Princess Runa tried to play down the intense displeasure she felt when the news of her brother giving a rose to Lady Immith hit her ears.
She burnt out her feelings, convincing herself she didn't care. Her heart and soul disagreed with the lie and refused to let it sink in.
Her fingers played around with the pearls in her necklace. Offering a sweet distraction to the chaos in her head concerning Immith Kilgore.
"Ugh!" she screamed when the pearls began losing their power. "I can't take this torture!"
"Torture? Are you okay?" the familiar voice of her seductress resonated behind her. Runa ignored it. "I came to check on you. How's your foot?" Lady Immith asked more clearly.
Princess Runa ambled to her dressing table silently. She gave Lady Immith a cold shoulder and pretended to be busy arranging her jewelry.
"Ru, can we talk?"
"What's there to talk about?"
"Us...that could be a start."
"Us?" Princess Runa asked darkly. "I am surprised you have the time."
Lady Immith approached Princess and hugged her from behind. "I always have time for you," she whispered.
"With you accepting my brother's interest in you. I highly doubt that!" her features were razor-sharp and cold. "I suppose you've got your eyes on the throne like all the ladies that have come to court, right?"
When she heard the trending gossip among the ladies in the court about how the gorgeous grand prince gave his first rose of the season to Lady Immith and she accepted it, Princess Runa nearly spat out blood.
"Oh, are you jealous?" Immith teased, happy to see Runa being expressive about her.
"Jealous?" Princess Runa inquired, as though the word didn't exist in her dictionary. She shoved Immith off her and veered around. "Firstly, I don't envy. That is to say that I am not fearful of being displaced by a rival because my brother isn't my rival. Secondly, I don't covet you in any way, why would I feel possessive over you?" she lied with a straight face, hiding how green-eyed she was.
Lady Immith masked the pang from Runa's words behind a smile. For once, she just wanted Runa to admit that what existed between them was real.
But for every step she takes towards Princess Runa, the girl runs a mile away from her. Fear was a wall that stood tall and strongly between them, refusing to give room for their love to grow and Immith was beginning to lose her patience.
"You can deny that you aren't jealous. Put on a front all you want, but you can't pretend that you didn't like our kiss," she said, confident Runa wouldn't stoop so low as to downplay that sweet exchange of passion and other forbidden emotions that course through them and ignite in each other's presence.
Princess Runa averted her eyes and cast them looking out the window. The sensation of their kiss echoed in her, pulling at the strings of her heart and sending electric tingles down her nerve endings.
The tingling sensation sent her mind ablaze. "Is that something to brag about? Kissing me without consent?"
"Why must you fight with me on everything?" Lady Immith asked, stepping closer.
"You are not a child who was born yesterday, Immith. You know why I fight with you," Princess Runa said. "I wouldn't have to if you had just kept your word and stayed away. Why did you come here? Do you have fun torturing me?"
"It need not be torture, Ru."
"And how do you see that story ending?" she questioned, heart bleeding.
It's not like she didn't want to embrace Immith. All of her craved every inch of Lady Immith in ways she'd never longed for anything in her life.
However, she wasn't a fool to let go of reason in the name of love. The world would never accept their love; there was no corner they could run to where they'd be safe to express their feelings for each other.
Princess Runa feared for the implications such a relationship could have on her family. They had a ton of enemies who would be more than happy to use her situation as a weapon to dethrone her mother and execute her siblings to get them out of power.
"I don't know how it will end. All I know is...if we don't do anything now then there won't be a story to end."
"Exactly," Princess Runa settled.
Lady Immith knitted her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes at Runa. The princess didn't strike her as a coward at first. Back at her family's chateau, Runa never shied away from expressing her feelings.
She openly confessed her love and used actions to back her claims. The love she gave was so addictive that Immith couldn't stay away, she wanted more and more of what Runa had to give.
The side of the princess she met at Werthingham Palace surprised her greatly. "You weren't this stubborn back then. What is it about the palace that brings out your cowardice side?"
"I have given you parts of me I could give. I explained my position to you but you refuse to understand me. I am of the crown and I am not allowed to exist away from it. You can say anything you want about my stance, however, I refuse to be called a coward for thinking about the bigger picture. My family could suffer consequences for this. You might not care, but I do," she spoke up and stormed over to the window.
She stood with her back to Immith. Her purple dress hugged her small frame and gave much to feed Immith's eyes that were glued to her.
Lady Immith bit her tongue. 'You lose control of your mouth when you lose your patience,' she scolded herself.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"I grew up in the palace, life showed me the worst side of the world at an early age. I fear it because I have seen firsthand its cruelty."
"Ru, don't let your doubt bury our love. Don't let your fear control what you are meant to feel...please..."
"I wish it were that easy."
"I wish it were. It hurts being a secret you try to hide and pretend doesn't exist especially when I know that you want me just as much as I want you. I wish your hands weren't tied because I desperately wanted to see how this story plays out before it ends," she let out.
"My hands are tied, Immith, and they will remain so until my last breath," she admitted, the truth cut through her. "Why love when we are bound to break in the end," she mumbled, her voice so low that Immith didn't hear her.
Lady Immith composed her feelings and saw herself out. She felt like breaking down and crying her heart out. No one warned her that falling in love with a girl would hurt so much, the pain was unbearable.