"And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now"

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
🔎

Jimin

Maybe it would've been fine if she hadn't kissed him. Maybe then, everything would've been a little easier. Made more sense.

But nothing made sense. Nothing at all as blood pounded through his ears, vision darkening. As he imagined Taehyung falling upon Leila's trap in that sheer gown that she wore. What more than likely would ensue between the couple.

He was up and running off the bed before Taehyung had even made it down the hall. Jimin could hear it, every determined fucking step forward.

Lily's laugh sounded from behind him, "Where are you running off to? I'm going to be bored now that Leila will be gone for the night. Let's go steal wine from the-"

Jimin gritted his teeth, not wanting to hear another word from his oblivious sibling that somehow shared his blood, "Entertain yourself. And who knows? Taehyung's been such a coward she might sulk her way back to this room in no time."

The advisor didn't even look back as he said it. Not wanting the hopeful catch in his tone to be heard. Nor the wild bitterness.

This is what Solis wanted.

Used to want.

Maybe now, everything could be set into place from before. It was only coincidence that Leila asked for Jimin to step into her room in order to call upon the prince. Unknowingly furthering him along in his betrayal, as he now directly helped them consummate their marriage. If they consummated their marriage.

Maybe now he wouldn't have to kill her. Maybe it would be good enough for the deity that revealed no true motive. Maybe Jimin's deceit was finished, and the rewards would fall into his lap.

I should feel relief.

Yet still, the room was too hot. Every time he swallowed it felt like shards of glass passed through. A strange squeezing pierced his heart, making him feel panicked and exposed.

His sister wouldn't shut up, high pitched voice mixing with the pound of blood in his head, "You're his best friend, and you can't tell that he's obsessed with her? And I don't think it has anything to do with the curse. I remember before she got here how disinterested he was in getting to know her more. Now they can't keep away from each other. Aren't you happy for him? For her?"

Of course Taehyung was obsessed with her. Who wouldn't be. Even his prickly, stuck up royal ass couldn't deny her. His stoic facade crumbling. It was cathartic, to watch the prince who was so sure of his restraint, fall to a girl who knew nothing of seduction.

Helping Leila seduce him had many purposes. Of course, the most important, was Jimin's bargain with the deity. But his other motives were quiet simple. Once they grew a sexual relationship, it would eventually turn emotional. It would stir up distrust in the court, and lessen Taehyung's legitimacy as ruler. No one would be able to trust that he would not break the curse if she was not kept in the dungeons.

Jimin wanted to laugh at the court. How truly little anyone knew of anything around here.

But most of all, beyond the promises of power from Solis. Beyond the political plotting. He wanted to see his best friend fail at something.

Just once.

"Ecstatic." He deadpanned, fingers itching to unlatch the door.

A disbelieving laugh tickled the back of his head. His daft other half decided to be astute for once, as she murmured words she would soon regret, "My gods, you actually fancy her."

Fancy. Like.

Primitive words for what he actually felt. And he hated it with every fiber of his being.

Because he had waited expectantly for the prince's obsession to take hold and ruin the man.
Jimin hadn't expected the same sickness to infect him. And while the perfect prince's feelings were probably rooted in devotion, Jimin's wants were much darker.

When she'd asked him to bite her, he'd caused her pain. Purposefully. Simply because her request was for another man. Because she couldn't stop looking at him, even when he touched her. And he enjoyed every single second of it.

He hurt her, because she wasn't his. He would hurt her, because it's the only thing he could make her feel. He would hurt her again. And again. And again.

Because she felt him then. But he wanted her to see him.

"Don't be a child Lily. We are too old for your fantasies." Jimin trained his voice carefully, turning to his sister with annoyed disinterest.

His twin's brows were furrowed, her hazelnut hair starting to fade. And, oh my, was the saint angry with him? How peculiar.

"Stop deflecting. I know how you are when you don't get what you want."

The air stilled between them, pulled taught like a bow. Lily widened her eyes in shock, before letting the anger creep slowly back onto her face. His weak, dainty sharer of the womb seemed to realize she'd made one too many a grave mistake tonight. He was almost impressed when she didn't back down from his cutting stare.

"And that is?"

"Ruthless."

