Prince Kaelix tossed and turned in his bed, his frustration mounting with each passing minute.
The room was dark, illuminated only by the faint light of the moon seeping through the tall windows.
The grand four-poster bed, draped in luxurious silks and velvets, felt like a prison rather than a sanctuary.
His bedding was tangled around him, kicked and twisted in his fitful state, as he lay on his back staring up at the ornate ceiling, his mind spinning in a relentless loop.
Sleep eluded him, as it had for hours, his mind refusing to let go of the events of the evening.
He felt an overwhelming urge to scream, to tear at his hair, to break every piece of furniture in the room just to release the boiling anger within him.
But he resisted, clenching his fists tightly instead, feeling his nails dig into his palms. He couldn't afford to lose control, not now, not ever.
"Damn it!" Kaelix muttered under his breath, throwing off the remaining covers and sitting up in bed. He ran his hands through his dark hair, tugging at the roots in a futile attempt to calm himself. But the frustration only grew, a knot of tension twisting in his chest.
He couldn't stop replaying the moment in his head, over and over again, like a curse he couldn't escape.
The scene from the welcoming ball haunted him, taunting him with his failure. How could he have allowed things to go so wrong? He was supposed to humiliate Prince Eirik, to make him regret ever stepping foot in Zephyros. Instead, he had nearly made a fool of himself.
Kaelix groaned and flopped back down onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow. But even in the darkness, with his eyes squeezed shut, he could still see Eirik's face as clearly as if he were standing before him.
It had all started when prince Eirik entered the dining hall.
The hall had been abuzz with anticipation, the guests curious to see the prince of Valeidio, the Nexarian prince who was to wed Kaelix in a mere matter of days. Kaelix had prepared himself to see a weak and delicate figure, someone he could easily despise, someone unworthy of his time or respect.
But when Eirik had stepped into the hall, everything had changed.
Then he go and made it worst by challenging him to reveal his face.
Kaelix remembered how Eirik had slowly unveiled his face, the veil slipping away to reveal features that had stunned everyone into silence.
The memory of those deep purple eyes, framed by impossibly long white lashes, sent a jolt of anger through Kaelix. How could a man have eyes like that? They were too intense, too captivating, too... beautiful.
Kaelix squeezed his eyes shut, but it did nothing to block out the memory.
Eirik's lips, full and perfectly shaped, had been a soft pink that stood out against his fair complexion.
His long, white hair, flowing around his shoulders like a silken waterfall, had been a striking contrast to his youthful face. How could someone who was supposed to be hideous look so... so enchanting?
"Enchanting?" Kaelix hissed to himself, disgusted by the word even as it formed in his mind. No, this was all wrong. The prince of Valeidio should have been hideous, not almost... irresistible.
Kaelix threw his pillow across the room, the frustration mounting as the memories continued to torment him.
He remembered the reaction of the crowd, how the musicians and dancers had abruptly stopped their activities, their gazes drawn to Eirik as if under some spell.
The clatter of dropped goblets had echoed through the hall as the nobles stared in shock, their expressions a mixture of awe and disbelief.
And then there were the lecherous gazes.
Kaelix's blood boiled at the memory of it, the way some of the nobles had looked at Eirik, as if they were ready to devour hhim
The thought made his stomach churn with an unfamiliar and unwelcome emotion, something dark and possessive that he didn't want to acknowledge.
He wanted to turn back the clock of time, so that he could march back to the ball and pluck out those disgusting eyes himself, to make them pay for daring to look at Eirik that way.
But the thought only confused him more. Why did he care? Why did it matter to him who looked at Eirik? It wasn't as if he had any interest in the Valeidio prince.
If anything, he should be glad that others found Eirik attractive, it would make it easier to rid himself of the nuisance.
Kaelix sat up again, rubbing his face with both hands, trying to clear his mind. "Am I... jealous?" he muttered to himself, the word feeling foreign and wrong on his tongue. "No, that's impossible."
Jealousy was a weakness, and Kaelix prided himself on being strong, unyielding, immune to such petty emotions. And he wouldn't be wasting such an emotion on the Valeidio prince.
But the more he tried to deny it, the more the thought nagged at him. Was he really jealous of the attention the Valeidio prince had received? Was he actually bothered by the fact that others were drawn to the Valeidio prince?
"No, that can't be it," Kaelix told himself firmly. He wasn't supposed to find the Valeidio prince attractive. He was the enemy, a weakling who was trying to worm his way into Zephyros.
Whatever charm he had used to beguile the people in the dining hall, it wouldn't work on Kaelix. Never.
But even as he tried to convince himself of this, his mind kept drifting back to the way his mother had reacted to the Valeidio prince.
Queen Elena, who had always been so composed, had been captivated by Eirik's ccharm
Kaelix had seen it in her eyes, the way she looked at Eirik with an expression that could only be described as... affectionate. She had even spoken of grandchildren, her excitement barely contained.
"Grandchildren," Kaelix scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. He had thought that he and his mother had a plan, a way to make Eirik leave Zephyros of his own accord
But everything had gone wrong. Instead of driving Eirik away, they had only drawn him closer.
Kaelix clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms once more. He couldn't understand it. How had everything spiraled so out of control? How had he allowed the Valeidio prince to gain the upper hand so easily?
And then there were his cousins, those traitorous, spineless fools who had been praising the Valeidio prince as if they had never seen a beautiful human before.
Kaelix's anger flared at the memory of their fawning words, their sycophantic smiles. If they liked the weakling so much, why didn't they marry him themselves?
But even as the thought crossed his mind, Kaelix felt a surge of something dark and possessive rise within hhim
The idea of his cousins, or anyone, for that matter, marrying the Valeidio prince was... unbearable. It wasn't jealousy, he told himself firmly.
It couldn't be. It was just that the Valeidio prince didn't deserve it. That had to be it. That weakling didn't deserve the attention, the admiration, the affection. He didn't deserve any of it.
"That's it," Kaelix muttered to himself, trying to convince himself of the lie. "He doesn't deserve it."
But the more he tried to convince himself, the more conflicted he felt. The emotions swirling within him were confusing, conflicting, and impossible to untangle. Why did it matter so much to him? Why did he care at all?
Kaelix felt like he was losing his mind, the frustration building to a breaking point. He couldn't stand this, couldn't stand the way his thoughts kept circling back to Eirik, to those deep purple eyes, to that silken white hair. He hated it, hated the way Eirik had gotten under his skin, hated the way he couldn't stop thinking about him.
"Stop it!" Kaelix yelled into the empty room, his voice echoing off the walls. He grabbed his remaining pillow and screamed into it, the sound muffled but full of raw emotion. He needed to get this out of his system, needed to find a way to make it stop.
But even as he yelled into the pillow, the frustration only grew, the confusion deepening. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just let it go?
Kaelix pulled the pillow away from his face, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He felt like he was on the edge of something, something he didn't want to confront, something he wasn't ready to acknowledge.
But no matter how hard he tried to push it away, it kept creeping back into his mind, refusing to be ignored.
And the worst part was, he didn't know how to make it stop.
With a final, frustrated yell, Kaelix buried his face in the pillow once more.