17 I Need Your Help

Maria did not know where exactly she planned to go, but she did not want to be in her room.

Her feet carried her across the palace while she was on autopilot-- her mind playing the date over and over again in her head.

Where did it go wrong, exactly? She wanted to know.

Like Rafael said, it really was the perfect date, so why did it not feel right when he had kissed her?

When Maria came out of her thoughts and looked to see where she had drifted to, she saw that she had made it to the wing the suitors were staying in; in fact, she had stopped in front of someone's room in particular.

Before she could think about what she was doing, she lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

The door swung open to reveal Arthur, and he looked at her with a face of surprise before it was replaced with a mischievous, crooked grin.

"Maria? I was expecting you, but even I didn't think you'd be back this soon," he said with a tsk.

He was right, they had just seen each other the night before, and it had been less than twelve hours since he pulled away from their kiss, leaving Maria wanting more.

"I need your help with something," she said, still slightly feeling on autopilot like her brain wasn't in charge of her body any longer.

Arthur leaned on the doorframe as his green eyes focused on the princess with determination; at this point he was more than curious to hear what she clearly needed to say.

"I'm listening," he replied, dragging out his response.

"Kiss me," she immediately said before her brain could stop her.

Arthur's smile grew and he leaned his head back and laughed.

That reaction seemed to wake her logical side up, and Maria angrily said, "Never mind," under her breath before she quickly started back down the hall.

'What am I doing?' she thought to herself as she stormed back towards her room.

Maria was irritated because she finally understood what had bothered her so much about her kiss with Rafael.

It made absolutely no sense to her that she could have a perfect date with a seemingly nice man and then not feel a positive response when he kissed her.

Sure she thought that she and Rafael were complete opposites, and they did not have much in common, but he was kind and she had enjoyed their time together, and that should have been enough, right? Why was it not enough?

On the flip side, there was Arthur.

He annoyed her to no end and was rude and arrogant, yet when he kissed her, she felt a need in the deepest part of her body as well as a pull for him when he was not close enough to her.

She most definitely did not feel that with Rafael.

Maria wanted to understand if maybe her kiss with Arthur was just a fluke as she had been drinking right before it happened, and she had still been on a high from her date with Henri.

Therefore, the only way to find out, Maria thought to herself, was to go kiss Arthur again.

Clearly, that had not gone as planned since he responded by laughing mockingly at her.

She didn't make it far before she heard Arthur say, "Wait," and he grabbed her wrist and pulled her so that she had no choice but to move with him.

He started walking, Maria in tote behind him, and she tried to loosen the grip he had on her.

"Let me go!" She said angrily as she tugged on his hand.

He snapped around, now frustrated too, and said, "Fine, but only because I know that'll be the last time you'll ever want to say that to me," before he let her wrist fall back to her side.

Maria was still mad, but upon hearing that, she froze in shock.

"You've got a lot of audacity putting your hands on me like that," she said when she finally found her voice.

"I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, "Did I hear you wrong just now or had you asked me to kiss you? That would require me putting my hands on you, as I'm sure you remember. But if you have forgotten, I'd be happy to remind you again".

They glared at each other for a moment, both of them dripping with vexation, before Maria stepped forward quickly, wrapped her hands around his neck, and brought his face down onto hers.

Their lips found each other and moved together in a way that did not require a single thought or plan of action.

Maria's mouth hurt from how forceful she had been, but even still, it felt like they weren't close enough and she needed more.

Arthur put both his hands on her hips and pulled her off of him before Maria could entangle herself even more onto him.

"Not here," he said in an assertive whisper, "Come with me."

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