Kiss of the Royal

by Lindsey Duga

  His footfalls pounded behind me, and I begged my legs to take me farther into the forest, away from the deafening music and suffocating smoke.

  He had kissed a girl he’d known less time than me. A girl whose lips created no magic. After all that talk about kisses being special—about Love.

  He was a Romantica, and so was she. Maybe that was reason enough. Maybe he truly hated me for what I was and for what I believed in. Maybe that was the real reason he wouldn’t Kiss me. Still, I thought kisses meant more to him than just a passing stranger’s whims.

  When had I become someone who struggled with the difference between a kiss and a Kiss?

  The thought nearly knocked the wind out of me. The feelings that were tailspinning out of control made no sense to my logically driven mind. Zach could flirt, kiss, or even bed anyone he wanted—it wasn’t for me to judge or dictate. Yet, the fact that he’d so easily kiss another girl, while he wouldn’t Kiss me even to save others—for a much greater purpose—made me so angry and hurt and jealous, I couldn’t see straight.

  “Ivy! Please! You don’t understand!” His voice called to me through the crashing of bushes and slashing of branches.

  “Don’t come near me!”

  An arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him, and I swiveled around, pushing hard against his chest. He stumbled back, raising his hands as if in innocence. But he was far from it.

  “What you saw—”

  My hands curled into fists. “Save it. You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

  “Ivy, I didn’t kiss her!”

  “Really, so what was that? Wiping a crumb off her lips with yours?” Anger made my voice shake, but in my times of being furious with Zach, the feelings here were different.

  At this point I couldn’t face them.

  “She kissed me!”

  I raked my hands through my wild hair, pushing it away from my face. “I’ve tried to Kiss you, Zach. And every time, you’ve stopped me.”

  Zach glanced away.

  “And now the prince stays quiet. You’ll kiss some stranger, but you won’t Kiss me, your partner…to save people. But you know what? It’s fine.”

  I turned to go again, but Zach gripped my wrist. “It meant nothing. It was just one kiss.”

  That stung worse than anything he could’ve said. “You think that makes it better? Zach, our Kisses are to save people, to keep us alive to kill more monsters. Don’t you get it? You’d rather kiss her when it means nothing than—I mean, am I so detestable to you that—?” I forced myself to stop before the tears came in full force.

  I dropped my gaze to the dark forest floor, unable to look at him.

  There it was. The real crux of it. Maybe what I feared the most. That he didn’t like me. At all. Maybe I’d been reading the signs between us wrong—after all, I’d had no real experience with Lust of my own—but I’d thought at least there’d been some attraction there. But when he’d kiss another girl so easily…

  I reached up and tugged at the roots of my hair, my head spinning with poisonous thoughts. Merciful Sisters, I hate this. I hate feeling pathetic. Like a failure. Usually it’s only my mother who makes me feel like this. The tears suddenly went away, replaced by anger. I wouldn’t let a man cripple me this way—it was enough that my mother did.

  When I looked back up, Zach was staring at me, real pain in his eyes, as if I’d stabbed him with his own dagger. “No. No, Ivy, how could you think that?”

  I hugged my arms. “You haven’t given me a reason not to.”

  “I was distracted… She caught me off guard.”

  My laugh was bitter. “Troll’s breath, Zachariah, what in the Fields of Galliore could have distracted you so much?”

  He opened his mouth then closed it.

  Nothing. No excuse to give.

  We stood like that for a long time, with only starlight raining down on us. We were in one of the clearings, free from towering branches that obscured the sky. I’d wanted to see the stars, but now, after this, the view would seem tainted.

  Dancing, laughing, only minutes ago. What was wrong with the two of us? Why couldn’t we get along? Like real partners?

  That’s all we were—partners. Nothing between us except this mission. This dragon.

  “This changes nothing. You still refuse to Kiss me. But I need you for the dragon. Let’s get out of this forest. I just want to sleep.” In one swift movement I gathered up my curls and tied them back again. I brushed past Zach and heard him turn around to follow me to the campsite. He remained silent, but I could imagine the look on his face, and it was one I wanted to forget.

