Hallow King

Heated Hearts

Leiah paced her room back and forth, jagged breathes coming out quick as she relieved the moment Hallow asked her to marry him. She pinched herself several times, wondering if she was asleep or just hallucinating the whole scenario.

She didn't know why her heart pounded like an angry drum, after all it was impossible to feel something like this for someone she had just met. It wasn't love, no, how could she possible love Hallow if he was still a mystery to her? Was it admiration, respect, compassion, gratitude?

Leiah groaned, falling face first on her bed as she thought hard about what to do with the situation she had suddenly been tossed in. Tyrell's voice echoed in her mind, and how he said Hallow wasn't human- as if that was the reason she was worried about her feelings.

No, it wasn't his lack of human skin that made her feel strange. She just felt like there was a connection between her and Hallow, and now with him proposing to her she felt like that connection was only getting stronger. It terrified her, because she had never felt something so peculiar before.

What would her mother tell her if she were alive? She would most likely advise her to think about it, and to think of the future alongside Hallow. Think of the positive, the negative, and then decide if he was the one.

If Leiah rejected him, her father was sure to bring a suitor from a distant land to take her hand, just so Hallow wouldn't try asking her again. Somehow, that was something that brought her absolute dread. The idea of sleeping next to a stranger from another kingdom made her sick to her stomach. With Hallow, she felt different though, like she had known him for a long time.

A few heavy knocks bounced off the other end of her door, and Leiah grabbed a pillow to place over her head. She would pretend she wasn't inside and prayed that whoever had come to bother her would leave.

After a few minutes of silence, she heard scuffling outside her window, and suddenly two firm knocks radiated from the glass. Leiah tossed the pillow aside, her fingers flying to her teeth as she stood up and walked over to her window, staring with a frozen face at the spirit before her.

Hallow grinned wide and pushed open the glass, poking his head inside her room, "Were you sleeping, your highness?"

"No. I was merely thinking that's all."

"May I come in?"

Leiah couldn't say no, and she stepped aside to allow him room to crawl in and make himself comfortable.

"These walls are absolutely disgraceful! My, we will have to make the ceiling higher after our wedding."

Leiah flinched at the last word and whirled away, clutching the hem of her dress as her shoulders began to tremble. She was glad that Hallow was too busy complaining to notice her unease, but once he fell silent and a sensation of two eyes boring deep into her back arose, the young woman slowly looked behind her with a forged smile.

"I suppose you're here for my response. I'm sorry I left so quick. It was unexpected."

"Nonsense, my sweet apple. None of that matters now, as we are here. You and I. Alone." Hallow emphasized the word 'alone' and sat down on the wooden floor, waving his silver claws in the air, "You might be wondering why I have made such a rash decision, especially since I told your father I was uninterested in romance and the sort. Truth be told, I lied to your old man."

"You did? Um, why did you choose me?"

"Isn't it obvious? You and I were born to rule this kingdom side by side! You love my celebration, therefore you love me. And I, the doting, kind wretch that I am- cannot help but feel a strong affection for those who express their feelings so openly."