Kiera's whole body had froze when she saw the glistening piece of meat at the end of the Third Prince's fork. Her inner Beast looked at the offering hungrily as the rational part of her mind debated on what to do.
Her eyes went from the Prince's face to the piece of meat several times. She had heard Mates would offer each other food as a sign of utmost devotion, but she thought the custom was practiced mainly by the older Beast couples whom had many years together. Since the Prince was Human, she was sure he wouldn't know of this Beast custom. They also weren't Mated so she convinced herself she was only being polite when she took the piece of meat with her mouth.
The meat melted in her mouth as she chewed. Its juices mixed with her saliva in an explosion of wonderful flavor. Kiera licked the oil from her lips, delighted when she got another taste of flavor.
"Is it good?" She nodded her head, looking away from the Prince. His expectant ivy gaze was too much for her to stomach.
Turning her face, she sees the three pairs of eyes from her Captains. In each of their faces she saw their astounded expressions and she resisted the urge to explain herself. Rather, she avoided their stares throughout the rest of their meal as the Prince kept a steady conversation between her Captains. For which she was grateful, as she didn't know what to say.
Unlike her, Prince Sam seemed at ease, able to effortlessly enliven any social function with his lighthearted humor. His charm alone would be able to charm just about anyone, she thought, feeling the pang of envy for she wished she could be as sociable as he. She at least admired that part of his personality, she thought as she watched Prince Sam laugh, amusement evident inside his light-colored eyes.
Kiera's gaze lowered instinctively when their eyes met. She almost laughed outright at the sudden realization their roles had been reversed, now she was the one caught staring at the other.
Heat rose up to her cheeks, and she dared not look up. She didn't want to peer into his enchanting emerald eyes, nor witness each and every one of his carefree smiles.
As time moved on, Kiera could feel the end to their dinner was nearing. Her wild ranging emotions were steadily exhausting her and she longed for the time of peace she had on the carriage ride before they had even entered the prince's palace. Her facial expressions were getting harder to control as time dragged on.
"After dinner I would love to show you all around the palace." Kiera screamed out inside her head at the prince's suggestion when she saw Jade's eyes light up in pure joy. Although Cody and Bryan didn't show it on their faces, they too were interested in a tour of the Third Prince's palace.
It was unanimous, her Captains jumped on the prince's offer without so much as looking in their leader's direction to ask for her opinion. She couldn't help but feel a little annoyed as the prince led them through the halls, showing them room after room.
"This palace was originally this Kingdom's first palace. It was built for King Emir the second right after he united the north and south regions that now make up Solomon." Amazingly, she found herself listening intently to the hum of his voice as he prattled on. She was surprised of his extensive knowledge on the history behind every nook and cranny of the palace, an achievement she would find hard to believe coming from a prince who is infamously lazy.
"There's thirty-two rooms in total," Cody seemed impressed by the number, shooting one of his infuriating smirks in her direction.
"Thirty-two rooms, eh? It seems you've been beaten General."
"He's a prince." She shot off at him, instantly regretting letting the young Captain's words get to her.
Prince Sam looked over his shoulder questioningly, looking at her with his alluring bright eyes.
"The General's mansion is one of the biggest in Wolfcyre Forest." Jade explained to the prince. "Her mansion was a gift from the King after she officially became a person of great importance to our Kingdom."
"Kreststone Manor has an impressive thirteen rooms, each one an architectural feat so few mansions have." Jade went further, explaining the reason behind why Kiera's mansion was highly sought-after by the Beast nobles.
"To this day, the General has made it clear to the nobles that she is adamant against selling her property. Because of her unyielding stance against the nobles and for her renowned fighting ability, she has been nicknamed the Black Crested Wolf."
Kiera wasn't able to stop Jade before she had uttered the truly horrendous nickname of hers. She was horrified when Prince Sam turned his whole body to her, marveling at her for some unknown reason.
"You have a nickname?"
She clenched her jaw, but nodded at the prince. She had never needed to confirm her nickname everywhere she went, people would already know that much about her. His question only reconfirmed the fact that he was a stranger to her world.
One corner of Prince Sam's lips twisted up into a half smile, displaying a different type of smile. A new one that she had never seen on him before. She didn't understand why her eyes took note of the different curve of his lips.
"The name suits you." He said and her heart flipped inside her chest when her eyes went from his lips to his eyes. She told herself she could not get lost within his shining irises even as they reflected her image back at her.