  …

  The next morning, I woke next to Bromley. I couldn’t remember much after standing in the forest under the stars. I vaguely recalled pulling Brom away from more Romantica food and tales and settling down to sleep, but after everything, the details were hazy.

  The sun was just peeking over the horizon, so the world was still mostly shadows. Zach was by the horses, saddling up and getting ready to go. I touched Brom’s arm and he sat up, rubbed his eyes, and got to his feet. I was a little slower.

  “Go on, help him,” I said to Brom, gesturing at Zach. “I’m coming.”

  I rolled up our wraps and fit them into our bag, which I then slung over my shoulder. I stopped briefly by Jiaza and Yana’s wagon. With a sleepy smile, Jiaza raised his hand in parting.

  Though I still hadn’t forgotten his tale of lies, I remembered what Zach had said: they are good people. I smiled and raised my hand as well, in thanks.

  The silence on the road was not tense, like so many of our other post-fight silences, just melancholy and uncomfortable. Bromley didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he gave no indication. Then again, Brom had a knack for reading my emotions, so he probably knew something had happened. However, neither Zach nor I acted rude to each other. In fact, we were civil. By speaking politely and using small gestures, it was as though we were strangers working together.

  Which was far worse than hostility.

  At noon we stopped for some leftover roasted meat Yana had packed for us last night. We were passing through wooded areas, but the trees and their branches were thinner. So rather than the woods being bathed in shadows highlighted by flecks of intruding sunlight, it was all golden. The sun seemed so close to us, its light bouncing off the shiny leaves, making everything glow with a hazy yellow hue.

  Its beauty was not lost on me, but in the back of my mind I felt disconnected. From Zach, from Brom, from my mission altogether. I thought of the female mage and wondered again if the golden magic had been hers. Zach hadn’t seemed to care much, while Brom shared my skepticism.

  I was so consumed in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed Zach leave. When Brom caught me looking around for him, he said, “He went to get water.”

  “Right,” I muttered, stroking Lorena’s neck. She huffed and tossed her head.

  “You two had another fight?” Bromley asked.

  Sighing, I turned to face my friend, and Lorena nudged my back with her nose. “I don’t get it, Brom—why can’t we get along? We’re supposed to be partners…but then he goes and…” I let out a frustrated groan and went back to my horse.

  “He goes and…?”

  I hesitated. I didn’t want to bring Brom into the middle of this, but on the other hand, I wanted to tell someone. Maybe I was looking for some consolation. “Last night a girl… Well, he let something happen, and he said it was because he was distracted.”

  Brom merely stared at me, waiting for me to continue.

  “But—but that’s ridiculous, right? I mean, come on, distracted? He slices snakes as they jump through air. His reflexes are better than a werecat’s. I mean, really, what on earth could have distracted him to lower his guard that much?”

  At this, Brom rolled his eyes and went back to rubbing down his horse.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I’m tempted to let you figure it out for yourself.”

&nb
sp; I was surprised at his freshness. “Tell me. You know the fate of Myria—and possibly the other four kingdoms—rests on this mission. On our partnership.”

  Brom paused, resting his arms and chin on his horse’s saddle, and smirked. “It’s you.”

  “What?”

  “He was distracted by you.”

  His words settled in. Before my mind could comprehend them, my feet were already moving in the direction of the stream.

  My whole body rang with a weird sort of inner hum, as if the speed at which my thoughts were flying actually created a kind of noise.

  I had to know. I couldn’t stand another minute of only hoping Bromley was right—that Zach was distracted by me. Could Zach have been watching me last night? Dancing with that Romantica man within very close proximity? If he had been watching, maybe he’d lowered his guard so much that the girl had managed to plant a kiss on him when I couldn’t…

  Zach stood from the bank of the stream as I came to a stop, realizing how careless I’d been—crashing through the woods like that.