She had no idea to what extent. She'd only seen snippets of his true nature as they grew up. From the way he would prank her as a child, to the eventual use of her to commit harmful deeds when he felt too lazy to do it himself. He saw her as the dimmer side of him, and yet still useful. Bound by the misfortune of their birth. Lily may have known him better than anyone, but she was not privy to the depths he would go. If she knew, she might've never talked to her twin ever again. Not one single person would.

Jimin lifted his lips in a smile of warning, one bared his teeth, "Goodnight Lily. Don't do anything else fucking stupid tonight."

Protecting her from her own idiocy was exhausting. If she meddled in the prince's affairs with Leila again, he would ship her to the farthest territory he could find. He didn't need her involved with what Solis offered, but he would make sure to break the night curse for her and her alone and share the prestige. Though infuriating, she was still his blood. He'd keep her safe, if not the fact he saw himself in her eyes.

But Lily kept talking, making his patience thin and all but break.

"It's no one's fault but your own that the one girl you actually want doesn't want you back, "Lily started angrily, before scrunching her face in regret, "Shit, I apologize-"

Shadows bled into the room, enclosing the room in darkness. The darkness burst from Jimin, an inky black that blotted out every bit of light the world could offer. Lily straightened her back, hitting the wall next to Leila's bed, her glassy eyes and pouted mouth formed from fear feeding his power deliciously. She was blind from his magic, but he could see her clearly, the thickness suffocating her. He was a vortex, a ripple of night incarnate.

Lily hadn't been so lucky with her powers. She responded back with her meekness, tiny pricks of light scattering out into the now shadowed room. The tiny rays of starlight enough to give her some oxygen, leaving her gasping for air.

Jimin lifted his hands, pulling them into his chest to bring the dark fog back to his chest. The center glowing a faded gray. His sister stared at him panting like a dog. Eyes just as rabid, as if she couldn't imagine he'd go far enough to use his powers against her. She must've not remembered he'd used her to practice his gift, many a late night away from the court's prying eyes. She did faint most times.

He took advantage, dark satisfaction filling his chest at her affronted expression, "If only you knew the sacrifices I've made for you and I. If you did, you'd never utter a cross word against me again. Remember it was I whom saved you from outside the castle. You were left to drown in the ocean, at five years old. Would you like me to let go and see how well you breathe underwater?"

It was the truth. They were not supposed to be twins. One too many had been born. And someone wanted to kill her for it. Jimin had luckily been taught how to swim by the Prince. Another deed he'd be forever indebted.

Lily stayed silent. The threat was clear, though she had less than an inkling of what he truly spoke of. Of what her abandonment could've meant.

Jimin spared her no comfort or explanation, before taking his leave. The walk down the hallway was a difficult one.  To stop at his door, and to spread his blood over the tongue of an iron viper. To not continue down the hallways, till he found the royals.

To interrupt them. Hell, to pull them apart. To steal her away.

Jimin slammed himself into his room, using his blood to lock it once again. His chest heaving with a rage he barely recognized. The words from his sister swirling in his head. The ghostly feel of Leila's kiss messing with his head.

Taehyung was always given every thing Jimin wanted. Everything he deserved. What would change now?

For a silly moment, it seemed like the scales would tip in his favor. She seemed to prefer him to his best friend. She was the only one.

When she first came to the kingdom, he'd loathed her. Another person he'd had first before even the prince. Forced to watch her. To learn everything about her, and the prince was so naïve to think Jimin wouldn't form some form of attachment. Just for the prince to take her from him.

But she smiled at Jimin, and glared at the prince. Laughed at his dark jokes, and stayed silent when the prince talked. She didn't even bat an eye when Jimin spoke of his cruelness, just listened.

And she let him kiss her. When they had been alone in her room, no prince to be found. Just the two of them. He'd never felt his dead heart pound, felt his stomach drop as she laughed across his lips. Her wild hair brushed across his hands, her sweet scent intoxicated him. For only a moment, all the schemes and treachery left his mind. The long journey towards retribution and  forgotten at the single touch of her mouth upon his. 

To be torn from it that single drop of bliss by Taehyung.

He had not been sorry.

