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Eun Sook was headed for her brother’s room.  To chaperone him and the icy Sook Myeong.  Eun Sook was not comfortable with this assignment.  Her husband should have known that his sister was more strong-willed than she was.  How on earth was she supposed to control the young princess?

She wasn’t planning to.  Eun Sook had brought her parchment, quill, ink, and glass.  She was going to spend the morning writing.  In a far corner of the room.  And fervently ignoring her brother’s interactions with the girl.  What he did with his own life was his business.  If he decided he wanted the prickly princess, what did it have to do with Eun Sook?

The new queen was still smarting from Sook Myeong’s sharp words on the morning of her wedding.  She wasn’t entirely certain that the girl approved of her.  And it distressed her.  Truly.  But she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do about it.  It appeared that even Jijin couldn’t control his stubborn sister.

She drew an apprehensive breath as she entered her brother’s room.  But she let out a deep sigh of relief when she found him slumbering.  Alone.  The prickly princess had yet to arrive.  Maybe Eun Sook would get some peace this morning after all.

––

“I’m sorry that I got myself confined to this bed.   You don’t have to entertain me every day.  You must be terribly bored,” the prince commented later that morning as Sook Myeong paused in the reading of the book she’d begun reciting to him on the day of his injury.

“You’re sorry that you saved my brother’s life?” she queried in mock surprise.

“No, of course not! I’m sorry that a princess of the realm feels that she must play nursemaid to an invalid!”

“That’s sour grapes, surely!  Stop putting yourself down, sir!  You’re not an invalid!  You’re simply injured.  With a wound that takes a great deal of time to heal,” she added soberly as she gazed at him.  

Tears were stinging her eyes.  So she closed them in an effort to cut them off.

“Hey, now.  What’s this?” he whispered, his heart suddenly rolling around in his chest at the sight of her distress.

He was so frustrated that he couldn’t pull her into his arms.

“Are you upset that I’m in this bed?”

“Of course, I am!”

“Because you’re not free to join me here?” he teased her.  Just to see the fire leap into her cheeks.  And her eyes.

He was not to be disappointed.

“Prince Jong Su!” she rebuked him frigidly.

And he chuckled breathlessly.  “You are the only one who has ever used my title and made me feel like a tiny boy being scolded by his mother.”

She glared at him.  After a few moments, she retorted lightly, “Yes, well, you deserve it.”

“I daresay I do,” he whispered gruffly as his eyes caressed her face longingly.  Then he grunted in frustration.  “Now I won’t be able to make you mine for months!” he groaned.  

His eyes slid along the bow of her lip.  “And I miss kissing you,” he murmured in a bare breath that did not travel across the room to where his sister was bent over the bare bones of her latest story.

He watched as the fire in Sook Myeong’s cheeks continued to leap.  

“You are impossible, sir!” she rebuked him in a matching whisper.

“I should hope so,” he murmured as he sent one elegant eyebrow flying.  “Else, where would be the fun in our acquaintance?”

His eyes held hers, and she was so tempted to sit on the edge of his bed.  Just to get closer to the aggravating man.

He recognized the longing in her eyes, and it cheered him.  Suddenly, despite the deep pain in his shoulder, he grinned marvelously at her.

She crumpled her brow.  “What’s got you so happy?”

“You.”  That smile grew.  Until he winced.  In pain.

She groaned.  “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

His warm, cinnamon eyes held hers.  “Mmm.  Yes.  Definitely.  Convince my sister to leave us alone for a few minutes.”

She arched one delicate eyebrow.  “And how am I to do that?”  She eyed him suspiciously.  “Just what do you have in mind?”

“Mmm.  Lots of delicious things.  But, of course, you’re quite safe from me right now,” he grumbled.  “I can’t even believe that your brother is forcing a chaperone upon us.  It’s not like I can actually do anything right now.  You are quite safe in my presence.”

“I’ve always been safe in your presence,” she retorted tenderly.

