Succession: Princess (Book two)

She looked as though she'd run all the way to the chambers.

"He will be, can you tell the king we're going to do the binding ceremony and I'd like to do it as soon as possible?" I answered.

Her eyes widened and she hurried out of the chambers.

---

Prelude

I wasn't sure my eyes were ever going to open again. I'd grown so used to drifting in the darkness that I was having trouble grasping at reality, grasping at the idea that I might once again be alive. I was terrified that I would lose my grip on that, the elusive picture of the contours of her face. I knew it was a possibility, I'd seen it. I'd dreamed it. I'd felt the loss a thousand times, but it still left me reeling.

Her face was the first thing I laid eyes on, and I instantly felt awful. I knew what she'd given to wake me, I knew the commitment. I knew the difficulties we'd have to face together and worse, I knew I couldn't tell her about them. It was a seer's curse, my family's curse, something she'd now have a share in. I could only hope my father told her about that as well and that it wouldn't affect her the way it plagued me.

"Cee?" I whispered, her tears were all over my cheeks and I tried to give her a smile. It felt like a role reversal from the last time I'd seen her face.

"You stupid, stupid prince. What did I tell you about staying safe?" She scolded me, but I could tell there wasn't any real venom in her voice.

"You said I shouldn't." I joked. She hit me gently on the chest.

"Don't scare me like that." She whispered and I found myself wanting to touch her.

Instead she reached out and touched me, her little fingers trailing up and down my jaw line. Soon she replaced them with her lips and I was glad for it, glad she saved me, glad I was able to be selfish and glad I would spend the rest of my life with this marvellous woman. I would fight for her, with every fibre of my being, I would fight for her.