by Amy Little
“The houses are at peace with one another,” said Zak softly. “That’s not to say that the Empire is.”
To stop herself from shaking, Annika walked ahead quickly.
Their footsteps crunched gravel. A slight drizzle began to fall, each droplet finer than a grain of sand.
Too many thoughts filled the silence. She sought to break it: “The lack of peace must cheer you. War and violence are in your line of work.”
“It was,” he said.
“Your army will be surprised to hear that.”
“I no longer have an army. I resigned.”
Annika thoughtfully said, “I did hear some rumors, but I thought they could not be true. Someone who is reputed to be as ambitious as you….”
“Ambition has many faces,” he said.
The response surprised her and caught her off balance. There was something deeper inside him, something that hooked her and drew her towards him. She fought as hard as she could to not let it. She said, “So no more military campaigns against innocent people, no more blood and pillage and rape?”
“No. Not that there ever was, mind you.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, with satisfaction that she felt she had him on the back foot. An uncomfortable thought rose at the back of her mind as to why she wanted to push him away so badly. She quashed the thought.
Zak shrugged. “Believe it or not, now I’m just an ordinary law-abiding junior offspring of a grand House – just like you.”
“You are the opposite to me, you mean,” she said.
“A Tiger is not an opposite to a Wolf,” he laughed. “Of all the Houses, we are the most alike. And have been, for thousands of years.”
“On reaching puberty, each offspring of a House gives vows of enmity towards all of the other Houses,” she replied.
“Who believes that old hullaballoo? Some silly words in an old tongue that nobody now speaks. How do we even know that we are told the correct translation?”
She was so astonished to hear his words that she blurted out what was on her mind: “There must be something in it, for no one from my House has ever married one from yours!”
“That’s easily remedied.”
Annika walked even faster now. She was almost running. She realized how amusing she must have looked, but could not help herself.
The ease with which he kept up made her feel sillier still.
“What will you do now that you’re back?” he asked her. “Why did you ask to leave the castle?”
She was almost grateful to have something to speak of to take her mind off her burning embarrassment. “I wish to establish a healing practice.”
He was incredulous. “To work as a healer?”
She stopped. “Yes.”
He put a hand around her shoulders again in an easy gesture.
She did not throw his hand off this time. She was too taken up by what she wanted to say. “I know all the plants that grow in the Empire. That is, all that have medicinal use, and many more besides. The woman I learned this from, she said that I have rare power. She said I may be the strongest healer in hundreds of years if not….” She suddenly stopped. Why are you looking at me like that?”
He bent down towards her.
His eyes were large and blue. They looked at her as though entranced. There was a flicker of humor in them but also seriousness.
Does he want to kiss me? she thought, incredulously.
She hastily pulled back and threw his arm off.
His fingers ran along her face, her chin, her earlobes.
She tried to control her breath, but her speech was still too fast. “This would be a dead end.”
“It doesn’t need to be, Annika.”
She could still feel the lingering pressure of his touch. It took her all her strength not to run away. She tried to laugh, “I’ve no intention being another one of your conquests, Zak.”
The muscles in his jaws tightened. “What conquests?” he said.
“That’s amusing,” she replied, very aware that her expression must have been at odds with her words.
He must have thought something similar. He took hold of one of her hands. “You are beautiful when you smile,” he said. “I wish I could see that more often.”
“If I were to smile, I would not do so to please you,” she retorted.
She told herself to pull her hand away, but her arm would not obey her. She stood still, feeling her heart pulsing quicker than she could ever recall. She asked herself what it would take for her to break the contact with him. The fact that she could not sense a clear answer, scared and angered her in equal measure. The anger gave her the strength to reclaim her hand. “I am quite done walking now.”
“Then we shall go inside.”
“‘We’ are not going anywhere!” she exclaimed.
“Then we shall not go inside,” he was quick to agree, a smile dancing in his eyes.
She glanced at him with suspicion, then quickly looked away. “I will now to return to my quarters,” she announced, hoping that she can startle herself into action. It did not work.
“As you wish.”
“I wish to see my father later today. I will tell him I want to leave the castle,” she continued, as much to remind herself of her decisions, as to communicate them to Zak.
“He will not let you. But of course, little harm in trying, if you wish.”
His amiability made her glare at him with murderous intent. How could he be so calm? “Yes,” she said. “I do wish, Fifth Prince Zak.”
“Well. And now, Fifth Prince Zak, the conqueror to be of the as yet unvanquished, wishes to go outside the castle,” he said. “I don’t suppose you have been for a stroll around the town, yet?”
She narrowed her eyes to try and figure out what he meant, then slowly shook her head.
“It may be sensible to first look around the town where you so wish to live.” His tone was mild. He looked around with casual indifference. “The drizzle has ended. What better weather for a reconnaissance mission?”