And something spasmed across his face.  “I’m glad you recognize that now,” he murmured seriously.

Their eyes held, and something steady simmered between them.  After a few silent moments, she blinked and glanced down at the book in her lap.

“That book is quite boring, you know,” he remarked suddenly with a quirk of his lips.

She glanced up in surprise.  “Yes, I know.”  She giggled, and he rejoiced.  “But I didn’t think you thought so.”

“It’s dreadful.  I’d prefer that other book.”

“What other book?”

With a mild countenance, he replied, “The Uncomplicated Machinations of Princesses of the Realm.”  After a quick second, he grinned cheekily.

“Ooh!  You are impossible, sir!”

“So you’ve said,” he murmured delightedly.  “I know!  My sister should write that book.”  He chuckled, but then he groaned and closed his eyes.

“What is it?” she leaned forward in concern.

“It’s nothing.  I’m fine.”

“You are not fine.  You’ve had a large hole threaded through your being.”

“Not my being.  Just my body,” he murmured, his eyes still hidden from view.

She discovered that she missed their warmth.  She wracked her brain for some way to distract him from the pain.  She scooted her chair closer to him.  Until her knees bumped the bed.  Then she glanced over at his sister.  The woman was lost in her own world, bent over the desk at which she was working.  Her back turned to them.

Sook Myeong smiled and bent forward to find his cheek with her lips.  She brushed them gently across his skin.  And those cinnamon eyes flew open in surprise.  She drew slightly away but remained close enough to breathe on him.  She glanced up into his eyes and found that they were smiling at her.

“That’s a great distraction,” he whispered.

“Is it?” she twinkled up at him.

“Yes,” his eyes sobered, “but you needn’t feel like you must endure every moment of this agony with me.”

“You saved my brother’s life.”

“I know.  Are you going to remind me ad nauseum of that split-second decision?  Had I more time to consider it, I might not have jumped in front of him.”

“I don’t believe you.  You’re a hero, and I’m going to make much of you.  You cannot stop me.”

“Does this mean…dare I hope…that you trust me now?”  His voice was a quiet breath.

Her eyes collided with his.  And she held her breath. 

She had never trusted anyone.  Not really.  Her mother had too often asked her to do things that discomfited her.  Seon Woo had never shown enough interest in her to cause her to put complete confidence in him.  And she didn’t yet know her brother well enough to make such an absolute determination.  But this man…

She swallowed as she gazed into those amazing eyes of his.  Eyes full of compassion and humor and warmth.  And something else.  Something that made her stomach flip upside down.  And birthed a whole host of longings inside of her.

“Marry me,” she breathed.

His eyes widened as he gaped up at her.  “What?” he gasped.

She just stared at him.  She couldn’t breathe anymore.  And she could feel heat creeping into her cheeks.  No.  Now it was spreading across her entire face.  But she wasn’t about to take those words back.  She had meant them.  Both of them.  In conjunction with each other.

If there was one thing that his injury had crystallized in her heart, it was her desire for him. 

“It’s what you want, isn’t it?” she cloaked herself.

His brow wrinkled.  “You’re offering to marry me to please me?”  He nearly sat up.  “To thank me for saving your brother’s life?”

She closed her eyes.  He had misunderstood. 

His eyes crept across her impassive face.  She wasn’t giving anything away right now.  Except that her countenance had flooded with color.  Was she embarrassed?

“Did you change your mind then?” she countered as her eyes slowly opened and slid away from his.  “You don’t really want me?”

“Sook Myeong,” he uttered her name quietly.

But she wouldn’t look at him.

“Sook Myeongie,” he embellished her name.

And watched her eyes widen in surprise.  Even as they continued to hide from him.

No one had ever given her a pet name.  Not a single person in the whole of her entire life.  She felt her heart softening even more towards this delightful man. 

He saw the change in her countenance.

“You can’t hide from me, you know?  Everyone else may think your countenance is impassive, but I can see through your shields,” he murmured quietly.

