n the dark as a murde

gainst a tree and looked

as he tilted her chin up and i

lost in those molten gold orbs that stared right into her soul. H

r very soul, for it had a tone he had never used on her.

her heart into a million pieces. But she closed he

and closed her eye

unishing her for the things that she said, but al

s not being gentle, and she was sta

om his grasp. Not when his need

re further. She opened up her lips and welcomed him

e prince to insanity as he plund

as she gripped his arm, whi

g her flesh and numbing her sen

en the beautiful woman in his arms star

but their flesh was already b

leaving a flavor of their

thoughts of her, the woman he had

ran out of breath. He kissed her

ses of desire flowed throu

touch of her skin on h

he clung to him like he was

question of whether he was beast or man. His entire being longed to

of need, he heard her whisper,

****

. He opened his eyes and saw the maddening lust

d him. She had loved him for a long

ever since he was a child. No matter how much he desired

hing should come before the crown. Nothing should come before his peopl

irth, a woman his subjects would deem worthy, a princess who

was not about love. For h

orld, and he berated himself for taking advan

h the prince who almost devoured a

, allow her request, when he knew himself to b

take her in as his

the person who mea

that had been his only source

ut a disillusioned child. I am incapable of loving you. You should have known that by now, that I can never lov

, to cradle her in his lap, to tell her promises he knew he couldn't

d at that instant and lay his life at her feet.

e. He had a duty to his country more

imself to walk away. Yet every step he to

k. For he knew that if he di

crystal-like sheen, Yuki stared at the prin

ro to look back,

****

n Yuki's ears even when she was f

she heard a pathetic sob escape her li

nted to drown in her sorrow so that she could alw

as the heavens wept with her and

et herself be caught in another illusio