That afternoon, the Duke insisted that we go riding. We took a pair of horses from his personal team. He let me determine the direction we took, and we ventured an hour along the shoreline to a secluded cove within a valley.

I walked the beach in front of him for a while, and we talked very little. Mostly about the wildlife that called the bay its home, and when my legs were screaming to rest, I asked him if we should go back to his.

"If you're not too frightened by the dark, I'm waiting to show you something," he said.

I narrowed my eyes. Beyond the rocks, the sun had already started to sink, and the moon was on its way above us.

"I am wearing your dagger," I told him. "So if another bear approaches us...."

"The bears don't come this far. Although contrary to a certain somebody's belief, no disrespect, the swans might. It's good you remain armed."

I didn't laugh. His smile faded.

"Come sit with me?" he asked.

"Where? In the water?" I joked. I was still angry with him. "That seems a bad place to avoid birds."

"Over here." He trekked up the sand and sat on the grass.

I sighed. "You dare tempt my curiosity?" I asked. "Fine... I am tired, I suppose."

"Come on, Princess," Kristjan teased. "Which one of these doors is your mother's study?"

"Krist," I squeezed his hand as he pulled me behind him in the corridor. The Grand Hall was still rampant with excitement as the Season's final ball danced toward its inevitable close.

"What the matter, darling?" He twisted so that he could tempt me with his long, sad eyelashes and twirled me once, then twice. "I'm just looking for a place to sit with you. Somewhere quiet."

"Willoughby will notice I'm gone soon. And I—"

"No, he won't. He's dancing with his wife. Remember? You went through all that trouble to ensure she came tonight, yes?"

I sat beside the Duke in silence until I could bear my thoughts no longer.

"You wanted this," Krist said. "Don't break my heart."

"I'm heading back," I told Askar, and I stood up.

I didn't need to hear another reason why he hadn't touched me since we'd arrived— I couldn't stomach the idea that my adventure was waning. I didn't want to hear him say I was or wanted too much from him, to not expect a proposal.

But just as I picked up my skirt to find my horse, there was the start of an iridescent glow from the horizon. It was just a wave that crashed upon the beach, but the light was brighter with the sand.

The tide washed over the wetness that had been there at its last pass, and it deposited more and more color every time it swam toward our seat, a mere ten feet away. What should have been the white lip of the sea, sheltered by the darkened sky, was a teal that shined like a candle's core.

"What's...?" I swallowed, but I could not look away.

"It's an alga," Askar explained. "It will only be here for a few days, but when it is disrupted— when the sand meets the water, it glows. It appears every year for a time."

I broke away to find his face. It was on and off alight by the ocean's kiss. His hair was tinted, and against the backdrop of the black shore, he was a continuation of the night sky that had fallen around him. Around us. Tiny orbs of variant blues danced inside the tide like a melody of stars created by the hand of God for the Duke— for me.

I was surrounded by a pulsing dream. Perhaps even the blur of lines between Heaven and mortality.

"How long does it last?" I asked.

"'Til morning," he said.

I sat beside him and returned to watching it. The sea slunk against shore and the final cries of gulls beckoned further and further away. Askar breathed a sigh so loudly that all I could do was look at him.

"What are you thinking of?" he asked.

"I'm thinking..." I brushed sand from my skirt. "It's silly. You won't like it."

He swallowed, never breaking from the view. "Tell me anyway?"

I paused, considering the damage I could inflict upon myself by divulging it. "I'm thinking of the night we met."

"What of it exactly?" he asked.

"That I..." I exhaled. "That I thought you were the most handsome man I had ever seen," I told him. "That you were right. I didn't care who you were; I wanted you."

"And now?" he asked.

"And now... Now I have seen mountains, and glowing oceans, and a bear, and the rocks of a volcano, and an almost dragon...."

"All exciting things," he chuckled.

"And yet..."

He looked at me.

Tell him, my brain said. He's done with you but tell him anyway.

"And yet, Princess?" he asked.

"Why do you get to call me Princess or Your Highness, but I must call you Askar?"

