Page 82 of Enchanted Kingdom
I put my arms out. “How am I not, Keir? And you know what gets me the most? Is that it was on the balcony, the place you always take me, and no one could see you kissing her there.”
“My father had just walked by,” he said calmly.
I put a hand in the air. “Fantastic. Great. Bravo.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you saw it. I’m sorry I cannot date just one of you.”
I was so frustrated I couldn’t even cry. I couldn’t even let the tears fall. “And if I was kissing Will and also you, how wouldyoufeel?”
He didn’t answer for a moment. He just stood there. “I’d be angry. And likely to want to break his nose.”
I looked to the stars. “Yet I am expected to just stand there and watch you kiss all these other women? While you plot and scheme and I wait and wonder if I am not getting schemed myself?”
He pulled at his hair. “I don’t want you to be my dirty little secret, Jorah! I want you safe. And if you have to leave in order to accomplish that, I will do it.” He paused, his voice going softer. “And if you don’t want to be at my side at the end of this, I also have to have a contingency plan here.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. “I knew you were getting to know the others. I had no false notions about that, Keir. But seeing you kissing someone else... I don’t feel respected. At all.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Jorah. I messed up.”
“You told me—” I paused, my tears threatening to take over my body now. “You told me you’d earn my trust. But I don’t know how I can trust you when I know you are kissing other women, Keir.”
He sighed. “And I don’t know what to do. I can’t just send everyone home.”
I shook my head aggressively. “I don’t expect you to.” I looked at my feet as another tear dripped down my face. “I just thought what we have meant something. Maybe more than it actually does.”
“It does mean something,” he said, again stepping forward. “It does.”
I sniffed and looked him in the eyes. “So let me get this straight. You are going to keep flirting and kissing the others, and I’m just supposed to sit here and wait and hope it’s worth it in the end?”
“I’m going to mess up. I don’t know how to do this, Jorah. I have no idea what I am doing or how to keep my father away from us.” He paused. “I don’t know how to doanyof this! I just know that after the day is said and done and I’ve seen you all, your room is the only one I’m racing to.”
I wiped at my eyes.
“Can we please go in your room at least, so you aren’t so cold?” he asked gently.
“I just want to sleep,” I told him. “I’ve been struggling lately. I finally felt okay again, just to find out this. I’m over this day and this entire week for that matter. I’ve been worried sick about you all week while you’ve been getting cozy with Delaney.”
He let out a long sigh. “I hate myself right now. Particularly for being the reason for your tears. And for also being the jackass that doesn’t deserve to wipe them away.”
I hated that he had a point in that if he wasn’t kissing any of us it would’ve been suspicious. It didn’t excuse it, it just emphasized how much of a messed-up situation we were in. And it made me dig deeper about these growing feelings for him. At the end of all this, being constantly hurt and ignored throughout it, would I ever be able to trust him? The longer this went, the more he would develop real feelings for some of the other women. As much as I joked about this being a harem, by the end, it probably could become one.
“I’ll go,” he said gently. “Please look at me and then I’ll go.”
My eyes found his.
“I care about you. I care about you a lot. I don’t know how to fix this, but please know I want to.”
As soon as I heard the bookshelf close, I sat on the balcony floor, still in my dress, and wept.
CHAPTER25
The next day was unbearably long. I alternated between walking around wondering why I was still there and feeling a touch bad for being so hard on Keir.
We were in an impossible situation. He was supposed to kiss and date thirty women at once. I was without magic, had Iron Will, and was no longer safe no matter where I was. Would Keir even choose love over strategy when it came to picking the possible future queen? Could the love of a lifetime truly bloom from such extreme conditions?
By the time I made it to the evening dinner, I was feeling exhausted. All the lack of sleeping had finally caught up to me. I just wanted to sleep for three days straight. Without having to don an extravagant gown and go to these wretched dinners.
“Back to pink,” I chirped to Gwen in the ballroom once we both arrived.