She looked at him suspiciously. “I’d lived in this town for twelve years since birth. Why do I need to see it again?”
“You’ve been away for five years.”
“Not much has changed.”
“Oh, indeed, much has,” he assured her. “Shall we see?”
She frowned, pushing her thoughts through the blanket of haze that descended on her whenever she found herself with him. Should she see the city and spend more time with Zak? Everything inside her screamed, “yes”.
She heard herself say, “No.”
“My mistake,” he said.
“What?”
He laughed and tousled her hair. “Yes. There was no need to complement your smile. Your frowning in thought is even more attractive.”
“Maybe I was thinking how you had referred to yourself in the third person as ‘Fifth Prince Zak’,” she lashed out. “And how indescribably stupid that is.”
“And as for me, what was I thinking about?” he asked.
“Why do I care?” she said, unable to take her eyes off him.
He paused as though in thought. “Ah, yes. That’s right. I was thinking about kissing you.”
“No!” she said, too quickly, and blushing with her whole body.
“But then I decided against it,” he shrugged, directing his steps to the main castle gate.
“It is a good thing you did,” she said, cautiously following him and feeling disappointment flood through her.
He was toying with her, she realized.
No, she repeated to herself. No, no, no. She was not going to fall for him.
But it was difficult for her to think of what to do while trying to subdue the thrill of being close to him, so close that….
“Wait,” he said suddenly stopping.
“What?” She just stopped herself from bumping into him.
“I’ve thought it over again,” he said, turning around and towering over her. “And d
ecided I must.”
With that, he bent down.
Something raced through her body like liquid fire as his lips touched hers. They brushed her lower lip, then her chin, then cheek, then both her lips, kissing her slowly, gently, needily.
Lost in the sensation, she drew closer towards him. Her reservations, the walls that she had tried to build, had all melted away like spring snow before the scorching sun.
She acknowledged her actions only partly, and then not at all. After some seconds, she found her hands wrapped around his back.
His back was broad, and hard, even under the layers of leather and expensive wool. A gust of wind flapped his heavy cloak around them.
Under it, she felt her heart beat faster and faster, as the strong wind outside buffeted her exposed hair.
She pulled back.
The cloak fell away. The wind seemed to pierce her.
She shivered. “It’s cold… out,” she whispered. It did not matter to her what words she spoke. She only felt she needed to hear if she still had a voice.
Then she felt him draw her in again. She felt his lips touch hers, suck, play, release and return. She felt hands caress her hair, then her neck; she felt his hands ran down her shoulders, resting on her lower back and then pulling her tightly, closely, irresistibly towards him.
Could she still breathe? She came away, gasping, as though surfacing for air in a deep, calm ocean.
But the current was strong.
Unable to resist, she dove back in. This time she felt his lips being harder, his hands needier. She could feel their hips squared against one another.
Her passion rose, wrapping around her like a cloud from which she would never wish to emerge.
She pressed against him. In that moment, she felt she had no being independent of his. She could feel his strength. She could feel his need. She could feel her need also, and it was that need that drove her hands as she ran her fingers through his hair, matted it, then grasped at him with all her strength, as their mouths remained locked.
Her own desire strove to overpower her. How could she resist it? She pushed him away and stepped back.
She gazed into his eyes, breathing heavily, hoping for her avalanche of wants and needs and feelings and thoughts to come to an end so that she, Second Princess Annika of the House of the Tiger, can again emerge.
It was only small satisfaction to see something similar in Zak’s eyes.
Chapter Three
Zak tenderly held Annika’s hand as they walked through the main castle yard, their mutual silence belying the burning passions beneath.
His touch evoked the feeling of his lips, his caresses, their mutual wants. Her breaths ragged, Annika felt as though she were falling into a deep dark vortex from which she may never emerge.
Zak strode to the castle gates, still holding her hand.
The soldiers waved them through with disinterested grunts.
Lost in the confused tumult of her feelings, Annika found herself on a plaza outside the castle. No matter how she tried, she could not piece together the picture. There were too many fragments that overlapped and would not fit.
The confusion of shapes and sounds that surrounded them on the plaza did not help. What had just happened? Not only did they just kiss, but she had abandoned her plans to speak to her father and followed Zak outside the castle – Zak, a man whom she had no reason to trust and numerous reasons not to. She shook her head as though trying to dispel the fog and reclaimed her hand from Zak.
A beggar’s shrill pleas trailed them through the crowd as they turned the corner into a street the width of two narrow carts.
After a few minutes of brisk walking, Annika stopped. She fought to finally steady her breathing. It was not all bad, what has happened, she said to herself. Now that she was out of the castle, she could try and find a suitable quarter where she could rent a room. She could do that with Zak, or strike out on her own. Not all negative, she repeated.
