The Devil's Betrothed novel Chapter 286

Chapter 286: Not Allowed To Leave Me

"W-What...do you know...?" The words that escaped her lips were barely a panicked whisper.

In a surge of raw emotion, Arlan closed the gap between them, their faces close enough to make her feel his breath fanning against her cheeks.

"I know," he simply said, his voice laced with apology and something else, "so you are not allowed to leave me. Stay by my side like nothing has changed."

In his earnest voice was a silent plea.

’He knew...? Does he really? Since when...?’

Oriana’s resistance crumbled as nervousness began to set in.

"Your Highness—"

He put a finger on her lips to stop her from speaking. "You are not permitted to speak, unless it is to say that you will stay by my side."

Her heart raced, and its heartbeats were so loud it seemed to drown everything else. She closed her eyes momentarily as questions flooded her mind. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, she witnessed a side of him she never expected to see again.

Vulnerable and weak.

She forced herself to swallow her questions. She wanted to ask when and how he knew about her secret, but she could not make herself ask. The man looked like he didn’t want her to speak about it anymore.

"Can you do that?" His voice was low and hoarse, asking her to simply obey him.

"Your Highness—"

"If your answer is not what I want to hear," he replied, his gaze intently moving towards her trembling lips, "then it will be better for me to seal that mouth shut."

She understood the meaning of his words and his gaze, and for some reason, the urge to defy him and willingly receive such punishment arose within her.

The unspoken desire went both ways.

Arlan struggled to keep his yearning at bay. At this moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to yank that headwrap off of her head, to grab a fistful of her hair and to kiss her fiercely in that unforgiving mouth of hers. He wanted to declare his ownership for her in a way a man would possess his woman, to let her know what exactly he felt for her.

But he could not.

It pained him, but because he was Arlan Cromwell, a royal prince entangled in the complicated and dangerous world of supernatural beings, he would never be able to do so. There was a seemingly never-ending list of reasons why he could never have Oriana as a woman in his life.

For the moment he accepted her, she would be in mortal danger.