Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 65: Tangle
30 March, 1359. Magdaline Castle, Islia
The large crowd was restless as they waited, scattered throughout the barren northern garden, for the cockfight to begin. William wasn’t especially fond of cockfighting himself, but King Edward and most of his sons enjoyed it.
William stood on the first floor gallery with a few other young nobles. He hadn’t even intended to watch - he had been on his way out of the castle, to meet a few of his knights for lance training. It was only because Francis had casually mentioned Camilla would be amongst the group watching the fight from the gallery, that William had changed his plans. He now found himself standing behind the princess, still wearing his chain mail vest.
The fighting got underway, the usual explosion of noise and violence. William barely paid attention. His attention was focused on the girl in front of him, watching every little flinch and gasp as she reacted to the squawking, clawing birds. He bit his lip every time she took a little step backwards and her back would brush against him.
"You’ve never seen a cockfight before?" he whispered in her ear.
She shook her head. "I can’t believe people find this entertaining. It’s making me queasy." Her voice was tight with anxiety.
When the messy spectacle in the garden finally ended, the courtiers began to slowly disperse. William stepped backwards, intending to go and train with his knights as he’d originally planned. He suddenly heard a small scream of pain.
"Ow! Why are you pulling my hair?" Camilla shrieked.
Confused, William looked down and realised what had happened. When she had leaned back against him during the fight, it had caused her long hair to become hopelessly tangled in his chain mail vest.
"Damn. Your hair’s caught. Give me a moment." He tried to tug a handful away but only made Camilla shriek again. The few courtiers who remained in the gallery with them saw what was happening and started to laugh.
William scowled at them. "Instead of standing around finding this so goddamn amusing, one of you should try and make yourself useful. Do any of you have a dagger I can borrow to cut Her Highness loose?"
At those words, Camilla cried out but in panic instead of pain. "You can’t be serious! I’m not letting you hack all my hair off!"
"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" he snapped back.
One of the ladies peered at the tangle of hair. "Oh, what a dreadful mess. Almost every strand is caught in the chain mail! I can’t see any other way around it than to let His Grace cut off your hair. More’s the pity your pretty locks were loose instead of braided and veiled. Then this could’ve been avoided." Her voice oozed fake sympathy.
William fixed the lady with a cold look. He then realised there was nothing she’d enjoy more than seeing the princess’s hair hacked off. In fact, he was sure most of the ladies of the court would be delighted with that outcome. Those jealous bitches would no doubt revel in her humiliation.
In that moment, he ruled out using a dagger or a pair of shears to free them. He couldn’t do it - couldn’t make Camilla a laughingstock. He’d have to find another way.
"I shouldn’t need to cut your hair." he spoke reassuringly. "I should be able to untangle it if I tackle a small section at a time. You’ll just have to be patient."
The other lady spoke up again, her voice laced with malice. "But I fear that will take a very long time, Your Highness, and there’s not much daylight left. Such a shame the sun will set soon and you won’t be able to see what you are doing."
"Since you obviously have no helpful advice to offer me, perhaps you can fuck off, Lady Darla." William spoke in his sweetest voice. "By standing there, you’re blocking what little light there is."
Lady Darla gasped in shock and embarrassment, realising that far from making the princess look foolish in the prince’s eyes, she’d actually managed to anger him. She flounced off down the gallery, followed by the remaining courtiers.
Once they had been left alone, Camilla asked hesitantly, "Do you really think you can untangle it? I know it’s a silly vanity, especially since hair grows back, but..."
"No, I understand." William’s voice softened when he replied. "And yes, I think I can fix this. Just give me a little time. Agreed?"
Camilla gave a small nod.
William got to work by slowly grabbing the sections of her hair that weren’t caught in the metal links and draping them carefully over Camilla’s shoulder to keep them out of the way. As he did, the side of his hand brushed her neck.
It almost appeared as if she shivered slightly when he touched her bare skin, but he told himself that was just his imagination.
He started with a small lock, methodically unhooking from the chain mail and once free, draping it over her shoulder. Then he focused on another lock.
Bit by bit, he managed to gently untangle her hair, draping every loose section over her shoulder. There was something strangely erotic about running his fingers through her soft, fragrant hair, about being so close but barely touching her. Every time he placed a section of hair over her shoulder, his fingers would graze her bare neck and collarbones. It was no accident.
William felt his breathing quicken slightly and his fingers tingled every time they brushed her exposed skin. He marveled at how such little physical contact could be so arousing.
She started shivering with each one of his little touches. He was barely able to hold back from kissing the back of her neck. Lord help me, he thought as he let his fingers drift across her collarbones again, dangerously close to the tops of her breasts.
Finally, he managed to unwind the last lock of her hair from the chain mail. He felt his blood churning. "All done." he croaked. "You can turn around now."
As she slowly turned to face him, William felt his heart pounding in anticipation. He gazed down at her, hoping to see even some of the hunger he was feeling mirrored on her beautiful face.
But there was nothing there. Just...nothing.
The expression on her face was serene and her gaze up at him was innocent. William realised with horror that his reaction had all been one sided. He’d been standing there behind her almost shaking from raw desire and she hadn’t even noticed. Or if she had noticed, she didn’t care. His physical presence hadn’t affected her at all.
He watched in a helpless trance as she slowly parted her full, rosy lips to speak.
"We should head back and join the others." she said simply. "My ladies will want to start getting ready for dinner."
She turned away from him and started languidly walking down the gallery. William didn’t budge.
She cast him a brief look over her shoulder. "Are you coming, my lord? Or do you prefer to stay here?"
William could feel his face heating up and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. The violent surge of emotion running through him was fierce. Was it rage, embarrassment, aching frustration? A mixture of all those?
In a burst of fury, he loosened the straps on either side of his ribs that held the chain mail vest to his body. With a single, ferocious movement, he pulled the vest over his head and off, throwing it onto the stone floor. The clanking sound of metal on stone made the princess flinch slightly, but then she turned to face forward again and started walking away.
He was left with no choice but to follow her, like a whipped dog would follow his master. The rage burned in his chest. He didn’t know he could feel hatred like this.
William trailed behind her down the northern gallery, feeling his humiliation simmering as hot as his desire. The only mercy was that the shadows were long at this time of the day and the wall torches hadn’t yet been lit by servants. He would stay in the shadows until he could calm himself down.
But he couldn’t hold his tongue.
He cursed under his breath and then started muttering bitter complains to her back as they walked down the empty gallery. "Damn you to hell and back. Do you know how hard it was to keep my hands off you, when I want you so fucking badly? I am literally burning up next to you and you act like it means nothing. All you ever do is fucking ignore me-"
She abruptly stopped walking, causing him to almost crash into her. She spun around to face him then dove at him, pushing him back as she pounded his chest with her small fists. "I wasn’t ignoring you!" she almost yelled.
William was so taken aback by her sudden reaction that he took a couple of unsteady steps backwards, feeling his back collide with the corridor wall. She always seemed so calm and unflappable. He looked down at her flushed face, wondering if he had finally broken her control.
