Chapter 10: One Kiss
Kohl
She kissed me and I couldn’t believe it. Kisses weren’t supposed to be this mind altering. Her lips had left a thirst I didn’t even know I had. She pulled away first and the onslaught of what a terrible idea this was started to seep into my thoughts.
“Thank you.” she whispered again. “You’ve made this an unforgettable birthday.” Her voice was low and sultry. I didn’t want to pull away from her grasp. I kissed her again. I slid the cake onto a nearby nightstand and kissed her more fervently landing on her bed. She wrapped her arms around my neck as I slid my hands through her soft hair. Her lips were something I didn’t want to get enough of and she seemed just as eager as me.
“Kohl, stay here tonight.” She whispered against my mouth. She snapped me out of the moment just like that. I pulled away. All the bad crashing on me with her words.
“Listen, Jayde.” I said standing up and getting away from her bed. “We can’t do this.” I looked at her perfectly blushed cheeks and the tousle of her hair. She looked like the sweet temptress she had been in Brazil.
“Why not I thought I was supposed to fall in love with one of you?” She said it like it was the most logical thing in the world.
“You’ve dealt with a lot today and I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“But you’re not. I want you.” She said touching my arms again. It was hard not to give this beautiful girl what she wanted, frankly I wanted it too but, I had to stay levelheaded, I had to put the kingdom first and doing this with Jayde was not in the kingdom’s best interests.
“I understand that, but you have to give Sy a fair shot.” She was pouting now.
“Does it even matter when all I want to do is be with you?” She said it and quickly turned. She couldn’t mean that we had just met. People didn’t fall that fast, it just wasn’t possible.
“Jayde,” I said touching her shoulders, “Your emotions are all over the place, give your brain a chance to catch up with the rest of you. A good leader not only thinks with their heart, but with their brain.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” She said turning around to face me again, not as pouty anymore and a little more pragmatic. The rosiness of her cheeks were leaving and her big green eyes locked on me.
“Jayde, I have a kingdom to run. How would it look if I spent a night in your room? I don’t like Sy, but I do want this to go as fairly as possible. I don’t want there to be a question to who is in power in Encante at the end of all this. So as much as I’d like to kiss you again or whatever, I can’t.” I forced myself to stand up. “I’ll put your cake in your kitchen for you. I hope you enjoy it.” I lifted the cake and headed towards the door. I had to focus I couldn’t turn back around and look into those hurt green eyes, covered with rumpled brown curls framing her creamy skin. I couldn’t even think about the soft silken top she was wearing. I bolted out of her room like the devil was on my heels.
She was making it so damn hard to stay away and think rationally.
I headed back to my private quarters hoping to get my mind off of Jayde as she was monopolizing my thoughts. I could barely pay attention during the meeting when I’d see her cross her legs or flip her hair behind her shoulder casually. She drew nearly all the meetings’ attention with nothing more than an intake of breath.
I walked into my living room and Philip was waiting. He was sitting in my reading chair. A leather armchair with a tall lamp that stood beside it.
“Philip, it’s late shouldn’t you be sleeping?”
“I just wanted to inform you that Sy agreed to meeting Lady Jayde first thing Tuesday morning.”
“Thanks, is that it?”
“I was just curious if you were planning on a coronation for Lady Jayde?” I froze, I hadn’t even thought of that.
“Just in case she takes her time with this marriage decision. She is still legally entitled to rule along side of you in Encante-North.” He said with a knowing smile. He wanted her to drag out her decision and eventually fall for me.
“Great idea, talk to Isadora about starting the preparations tomorrow and I will ask Lady Jayde about a suitable time for the ball.”
“Will you be inviting Sy to the festivities?” Philip asked cautiously.
“Personally, no, but it is Jayde’s party and she can do as she pleases.” I said trying to forget about the girl I had left a few minutes ago. He was making it pretty impossible.
“I have some more matters to discuss, but they can wait until morning, your majesty.”
“Thank you, Philip.”
“Uh one more thing, sir.” Philip said and then took a deep breath like he was trying to muster up all his courage.
“Yes, Philip.”
“Do you think she will fall for you?”
I thought back to what had just happened in her bedroom to everything else we had shared in the last few days.
“I don’t know. Is it selfish to say I hope so?”
Philip nodded in understanding. I had known him and trusted him for the last four years. He was the closest thing I had to a friend. He understood what I meant without questioning me.
“She’s much prettier than I thought she would be.” Philip noted still pressing for more information.
“Apparently all of the advisors feel the same way.” I said not even hiding the smile that came to mind when I thought of all the middle aged men and how they literally gawked at Jayde the whole meeting. “I think Burton was trying to step on royal territory.” I said thinking back to what Jayde had told me about their interaction.
“It would be understandable.” Philip said thinking about how that meeting must have been. “Good night, sir.” Philip said and finally left leaving me alone with my own thoughts. Unfortunately for me all my thoughts kept centering around the green-eyed temptress I left only a few minutes before. I poured myself a strong drink. I needed to forget about her. I had more important things to worry about like what Sy was going to do to trick Jayde into loving him.
He was a master manipulator. This wouldn’t be the first time Sy tricked people into his cause. He did it every day recruiting people to join his losing war. Yet, they fought to the end taking every word Sy had said to heart. Sometimes I really thought he just hexed everyone into doing what he wanted, but how could he hex such large masses? I shook the thoughts out of my head. I had lost countless nights of sleep thinking about how Sy did the things he did. I couldn’t figure it out.