Even the day after, when she had told him she felt only friendship for him he hadn't regretted it. Even though he could feel the tension between her and his best friend, cutting the room in half. Because he hadn't seen the shift in her. Only the prince seemed visibly off the deep end, threatening the court and unable to pull his gaze off of her for more than a couple seconds.

But Jimin recognized it in her tonight. As she barely minded him coming through the space, only concerned of making her way to him. A look of torment, of longing.

Leila had smiled when she kissed him.

But she had lost herself in the prince. She could live without another touch from Jimin, as she ached for the one man who had unknowingly taken everything from him.

Jimin understood his heartlessness, and but she had given him a feeling of redemption. Like her goodness would've seeped into him, slowly painting over every dark corner with light.

It seemed like fate had a different plan.

She had given him so much just to take it all away. Just like Taehyung. Just like this fucking kingdom, his birth, and the rest of his entire pitiful life. Whatever blessings were given, were simple washed away with the next tide. Why did she ever smile at me? If it was just the kiss, maybe things could've been different. Maybe the thought of them together wouldn't have been acidic and spiked.

Maybe Leila wouldn't occupy his every living, breathing thought.

"My child, you're ready?"

Jimin's breath quickened. This time he knew he hadn't imagined the scraping voice, as it surrounded him on all sides. The man looked at the ceiling, taking one large swallow before answering the conniving deity, "Isn't this enough?"

If the deity was showing themselves, something changed. The ball of nausea started clawing it's way up the advisor's throat. Wrath following closely behind.  Leila's soft lips on another's. Taehyung's hands wrapped in her hair. His fangs sinking into her skin.

"They didn't consummate the marriage child. Would you like to know what exactly what happened in that hall of mirrors? A hint, you won't like it one bit."

The god's scratchy, deep laugh filled the room in a horrifying manner.

Jimin's eyes pricked with moisture, his jaw clenching scornfully. He looked around the room, trying to find the bodiless creature. Wanting to throw all of his might and shadow at it, divine or not. It would not survive him.

The deity sighed in a condescending manner, "Ah Ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You are far too volatile, nightfall. I told you, the consummation was what I wanted before. I believed the prince of the eclipse would have killed her, as he lost control of his bloodlust. But I have watched, and peered, and seen he has too much control over the curse. Too much indeed. It has taken too long, and I am growing restless for what needs to be done."

Jimin cursed to himself, as the strange deity offered a compliment of restraint to the prince.

"So? You'll have me kill an innocent to do your bidding?"

"Oh, nightfall, don't pretend to care of such things. Sometimes I feel that void in your heart, and wonder if you care less than my family and I. You're different. Killing an innocent means nothing to you. You are afraid to kill the daughter of the moon." The deity commented surely, it's many voices warping.

Nightfall. A nickname the being had so lovingly bestowed upon him lately. It would surely drive him mad before its attempt at provocation.

The advisor clenched his hands, staring out into his rooms, "I am not afraid."

"Maybe not. But I can feel it, that hesitation. That want. Part of you wants her in your bed, the other wants her silver blood painted on your hands."

Jimin gritted his teeth, grabbing at the sides of his head. He willed a wall up so that the being would stop prying into his darkest thoughts. He thought anything. Of his envy for the prince. Of Leila.

Leila never smiling again.

He yelled out into the room, "No. I won't kill her."

The deity laughed again, the sound sewing its thread into his ears, "Don't be so sure. You agreed during our last outing in the woods."

The enraged man walked from the iron door, situating himself in the middle of the room. Turning to every corner, in an attempt to lock in on the god, "I changed my mind. She does not deserve to die at my hand. Let the curse take its natural course."

"She will never choose you. When you need her most, she will abandon you for the prince's bed. You will pine after her until you wither away. Their power will grow stronger together as yours will weaken. Your position at court will be all you achieve despite your destiny."

"So be it."

The deity paused, its tone dropping in mock sympathy, "She got rid of your marks."

Jimin's chest felt hollow, a coldness like the tundra swarmed him.

"What?" His voice sounded brittle. Feeble. Betrayed.

"Oh, yes. My child, as soon as you left that room. The prince licked away the wounds, as she moaned underneath him. All while he told her to forget your touch, your bite as he replaced it with his own. She begged for it."