He smirked. "I did try Eliza; you said you preferred Rose."

"You don't use Rose," I said.

"Sometimes I do," he replied. "But it feels forced now after you scolded me."

"I see." I huffed. "And yet..." I decided to say. "And yet, I do not stand corrected. Despite everything, you are still obnoxiously handsome. I will likely never meet another man as pretty, and it's made worse by the idea that I believe you know this."

Ask donned a real grin and turned his body to match his face. "I have similar feelings about you."

"I do know I'm pretty," I muttered. "At least there is success in that somehow, even if it fades like your algae."

He narrowed his eyes. "Would you spend the night with me out here?" he asked.

"My parents will arrive soon," I said. "And they will take me back to the castle, and I will return to Oreia, where mountains are cold and white."

"They won't be here tonight," he whispered.

He slowly introduced his hand into my hair. His fingers were warm against my flesh, and I groaned quietly at his touch.

"God, I see the Heavens when you touch me," I whined. "Fuck, why did I say that?"

"I don't mind," the Duke said. He hesitated, hovering his open mouth near mine.

I had to erase the space between us, and as I swung into the saddle of his lap, he scaled the back of my dress and hooked into the topmost hem of it, pulling the bodice down.

Askar wet his lips and brought them to my shoulder, over and over until I breathed so desperately, I barely heard the sea. He was hard beneath me, and I was eager, and aching, and panting into his ear.

"I want you so bad it hurts," I said. "I don't want this to end."

He freed my breasts from the frock and pulled one of my nipples into his mouth, gently sucking.

"Ah!" I cried. "Askar..."

My Duke anchored a palm to my tailbone and put me onto my back. He hung over me, delivering an assault of kisses to my body in various parts and working to defeat all the clasps and straps, and layers of fabric between us.

When we were both bare, knife and all, he teased my entrance with his sex and only arrived with a strict invitation in the form of my begging.

"Please!" I cried.

But things slowed down, and he took his time to enter me. He brought me to a finish before he found his own, and it was very late into the early morning before things between us simmered or ceased completely. I'd never felt so sated or so worse for the wear. My soul wept that I would never feel him over me again.

The idea of leaving his beach, of leaving his arms, of going back to playing Princess felt like I was being robbed of something... something more exciting that I had ever known. Like I had been promised dragons and received a cheap flying imitation.

Through sunrise, we rode back to his estate on the same horse, pulling the other alongside us. His breath was sweet in my tameless waves, and he was full of joyful laughter. Any trailing wisp of the fight we'd had on his terrace was a whisper on the wind. The sun was wide awake when we pinned our steeds and headed inside through the grand entry. Askar took my hand to invite me to his bed. His words bounced off the vestibule.

"...Is it not time to start the day?" I asked him.

"I'll start my day when I see fit," he grinned. "You're not tired, Princess? I've kept you up."

"It certainly isn't the first time...." Even if it was nearing the last. I shrugged. "Tired or not, you don't think the Dowager or your staff should be concerned if we simply decided to ignore all other responsibilities?" I asked.

He offered the slyest of glances and shook his head. "I think any concerns she'd have with you sharing my bed are already a possibility, yes?"

I lowered my gaze, twiddling my hands, thinking. My gut was wicked. I stated, "Listen; if I'm–"

"Let's have this conversation somewhere else, love. I just can't stop looking at you; I need you alone."

"W-What?" I touched my hair. "Do I look that horrible? I think it's the salt in the air; it must not agree with me, is all. I swear I do not look like this daily."

He nodded, lacing his fingers into mine and stepping back onto the first ledge of the stairs.

I followed, still complaining. "I assure you in the Season when I am dolled up, and I have rested, and I have an army of dresses to choose from, I am far more presentable. Some might dare say lovely."

"Do you honestly believe I meant to insult you?" he asked. "It's not even noon yet."

On the first landing, he twirled me, then urged me up the final flight.

"Now," he told me. "Get up there and turn right. My chamber is as far as you can go without falling out the window there."

"This way?" I asked, pointing.

He birthed a mischievous look and chased me down the hall.