Now as for that kiss… she closed her eyes for a brief moment. In the darkness behind her eyelids, she could see his handsome face close to hers, feel his body…. That kiss will be harder to live down, she said to herself, opening her eyes and resolving to pull away from Zak at the first opportunity.
Zak powered ahead a few steps before seeming to realize that Annika had fallen behind.
Looking around herself carefully, Annika slowly began to recognize what route they had taken. She was certain that they were heading to the tailor merchants’ street, four blocks from which would have been a row of bakeries, followed by one of the five grand avenues that dissected the city.
Zak returned to her, walking casually but quickly. His loafing, idle look that was at odds with the speed with which he moved seemed to radiate danger. “Let’s not linger.”
“I will continue myself from here.”
“Where will you go?”
“I will look for an inn.”
Zak radiated amusement. Annika glowered at him until he spoke again.
“We should to move on,” he cautioned. “It may not be safe here.”
“Why? What’s the matter?” she looked around, alarmed.
The alleyway was so narrow that the poles on which the residents hung their dry laundry met above them. The houses rose up three stories, and the latticework of these poles, on each of the top two floors, suffocated what little winter light there was.
Zak took her hand and pulled her along.
She walked quickly after him, torn between her resolution to explore the city on her own and the danger he mentioned.
They stopped some minutes later in a slightly wider part of the street, bracketed by a rusty pump and the crumbling back wall to a cathedral. A slight young girl was raising and lowering the handle on the pump. Zak winked at her, and she quickly looked away.
“I won’t move, until I know what the threat is and where you are taking me now,” Annika said in a voice that she hoped made it clear that she would accept nothing less.
Zak seemed to consider her request.
Annika pressed her lips tight. She was trying to read him, but it was proving impossible, torn as she was between hitting him and losing herself in his strong arms.
He was standing right beside her, their arms brushing.
Zak marveled at how strongly he felt the urge to take hold of her. He found her irresistibly sensual: her full lips, that were now pursed in a tight line; the large, grey eyes that were now looking up at him with pent up fury and longing that she did not yet fully recognize; her scent; her taste. Her whole being; although quick to anger, impetuous, and headstrong, something in him drew him towards her and held him. He needed to find out what it was.
His eyes shone with a slight yellowish tint. “You won’t move?”
She swallowed. “No.”
“Then I offer you a kiss a step,” he said. “It’s a good deal.”
Annika ground her teeth and flushed at the same time. “I thought we were in danger?”
“Here, it isn’t really dangerous,” he said.
“You lied!”
“Not a false word,” he said, almost offended. “We’re now a good few blocks away. One kiss?”
She sprung back. “You will not extort a kiss from me.”
“Then I’ll take it.”
Annika moved back again. “No!”
“Beg?”
“Unlikely.”
“Steal or borrow?”
The girl at the pump, who had forgotten to move the handle for some moments now, watching them both avidly, tittered, and then froze in fright, hiding her mouth behind her hand.
Fighting both a smile and an aching temptation that seized her, Annika said, “Is that all you have?”
Zak stepped closer, towering over her.
He swooped down and grazed his lips along hers.
He then returned for a second round that lasted longer as her lips parted wider.
On the third pass, her lips welcomed and sought him out.
When they broke apart, she found herself following him, with half-closed eyes. “No more.” She was part hoping he would refuse, part pleading.
“No more,” he agreed. “Kissing in alleyways can get you unwelcome attention from one of the preachers or their rabble. What an untoward spectacle that would be! Enough gossip for all five noble Houses for the next few months.”
“I’m glad you’re so sensible,” she said.
“Not often, I’ll admit.”
“You must promise that was the last,” she said, her mind lingering on their physical contact.
“My last sensible action?”
“Last kiss!” she was trying to recover her anger, but it was proving difficult.
To her surprise, he seemed to think it over. Then he said, “I do promise. And promises must be sealed with a kiss.”
His hard, strong arms drew her in again. This kiss lasted longer than any before.
Afterwards, Annika stepped back and tried to contain her heavy breathing for a few seconds. This rollercoaster could not go on. She reopened her eyes when she felt she had found the core of what she wanted to say. “Where are you taking me?”
Zak gave her a crooked grin. “I was planning to take you to the sacred market.” He walked on ahead even as he spoke.
“Why there?” se called out after him.
“I saw a Memory Beast recently, and it’s reminded me how little I’ve seen of them in the city,” he replied, without breaking his stride.
Annika quickly thought things through. The sacred market was at the intersection of two of the grand avenues. There were likely to be lodgings available around that area. Her choice now was to follow him or to seek to find her own way out of the maze of the streets….
She hesitated for a moment.
Zak’s back was receding before her.
She recalled his arms around her, her lips on his…. Walking quickly seemed to dull the aching that she felt for him. She pushed her hesitation aside.
The sacred market was a paved square in the middle of the city, where row upon row of sad-eyed Memory Beasts looked at the passers-by.