(A/N: I promise this deity isn't there all the time, they are all-knowing and can conjure any information needed to manipulate. But they just dropped some DIVINE tea right here...)

She chose to erase me. A wound inside him a chasm, one that had been cut over and over again through the years. The final slash with her pretty hand.

A snake slithered in his gut, coiling. Rearing it's diamond shaped head, and mending its venom into his heart. Envy was a terrible thing. A powerful thing. An old vice that would never let him go. A thought that burned with the voice of the crackling deity, seeming to whisper it's mantra right into his ears.

She couldn't choose someone other than me if she was dead.

*******
Leila

Her dreams were strange that night. As if she were in someone else's body, seeing through someone else's eyes.

She felt the cold darkness of a cell. Seeping into every part of her, deep into her bones. A cold that wouldn't every truly leave. She lay on a bed, shivering. Holding the covers as close as she could to her chin.

Waiting. It would be any time now. Reluctant for the aid. But she wouldn't deny it.

She waited for what felt like a lifetime. As she slowly started losing feeling in her limbs. Her fingers, her toes only mere projections in her mind.

Then it happened. The warmth came in like a trickle.

A drop of water that slowly built to a river. It was a gold ray, shimmering light that mangled her senses. Buzzed in her brain like a soft lullaby. Caressed her until butterflies erupted in her stomach. A dizzying concoction of emotion she'd never admit to.

Fleeting the relief was. Guilty she felt taking it. But it was worth every minute.

Because now, now she could finally sleep.

•

Leila awoke from the strange dream disoriented. The images of last night flickering through her mind wildly. She hadn't had a chance to wake before heat flooded her cheeks, her body lifting on its own accord in panic.

She wasn't in her room. The bleed of dark blues and emeralds and night colors told her that. The moon shone brightly through the window, illuminating the dark velvet of the sheets she lay under. She scrambled, using her hands to check to see if her chest was bare. It wasn't. She wore a large linen shirt that fell over her wrists.

Leila swallowed harshly, pulse drumming a fretful tune. She was in the prince's room. Taehyung's. Which meant they slept in the same bed last night. After. After everything. He'd carried her here in her sleep, and not to her own room.

The prince...

Leila turned her head slowly, mechanically. Like a bear caught in a trap. Unsure of what she'd find. An angry prince? Even worse, a regretful one? She wasn't sure she could handle it. Telling her it was a mistake for a second time. She settled her heart, armored it. Reminding herself it was very possible he would say never again.

Her eyes found him, only a few inches away. And he was smiling. Really smiling.

He was bare chested, half covered by the heavy sheets. Lips and upper body dipped in silver from the light streaming through the window. The man rested his rustled head onto his hand, elbow carrying the weight onto the mattress. His eyes were lazy lidded, overjoyed. The look of satisfaction unable to leave him as he stared at her on his bed, waking up.

Leila felt her heart lurch, "I'm scared."

Taehyung's saccharine expression never faltered, "There's no reason to be."

The effortless, comforting way he said it was not lost on her. But she couldn't let it. They had decided yesterday to prevent deeper feelings, until they figured out the curse in its entirety. She realized now he was going to make their agreement very difficult for her. If not for his own pleasure, to torture her.

It was becoming strenuous to attempt to fill her body with the numb she'd been accustomed to most of her life. It's weakness directly tied to the fluttering pit in her stomach with every princely interaction.

"I've never seen you smile like that. Or be happy at all." Leila tried lifting the mood, shifting uncomfortably. The linen shirt she wore fell off of one shoulder, baring her skin.

His dark eyes traced along the naked spot, and then back to her eyes. Hungry this time. In a way he seldom showed before. His emotions shine brightly like the north star, pointing her towards him and leading her home.

"There was little reason to." Taehyung offered brazenly.

Leila stilled unable to pull away from his gaze. He always had such pretty words. Words she had never heard in real life, only printed upon pages with ink. Words men were too afraid to say.
She realized that's what she liked most about him. He was brave. Only afraid of her in the ways that mattered. He saw past the daughter of the moon, past Dimidium blood, past her power.

He saw Leila.

