Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 100: A Lie Becomes a Truth

After what felt like a long blissful moment, William dropped his arms from around her and took her hand instead. He started guiding her quickly down the corridor, but no longer towards the south wing of the castle.

"Where are we going?" Camilla hastily grabbed the hem of her skirt to stop herself tripping over as she tried to keep up with his long strides.

"There’s something important we have to do."

At first, Camilla thought he was talking about lying with her again and she blushed. Then she realised they were headed away from their apartments.

As if reading her mind, he looked back at her flushed face. He smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her, making her blush even harder. He didn’t slow his pace, however.

"You haven’t told me where we’re going, though!"

William kept tugging her along. "You’ll see in a couple of moments, we’re nearly there."

"Slow down at least! It’s not easy running in these shoes."

William smirked again but slowed his pace somewhat. "If you can stand in front of the angry king and survive, this will be easy."

Camilla was about to wail that she’d faced enough surprises in a day, when she realised they were approaching the silver gilded doors of the main chapel. William pulled the doors open and gently guided her inside.

The chapel was empty after the first daily mass, the air still fragrant with incense. Camilla looked around the empty chapel, noticing William crossing himself next to her. She quickly did the same.

William linked his fingers through hers and led her quietly down the aisle until they stood in front of the altar.

Camilla looked at him with wide eyes and whispered, "What are we doing here?"

He turned to face her. "We told the king we were promised to each other. He assumed we’d exchanged our promises at an altar and that was part of the reason he agreed to our betrothal."

"Yes but that isn’t true. We never did that."

William grinned at her. "But if we exchange promises now, it then becomes the truth."

Camilla gave him a long, calculating look. "Is there anything you don’t think of?"

He laughed. "I have a ruthless side for certain things. You’re one of those things." He then took both of her hands in his and looked into her eyes. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"I, William, take you Camilla to be my wife and link my life with yours for the rest of our days."

His eyes widened when she hesitated. "You’re not going to leave a man hanging at the altar, are you?"

Camilla laughed and shook her head. "No, but I was just thinking. This time yesterday, I felt so low that I prayed for death. And now, this happiness is beyond what I can understand."

William smiled. "If you’re truly that happy, can you please just put me out of my misery by saying your promise?"

Camilla laughed again, which made him beam. There was the tiniest hint of a bruise under her eye, only visible if you truly knew to look. Her face was a little pale and her frame slightly thinner and more fragile looking than usual. To William, she was breathtaking. He silently vowed to hear her musical laughter every day.

"I, Camilla, take you William to be my husband and link my life with yours for the rest of our days."

He pulled the sapphire ring off his littlest finger and slid it onto her third finger. "I think this actually belongs to you now. Never take it off."

She clenched her fist to prevent the ring from sliding off. "You really want me to wear the ring I threw at you in a quarrel?"

He cupped his hand around her cheek. "Yes. I want to quarrel with you for the rest of my life." He leaned forward to brush his lips against hers and seal their betrothal.

It was a surprisingly quick, chaste kiss. Camilla remembered King Edward’s instructions that they were to behave appropriately for a couple not yet married, figuring William was taking these instructions seriously.

They walked up the aisle again in silence, fingers entwined. As they emerged from the chapel and started heading towards the southern wing again, Camilla desperately tried to sort through her jumbled thoughts. How was it possible that in less than a day, she had gone from hiding in fear inside her dark bedchamber to having the source of her fear banished and finding herself betrothed to the man who made her heart clench?

Not to mention made her flesh burn when he claimed her...Camilla shook her head to clear away such impure thoughts but wasn’t very successful. The way his touch had made her moan, the feeling of his hard, strong weight on top of her while he invaded her body again and again...

She needed to stop thinking about it for the next three months. Otherwise she’d drive herself mad.

She resolved to think about it as little as possible when she found herself being pulled into a small, darkened alcove that was partly hidden by a wall tapestry.

Before she could register anything properly, Camilla found her back pressed against a wall and William’s body pushed up hard against her. His hand slid around her neck and his thumb under her chin pushed her face in the angle he wanted so he could lick her lower lip.

She shuddered at the brush of his soft, clever tongue. Her lips parted willingly and she clung to his shoulders as he started to kiss her. The touch of his tongue against hers made her whimper, much to her embarrassment.

I really need to learn to be quieter, Camilla thought hazily. Though William had never seemed to mind her gasps and little cries. In fact, her whimper made him lift and slide her up the wall slightly so he could pair his hips against hers. She shivered as he ground against her and sighed into her mouth.

She could feel he was hard against her hips and all she wanted to do was wrap herself around him. How could she even consider that in the middle of some corridor, she asked herself in despair?

William’s mouth skimmed her jaw, then brushed her ear. "Come back to my room. I can send all my pages away and pay my most trusted one to guard the door. He’ll keep his mouth shut and no one will ever know."

Camilla blinked. It was impossible. How could he even think about going against the king’s orders?

"I want you again." His breath was fast and hot on her neck. She tilted her head backwards and he immediately started kissing under her ear. She squirmed against him, which made his breath quicken even more.

"We’re not supposed to until after we’ve married." she whispered unevenly.

"Come on. No one believes that. You expect me to hold out until August?" William’s teeth grazed her throat ever so gently.

"The king believes it a-a-and...expects it." Camilla’s words shuddered out as she felt his hand pull up one side of her skirt. Soon, he was stroking her bare thigh.

"He doesn’t ever need to find out." William turned her a little as he slid them both to his right, until they were completely behind the tapestry, in the tiny alcove.

"You’ll have to be very quiet, understand?" There was a reckless, mischievous gleam in his eye.

"No. No! You can’t be serious! Someone could walk by and see us!" Camilla gasped in mixture of panic and inexplicable thrill. His hand was sliding higher up her thigh.

"No one will see us here and it’s your responsibility to make sure no one hears us either." William pulled his hand out from under her skirt and Camilla felt crushing disappointment. Perhaps he’d changed his mind after all?

The next moment, he was fumbling with the cord under her bust that tied her bodice together tightly. With one quick yank, the cord came untied. William hastily pulled down one side of her bodice and chemise. He grinned when he saw all the little strawberry coloured marks he’d left on her flesh the night before.

Camilla heard him mutter something unintelligible under his breath before he lowered his head and enveloped her nipple in his open mouth. She began to pant as she felt his tongue repeatedly flick the erect peak, her head falling back against the stone wall helplessly. All she could do was clutch handfuls of his golden hair.

"Shhhh," she both heard and felt his whisper against her skin, before he resumed suckling on her eagerly.

"This is all your fault!" she whispered back, her voice catching every time he sucked her flesh against his teeth.

He chuckled quietly, then stood up to his full height and placed his hands on her hips. They stared at each other, wide eyed and breathing quickly.

One last chance, thought Camilla. One last chance to stop this madness spiraling out of control in a public corridor.