Royally F**cked

V: Quīnque

"Why." The Prince demanded, the sun filtering through the window cascading shadows across his face. He looked like an angel. The perfect image of royalty. But the sinful twist of his lips said otherwise. His eyes beckoned danger. Lavinia licked her dry lips.

"Why what?" She snapped, playing dumb. Maybe if she was sarcastic enough, he would leave and she could focus on something else other than how the sun hit his eyes just so, replicating the shine of tiny gems. Her hazel eyes scanned him head to toe sceptically. The man had ignored her existence all week, she highly doubted he had a change of mind now.

Icy blue eyes remained unphased, as they stared her down. He was going to make her speak first. Typical. "Okay, I helped because it wasn't right. They were bullies. End of. Now can I get back to what I was doing? Since you clearly don't want any help, I'd like to get back to work-" Lavinia huffed, turning on her heels to head back to the laundry room.

Her cheek was still throbbing from where she'd been slapped, she spent a week trying and failing at her own job, her mother was gone and she just wanted to move on. And if the Prince of Vespertine wanted to get in the way, well, she simply wouldn't let him. Lavinia went to move forward but was halted on the spot as a cold hand clamped down on her wrist.

It set her off balance, for a moment she tilted as if about fall, but the hand pulled her back. Stabilising her. Lavinia looked back at the Prince and bit back an annoyed groan. She tugged her arm a little, to shake him off, but his grip was strong and unrelenting.

"What do you want?" Lavinia demanded. Had anyone else been in the corridor with them, she'd have been hung for the disrespect shown to royalty. But she couldn't care less at the moment.

"Why are you here?" Delvin retorted. She tugged her arm again, but got nowhere. So frustrated she turned to face him, pulling the laundry pile closer to her chest defensively.

"Didn't I just tell you?"

"Why are you here?" He empathised. All of a sudden, the emotions she'd been bottling up bubbled to the surface. She looked at the floor, blinking back tears. God, why couldn't the Prince just leave well enough alone. Despite the annoyance, she couldn't help the words that flowed out of her mouth.

"Because I need to pay back my debt and rent for my family's farm. My mothers gone and i-" Lavinia cut herself off, shaking her head. Black tendrils of hair, falling in front of her face "There. That's all. Are you happy now?"

With one final yank of her arm, the Prince let go. His entire demeanour seemed to shift, as he looked up at her through pale eyelashes. Lavinia gulped.

"Come with me." He ordered, and unable to refuse the orders of a Royal followed suit. He led them to a secluded room, opening the large double doors to reveal a small library-like room. Books stacked the walls from the floor to the elegantly painted ceiling. Two large emerald chairs were situated in the middle. She was almost envious. Lavinia would kill to have a library like this in her cottage.

Prince Delvin gestured for her to sit. So she did, still clutching tightly onto the laundry pile. He sat adjacent from her, smirking. Oh, how Lavinia wanted to wipe that self assured smile from his mouth. With a wave of his hand, a locking sound echoed throughout the room.

"What was that?" Lavinia asked, looking around for the source of the noise. Delvin chuckled so lightly, she could barely hear.

"Just a simple noise cancelling spell. No one outside of this room can hear us now. Oh, and the door is locked, so don't try to escape." He warned. It was frightening, just how easily the Prince could wield magic like that. It made her wonder what else he was capable of. What else his hands could do. Lavinia gulped.