Slowly, her eyes made their way back to his face.  But she still didn’t meet his gaze.

“You have me at a disadvantage, you know?  I can’t grab you and kiss you silly right now,” he muttered affectionately.

Those words captured her gaze and moved it until she had locked eyes with him.

“Sook Myeongie, do you want to marry me?  That’s the question I need answered.”

That was the thing which she wanted most in all the world right now.  With every fiber of her being, she wanted to belong to this brave, kind, wonderful man.

She simply stared at him as her eyes filled with tears.  They began to stream down her cheeks, but she seemed unaware.

“Is that a yes?” he murmured sweetly.

She didn’t move.  She didn’t blink.

So he did move.  He lifted his right hand and winced.  But his hand kept moving.

“Come here,” he whispered.

Seeing his pain, she gasped, “Put your arm down!”

“No.  Come closer to me.”

He had stretched his hand as close to her face as he could get it.  And the furrow between his brows had deepened.  “You’re going to have to help me,” he ground out stubbornly.  “Or else I will sit up,” he threatened after a few seconds during which she didn’t move even a hair.

She leaned towards him until her face was hovering over his lap.  He smiled as his hand slipped along her cheek to cup her jaw.  Then his thumb slid through her tears.  And her eyes fluttered shut as more wet drops slid down her face.

“These tears aren’t for me, are they?”  His soft voice was a simple caress, but it undid her.

Still, she was silent.

“Are they, perhaps, evidence that you do hold some affection for me in your heart?”  His lips flipped upwards into a smile.  “I told you that you had hidden some wonderful things in there.  Is a love for me one of them?”

Her eyes opened then, and she stared deeply into his eyes.   Unwittingly telling him all he needed to know.  His smile faded.  He whispered again.  Without a glance at his sister.  She was doing a marvelous job of ignoring them.

“Come closer.”

Her bottom left her chair as Sook Myeong half stood up to hover over his chest. 

He patted the bed next to him.  “Sit down.”

Gingerly, she came to rest on the very edge of his bed.  She watched a spasm cross his face as his shoulder shifted slightly.

“Pay it no mind,” he grunted as he watched dismay fly across her face.  “Come closer.”

She bent over him then, and his hand slid down to wrap around her shoulder and draw her even closer.  “Come to me,” he breathed against her skin.

She was so close to him, yet she still had to close the remaining distance herself.  He couldn’t even pick up his head.  Her eyes left his to graze his lips.  Then she did turn her head to glance at Eun Sook.  But the woman’s back was still turned to them, and she was writing furiously.  Completely oblivious to the real-life romance taking place a few yards from her seat.

A faint smile graced Sook Myeong’s lips for a moment before her eyes collided with his again.

“Sook Myeongie,” he urged in a soft breath. 

Melting her heart.

So she gave in to him.  Completely. 

She bent over him and pressed her lips against his.  As her eyes fluttered shut, and her heart exploded like it was their first kiss.  That happy heart was beating out a crazy tattoo.  But she didn’t care.  Her lips clung to his.  This man was her lifeline.  The only person in her life who had ever made her feel anything truly good.  Uncluttered by intrigue or fear.

She now knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she could trust him implicitly.  Any man who would throw himself in front of an arrow to save another was a hero in her book.  But the fact that this man had shielded from harm the person whom she loved most in all the world completely sealed the deal for her.  Jong Su had wiped away all her doubts in that one fateful second.  Forever soldering her heart to his own.  They were one now.  And she knew that her heart would never beat outside of the cadence of his own ever again.

His lips curved into a sweet smile under the slight pressure of her own.  Her tears were dripping onto his own cheeks now, but still she seemed unaware of them.  How could the girl weep yet not be cognizant of it?

And why was she weeping?

Did she feel such a deep longing for him that he moved her to tears?

He fervently hoped so.

He wanted to capture this precious heart.  Once and for all.

