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“Your highness, I have your bow.”  The voice of a servant girl interrupted their encounter.

Still, Sook Myeong couldn’t tear her eyes from his.  “Leave it.  On the bench,” she called.

The girl did as she was bid.

“Shall we shoot?” he queried quietly.

The princess bobbed her chin upwards.  Then turned her head towards the nearest servant.  “Light the torches.  Near the target.  We’re going to play a match.”

She turned towards Jong Su and smiled.  “Your highness.”

“After you, my dear,” he murmured as he bent to breathe into her ear.

She inhaled sharply.  But she refrained from rebuking him for his familiar address.  Choosing instead to lead him to the range. 

Once they were standing behind the mark, she handed him her bow.  “You go first.”

He quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at her, but he didn’t refuse her.

He took the bow and tested it before shooting a few arrows at the target.

Sook Myeong froze as she watched each one hit its mark.  Three arrows in the center.   Each less than a millimeter from the others.  The fourth and final one split its predecessor in half.

“You have quite the eye.  And a steady arm,” she murmured appreciatively.

He turned towards her with a smile.  “Your turn.”  He handed her the bow and an arrow.

Self-conscious now, she accepted them and prepared to shoot.  A moment later, her arrow was whizzing through the air on its way towards the target.  It landed a bare inch from the center.

“You are quite good, your highness,” he commented.  “But may I make a suggestion?”

Swallowing her trepidation, she turned haughty eyes on him.  “Yes?” she queried in a tight voice.

“If you would just tip your arm slightly to the right, your aim would correct itself.”

“Like this?” she asked as she adjusted her posture.

“Here.  May I show you?”  He stepped towards her and reached for her arm.  “May I touch you?” he breathed the question as he bent over her from behind.

She gulped and nodded. 

He leaned towards her, brushing up against her back as his fingers reached for her hand.  “Pull back on the bow.”

She did as he asked, but she was having a horrendous time holding it steady.  And breathing, for that matter.  She had never been this close to a man.  Not to one standing behind her anyway.  His breath in her ear.  His fingers now sliding along hers.  His proximity wreaking havoc with several of her senses. 

His scent was wrapping around her once more.  Making her yearn for…something.  She was very afraid it involved more of him. 

His touch was releasing heat into her core.  And an odd sort of static that seemed to ride along her nerves, beginning with the skin trapped under his fingertips and slipping beneath that skin on its happy way towards her belly.  It was causing a flush to spring up in her cheeks too.  She could feel them growing warm.

The sound of his breathing was dancing upon her eardrum.  A faithful beat.  That revealed just how alive he was.  But she already knew that.  All her other senses were screaming it. 

Her olfactory nerves were leaning towards the freedom contained in his fragrance.  Her body was quaking from the feelings which he’d just unleashed within her.  She would have sworn that she could even taste him.  Or, at least, the exhilarating emotions which his presence was producing within her soul. 

Only the sight of him was missing.  For he still stood behind her.  But his arms wrapped around her were evoking the warmth which she’d first discovered in his cinnamon eyes.  The compelling memory of them bubbled up from the depths of her soul.  Crystal clear.  To tempt her.  And make her yearn for the sight of them once more.

Feeling the tension now stringing her lithe body, he leaned towards her ear and whispered, “Relax.”  His breath sailed over her skin, making her shiver.

She closed her eyes and released the bow.  Then she gasped as she realized what she had done.  She hadn’t meant to let go.  Her eyes flew open.  She watched as the arrow flew towards the center of the target.  Half an inch closer this time.

“Much better,” he purred.  Again, into her ear.  And another tremor followed its fellow.

“Shoot another,” he commanded.  And handed her a second arrow.

His fingers found hers again to steady her aim.  “That’s it,” he breathed across the nape of her neck.  “You’ve got it.  That one should sail straight into the center.”

Then he released her hand and allowed her to relax before she let another arrow fly.

She inhaled sharply, hoping to drink in enough air to concentrate well.  The man was aggravating every cell of her body right now.  She wanted to drop her bow and arrow and turn towards him.  Threading her arms around his neck and raising her mouth to meet his. 

Why was she fighting such scandalous thoughts?

She closed her eyes for a moment, and her hold slipped.  She felt his fingers return to guide her hand towards its correct position.

“Are you tired, princess?  We can practice this tomorrow night if you’d rather wait.”

Her eyes flew open.  Even as the last of his breath tickled her skin.  She fought off another tremor.  Marshalling her cells to obey her command.  Instead of his.

She squared her shoulders.  Then she relaxed them.  And eyeballed the target.  She took aim and let her arrow fly.  And this time, it met its mark.

“Bravo, my queen,” he whispered.  So that only she could hear.

She turned towards him.  “I would never be your queen.”

His eyes met hers.  “‘Tis true.  Unless I ascended my brother’s throne.”

A chill ran down her spine.  Until he spoke again.

“Which I fervently hope Heaven will forbid.  I’ve no desire to lose him.  Or to acquire the responsibility of his throne.  I quite like being the younger brother.  And a mere prince,” he admitted with a smile.  “It gives me time to practice my archery.  And to write poetry,” his lips twitched upward.

And a giggle escaped her lips again. 

His answer had been quite unexpected.  She was so used to power struggles and hidden agendas.  But his easygoing manner seemed to imply that he was innocent of such treachery. 

“Ah, that sound is music to my ears,” he murmured as a grin split his face.  “I think that I could spend the rest of my life happy if you would grace my ears with your laughter at least once an hour.”

Her smile faded.  And a frown troubled her forehead.  For his words seemed genuine.  As did his smile.  And the light in his eyes.  And they all worked together to make her yearn for that unfamiliar something. 

What was it?  She couldn’t quite put her finger on it….

It was to be loved.

Her eyes widened in shock.

She was growing weak in his presence.  Beginning to yearn for his tenderness.  And his arms about her.  And his smile beaming down upon her.  And his nearness gracing her life.

She knew if she gave in to him, she would lose herself.  He would rise victorious.  And Sook Myeong would fade away.  A mere shadow of the girl she had once been.  Weak.  Powerless.  A prince’s pawn.  Nothing more.  Surely, he would grow tired of her and seek out someone else to amuse him.  That was, after all, how men behaved, wasn’t it?

The old king hadn’t even cared that his wife had sought solace in the arms of another man.  He’d had so many wives that he couldn’t keep up with them all anyway.  And then sickness had struck him.  And he’d been all too happy to let his wife turn her affections elsewhere.

But Sook Myeong realized that she didn’t want that.  She didn’t wish for her life to look anything at all like her mother’s had.  She wanted a faithful love.  But…did such a thing really exist?  And if it did, how could she be certain that she had found it?

The prince watched her emotions playing out across her countenance.  And wondered what she was thinking.  They’d been having a good time.  Then, suddenly, she’d become distressed again.  Why did he keep tripping her triggers? 

He wanted to bring a smile to her face.  And joy to her heart.  He wanted to see her happy and relaxed.  And content.  Not troubled.  Not apprehensive.  Not…terrified.

But right now, she appeared to be afraid of him.  She glanced up at him as panic overtook her countenance.  All her shields had fallen away, leaving her heart exposed to him for a few revealing seconds.

Then, a moment later, the walls went up again.  She once more adopted the haughtiness for which her mother had been known.  And he felt his heart sinking.  The princess had just shut him out.  Again.