The Silver Eyed Prince (Highest Royal Coven of Europe) (11 page)

Elizabeth gathered the nerve to look up—and found the most breathta
kingly
beautiful eyes
she had ever seen. They gleamed with amusement—laughing at her.

She felt the surge of color from her neck to her scalp. Her face, for sure, must have turned to a lovely shade of crimson.
Why, this morning he looked at her with disappointment, and now—it's mockery? Did he single her out to pick her—or to pick on her?

She glared at him with all the intensity she learned from her high school drama club.

Major Alexander cleared his throat loudly. “Are you doing this today or are you waiting for the New Year?”

Elizabeth swiveled her head towards Major Ale
xander suddenly remembering where she was. Then, she threw a panicked look at
Beautiful Eyes,
who lifted a dark eyebrow and dragged his gaze downwards to where her hands still clutched the material of his uniform. Apparently, her brain had forgotten to tell her fingers to let go of his leather jacket.

Elizabeth had an instant desire to morph into a groundhog and dig a hole to hide in.

“Go to the front now!” Lela hissed next to her, giving her a firm push.

She dashed to the front without looking back, only to find that
Beautiful Eyes
had beaten her there. He stood waiting for her with that annoying bored expression.

Elizabeth collected whatever poise she had left and stood next to him.

“Finally!” Major Alexander exclaimed. “Let us proceed. Challengers!” He darted his eyes at each of them. “Your Royal partner will be your assailant. You are under pursuit by your assailant and your mission is to scale that twenty foot wall.” He pointed at the stone enclosure that bordered the school property flooded with light from the ground up.

“If you reach the top ledge you have successfully defeated your a
ssailant.” The major gestured towards the ridge. “But if the assailant catches up with you, you must do everything in your power to complete your mission.” He raised a hand to pacify the anxious groans that arose from the class.

“Start at the hundred meter marks on my signal.” The Major pointed to the white lines on the grass and raised the starter gun.  

Elizabeth positioned herself on her spot and glanced quickly at Carlos, who gave her thumbs up.

The gunshot rang and they took off.

Elizabeth ran as fast as she could toward the wall. The wind bounced on her face from her acceleration. She glanced from side to side. Not one of her classmates had been able to catch up.

She smiled as she approached the wall, tasting the sweetness of victory, but her elation quickly got squashed.
Beautiful Eyes, no—
change that to
Mr. Mockery
, was leaning against the wall, waiting for her with that infuriating, what else, but
mockery
written all over his face. 

Well, she wasn't about to let him thwart her mi
ssion!
She whizzed past him, deciding at the last minute not to scale the wall as instructed, but to jump up onto the top ledge instead.

With all her might, she used her acceleration to propel herself in the air, feeling triumphant to see
consternation
replace the mockery on
Mr. Mockery's
face.

By the time she realized she hadn't thought about her landing, it was too late. The ledge was too narrow and she had jumped too high. She watched in horror as she sailed past the wall and plunged into the darkness outside.

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing could compare to the sensation of falling beyond control, not knowing where, or how much it would hurt to land. She braced herself for whatever awaited her on the ground.

Surprisingly, she landed on her back on something that bounced to a
bsorb the impact of her weight. Her landing had been easy and comfortable. She opened her eyes and scurried to get up.

That “something” tightened and trapped her right back against a f
amiliar stone wall clad in leather.

Elizabeth groaned.
How did she manage to end up her, twice in a single class?

“What in the devil's name were you thinking?”
Mr. Mockery
snapped in a rather appealing British accent.

Elizabeth looked up to find
Mr. Mockery
replaced by
Mr. Quite-Pissed-Off
, fuming with irritation at her. He looked devastatingly gorgeous under the moonlight—furious scowl, clenched jaw, dagger eyes, and all.

Oh well
.
Too bad, she didn't like him.

He sputtered words in French that sounded susp
iciously obscene.

Was he trying to shock her? Hah!
For
His Royal Ass-ness'
info
, s
he hadn’t gone through a smorgasbord of public schools without enriching her vocabulary. She could
eat
obscenities for breakfast, thank you very much!

He suddenly swung around, taking her with him.

Elizabeth gasped. She was in his arms!

“Your Highness, please put me down!” She pushed against his chest as he strode towards the wall.

“I can't.” he glowered at her.

Elizabeth wiggled and struggled to get free. “Please, Sir—!” She twisted and thrashed harder. “Let go of me!”

He halted at once. “As you wish!” he growled and dropped her unceremoniously.

She landed with a big splash on her butt in freezing foot-deep water. “Oh!” Her pants, shoes, and sweater quickly got soaked along with the bo
ttom half of her hair. She scrambled to her feet and saw that the wall ran parallel with a wide creek.

“Satisfied?” He arched a dark eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest.

Provoked and disgraced, Elizabeth forgot her manners and whom she was talking to. “You mean, cocky, scum—!” she retorted angrily, but was silenced with shock when his eyes started to glow brightly in the dark. He towered over her in the middle of the creek, a threatening figure in black, and his boots protecting him from the water. Fear churned in her gut. She took a step back.

They glared at each other in nail-biting silence until finally, he heaved a long, heavy sigh. “Come, let's go back in,” he said in a su
rprisingly pleasant tone, offering his hand to her.
Mr. Quite-Pissed-Off
had evaporated and
Beautiful Eyes
had reemerged!

But she still couldn't trust him. It didn’t matter if they called the
mselves
Deimons
. To her, they’re still Vampires and Vampires,—
bite
. She took another step back.