He was so frustrated that he was stuck in this bed.  For several more days, most likely.  Then, after that, weeks of recuperation which would limit his activities.  He wouldn’t be taking her on any more picnics via horseback for a while.

But it was the event that had led to this uncomfortable convalescence that had most likely increased her esteem for him.  So he couldn’t regret his actions.  Besides, had he not dived in front of the king, Jin Heung might have died.  And that would have been truly horrible.

He was an honorable king.  And a good man.  And Jong Su had begun to view him as a true friend.  Of which the prince had very few.

He directed all of his attention back to Sook Myeong.  His hand slid into her hair as his thumb continued to caress her cheek.  Slipping through the moist path created by the overflow of her heart.

“I wish you would let it out more often,” he murmured against her lips.

She drew back.  Just a couple inches.  “What?”

His hand slid down, his warm fingers trailing along her neck, to rest on her collarbone, just a few inches over her heart.  “Everything that’s in that beautiful heart of yours.  Please don’t hide it any longer.  At least, not from me.”

That heart lurched in her chest.  She could feel the heat of his fingertips even through all the layers of her royal robes.  She longed to feel his touch on her bare skin.  It seemed he had divined her wish, for in the next moment, those elegant fingers slid up her naked neck on their return to her cheek.  She shivered under his delightful touch.

And wondered if this was what falling in love always felt like.

She hadn’t shared this sweetness with Seon Woo.  Just a desperately sad knowing that his eyes were already attuned to another girl’s beauty.  His heart already bent towards Ah Ro’s.  And that – princess though she might be – Sook Myeong could not rival the doctor for his affection nor gain the appellation queen of his heart.

But this prince was an entirely different story.

He seemed truly fond of her.  He certainly enjoyed kissing her.  And touching her.  And teasing her.

Her lips twitched upwards.

“What are you laughing at?” he whispered near her lips.

Her eyes met his again.  “Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing?  You little minx!  Come now!  You must tell me when something amuses you so I can do it again.”

Her smile grew, and she bent closer to him to brush her lips across his again.

And they both heard the gasp emanating from the corner.  “You two!  Stop that!  I’m supposed to be chaperoning you so such behavior doesn’t snowball.”

He grinned at his outraged sister.  “Are you telling me that you didn’t share a few steamy kisses with the king before you married him?”

She instantly blushed to the roots of her hair, and being an albino, revealed her embarrassment to all within viewing distance of her.  “That’s different!”

“How so?” he demanded affectionately.  “Besides, Sook Myeong just asked me to marry her.”

Eun Sook gasped.  Her eyes flew from one to the other.  With excitement and delight dancing in them.  “You’re getting married?” she cried, flying out of her seat.  “That’s so…wonderful!”

“Isn’t it, though?” he murmured with a gleeful smile lighting up both his countenance and his eyes.

Sook Myeong grimaced.  She hated being the center of attention.  And she felt embarrassed that he’d told on her.  She leaned away from him, but his hand, tangled in her hair, drew her back. 

“And as such, I can indulge in kissing my future bride whenever I feel like it.  And I do feel like it,” he uttered mischievously. 

He beamed up at Sook Myeong.  Right before he drew her towards him and claimed her lips in a sweet – yet brief – kiss.

“I really don’t know why I’m even in this room with you two,” his sister joked.

“To give us the semblance of decorum,” he murmured, laughing.

The princess pulled away from him.  Her cheeks blazing again.  She cleared her throat as she proceeded to seat herself very primly in her chair.

“Eun Sook, have you any ideas for entertaining your brother?  Something that will distract him from the pain?”

“I think, my dear,” Eun Sook replied, “that you are the best antidote for that.  Look at how happy my brother is!  Even with a hole in his shoulder.”  She grinned and turned back towards her story, seating herself at the desk once more.

Sook Myeong grimaced.  She was not satisfied.  His agony was paining her.  Being sympathetic was a difficult path to follow.  She sighed.  She couldn’t wait for the next couple of months to pass.