III · Alec

After training for two hours to take all that energy out of my body, I took a bath and went back to my office, mentally praying I would be able to take her off my mind for a bit, just so I could be useful and work. But the universe did not want to collaborate, as usual.

I had just served myself a glass of whiskey to try numbing my mind, even for a second, when my assistant, Walter Hamilton, who's a Baron under the Grand Duchy, walked in, frowing at the sight of glass, but saying nothing.

"Your Excellency," he met my eyes.

"Cut the crap, Walter," I leaned back, "you know I don't like when you call me that," to that he grinned mischievously, which is more like him. "Tell me about her."

"Princess Zahara has finished her music class and her etiquette class, she is know staring at nothing while drinking tea and pretending to read a book in the balcony of her chambers, according to her maid," he sat down. "Nothing unusual."

I pressed my lips together, "Anything else?"

"The musician who tutors her, told me that the Princess has yet composed another song, and that tears streamed down her cheeks as she played it. She told me it was a melancholic music, but used the word 'majestic' to describe it, praising her talent," he titled his head, his wavy blonde hair moving with him. "The tutor also told me that before she played the number, she seemed to be daydreaming for a while again."

Sipping the whiskey, I sighed, nodding, "It's the 21st song she composed, did the tutor record it with the artifact I gave her?"

A nod, "Yes," taking it from his coat, he handed it to me, putting it on my desk. "Have you decided what you will do?"

I played dumb, taking the artifact in my hand, "About what?"

Even though I didn't see it, as I'm avoiding his eyes, I could feel his eyes on my skin, glaring annoyed, "Alec, you can't keep it from her forever that you've learned who she is, your parents left it for you to handle, but she should know. She must be lost because of it."

Clenching my jaw, I put my glass down, "I don't feel like doing it yet, besides, if that happened once, it proves that the southern Carrington Dukedom can't protect her. They took her as dead, they didn't even try to find her body, and we don't know what actually happened. In the worse of the scenarios, they could be the ones responsible for it."

He passed his fingers through his hair, "Mate, you can't hide this forever, she need to know. She doesn't even know her true name. Are you doing this because you fear they were the culprit or because you doesn't want to let go of her, given your obsession?"

My eyes narrowed with annoyance at him, "I am not obsessed with Zahara."

"You've confessed when drunk, more than once, no need to lie, bastard. We both know how obsessed you are for that girl, and how much you crave for her in a different way than you should, as she is your,"

"She is not my sister," I hissed. "Zahara was adopted by my parents at 14 years old, I was already with my responsibilities as heir and then as Grand Duke, I was never her brother and I will never be. We have no blood relation, she's 21 and she's only been here for 7 years. She's the Princess of the Cherrington Duchy of the south, not of the north," the words were spit with anger out of me, and I clenched my fists. "She is no sister of mine, I have always been and I will remain as the sole heir and only child of Delway."

"What a way to say that you have lewd intentions regarding the Princess," he mockef. "And don't even try to deny it, I've lost count of the times you've had to get out of a room as soon as she got there, because her presence caused an erection in your pants that could not be hidden. Why don't you just tell her the truth and ask her to marry you then?"

It's not that easy.

"Zahara doesn't like me, Walter!"

He rolled his eyes, "Because she definitely thinks you bloody hate her."

"No, she doesn't. Why would she even think that? It makes no sense, I've never mistreated her in those 7 years, I couldn't," she's been under my skin for longer than I would like to admit, and being so close to her makes me malfunction, because I struggle to control the emotions she causes in me.

Groaning dramatically, he passed his fingers through his hair again, a habit he has since I met him when we were kids, "You don't talk to her, when she arrives in a room you vanishs from it, you avoid her all day long, you have a disgusted look on your face every time she called your parents as mother and father, or that they referred to her as a daughter, and you has always a scowl on, Alec. So, I think it's very understandable and safe to say that Zahara believes you hate her. You've certainly never did anything that could possibly prove otherwise."

That simple idea made me sick, "I didn't look disgusted for her, it's just because the idea of her and my parents acting as if they were parents and daughter disgusted me, because I want her. Not as a damned sister, which is a absurd, but as men wants a woman," the words slipped from my lips before I could control it, and when I saw the wide grin on his lips, it made me curse myself. "Fuck off."

"You finally admitted it, uh? Well, I already knew all of that, but she doesn't know, does she, Alec?" He pointed, and I felt even sicker. "The Princess has no way of knowing because you have never talked to her, she probably thinks you despise her and want her gone. Again, you never have her reason to think different."

Finishing my whiskey, I passed both my hands through my silver hair, frustrated, "I can't tell her, Walter. She will think I'm sick."

"Mate," he scoffed, "you are kind of sick, but so what? You aren't siblings, you have no blood relation, she is from the second most powerful house of the south, a Princess, and even your parents already know what you feel for her. They saw how your eyes are darkened with lust when you looked at her ever since she turned 18, it all got more palpable then, all that you felt before got intensified."

"It doesn't change the fact that Zahra would never fucking want me, Walter. I'm the son of those she call parents, even if we are not siblings in any way, and there's a possibility, like you said, of her believing I hate her, which is absurd. Besides," I clenched my jaw, "I am 38 years old, she is 21, that's a 17 years gap."

"Alec, in all honesty, I bet she must thrist on you too," he mocked and I felt my skin burn. "You are the only real guy around her, even if not necessarily. The girl is antisocial and introvert, she doesn't like social gatherings, she doesn't like traveling to other regions only here in the north, she clearly likes cold, and she has no friends or anything. And I've seen her gawking at you from her balcony when you were training shirtless before."

The sheer idea of that made my heart thump, but I didn't let it take root, because a big part of me doubts that could ever be the case.

"I am 17 years older than her," I repeated.

"And? That's common around here," he said.

"She has my parents as her own, Walter!"

He scoffed, "Alec, if you marry her, they will be her parents-in-law regardless."

"I won't marry her," I snapped. "She doesn't,"

"You don't know that," he spoke above me and I clenched my jaw, hating how my heart was craving to cling on the hope his words were blooming into me. "Have dinner with her tonight, talk to her like a normal person, go to the room before so she won't be to notice your erection, since that always happens. Analyze her reactions to you, see if she blushes, how she looks. Be a men, do something about what you feel for her, before she slips away from your hand back to the Charrington and they marry her to a men with more attitude."

"Walter," I snapped.

"I'm talking as your friend, Alec. I'm tired of seeing you torturing yourself with this. If you want her, be a men and claim her while she hasn't been under the sight of other men!"

I clenched my jaw, "You don't know if,"

"Fuck with those 'ifs', mate. Just do it, it's better than regretting for the rest of your life later. The worse you can get is a no."

"But,"

"Your parents aren't here. If it works, you could even deflower her by the turn of the night," he exclaimed and I halted.

Swallowing hard, I stood up, "Take care of the preparations for the dinner and call her for it."

He grinned ferociously, "Finally, men."

"I don't want anyone else but us in there!"

"Done," he clapped his hands and left, closing the door behind him.