"You don't have to act surprised when you have been out in the corridors talking to your mother so freely as if she was alive "
Lucas' remark did not eliminate the shocked look on her face. Yes, she had been talking to her dead mother and she was still digesting what she saw but the moment she thought she was alone, this man popped out of nowhere.
"I don't know what you are talking about." She stated. Her hands were now holding the door knob . She could hear her own heart thumping in her chest and her thoughts were screaming to her to run but the moment she tried to push the door open, it didn't budge and she slowly let it go.
"What did she want from you?" His voice barely showed any curiosity. "Who?"
Rose who was still confused as to how the king appeared in her room asked back. She had not moved from where she stood and Lucas was still sitting on her bed and even though there was a safe distance between them, Rose could still feel his intimidating aura that made her scared especially with what she had seen during her days around him.
"Your dead mother of course. You know, the living are not allowed to make contact with the dead yet here you are speaking to them."
"She just wanted to see me." Came her reply that did not give the answers he needed. "You could also see her?" She added.
"I know she came to see you but what did she want from you?" He asked back while as usual, he skipped the question she had asked. Even though he saw her from afar, he could sense something unnerving about her. Something dark that he was hard for him to decipher which made him want to protect Rose from her.
"You are precious to me Rose. Do you know that?" His words came out smoothly as he looked at Rose who looked like she was ready to escape from there. Rose who did not expect to hear that felt her heart skip but she tried hard to hide her reactions.
"I'm also precious to my aunt who must be worried sick about me by now." She tried to bring back the topic that Lucas was not interested in. His eyes that were on her face lowered to her feet that were not fully covered by the long dress that she wore and he put on a smile that could capture anyone's attention.
"So you still have the thoughts of running." There was nothing amusing about what he said yet that smile still lingered on his face and it made Rose's nerves jittery. "I just want to be with my family."
"That will happen once you have learned to love me my sweet Rose. I'm trying hard to wait for you to fall for me but waiting is not giving me the results that I want so I will use a different approach." He was always so confident with everything he said and did and Rose could internally admit that his words had an affect on her.
Rose whose thoughts were all over the place did not notice that the king had already gotten up from where he was seated and that he had made his way towards her but the moment she did, she walked away from the door. "Trust will bring everything into place." Lucas muttered as he took more steps towards her until she could no longer step away from him.
That skeptical look on her face somehow annoyed him. With there close proximity, he could clearly hear her uneven breathing which was enough for him to know that he had an effect on her. Not the kind that he wanted, but whatever reactions that she gave him would suffice for now.
"I should get back to my tasks." She said after a short uncomfortable silence. "You are going nowhere." After saying that, one of his hand sneaked into hers securely such that Rose could not free herself. With efforts of freeing her hand that were all in vain, her last string of self control snapped and she asked,
"What is it that you want from me?."
His dark eyes were on hers again and there was tension between them and Rose was not ready to back down from the way she usually did.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes. I want to know. Not because I will agree to it but so that I can give you a clear answer which will make you leave me alone."
She had totally forgotten who she was talking to.
"I want you. Your heart, your soul, your body. I want your everything to be mine." Rose who was against the wall could no longer move away from him and now that he had leaned so close to her, she could barely breath. "I want all of you." Only a crazy ignorant person could ignore such a man and Rose who was none of those two needed some space so that she could think straight.
"You have all the time to picture our life together, but before that, I need to show you something. Close your eyes."
"What? No!"
"I'm not planning to kiss you. At least not at the moment." His words which were meant
to assure her did the complete opposite.
"So stubborn." He muttered under his breath.