Nazreen

Chapter Seven

Why am I here?

How did she honestly expect him to answer that?He'd gotten lucky, feeding her a load of bullshit that she seemed to buy.

Why did he really bring her here? He knew it'd make things harder. I crave a challenge.

Sure. But it wasn't that.

He had a rough idea of why he'd done it.

When he'd seen her laying down like that in the bed, leaving such a beauty to fend for herself in such a horrible place seemed like a tragedy. Like an injustice on his part.

And damnit, she'd be the face of his dreams and nightmares. His fingers tingled for another wank.

Sure, there were the life-insurance benefits. But Emilio wouldn't pretend he'd been selfless.

To her, he would. But honesty with himself was fundamental.

Self-awareness kept him at the top of his game. And true, losing interest in basic necessity was his talent, but sex had never been all that basic.

They walked for hours in a tense silence before Emilio had them stop. With a natural water source nearby, this was the best place. They'd need to make a fire before the sun went down, so there was no use in going much further.

Dumping his stuff down by the roots of a nearby tree, Emilio took a moment to watch the Princess thrown completely out of her element.

She stumbled over to the lake, kneeling down at its side. She flinched back at the sight of her reflection.

Emilio tried not to smirk.

He'd been listening to her pant all morning, but she was too prideful- or afraid- to ask him to slow down. He'd done it at one point of his own accord, but then she'd sped up as if to tell him that she wasn't weak.

Emilio decided she was stronger than she gave herself credit for. He had to give it to her. She hadn't broken yet.

The only weakness is failure.

Masters like Emilio never failed.

This situation had to be a lot for her to handle. But damnit, if that stubborn, silent strength didn't attract him to her all the more.

Just one kiss. He'd tongue that stubbornness straight out of her.

The vampire Princess had it written all over her. A good fuck would have her melting for him.

"We'll make camp here for the night," He said.

She still looked hesitant to speak, but she was getting better at it. "The sun's still up."

"I know. We need the sun to start a fire. Do you know anything about starting a fire?"

She bit her tongue, nervous to confess anything to him, but then she shook her head.

"Do you want me to show you how?"

Truthfully, he wasn't going to give her a choice, but at least there was a fifty-fifty chance of her feeling like she had one.

"Okay."

He talked her through the process, noticing that she was eager to take on whatever she could. Eager to learn. To get better and improve. A quality he wished his bratty sister would have.

By the time the sun set, a fire was roasting between the two of them. he grabbed some supplies from his bag, grimacing when he figured how they'd probably go down.

Even if she didn't vocalise it, the Princess wasn't going to like this.

"This is going to be a far cry from the castles you're used to Princess, and I know it's not fair, but we're going to have to use this rope for tonight."