Leila swallowed her nervousness. The fear of the unknown, of waking up in another's bed for the first time. She searched his lips, his mind for what he did to her last night. Finding it in the curl of this mouth, of the smoke of his irises. Shifting her body towards him, she leaned down. His eyes questioning, but making no move to stop her. He wouldn't anymore. It was apparent in the open set of his brows, in the want that flashed through his expression.

She could barely believe it was for her. That he felt as she had. It felt like diving into the ocean and never returning to the surface.

"Can I-" Leila faltered, lifting her hand before his chest.

She didn't know how this worked. Stories usually after the conquest. Weaving a tale on how to find a lover, but not to stay one. Leila didn't want to do anything wrong, or strange. Or cross an even further line than they already had. She knew she wanted to feel him. That's all he'd done last night, and she wanted to trace the prince. Map him, now that every path was left untraversed. Touch him before she lost the courage to.

The man let his eyes fall shut, a slow deep breathing leaving him. She awaited his answer, worried for the second time since she awoke that he'd change his mind.

His voice came out deeper, gruffer, "You can do whatever you like. I owe you that much."

Her hands were unsteady as she made her first trail across his chest. From rounded shoulder bone, across the trapeze of collar bones, to the other side. His intake of breath of sharp, watching her face as she trailed across the soft flesh laden over lithe muscle. The give of hard and smooth made her weak, her stomach somersault.

He let her curious fingers trace along his flesh. Unmoving as she foraged him. Finding out every dip, every line, every possible scare. Even as goosebumps rose along his flesh, and his breath quickened.

"Taehyung, Aera was right." Leila said softly, breaking the silence. Pointer finger falling to his sternum, circling.

The prince's eyes that has glazed over, suddenly darkened with annoyed awareness, "Must you ruin this moment that I've been waiting for with talk of Aera?"

Leila calmed her heart at his admission. Knowing he was going to react this way, she slowed her movements. Making them more sultry, watching in sheer awe as he softened under her. Last night had not been a lie. An affliction. A simple misjudgment. He wanted her, and finally getting his reaction felt like a drug.

"The court. They will never accept us as we are. No one will believe I haven't seduced you, and will eventually manipulate you into killing me and breaking the curse. I know Garnett tried to kill me. Jeongguk made threats. You spoke of concerns with the other nobles, who saw you the night Jimin bit me and your reaction. If our affair is known, you will lose everything."

"I know." His answer was quiet, contemplative.

Leila pursued him, earnest, "We have to hide. Pretend. In front of their eyes, we will be as we were. Crueler. No hint of interest or affection or care in my direction. But we will have to explain our time spent together figuring out the curse. I will be given a more political role in the kingdom, a true princess, so they believe we are discussing matters of rulership. You will need to be terrible to me. Harsh. Unforgiving. Even more than you were before, because no one truly believed your act. We need everyone to believe it."

The prince shook his head, his stare intensely meeting her, "I can't. Even acting as I had before, dismissing you as unimportant to me was too much. How can I possibly do it to you now?"

Taehyung left the rest unsaid. How could they pretend now, when before they had struggled not to care. And failed so miserably. Leila gathered that it was acceptable to have a sexual affair. But if it seemed like the prince showed her interest past casual decency.

His heart had never been in it. How did she never notice before? How even the first night, his speak destroying her world seemed more like he wanted her to know the truth. How his uncaring facade broke the first time when he saw her almost kill herself with glass. The flash of fear and concern in his eyes, as he told her to never attempt it again.

But now things had changed. They'd crossed the point of no return, and the barrier he'd placed around himself from her cracked. The fortress that allowed him to do his duty, to keep her at a distance.

Though his hands were not washed of sordid deeds, they never wished to mark her. It was out of necessity. Of survival and her safety.

She now understood that flash of panic and mourning in his eyes as she suggested this plan. He hadn't wanted to be his father. To treat Leila as Sorina had been treated. Even now the pain of it showed clearly. The regret, the apology for things he hadn't even yet done to Leila.

The princess shifted closer, moving to his face tentatively. Wanting to try something she'd seen him do when he attempted to calm her. She cupped his face, palm edged with his hard jaw. The worry in his eyes softening as her thumbs grazed slowly across his skin. Heat gathering everywhere she touched, "We will know the truth. That's all that matters."

Even touching him was enough to stoke the fire within her. To imagine evoking the same reactions from him, as he had her.

