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“Give me another chance,” he implored her.  “I shall return to a romantic poem.  To the one I first composed.  What was it?”  He crumpled his brow in the most adorable way possible, and she felt her heart being tugged towards him. 

Why was that?  Perhaps because he’d been the kindest to her of anyone she’d ever met.  Even in the short time during which she’d been acquainted with him.  So maybe it was natural that she should want to lean on him.

“A princess fair,” he recalled.  Then frowned.  “Ah, the next line didn’t rhyme, right?  So I must fix it.”

“Wrapped in summer…hmm…”  As he concentrated, he chewed on his lip for a moment, and she discovered this mannerism was extremely endearing.  She sat staring at that beautiful mouth.  And briefly wondered what it would feel like if she brushed her lips across his.

“A princess fair,

I can’t but stare.

Wrapped in wonder,

Cloaked in summer,

“Its sweet embrace,

Blooming her face,

Makes my heart race

In alarming pace.”

He fell silent, and his cinnamon eyes collided with hers.  He smiled.  “How did I do?”

She nodded.  “Better,” she responded breathlessly.

And he blinded her with his grin.

Of course, he couldn’t possibly mean the words he was speaking.  But they were lovely sentiments.  She would have adored them had Seon Woo spoken them to her.  Had he felt them towards her, she would have rejoiced inwardly. 

What would it feel like to make a man desire her?  To woo him with her blushing cheeks or the flash of her intense eyes?  To hold a delicate power over him? 

She’d been subject to another’s authority her whole life.  The old king.  Her own father.  Her mother.  Now, her brother.  She had never been free.

Were she to win this man’s heart, would she finally feel the exhilaration of true freedom?  Or would she simply find her heart entrapped yet again?

He continued to smile at her for several seconds.  But when her face did not lighten in return, he allowed his lips to relax. 

“You didn’t care for it?”

“I don’t believe it.”

He frowned at her.

“At least, not if it’s an ode to me.”

His eyes perused her countenance, appreciating the way the light of the dying sun was playing along her skin.  Lending it a rosy golden glow.  “You don’t believe a man could be moved by the roses in your cheeks?”

She shook her head.

“Then you don’t know me very well,” he murmured quietly.

She fenced with him.  “As you don’t know me very well.”

“Ah, but that is why I am here.”

“To get to know me better?”

“Exactly.  So…tell me a little about yourself.”

She blinked.  At a loss.  “What do you want to know?”

“What interests you?”

“Shooting,” she answered succinctly.

“Ah, yes, your bow.”  He glanced around.  “Where is it tonight?”

“I left it in my chamber.”

“Why?”

“So that I couldn’t succumb to the urge to shoot you,” she teased him with a straight face.

His face went blank in shock.  But a moment later, he burst out laughing, his good humor restored.  “You have the most delightful sense of humor,” he chuckled.

She puckered her brow.  Perplexed.  “I do?”

“Indeed,” he murmured with a smile.  “I have an idea,” he remarked suddenly.

“What?” she asked, still confused by his good nature.

“Let’s get your bow and go shoot something.”

“You aren’t afraid that I’ll put an end to you?” she muttered darkly.

He shrugged.  “If you do, you’ll put me out of my misery, won’t you?”

She snorted, again cutting off her laughter.

“Why do you do that?” he queried instantly.

“What?” she glanced up at him.

“Stop yourself from laughing.  Why don’t you just enjoy it when you find something funny?  Let your laughter flow.”

Her face sobered immediately.  She looked down at the ground.  She shrugged.

“Do you think that humor is a weakness?”

“None of the rulers I’ve known had any sense of humor whatsoever.”

“Mmm,” he nodded.  “That is often a problem, I think.  Not even your brother?”

She’d seen the young king’s ready smile once or twice.  “He hasn’t been king for very long.  I don’t think I can make a judgment about that yet.”

“So,” he frowned, “does that mean that you’re planning to be a ruler someday?  Are you hoping to marry a king?”

“What?”  She peered up at him.  “I’m not sure what I’m hoping.  I was groomed to marry a king.  My brother,” she clarified.  “But he rejected me.  So, now I…I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.  Unless my brother forces me to marry you,” she added.

