Chapter 152
“If you don’t want to, then fine.”
Helios didn’t push. Instead, he stretched out one long leg and gave the carriage wall a sharp thud. The coachman, who’d been leaning there lazily, jolted upright and sprang into motion.
The carriage rumbled to life.
If they’d only upgraded the inside of the carriage, they definitely forgot the rest. Even at a crawl, the ride was atrocious. Every bump felt like it was trying to rearrange my bones.
Squeezed between Helios’s shoulder and the carriage wall, I might as well have been strapped in with an invisible seatbelt. I wasn’t moving an inch.
The wooden bench across from us, on the other hand, bounced like a springboard.
If I sat over there, I’d walk away with at least ten lumps on my head and a bruised tailbone to match. Minimum.
Just as I was settling into the idea that being squished was better than being concussed, Helios shifted beside me.
“Are you uncomfortable, Your Highness?”
I shot him a quick glance, trying to read his mood. After all, he was the Crown Prince. There was no reason for him to be inconvenienced for my sake.
If he suddenly told me to take the other seat, I’d have to clamp my mouth shut, slink over, and pretend to like it.
Which meant the fact that he was crammed into this ridiculously tight space for me was kind of a big deal.
“Of course I’m uncomfortable. It’s cramped as hell in here… And you know what, Rienna? I’ve been folding my shoulder in just so you can be more comfortable.”
He made a show of scrunching his massive frame like he was trying to become more compact. Not that it worked — there was no folding those muscles.
My conscience prickled.
“How can I make it more comfortable for you? Maybe I can sit with just half my butt on the edge?”
I started to slide my hips, trying to ease some of my weight off the seat, when Helios’s brows dipped in immediate protest.
“That won’t do. I’ll channel the spirit of knightly sacrifice and go sit over there.”
He looked genuinely ready to suffer for the cause, eyes set on the rickety bench where one of the panels had completely fallen out, revealing a gaping hole in the seat.
He wasn’t joking either. He planted a knee to rise, the whole carriage rocking violently around him.
Panicking, I reached out and grabbed his arm with both hands, just as he turned to glance back at me mid-motion — somehow managing to stay perfectly balanced like a dancer on a stormy deck.
I couldn’t help being a little impressed.
“Sit down. Please. As long as you’re not uncomfortable.”
“As long as I’m not?”
“I’ll sit on your lap.”
The corners of Helios’s mouth curved in a slow, satisfied arc.
I had the sudden, sinking realization that I’d just played right into his hands. Because before I could even blink, I was already on his lap.
His hands were impossibly quick. Ludicrously quick. The kind of quick that deserved its own warning label.
“Don’t slide off, I’ll hold you, Rienna.”
Helios wrapped his arm around my waist, naturally pressing his chest against my back.
“Is it uncomfortable?”
He asked. His lap, the way he held me firmly, wasn’t uncomfortable at all. It was actually oddly cozy.
It was like a sofa made just for me, or something.
“It’s comfortable.”
“That’s a relief.”
He sighed deeply. I shuddered, pulling my neck in.
The discomfort wasn’t in the position, but in his breath against my ear. And his voice, sweet to the point of being overwhelming.
“Your Highness, could you stop talking for a moment?”
It was rebellious to silence a crown prince, even I knew that, but I couldn’t help it. Every time he spoke, my ear tingled.
Is it just my ear that tickles?
There was a strange yet similar feeling in my chest.
“How can you have a mouth and not speak, Rienna? That’s quite the difficult request.”
Helios spoke in a deflated voice. It was all an act, since he was never one to talk much.
In the past, he had been so silent that I used to beg him to speak!
“People have mouths, you know. They’re meant to talk, right?”
When I told him to stop, he did the opposite. Seriously.
I wanted to cover my ears. Every time his breath touched me, something below my navel was in utter chaos.
And why was his voice so sweet, too…?
Was I always this sensitive to stimuli?
A wave of self-doubt washed over me.
“If you don’t like me talking, I have a way to make me shut up. What do you say, Rienna? Want to try it?”
As long as his breath didn’t touch my ear, I would do anything.
If I took any more of his teasing, I might end up soaking through my underwear and needing a change.
“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” I shouted desperately.
“No turning back once you’ve heard it. I won’t even give you the chance to back out.”
What’s with all the setup?
“No, it’s not like that. I won’t go back on my word.”
That was how I thought, at least. Or, that’s what I believed about myself. Until I heard his answer.