The prince laughed easily, shaking his head slightly. Leila blushed, pulling away her touch. She hadn't meant for the thought to forge its way into his imagination, and she'd soon learn to control it if they were to continue with their dalliance. She wouldn't be able to stand her embarrassment, or the way his ego grew larger in size every time it happened.

He lifted his hand, his thumb brushing her bottom lip and slightly pulling, eyebrows furrowed with decidedness, "I'll be your sweetest enemy."

It was a promise. An agreement between the two Dimidiums. They would behave worse to each other in front of the court. Behind closed doors, he'd treat her as he had last night. Wholeheartedly.

A shiver ran down her spine, but she willed herself to focus on her tasks and not his touch that ran from her lips to play along her open collar bones, "In return, I want to request a few things."

The ink of his lashes dipped at the high points of his cheeks, as he bowed his head in fealty, "Anything. You can have anything you want. Ask, and I'll provide."

"I would like a seat on the council. I would like both Lily and Aera to be my associates, and also have a seat in the council. They offer perspectives men can't because women talk. I think it would be wise to consider."

"Of course."

"Really?" Leila's voice pitched higher in disbelief, finding herself when his fingers began to rim the collar of her dress.

Suddenly the room ran with the heat of Hades. Taehyung didn't seem to realize his chest had warmed to a soft golden light. It was beautiful, an opposite to her silver magic. She wondered if it resembled the sun, or if the man was the embodiment of its light. It turned the cold prince warm, Winter thawed to a soft summer and combatting the silver light from the nightfall outside. He is beautiful. As the light shone in the brilliance of his smiling face, and turned his black hair a deep merlot. Leila did not know what to make of him like this. The day to her moonlight, she finally saw her opposite in him. Radiant and everlasting.

Taehyung shrugged, his finger dipping below her collar cheekily as he made the movement, "I don't see why not. Since you've given up on my total ruination."

Leila had to train her face from shock, wondering if in the night someone had replaced the prince with magic. All she had ever heard from his mouth was no. To be given what she wanted so freely with him made for a dizzying effect.

It was Leila's turn to play coy as she bit her lip, her head falling to the side, "I didn't say I gave that up entirely."

The prince's gaze hardened in a way she would soon learn to anticipate rather than avoid, "Well, I can give you easier ways to do it than a knife through my chest. They involve your mouth."

The princess lifted a brow, despite her chest pumping wildly. He was too skilled at urging her thoughts south. They easily sent a thrill through her. And she hated how he barely looked winded by the thought. So perfectly poised, until he wasn't. Until all he could repeat was her name, over and over again.

Leila pretended to pout, secretly enjoying his taunt, "Hmm, but where is the fun in that?"

Taehyung's smirk grew devilish, "Loads of fun. Endless fun, really. But truly, are you sure you want Aera involved in it? The way she spoke to you was abhorrent. You've already heard enough from your sister-"

"She hears the things no one would dare speak to someone who cares for you. You've scorned her, but we need her on our side. Aera could become our best asset. And besides, maybe it will make one person at court feel less homicidal towards me."

"I don't know how likely that is, considering Garnett is her m-husband." The prince stumbled over the words, eyes flickering from hers covertly.

Leila recovered from the shocking information. Garnett? And Aera? She seemed to dislike him as he spoke ill of the dead servant girl the other day. They had barely interacted, other than to provoke Leila when she had discovered the body. She was more focused on the fact Taehyung attempted to divert from his usage of 'mate'.

Her face fell in disappointment, "I thought we said no lies? I know what a mate is now, thanks to Lily. But Aera is still enamored with you. And I saw her with Hoseok last month."

The prince watched her carefully, lips pursed in restrained question. He regarded her tentatively, searching to see just how much information she knew. She tried to hide her amusement, at knowing just exactly why he had been so flustered by Jimin biting her. Asking if he had done the same. She didn't hide it well, as Taehyung's expression fell flat. His tone sharp, "Well since you know so much about mating, you should recall that it is not like the fairytales. It only binds entirely if the mating pair truly want each other."

"No wonder why Garnett is murderous." Leila winced. She'd felt rejected when Taehyung didn't kiss her at their wedding, and she'd hated him then.