Prince Sam closed his eyes, his boyish smile outrageously contagious.
"There's still some time left before the sun goes down," he reopened his eyes and Kiera could see his colored orbs again, "I don't mean to boast, but my garden is quite expansive and there's many different kinds of plants growing from the beds. I'd love for you all to enjoy its splendor."
Jade couldn't resist her curiosity, and she gazed at Kiera with glossy eyes as she pleaded.
"Very well." She told Prince Sam after Jade had pleaded to her for only a moment. "Please show us around your garden your Highness." The way the prince noticeably brightened at her words she would have thought both he and Jade were in league with one another.
He led them all outside the palace, and Kiera's eyes swept across the enormous front gardens that spanned the whole back side of the Third Prince's palace. From the front of the palace they could have never imagined such a place to be hidden behind the palace, as the front side of the building appeared drab, displaying only a few rose bushes and other kinds of shrubbery from one end of the palace's cobblestone path to the entrance.
The magnificence of the well tended to garden took her breath away. She felt another pang of jealousy towards the prince as she had always dreamed of keeping a garden as beautiful as the one she found herself currently gazing at.
The Third Prince was wrong to not boast, as there were many different kinds of flowers and plants growing from every place of the garden, creating some sort of botanical wonderland. Kiera could tell at the center there stood a white painted structure with an outdoor table underneath it. Green ivy hung from its lattice walls of the white wooden structure. Multiple fruit trees peppered throughout the garden, successfully drawing Kiera's attention.
Kiera was too busy admiring the prince's garden that she didn't notice her three Captains left her side and were wandering through the open space of the garden.
"Do you like it?" Prince Sam asked her, his eyes staring out into his own garden. She was unexpectedly happy his gaze wasn't on her for once.
"It's beautiful your Highness." She didn't hold back and admitted to him. "I'm impressed. I can only imagine how hard you must have worked to maintain such a wonderful garden."
"Well my gardeners do most of the work." The prince laughs, nodding his head. "But yes, it was quite difficult finding enough personnel capable of taking care of so many different kinds of exotic plants."
"I didn't take you for a person who cared over such things as plants."
Her words seemed to rouse the prince, and he turned his head towards her. He regarded her closely with his interested eyes.
"Oh? And why do you think that?"
She couldn't answer him. Kiera didn't want to speak of the rumors she had heard surrounding the Third Prince. It didn't matter, for the prince already knew what she didn't want to speak of. He chuckles at her hesitation.
"Even a foolish prince can find something they're truly passionate about. Wouldn't you agree?" He didn't smile at her, his face only hinting at a hidden emotion she couldn't yet understand.
"I don't think you're foolish." She said without thinking how her words sounded. She only wished to somehow change the expression on the prince's face.
"You don't?" She was successful, as the prince's face morphed into that of pleasant surprise from hearing her opinion.
"A foolish prince wouldn't be able to tell silver from iron, they wouldn't be able to so elegantly converse with people they've never met before or be able to put a stop to a growing conflict, they wouldn't be so knowledgeable in their Kingdom's history, and they most certainly wouldn't be able to keep a garden such as this." She shook her head. Then she felt heat rise to her cheeks when she saw the look on the prince's face.
"I'm happy you think that way about me." She wanted to quickly adjust her wording, but the manner in which the prince looked at her made her unable to utter a single syllable.
"Kiera…"
He trailed off, his eyes staring deep into her. Somehow he had gotten much closer to her, and now they stood only a few inches away from each other. Their heights were similar that she could comfortably peer at the gold flakes in his eyes.
"Your Highness," she breathed, watching him warily as she thought about stepping away to put some distance between them. Kiera quickly found that the soles of her boots refused to move.
"Sam." The prince corrected her as he continued staring down at her. "I understand why you must refer to me as your Highness in front of your subordinates, but please, call me Sam when it's just the two of us."
Kiera felt an emotion stir deep within her. Her eyes searched the prince's for any indication that he was only playing with her.
"Sam."
She was startled when his hand suddenly went up to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. His warm touch of his hand sent tingles into her stomach.
His hand hovered next to her cheek, as if he wanted to caress her skin. She was overcome with fear at the thought that he would touch her again.
"Stop." She said, moving her face away from his hand.
The look of confusion on his face made her heart beat like crazy, its sporadic rhythm made its way up into her eardrums and she had to look away from the flash of hurt she saw within his gorgeous eyes.