Page 149 of XOXO

Cassandra was a human after all, one of the few who had been able to seek refuge from their war-tossed land over the wide sea. Her parents had come over to the kingdom in a rickety boat while her mother was heavily pregnant. They'd been seeking a better life and found it.

While many species of creatures lived happily and safely among them, the majority of the inhabitants—including the royal family—were ogres. She tried not to flinch when her new king stopped in front of her.

"Cassandra." Her name was a low whisper in his deep voice.

Her head raised with a smile plastered on her face and she had to swallow hard and bite her lip to stop herself from gasping. He was huge. She'd known when he left he was only a teenager but she hadn't prepared herself to be faced with this.

His broad shoulders were covered in the silk robes he'd worn to his coronation, but he stood three heads taller than her—at least.

"Y-your high–"

The grin on his face was welcoming, his curved tusks shined to a polished sheen and capped with gold ornaments. His white fangs shone against his moss green skin, making him look so handsome, Cassandra wasn't sure her shaky knees could hold her any longer.

"Please don't call me that," he said in a low voice, shaking his head, his long dark rope-like locs hanging neatly down his shoulder. "I'm just so glad to see a familiar face."

Her smile was tentative. "There are a lot of familiar faces here your high–"

"I'm just Max."

"I can't call you that, King Maximus." She bit her lip and he gave a playful flinch at her words.

"Max." He shrugged his huge, muscular shoulders at her. "Or I'll call you by your least favorite nickname." He leaned in closer, conspiratorially, and she caught a whiff of his heady, masculine scent. "Sandy Pandy."

A heated flush crept over her cheeks. She was grateful for her dark skin that hid at least some of it. "How did you even know that, your high–"

One regal eyebrow swung up in challenge.

"Max."

He nodded happily, but she still tried to argue.

"It's against protocol–"

"Shouldn't I be the one setting protocols around here?" He tsked at her, winking one dark glittering eye. Her breath caught at the intense look, but the small upward tilt of his lips implied his words were, at the core, a joke. He was just so intimidating and his mere presence had her heart fighting to escape her chest. The pressure his attention caused eased as he moved on to greet everyone else, leaving his demand and his scent in his wake.

Even as he left and they all dispersed, Cassandra stayed behind, staring after the sturdy oak double doors her new king had exited through.

This isn't good. This isn't good at all. You can't possibly have a crush on him, you twit.

Biting her bottom lip, she shook her head, dragging in a deep, shuddering breath before she hurried to the kitchens to make sure his dinner was being prepared properly. She skidded to a halt as she saw him sitting at the table there, laughing with the chef—an old female ogre who had given the children of the castle a free-run of the kitchens, teaching Cassandra how to cook and bake traditional ogre-centric dishes that not many knew about. Vivian didn't like to share her knowledge, but had softened that first day when Cassandra had walked up and tugged on her apron, bold as you please, asking her what she was making.

When Max's eyes turned her way, the glint that she saw there wasn't something she was familiar with. It made something shift inside her—something that felt overly feminine and flirty. Something that she should squash before she forgot her place.

"My king–"

He sighed, shaking his head and turning to look at Vivian—the chef—sadly. "She doesn't seem to be able to follow orders, Viv. Keeps calling me by these atrocious formal monikers. What do you think we should do with her?"

"Boil her for soup, I think. Those bones don't have enough meat on them for anything else."

They both laughed raucously, while Cassandra shook her head at them.

"You're supposed to be getting ready for a formal dinner, your high–" She paused, reconsidering as they both pursed their lips at her. "Max."

With a satisfied nod, the king leaned back in his chair. "I know. Can we cancel it?"

His deep sigh sounded so put out that Cassandra actually scrambled in her head to figure a way out of it before bowing her head sadly.

"I'm sorry. This isn't for you so much as it's for–"

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