“Elizabeth,” his deep voice c
aressed her name, “we have to go back in. It's not safe here.” He kept his hand out to her, but didn't move any closer.

“N-no.” She sneaked another step back. “I-I mean, yes
, Your Highness, b-but I can find my own way.”
How did he know her name?

“And how the bloody hell are you supposed to do that?” He furrowed his brow and his pleasant tone va
nished.

Elizabeth flicked him a sullen look and disregarded his impatience, turning her attention to their surroun
dings instead. She noticed the creek was lower by at least ten feet than the school grounds, which elevated the wall to about thirty feet.

A steep incline bordered the structure, leaving no room to gain m
omentum for a jump. The surface of the wall was also smooth on the creek side, making it impossible to scale. 

“I'll go around to the main e
ntrance,” Elizabeth said coolly, even though her nerves were a wreck.

To her astonishment, he dropped his hand to his side and didn't press further.

“Suit yourself.” He turned his back to her and began to walk away. “The enclosure should end twelve miles east by the main entrance. Good luck.” 

“W-what?” Elizabeth exclaimed b
ehind him.

“Twelve miles,” he called over his shoulder without slowing his pace. “Oh, and watch out for Hellions in the woods. I hear they tear their victims apart after drinking their blood. They might even be watching now.”

“H-hellions?” Elizabeth looked around in the darkness in sudden panic.
Whatever those were, they sounded ... well, never mind—, she's not trekking through the woods alone!
“Wait! Your Highness?” She caught up to him and latched on to the hem of his jacket, peering warily behind them.

“Well, well!” He glanced at her, maintaining his swift strides, even though she was half-running alon
gside him. “What have we here? Changed your mind, aye?” A sardonic chuckle rumbled in his throat.

Elizabeth bit back a nasty retort.
Mr. Mockery
had definitely reincarnated and was making fun of her. All at once, she felt stupid and lame ... clumsy ... and pathetic. She was an embarrassing mess! Her clothes were wet, her hair in knots, and her shoes were slushy!
How could she go back and face her classmates?
Major Alexander would surely chastise her for not following instruction and report her to Administrator Richard—who in turn would call her mom! Three hours into her first day at Darian Hall and already she had managed to screw up! Worse, she had made a fool of herself right in front of—,
Oh,
God, he must think she's the village idiot!

She stared in extreme humiliation at
Mr. Mockery
.

This whole disaster was just way too much for her to take.

She abruptly stopped walking and burst into tears.

The Prince and Elizabeth

       Prince William couldn't believe she broke down and cried. He had listened to her thoughts, amazed to discover the total opposite of what he had expected.

She was nothing like the she
ltered, meek Princesses in Europe. His Elizabeth was independent, smart, and opinionated. And, yes—quite fluent with profanities too. She contradicted him, refused to be dazzled, and asserted herself. He was impressed but taken aback. No one ever dared challenge him, and frankly, he didn't know how to handle it politely.

But now, seeing her disheveled figure sobbing in the middle of the dark creek, she looked vulnerable.
How could he be such an insensitive, pompous jackass?

He took her in his arms at once.

“
Hush
. . .” He smoothed her tangled hair and pulled her to his chest. The contact singed his senses and every fiber of his consciousness tuned in to the frequency of her mind.

What he discovered astounded him. Gone was the tough girl who built a fortress around herself. The one he held was a sad, confused girl, who was lonely and frightened.
How could he have missed it? What had happened to her? What was her life like before he found her?
Too many questions nagged at him. He had plenty of catching up to do.

Elizabeth stirred and he loosened his hold.

“I got you all wet.” She hiccupped.

“Don't worry about it.” He lifted her chin with his fingers and wiped her tears with his thumb. He gazed at her tenderly, wanting so badly to kiss away her pain.
Where had she been this whole time? Why couldn't she recognize him? And why the hell was she trying so hard to push him away?

Just then, Major Alexander called from the other side of the wall. “Your Highness! Is everything okay back there?”

“Yes!” He regretfully released her, displeased by the intrusion. “I'm bolting both of us over. Please clear the immediate area.”

Footsteps shuffled and voices fa
ded.

“All clear!” Major Alexander ho
llered.

The Prince turned to Elizabeth. “You have to get on my back.” He watched her eyes widen.

“H-how do I do that?” She wiped her tear-stained cheeks with the back of her hand, looking quite mortified.

Prince William kneeled on one knee. “Put your arms around my shou
lders.” She obediently did as she was told. “You need to hold on tighter.” He adjusted her arms, pulling her closer. Her body molded against his back and a sudden spark of desire coursed through him.
Not now
, he scolded himself, taking a deep breath to calm down. “Now—, wrap your legs around my waist,” he said over his shoulder, trying his damnedest to look solemn even when the mere suggestion of what he had just said made him imagine the most unholy imaginings.

“What?” Her brows snapped together as she turned to look at him, their mouths sheer inches apart. “Sir, I don't think so!” She looked quickly away, bright red blotches coloring her cheeks.

He suppressed a smile.
Aha.
His Elizabeth was back to her fiery self! “Do it, or I'll leave you here,” he said in a stern tone.

She glared at him before she grudgingly hoisted one leg. He held it and stood up, wrapping her other leg onto his waist. He supported her with his strong arms and shifted her twice to ride her higher up his back. Eliz
abeth clung to him on all fours on instinct—like a monkey on a coconut tree.