  “Ivy?”

  “You were distracted,” I said, then pressed my lips together. I forced the next words out. “You didn’t mean to kiss her.”

  Zach glanced around, like he expected someone else to come traipsing out of the woods. Finally he said, “I was distracted, and I didn’t want to kiss her.”

  “It’s not that you’d rather…” I trailed off. I couldn’t finish it.

  Zach’s confusion cleared, and he smiled softly. “When I said it didn’t mean anything, it wasn’t meant to hurt you. I wanted you to understand that I…I kiss only girls I like. And I kiss only for my own feelings. Never as a weapon. I’m sorry, Ivy, I just can’t do that.” He walked to me. “But not Kissing you has nothing to do with how I feel…I mean, who you are.”

  My heart thudded heavily, racing in a way it had never done before. Not when Amias kissed me under the torchlight and not even when Zach had taken off his shirt. “I suppose I believe you,” I whispered.

  Zach reached up and traced a thumb across my cheek, over my freckles. “How come you believe me now?”

  “I have to believe my partner.”

  “Wise decision. Besides, if I were to kiss someone, it wouldn’t have been like that.”

  I couldn’t move. My body was heavy, like pounds of iron. “Oh really? And what would it have been like?”

  Zach chuckled. “Nice try.”

  “No, really, we’re not on the battlefield. I’m only curious.”

  He regarded me for a few seconds then took a step closer. When he did, all my senses heightened. Slowly, he placed his marked hand on my hip then slid it up to my waist, then my ribcage. His fingers moved against the fabric of my tunic, feeling my ribs and rubbing my skin underneath. His other hand grasped my wrist, and his fingers curled around, resting on my palm. Our chests were practically touching.

  “You ever had a real kiss, princess?”

  I swallowed, unable to answer.

  Zach’s hand moved up. His fingers touched the back of my neck, applying just the right amount of pressure so I tilted my head up ever so slightly. His thumb brushed my jaw and, against my will, my eyes closed.

  He squeezed my side gently. My lungs shuddered for a breath under his hand. When I felt his own breath on my lips, something inside me crashed against my bones, like the waves of the Sea of Glyll surging upon the rocks by Freida Castle.

  But there was nothing more.

  He dropped his head to my shoulder. His forehead rested on my heated skin.

  I willed my eyes to open as he drew away slowly. His face, then his chest, then his arms, until he held only my fingertips, then he let those fall as well.

  Zach said nothing, but his eyes were not teasing as I thought they would be. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his jaw was clenched. He avoided my gaze as he moved past me, footsteps pounding against the ground like the Romantica drums.

  He was usually so light on his feet.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, let out another breath, and raised my hand to my cheek, then to my forehead, kneading my temples.

  Erase it, Ivy. That didn’t happen. It didn’t.

  I had faced trolls, witches, dwarves, goblins, griffins, wraiths, and stared Darkness in the face without stumbling, but standing here, in this golden forest, I was truly shaken.

  Chapter

  Twenty

  A Familiar Face

  It took several splashes of cold water on my face to clear my head enough to start back. On the way, I tried to chase away thoughts the freezing water hadn’t dismissed. But nothing in the world could cure what I was feeling now. I was desperate to act normal, as though my entire being hadn’t just been stripped away and twisted into something I didn’t recognize.

  Who was this girl who became weak-kneed? This princess who swooned in the arms of a man? This weakling who gave in to Lust?

  I’d never thought I would bend to Lust’s will so easily, submitting to petty emotions like jealousy, which the Legion taught so severely to evade. It disgusted me that I couldn’t touch him without feeling a ripple of pleasure and dizziness shoot through me. And worst of all, I had stood there ready to give in to a kiss off the battlefield. A kiss I’d vowed never to trouble myself with until I was sent to Freida.

  It was painfully apparent that one glance from Zach was more exciting to me than any Kiss I’d ever shared with another prince.