My thoughts quickly strayed back to Jayde. It was going to be a long night.
Jayde
He left, correction, he ran from me. What had I done? Sure, he was a king but this was his mansion. Would people talk if he left my room in the morning instead of his own? I guess, but he wanted me I could tell. Why was he denying it? We both wanted the same thing. I would end the war tomorrow if he just showed me he was really interested. Where had that thought come from? I was eighteen did I really want to be married to a guy I barely knew? Kohl was special though. Not only was he a king, but he was smart, funny, handsome, honest, and had left me breathless from one kiss. No one had affected me like that from one kiss.
I was losing my mind! In one day I had gone from completely enamored with Kohl, to not trusting him, to almost hating him, to utter confusion, to friendship, to love? Could one kiss tell you if you were in love? It sure felt that way, but maybe I just needed to get my hormones in check. I wasn’t proud to admit it, but I had kissed a lot of guys. Why was Kohl the one that invaded my mind with just a look? Did he have some kind of power over me that he didn’t mention?
I couldn’t sleep so I stared blankly into the darkness. Kohl still not leaving my thoughts, but I did have to think of other things. He didn’t want to jeopardize his chances of becoming the sole king of Encante and I didn’t want to either. Kohl would make a great king. He is a great king. If he wanted me to give Sy a chance I would, yet I doubted I’d be as torn up about my decision as Kohl thought
I would be. From what I had heard about Sy, he seemed like a big bully like his dad. If he was anything like Antonio and Arthur, the giant, there was no possible way our interaction would be earth shattering. Why would he think I would forgive a man who’s father killed my parents? There was no chance, no matter how charming Sy was that I would forget that. I was already jaded but no one needed to know that.
I tossed and turned some more and eventually fell into an uncomfortable sleep. I woke the next morning to Isadora knocking on my bedroom door.
“I’m sorry Lady Jayde. The king wanted to know if you would be going to the formal breakfast?”
“When is breakfast?” I asked trying to hide a yawn, I couldn’t suppress.
“Nine.”
“What time is it now?”
“Eight.”
“Yes, I’ll go. Let me just shower.” I groaned rolling out of bed and pulling on my robe.
“I’ll inform Philip and return to do your makeup and hair.” She said with a gracious smile.
“Thank you, Isadora.” I said and went into my private bathroom.
I came out to find an outfit already laid out for me. Isadora’s taste was unwavering. She had pulled out a navy dress that fell right below the knee. It had a thin white belt and a few white embellishments. She had pulled out some low heels to match perfectly. I didn’t know if I would get used to dressing so formally so often but I sure did like what I got to wear. I dressed and Isadora without another word was on a mission to style my usually untamable hair.
A half hour later, I was ready and heading to the main dining room hoping Kohl would be there early. I was right.
“Great, you’re both here.”
“Jay—Lady Jayde, Philip brought to my attention that since you are here we should start discussing a coronation and ball.”
“Coronation? As in make me queen?” I squeaked in surprise.
Kohl smiled making my heart flutter a little. “Like I told you yesterday this is your kingdom as much as it is mine. This isn’t to pressure you this is to show you that you can take as long as you need to abide by the guidelines.”
There he was showing me how caring he was. That had to mean something. Maybe he really did care or I was reading too much into his actions.
“So Isadora, can you manage organizing a coronation ball with Lady Jayde?” Isadora seemed beyond pleased to have the assignment.
“Lady Jayde, when would you like to be coronated?” Kohl said the devilish smile devastating my insides.
“I think we might want to wait a month or so just so I can get settled and get organized.”
“Well Isadora, you can start planning maybe, decide what the chefs should cook, an outfit for Lady Jayde, decorations, an approximate guest list, flowers, etcetera.” Kohl said and she excitedly scampered off.
Kohl smiled warmly and we walked towards the breakfast table. He pulled out my chair for me and then seated himself at the head of the table. Davis came and poured us glasses of orange juice. He quickly left after that finally leaving Kohl and I alone.
“So what is on the agenda today?” Kohl looked at me questioningly for a moment.
“I have a few meetings today mostly boring stuff. Around two, I was hoping to have a public appearance introducing you to the rest of Encante-North. The meetings you don’t have to attend unless you’d like to, I might actually get more done if you aren’t there.” He said a hint of a smile there.
“Am I distraction?” I teased hoping he’d finally tell me how he felt or at least give a girl a clue.
“Well it appears the advisors aren’t accustomed to having a girl in the room.” Oh, he was talking about them. I deflated a bit.
“Well they will just have to get used to it. I will be queen after all.”
“That’s very true.” He said not even bothering to hide the smile on his face. “I brought you something by the way.” Again my hopes raising with the simple sentence. “I had promised to show you some of the albums with your family.” He placed two massive leather bound books on the table. “I figured these would be of the most interest to you. They are your father growing up, your parents’ marriage, your birth, and your early childhood.” I nodded trying to make a new rise of tears go away. I was not going to make crying in the dining room a regular occurrence.
“Thanks, Kohl.” He nodded trying to ignore the struggle I was losing with my emotions.
“I have some time after breakfast if you want me to go through it with you.” I nodded.
“I’d like that.” I said taking deep breathes to stop from crying.