clothes again after that. Until now.
Temari continued to talk in the most casual way she could. "He was way older than me and he wanted me to be his mistress. He was forceful and didn't want to take no for an answer."
Now is the time to connect these facts with lies. She forced herself to meet Rhys's eyes. "He was a visitor in my father's estate. I was able to run away from him. I locked myself inside my room and refused to go out until he left. I never told anyone about what he did, not even my father. It was a secret I was planning not to tell anyone until I die. But now you know."
The crown prince stared at her. Temari noticed that something changed in his expressionless face. His jaw hardened, his lips pressed together and his forest green eyes looked like it will spit fire any moment.
She realized that Rhys was angry. Did he realize that she was lying?
Temari took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to tell him she was telling the truth but he spoke first.
"Who?"
She gasped at the harshness of his tone. She took a step back because her instinct sensed danger. Rhys didn't let her get away, though. Before she can fully put a distance between them his hands already went to her arms.
"Who was that man?" he asked again.
"I don't know his name," she lied. "I only remember his face. I was sixteen then. It's been so long."
The crown prince still looked like he was about to command the death of someone.
[Is this anger for me or for that dirty old man?]
It doesn't matter. Temari needed to get what she needed from Rhys and go back to the main library before someone noticed she was missing. She cleared her throat. "Was that secret enough for you to tell me what I want to know?"
The crown prince still looked mad but his hold on her arms loosened. Slowly, he stood straighter and he became expressionless again. "Queen Selena left five items to her children when her husband died."
Her ears perked up. Five. The cloaked stranger asked her to steal a royal heirloom. Which means she needed to find one out of that five items.
"What are they?"
The crown prince opened his mouth but they heard a loud knock somewhere in the room before he can utter a word.
"Your Highness, you are needed."
Temari tensed and her eyes widened. It was the familiar voice of Lennox Holland.