199 Have You Found The Answers?
Under the burden of Draven’s intense gaze, the poor girl continued to button his shirt, and as she finally reached the third button–
“Have you thought of the answers to the questions I gave you?”
–Draven said something to tip the fragile balance maintained by her highly-sensitive nerves.
Hearing his dignified voice ask that, her already unsteady hand shook so much, that she could barely hold the button.
‘Ahh! Why is he bringing that up now? I’m recalling things I don’t want to remember!’
Ember stopped what she was doing with an awkward face. She didn’t want to answer him and fervently wished for Erlos to return so she could run away from this man.
Her mate had made her flustered to the point she forgot her original purpose for coming–that she was here to apologize to him for what happened between her and Morpheus.
“Have you?”
With his gaze staring at her fidgeting form, he asked again, knowing she had completely understood the reason behind his questions.
“I…I have, Your Majesty…”
Though he would have preferred if she raised her head, Ember kept her head down, and thus he was unable to see her expression. However, he caught the shaking of her hands still holding onto his shirt.
“What did you find?” he continued to prod, but that only made her feel more embarrassed. She didn’t want to think about those answers as shameful images were flooding her mind, prompted not only by the intimacy she had with Draven, but also by the vivid wild images portrayed from reading those human romance books.
“C-Can I not say it?” she asked in a small, hopeful voice.
Draven didn’t understand why she was trying to dodge the issue. “Is there something to not talk about?”
“…It’s embarrassing,” Ember admitted, but this only made Draven frown.
“Then how would I know if you understood or not? I already told you we can’t consummate our bond unless you know what you want.”
Draven felt a strange uncomfortable sensation at her hesitation. He really could not understand why she was like this, unless…
“Don’t you want to complete our bond?”
For some odd reason, Ember felt something hot brimming at the corners of her eyes. But she hurried to blink back the tears threatening to spill. She didn’t want to cry.
Still, she was conflicted whether she should say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to his question.
Before, she had naively said she wanted to consummate the bond, but at that time, she didn’t know what it exactly meant, but now as she knows, she could not help but hesitate. Embarrassed? Yes, she was, but it was more complicated than that. She was nervous and unprepared and scared, but also curious and somewhat eager to give in to what her body was demanding.
Was it wrong to feel conflicted?
The consequences of saying ‘yes’ were frightening, but saying ‘no’ meant she would be a bad mate and Draven would suffer the pain that she’s trying to prevent in the first place.
She took in a deep breath and let the air out through her mouth.
“Your Majesty, I…” She stopped and decided to not answer. She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Isn’t it enough that I understood?”
For the first time, Draven felt speechless in front of her. He was urging her because he was worried about her naivety and ignorance, but if she truly understood what it meant to consummate, then she was correct– it was unnecessary for her to answer him.
Hearing her response, Draven felt that strange stuffy sensation inside his chest disappears. He wished to respect her refusal. However, a small part of him was disappointed. He had been looking forward to knowing her answers, as it was another way of getting closer to her.
“As long as you understand and won’t be shocked three days from now,” he said, gazing deeply into her beautiful eyes. “You do know what is the night of the full moon, right?”
Both were so close to each other, with her hands still holding onto his shirt, but it didn’t matter as they felt like the world around them had become silent.
She nodded, still looking at him. “I know, Your Majesty.”
“Have you decided what you want on that night?” he asked.
She lowered her gaze once more, her reply sounding reluctant, “I am not sure but…”
Draven could see she was not ready to accept it yet and didn’t pester her more. He changed the topic.
“Were you waiting for me last night?”
“Y-Yes, I was. I apologize for intruding, uhm…”
Since she no longer had to answer him on that sensitive issue, she let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding and resumed buttoning his shirt. The conflicted thoughts and her emotions made her forget about the scent, but now that she was normal once again, it started to affect her and she decided to finish buttoning the shirt fast.
“Why?” he asked as she saw her resuming her work.
She felt hesitant but she was sure she won’t be at peace unless she says it. “I wanted to apologize for what I and Morpheus did.”
His eyes darkened a little and the muscles on his jaw tightened, but the sight of his naive mate asking for forgiveness made him pull back and swallow his anger. It was enraging to think that some other male had touched what was his, and he felt like he could just turn this entire world upside down in his fury.
Seeing his lack of response, Ember felt more guilty and was prepared to apologize properly. She’s even prepared to be punished if that could help Draven forgive her.
But as she lifted her gaze, for a split second, she thought his eyes looked darker, but then they were their normal shade of red. She wondered if the lights were playing tricks on her.
While his mate was staring at his eyes, those eyes were in turn stuck at her delicate lips–that sweet temptation that she used to kiss another male.
Every inch of her only belonged to him and only he should claim it!
“Your Majesty, I apolo–“
The rest of her sentence was stuck in her throat as the next moment, Draven kissed her. It was not a gentle one, but a rough punishing kiss, as if he wished to lay claim on her and swallow her whole. Though he had managed to suppress his anger from showing on his face, his actions brought it out.