Page 80 of This Prince Is Not Charming

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you kiss Liam Wolvern outside his bakery? I saw that, you know.”

I laughed. Of course he had. “Mostly to prove to myself that I didn’t have feelings for you because as a sixteen-year-old girl, that was scary.”

That was why I’d kissed many boys and men over the years, among other things. Like I had something to prove to myself.

“We got older, and I kept telling myself we were just friends. Then you started acting a little weird, more jumpy and tense around me, and I thought maybe you were going to confess your feelings for me.”

“The day I was crowned high prince?” he guessed.

My mouth dropped open. “So you were?”

“Yes,” he said, his smile disappearing. “Then that crown appeared over my head, and I knew I couldn’t tell you. That I couldn’t do that to you with your father in your care.”

I swallowed, a dose of reality hitting me. “We are going to have to talk about that. Figure it out.”

“I know,” he said. “And we will. I always thought it was impossible, that there was no point in trying, but now all I know is the only thing impossible is a life without you.”

The hallway came to an abrupt stop, the arrows trailing up the stone wall.

“Nothing can ever be easy,” Cillian murmured.

“The heart of the people,” I said. “I don’t understand.” What were these arrows trying to tell us?

I looked up, the arrows continuing their path on the ceiling, going back the exact way we’d come.

“I really don’t know.” Cillian pushed his fingers through his hair. “This doesn’t make sense.”

We walked back the way we came, defeat welling up inside me. We’d just finally admitted our feelings for each other and might have to spend the night apart, which would be pure torture.

“We have to figure this out,” Cillian said as we arrived back at the alcove, the statue of Fairwitch and her servant facing us. He must have been thinking the same thing. “You have to figure this out.”

All of a sudden I found myself pressed up against a wall, his erection pushing into my pelvis as he nuzzled my neck. “I have so many plans for you tonight, Cerriwen Morgane.”

“You mean a grumpy cat won’t suffice?”

He huffed out a quiet laugh. “Do not tease me right now.”

I turned my head and let him kiss me. This kiss was rough and hard and with a clear message: you are mine.

I pulled away, breathless and determined. “Okay.” I held him at arm’s length. “You stay there or I am never going to get any work done.”

He smiled mischievously. “That tempting, huh?”

I rolled my eyes and spun to face the statue. All the arrows led to this statue, to Fairwitch. The mighty godwitch had shorn hair, cut close to their head, and I knew from paintings they had ebony skin and golden eyes. Here, they gazed down at the servant kneeling at their feet, their hand caressing her cheek.

A good queen must find the heart of her people. Was Fairwitch our heart? My gaze traveled to the servant, her body thick and strong, her hair long, sweeping down past her shoulders, her gaze downward to her sandaled feet. I hoped one day the world would learn the truth of the Fair Folk. That they weren’t just some fun fairy tale told at bedtime and in school. That they were real and that they’d been created to be slaves. Whoever had carved this statue portrayed the faerie woman’s grief so palpably. Fairwitch’s gaze was hard and merciless. I followed the line of Fairwitch’s eyesight, realizing they weren’t looking directly at the faerie’s face, but something else . . .

I stepped closer and squinted at the faerie’s fist hanging at her side. In defeat. A glint of red peeked from between her fingers. I reached out and touched the faerie’s hand, cool stone and metal grazing my skin.

I gasped.

“What? Did you find something?” Cillian asked.

I reached into the small opening of her fist and drew out a long chain with a glittering red heart at the end of it.

“You must find the heart of the people,” I murmured, staring at it.

“Wow.” Cillian came up beside me. “You did it. You actually did it.” He whirled me around and crushed me to his body, and I laughed in disbelief, staring at the necklace dangling from my fingers.