"Yes, he's never gotten over it. It's seen as shameful to be in an open relationship after that tie is made. It's why he doesn't have a single fucking thought before he does anything. He's got nothing to lose. His only intention is to wreak havoc for everyone else. Especially me, who is blamed for their fragile connection." Taehyung trailed of at the end, looking a bit remorseful.

It seemed he blamed himself too. As much as he hadn't wanted Aera, part of the reason he didn't want her around was because he felt guilty.

Leila paused, before questioning boldly, "Then why not kill him? Make an example of everyone who wishes to seek me harm. If I die, most likely people will starve. Don't they care?"

She expected the prince to scold her. Look at her with a bit of fear in his eyes, or disgust, as she suggested a ruthless but logical approach. She felt nothing when offering to end the life of Garnett.

No.

Instead, his veined hand continued its path to the part of her thigh uncovered by blankets or her nightgown. Circling until the skin pebbled. He looked at her with knowing, like he'd had very similar thoughts. And liked that her thoughts were as dark as his own. The prince had only given her mercy. It didn't mean he'd offer it freely to everyone else. They were not afraid of making the wrong choice to get what they wanted.

The man tsked, a smile line appearing on his statuesque cheek, "Because if I were to kill him, It'd cause an uproar. And then I'd have to kill many people. Worth it to save you, bad for my reign. Because I would simply be ejected from the throne and probably pulled apart by a bunch of angry fanged creatures."

His playful response and touches along her thigh were enough to make her lose concentration. Her voice took a lighter edge, a prying one. A lilt that wished for his hand to remain on her, "Was that your intention from the start? To save me? I suppose the 'I'm keeping you alive for a purpose' and 'I don't see you as a woman' was all apart of that façade you placed upon yourself?"

The man who seemed a dark angel, so much she was certain he would sprout raven wings, shifted towards her. His jaw was sharp as a cut gem, as he pressed a soft kiss to her knee. Her blood heated, as his warm mouth gently moved across her thigh. His fingers grazing along the inner part in a soothing motion. A way for him to apologize, because for him, sorry wouldn't ever be enough.

He looked up at her through sooty lashes, disparaged, his lips now reddened, "Yes, those were harsh, necessary lies. Very much so lies, if you couldn't tell that by now and the messy state your thighs have been left in. You're forgetting Leila, at the time I was also under the impression the curse was forcing you to want me."

Leila wanted to laugh. But she couldn't, oh she couldn't, as his delicate fingers wove patterns of lust onto her skin.

She understood now why they were necessary. Protective against her possible corruption. Keeping the court gossip from reaching a high, and ruling him incompetent. Preventing against the destruction of his own morals and virtues. From him accidentally losing control, killing her, and ending the curse.

Though all of these things could still happen. They just stopped feeling so frightened of the consequences, the pull between them too great. Their kiss. Their combustion last night.

And he thought it could've been one sided?

"Have you looked in a mirror recently? Excuses. Now, explain yourself." Leila deadpanned, barely able to meet his eye.

He knew he was beautiful. It was obvious, as he'd seen himself through her eyes. That's how she realized he'd figured it out after their saunter to the pool. She'd unknowingly sent a vision of her want of him, even after he'd left her vicinity, and the curse's. She fiddled with her fingers, his touch on her thigh pausing. Eventually the silence filled around them, and she was forced to scowl at the grating man.

The half naked man's smile was absolutely Cheshire, "My, my you have a way with words. Thank you for calling me handsome. Or what was it you said to Lily earlier in the night? Unfathomably gorgeous?"

Of course he was listening. Lily's screams of excitement probably lit the magical amplifier like a star in the sky.

Leila rolled her eyes, ignoring the way she blushed when she pushed at his bare chest in a teasing manner, "I feel very strong hatred for you again, and I said 'devastatingly gorgeous'. Now answers, please."

The man sobered instantly, a serious expression taking over the angled lines of his face, "Would you have ever hated me, if I told you that I didn't want you to die, because it was just a waste for you to? Why should you solely die for other people to suffer less? Even if my ease of life is connected to the curse it doesn't matter. One person shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves. And they shouldn't die needlessly so one of us can have the best drink of their lives. I made promises, I still have to do my duty and try to protect my people. But before I needed you think of me as ruthless, as uncaring so that stayed away from me. Because I sure as hell couldn't stay away from you."

