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“Oh, I want to tell you,” he said, his expression melting into one of heated interest. “But I’m positive I’ll get myself in trouble if I do.”
“Who’s to know you said anything?” I arched a brow.
Chuckling, he reached out, brushing apple juice from my lower lip with his thumb. “If you can keep a secret…”
I fluttered my lashes. “Of course. You know we are adept at doing so.”
He leaned closer, the crispness of his scent all wrong, his hooding eyes upon my mouth. “We hope within a month, but more than likely, it’ll be a little longer.”
“A month?” I nearly choked, lowering my voice to a whispering hiss. “Anything could happen in that time.”
“We are calling for reinforcements from all over this side of the world, Princess. That and training them all once they arrive, well, it takes time. It’s quicker than waiting, hoping, that one of the neighboring human realms across the sea might merely come to our aid.”
No one would come. We were a land of myth and legend and death.
Gold was necessary—the only way.
Turning my eyes to the garden, I clenched my teeth, focused on the marigolds. He was right, and still, it hollowed something within me to think of all the horrors that could unspool from the shadows during that time.
“Opal.” Warm, smooth fingers grasped my chin, shifting my face back toward his. “We will defeat him, this I vow,” the prince whispered vehemently, then stole my lips.