“Forces you?”  His lips twitched.  “Wow, you make me sound so appealing.”

Her eyes held his.  She was at a loss for words.  After a few uncomfortable moments, her gaze slid away from his.  She had no idea how to talk to this man.  He seemed so different from her.  Easygoing where she was uptight.  Compassionate to her mercenary nature. 

“I thought you were willing to be wooed by me,” he murmured after a multitude of silent seconds passed between them.

“What?” she gasped.

“You were going to allow me to teach you how to receive love.”

“But in order to do that, you would have to love me,” she pointed out logically.

“You are right, I suppose.  How about I teach you to receive affection then?”

“Why would you want to?”

“Because I’d like you to reciprocate my affection.”

“How can you feel any affection for me?  You don’t know me,” she insisted.

“I don’t know.  But I do.  Perhaps, it’s your prickly nature that so attracts me to you,” he teased her gently.

Somehow, his words wounded her.  Because she was beginning to want him to like her.  He’d made such an effort to befriend her.  No one had ever cared that much about her.

“All right,” she sighed.

“All right?”

“Let’s go shoot my bow.”

He quirked a dark eyebrow at her.  “Really?  You’re going to let me use your bow?”

“Don’t you have one of your own?”

“Yes.  But I suspect yours is better.”

“Why?”  Befuddled, she wrinkled her brow at him.

“Because it’s yours.  It holds your special touch.  I bet I’ll shoot better with it.”

“I bet you won’t.  An untried bow can’t be superior to a well-tested one.”

“Let’s go see.”

She called a servant to retrieve her bow as she watched the last dying rays of the sun spilling over the horizon.  “But we’re going to be in the dark.”

He grinned, flashing his gorgeous, white teeth at her.  “That will make it more challenging.”

“Or we could have the servants light a fire.”

He shrugged.  “That is also an option.”

“A good one if we don’t want to hit the wrong target.”

“You have some experience with that, now don’t you?” he joked.

And she glared at him.  Chagrinned.

“I am sorry.  I shouldn’t have teased you about such a horrifying event…but it did all work out in the end.”

“Did it?” she asked crossly.

“The hero rode off into the sunset with the heroine, right?”

She gnashed her teeth at him.

“Oh.  I daresay you thought you were the heroine.”

Her stare was downright icy now.

He stepped towards her.  “I am hoping that you’ll be my heroine, you know?” he breathed as he bent towards her to whisper into her ear.

“Are you?”  Her heart began to thud. 

What was it about his nearness that undid her?

She took a step back.

“I am,” he responded, still gazing down at her.  “I desire a princess fair.”

“And you wouldn’t leave me for another girl?  A prettier one?  Or one who smiled more often?  Or told delightful tales?”

“What need have I of tales?  I am an excellent poet in my own right.”   He stood up straight and puffed out his chest.

And she giggled.  She didn’t mean to.  But a snicker escaped her lips.  And this time, conscious of him, she didn’t try to bite it back.

His face lit with a brilliant light.  “See?  That was marvelous!  How did it feel?”

“Feel?” she blinked.

“Yes.  To let your laughter flow instead of imprisoning it inside your heart.”  He took a step towards her again.  “What other wonders have you trapped in there?” he whispered reverently as he reached a hand up towards her chest to gesture towards her heart.  Though that hand simply hovered in the air.  He didn’t attempt to touch her.

Still, he stole the breath from the lungs surrounding that beating organ.

Was he implying that she was…lovable?

She felt a tear, unbidden, biting into her eye.  It stung something awful.  Perhaps because she never let them see the light of day.  She glanced towards the sky.  The sun had already slipped beneath the earth.  So this tear wouldn’t see its cheerful rays either.

She stood, frozen, unsure what to do now.  She felt as if her heart were splintering in two.  As if he’d grabbed a sword and pierced the ice that usually protected that vulnerable organ.  And accidentally sliced it too.  She had never before thought it so susceptible to a man’s interest.  But…he was proving her wrong.

And making her question a lot of things.

She held her breath as her eyes met his.  And the expression in that gaze unraveled her.