Taehyung's gaze lingered on her, as if waiting for her to run from the bed. Fingers stretched near her body, clenching. Preventing himself from grabbing her if she wished to leave. To run from his fervor, his unchangeable resolve.

No, I would've never hated him. And even then, I had to force myself to.

She'd repeated the word 'enemy' over and over again until it became a flowered, beautiful thing.

Despite their circumstances, despite what the young prince had seen and what he was willing to do, deep down he was good. He was the only one who questioned her place in this world, who was willing to battle her fate. To question why she was the sacrifice, and everyone else be damned. If that word held any meaning at all in a world that was swarmed with black and white. They were the gray in between. The people forced to make decisions others could not fathom, while simultaneously judging.

She'd understood the harsh part of him. The cold prince who wouldn't spare her a glance. She'd wanted him then. And she'd want him when he made his appearance before the court now.

"And now?" She sounded too hopeful for her own ears.

The man's expression faltered, though his eyes remained fixated on the girl before him, "And now what?"

"You want me alive, for what reasons?"

Leila expected for him to roll his eyes, to avoid her at all costs. To jest that it was convenient. It was only meant to be a way to lighten the heaviness between them, a rhetorical amusement.

But the prince, had a brutal, soul-wrenching way of adverting all of her expectations.

Taehyung shifted from his place in bed, looking at her carefully. The sheet falling dangerously low as the moonlight grabbed at his waist, his shoulders. His dark eyes traced her, before moving in slowly.

Leila's lashes fluttered, her heart skipping a beat as Taehyung stopped inches before her. The heat of his body making hers tremble, and already she wanted to press herself into the smooth contours of his bronze chest. She should've known one touch would've never been enough.

He knew it too, as his breath quickened in pace. Eyes falling from her lips, back to her silver depths. Right before he almost close the gap between them, Leila pulled back in panic. Looking haphazardly around the room, the breath sucked out of her lungs.

Oh no.

"Ahmagh, where was that paper that you took from my scabbard?!"

The princess had been so distressed last night, she hadn't given a care whether she picked it up or not. And then she'd fallen asleep, taken from the room. Surely the prince hadn't thought to pick it up, he hadn't known it's importance.

It could be anywhere right now. With anyone.

She started to pant, looking at the prince's confused expression. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, as if trying to remember what she spoke of, "What paper?"

Her hands fisted into the sheets, feeling lightheaded as she tried to ground herself, "No, no no no! We needed that! It was-"

Her voice halted, staring blankly out into the open night from the prince's window. They needed that poem. If Taehyung's father died before he could explain the curse, they needed any clue they could find. Especially from the people who were living it.

Leila hadn't even noticed Taehyung rustle about. The tears had already started to brim her eyes, and blur her sight. Had barely reacted when his hand held a yellowed piece of crinkled parchment with cursive writing before her.

"Oh, wait. You mean this one?" The man pretended to question.

She didn't even care that he'd been messing with her. All she felt was a mountain of relief that he was intelligent enough to take it with him.

Leila let out a groan of relief, "Thank the gods!"

The princess reached out to grab the poem, when the prince pulled it away from her. Frustration flooded her body, as the man eyed her conspicuously. She moved her hand swiftly trying to grab it again, but he pulled it further away just as quick.

The prince of the eclipse shifted, his eyes charcoal in the light. Positioning himself so that he was laying flat on the bed, dips and lines across his stomach flexed. His tempestuous mouth curved at one side, holding the paper past the edge of the bed. 

"Come get it."

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(a/N: so I am moving Solace over to a word doc as I go, because I do eventually want to send this to publishers/editors and see if it will get picked up. With different names of course for most of the characters (Leila / Garnett is unchanged) this is realllyyyy far out tho so don't worry, it won't be taken off of wattpad any time soon.

The word count is over 150,000 already...and I don't know exactly how many chapters I need. Like literally how did I write that much I felt like I hadn't written enough and then I see that number....seriously how do most authors cram so much information in the average book I am amazed.

But ooooo I told y'all not to get too attached to Jimin...skskksk