Page 108 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Kassein eyes, no.”
“You want me to close them. Close,” he repeated, closing his eyes before opening them again to show her. “Open eyes. Closed eyes.”
“Yes. Kassein close green eyes.”
He smiled and obeyed.
A part of him felt ridiculously excited about being able to understand her, although their exchange was childish. With his eyes closed, he was even more aware of her fingers going around his jawline, touching his chin, and the blade that slowly but steadily grazed his skin.
The truth was, it didn’t matter if she just went ahead and cut him, but he enjoyed how slow the process was and how careful she was not to hurt him. The only thing was that he couldn’t talk, so for a while, they both fell silent while she shaved him, the only sounds being the blade and the water when she rinsed it.
After a while, when he was pretty sure she’d shaved it all, he heard her rinse the dagger, get up, and then quickly come back to wipe his chin and cheeks. For some reason, he kept his eyesclosed like an obedient boy, until he felt her lips on his cheek. It had been brief, but his eyes jerked open to find her blushing.
“Kassein cheeks no beard,” she said.
“No beard,” he repeated. “...You like it? Alezya like it?”
She frowned, having not learned the words yet. He grabbed her hands and sprawled them on his cheeks.
“No beard,” he said. “Do you like it?”
“Like?”
“Yes. Like,” he said, trying to think how to bring the meaning across to her. “Alezya likes meat, Kein likes meat. Kein likes Alezya. Kiera likes... daggers. Kiera likes Lorey. Lorey likes Kiera.”
He could see that cute frown on her face, but was she confused or trying to work it out?
“Alezya likes no beard,” he said, making her touch his freshly shaved cheeks again.
“Alezya likes no beard,” she nodded. “Likes Kassein no beard. Alezya... likes Kassein.”
His heart stopped for a split second before it exploded in his chest. He swallowed something hard in his throat, and then, brought her fingers to his lips.
“You like me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Kassein... I like.”
He smiled against her palm and kissed it softly.
“Kassein likes Alezya too,” he whispered.
She blushed.
The truth was, he liked her a lot more than his dragon liked meat, but they had yet to get to that part. Although, from the way her cheeks had turned an adorable shade of crimson, she knew it too.
After a beat, he put his hands around her waist, bringing Alezya a lot closer until she straddled his spread-out leg, on her knees and with her face above his, her hair falling around themlike a curtain of black silk. Their breathing deepened, and while one of her hands steadied herself on his shoulder, the other moved from his cheek to his lips, her index finger tracing his bottom lip.
“Lips,” he whispered.
“Lips?”
He gently took her hand and pressed a kiss against her fingers.
“Mouth,” he said, before placing her fingertip on his lip again. “Lip.”
Alezya drew in a breath, and slowly, came down to press a kiss on his lips.
“Mouth?” she whispered.