  The truth of it all made me want to roll into a ball, cowering on the forest floor until winter came and snow hid me from the rest of the world.

  More disgraceful still, I was disappointed. Disappointed Zach had not followed through with his kiss. Why had he backed away? Did he somehow believe I would lure magic from him if we tried? He needn’t have worried. I hadn’t been able to summon normal words—let alone a spell.

  Shame burned through a wall in my stomach. How could I even call myself a princess of the Legion?

  “Milady!”

  Bromley jogged toward me, concern etched on his features. I wondered how long I had been washing my face.

  “Sorry,” I responded on reflex. Zach was already on his horse, his face turned away, careful not to look me in the eye. “I—got a little lost.”

  Bromley didn’t question it, but his pursed lips showed he didn’t buy the obvious lie. I was just glad he kept quiet. I had nothing left in me to lie again.

  …

  The village to the north of the woods was much larger than the other village we’d passed through, but quieter.

  The houses and shops of the village were made of beautiful sanded wood, a testament to their trade and the surrounding forest. In the middle of the square was a handsome old cobblestone well. To the north was a large structure with many windows and painted accents of red, green, and blue. It was either the Town Hall or perhaps a tavern that served as the general meeting area for the residents. Spanning to the east and west were shops with colorful wooden signs and houses lined up neatly, each with little spice gardens or some kind of vegetable patch.

  “It’s quiet,” Zach commented, winding the reins of his steed in one hand and scanning the surroundings.

  “It’s barely dusk. Someone should be out and about, right?” Brom said.

  I nodded. “I don’t even hear any animals.” Then it came to me. Yana had said they’d avoided a village under a curse. With my mind on…other things, I had completely forgotten.

  My Sense was vacant in the face of a witch’s curse—only a slight feeling of nausea—so I had no clue what kind of curse we were up against.

  A door opened across the square, and a small child emerged then quickly shut the door behind her. Gathering her skirts, she scampered down the house’s little path and into the spice garden out front. She fell to her knees and started rooting through the garden with speed, almost in a panic.

  I let go of Lorena’s reins and hurried toward her. Not wanting to frighten her, I slowed about twenty paces away. “Hello? Little miss?” />
  The child looked up, clutching a bundle of weeds to her chest. Her face was smeared with either dirt or soot, and her fair hair was bundled up in a bun, like mine. Her eyes were wide with fright, and I felt guilty for scaring her. “I won’t hurt you,” I said, holding out my hands.

  Zach came up behind me, but I remained focused on the little girl. “I just want to know if we can help.”

  The girl’s bottom lip trembled, yet she kept quiet.

  “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

  Her large eyes darted from me to Zach.

  “Why is this place so quiet?” I tried again.

  The girl dug her hands in the earth, pulled out some roots, and then bolted back inside, stumbling on the way, then latched the door.

  “A curse,” Zach said softly.

  “The one Yana mentioned,” I agreed.

  Zach and I looked at each other, our eyes meeting for the first time since that moment in the woods. We both had the same thought: what curse was it?

  He nodded to the central structure. “Shall we?”

  As our little party approached, I admired its architecture. The darkest, richest wood of the oldest trees had been used for the building. It was impressive for a town almost a week’s journey from regular trade routes. Beautifully carved designs decorated the outer edges of the windows and doors. Above the large oak double doors hung a sign that read Pelken’s Town Tavern.

  I balled my fists in preparation for what lay beyond those doors.

  Zach rapped his knuckles on the wood, and the sound echoed into the empty square. We waited. There was nothing. He glanced at me then knocked again, harder.

  Before his fourth knock, the door opened, and a woman with dark hair and sunken eyes glowered at us from behind a crack. “I heard yeh the first time,” she snapped in her heavy northern accent. “Yeh think it’s easy to drop what I’m doing to answer a blasted knock? Come in ’ere yehselves if yeh’ve got a death wish.”

  Zach lowered his hand awkwardly. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean—”

  “What’s going on here?” I interrupted.