The Mortal Queen | The Cruel Prince / Wicked King Fanfic

Six

Cardan

My eyes glance down at her mouth, and then back to her eyes. I can tell she wants to say so many rotten things to me, but she doesn't pull away yet.

"Truce." She states. "You choose now of all times to call truce?" She laughs quietly. "I can't wait to hear this." She pulls back slightly to look at me.

"First, Jude, I don't think we should continue this discussion here." I say, looking around at the crowded parking lot.

"What— are you afraid these mere mortals will hear all your deepest secrets and then steal your kingdom out from under you?"

"Our kingdom." I correct her. She's glaring at me now. "And, yes. Anyone could be spying on us here. Is there somewhere we can go that's a little more private? And please, somewhere we can get something to eat?"

Jude takes a breath and looks around.

"Fine. Yeah, I know a place." She stands up and looks over at The Roach, who is sitting on the ground against a tree, then looks back to me.
"It's not far from here." She says and starts walking.

I motion for Roach to get up and follow us.

"You two go ahead. I'm going to wander around on my own for a while. I'll be close by to keep an eye on things, and I'll meet you back here."

I look over at Jude, who is currently glaring at Roach, then she catches me looking at her, and starts walking again. Quickly. I almost have to run to catch up to her.

"So, where are we going?" I ask her, trying to get her to talk to me as we turn onto the road and head down the hill.

"Just this quiet little place I stop at sometimes." She says without looking at me.

Before I can think of something else to say, she says, "It's early still, so they'll just be opening now. It won't be busy on a Tuesday."

"Oh. Well alright then."

We keep walking in silence. The sun is shining on my face, and I can still smell the ocean breeze. Jude is walking ahead of me, making it a point that she isn't interested in talking.

Her hair is pulled back and is a lot longer than I remember, hitting the middle of her back as it sways with the motion of her walking.

I can't help myself as I let my eyes wander further down her body, and it's obvious she's been keeping herself busy. I can see how strong she is. I know her body well enough to recognize the changes, and I am going to allow myself to appreciate those changes, even if I'm smiling like an idiot. I don't even care.

Jude turns around just then, and I snap out of my daze, hoping she didn't notice me staring at her backside. Maybe I do care.

"Hurry up, we're almost there." I've slowed down enough for her to notice she'd gotten pretty far ahead of me.

I pick up my pace and catch up enough to walk beside her. I'm surprised when she doesn't rush ahead of me again.

We turn left onto a sidewalk and walk for another two blocks before we arrive at a little run-down shack-looking place. I stop walking.

"This is it?" I ask flatly as Jude walks ahead of me. She didn't notice I'd stopped right away, but she turns around and sees the look on my face.

Smirking, she says: "Relax. This is the best food you're going to get here. No one is going to try and murder us. Now come on."

She grabs my hand and pulls me until I start walking again. Her fingertips are cold from the cool morning air, but her gesture fills me with warmth. I fall into step beside her, and she lets go of my hand.