HIS PRINCESS | K.TH

The Sweetest Things

AERI

He's at the Ring.

My God.

For a second all I can do is stand there and not let my legs give out. I can't breathe— it's like it's stuck in my throat. My thoughts skid to a stop.

I run.

I shove through the roaring crowd. Several times I fall, when someone pushes back. But then I get back up, and shove through again.

There's more people here than I've ever seen before.

They're all watching V.

Tears start to fill my eyes as I push past each screaming person. They're all fixed at him— but my own gaze is down on the ground.

So I don't trip again.

So I don't have to see what's happening to V.

It feels like a million years before I get to the base. There's no security guard— there's nothing. And I climb up to the base of the Ring, sliding the lock of the door free before anyone can say anything.

Immediately I push myself between the two of them.

"Stop."

"Stop," I whisper, hearing the chant of the crowd turn into a wave of taunts and surprised shouts as I stare up at the man. His eyes are full of murder— he wants to kill V, behind me.

He'd been about to.

V's unconscious. I can't see his face, because of the blood. I don't even know if he's breathing or not.

Tears cover my cheeks when the man doesn't even hesitate.

He grips my shoulder, to shove me out of the way. His eyes are only fixed on V behind me.

I wrap both hands around his wrist. And I hear the man curse at my face. But both my eyes are squeezed shut, and I just hold onto him with all my weight. Dragging him away.

I can't let him.

"Get this fucking bitch off of me!"

Just as he raises a fist to hit me, I open my eyes. And I don't know how my eyes fall exactly where they do.

I meet eyes with V.

One second.

I see his blank, gray eyes widen. He takes me in, like the oasis in a stranded desert. He takes every part of me in.

His lips move, silently. A faint spark comes alive in the depths of his gaze. I feel it.

I feel him.

Aeri.

_________________________________

V

I'm not late this time.

I slam straight into him just before he lands a single fingertip on her. I throw him off of her, hurling him to the chained wall. I rain blow after blow.

He wasn't a match for me in the first place.

But Aeri is still in the Ring. She's watching, trembling on the floor. She looks cold— too weak. Her body wavers in the wind.

It's the only reason that I don't kill him.

Because I need to get her away from here, as fast as possible.