Kieran and Elena had long started practice for the intimate bit of their dance, and that too with music accompaniment. Only a few tweaks were left until perfection and he was supposed to meet Elena in the afternoon for the final rehearsal. But first, he had to drop off some province reports to Lukas; which is why he ended up in the prince's private study that mid-morning.

Lukas received the file from him and tossed it on top of his desk.

Kieran grimaced at the action. "Aren't you going to look through them?"

"You already did that, so there's no need," Lukas replied. "I'll just put my seal later." He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "How's Elena?"

"Good," Kieran answered. "We're concluding our dance rehearsal today."

"Finally! Eleven months in, and you're getting engaged at last!" Lukas cheered. "You even fell in love along the way. I cannot wait to hear your love proclamation on your wedding day."

"Actually, I hope to do it sooner than that," Kieran informed his best friend.

Lukas blinked rapidly. "What?" he asked, extending the 'a' to show the level of his disbelief. "Why? You know you don't have to do it until the actual marriage ceremony."

"I'm not sure if Elena feels the same way. If I confess to her, I'll be able to know," Kieran explained. "To be honest, it's really hard. I never thought that I'd have this much trouble in uttering a few words."

Kieran hoped Lukas would at least understand him. Maybe he could even relieve his burden somehow.

"If you can't do it, then don't."

He didn't expect him to say that, though.

"If it causes you so much trouble, then don't trouble yourself," Lukas continued. "Kieran, I know you. I know you're not the type to be so emotionally expressive to someone unsolicited. No need to change that up now."

"But I have to." Kieran shrugged. "How else am I supposed to know if she loves me the same way I love her?"

Lukas' lips stretched into a grin, causing tiny depressions to form in his cheeks. "Best friend. You don't need to make a love confession to find that out."

"I don't?"

Lukas clicked his tongue in several 'tuts'. "What would you do without me and my brain to solve all your emotional problems?"

Kieran was curious. "And what solution do you have for this one, whiz?"

"If you are struggling to confess to her, just make it easier for you and put the pressure on her," Lukas said. "What I mean is that you just simply get her to confess to you first."

Kieran rolled his eyes. "You do realize how complicated that sounds, right? It sounds even more difficult to pull off."

"More difficult than you saying those three words?"

Kieran pondered about it. Instead of replying, he asked, "How am I supposed to employ your idea?"

So he was a coward in love. No big deal. Lukas provided a way out, and he was going to take it.

Much to his dismay, Lukas said, "You're a smart guy. You'll figure it out. I can't do all your homework for you."

Kieran groaned and his best friend chuckled.

"Oh by the way, my sister's back."

After the battle and the finalization of the peace treaty between Galvan and Medi, Debra had decided to have mini-vacation in J'bel. On top of not wishing to see the king just yet, she also had not wanted to deal with the 'weeping atmosphere' in Rievelt.

"So she can tell when people have stopped mourning?" Kieran mumbled.

"Don't be a prick," Lukas told him. "She's probably in the one of the Halls of Art, if you wish to greet her."

**

Debra was staring at the latest addition to one of the Halls of Art - a mural depicting a fierce cavalry battle. It reminded her of the recently concluded battle of conquest between Galvan and Medi.

Subconsciously, she ran her finger along the scar at the back of her neck. She'd nearly lost her head trying to drag an injured Luke away from the frontlines. He'd said her scar looked like a centipede. She couldn't see it; but underneath her touch, it felt like the truth.

"Back already?" a deep rough voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

A smile made its way to her lips and she turned around.

The last time she'd seen Kieran, his hair had been shaggy and reached his biceps, his beard covering up half his face, like a badger wrapped around his head. He'd looked like a caveman.

And now, he had finally given himself the groom he needed - his beard was trimmed short in the way she liked; not too grown but not a stubble either, and his hair was held back in a not so neat bun, with a red and gold hair tie around it.

He seemed to really like that hair tie. If it wasn't in his hair, it was on his wrist.

"I didn't want you to miss me too much," Debra replied.

He nodded at her. "How was your vacation in that cat-infested place?"

"I met Rafa," Debra answered and smirked when Kieran rolled his eyes. "Said he misses you."

"He can crawl into a horse's arse and suffocate for all I care," he spat.

It was no secret that Kieran despised the J'belian lord with a passion. She didn't blame him. Rafa Thysir Zamlthat was a complete loon. But he also amused her for the most part, with the way he took pleasure in Kieran's spite for him. He probably thought about it as he got it on with...whomever he got it on with.

"Did you give him an invite to the wedding?" Debra asked. "He just wouldn't shut up about how you were getting married."

"Are you fooling around with me? I don't want that cretin at my wedding," Kieran sneered. "It's going to be the most important day in my life and I don't want his toxins ruining it."

"So you're really going through with it."

He arched a brow. "You mean my wedding?"

"Your poor choice? Yes." Debra took a step forward. "There's still time, you know. You can still back out from everything, you can still call it all off. You can still get your freedom back."

Kieran looked astounded. "Are you seriously having this conversation with me right now? Debra, I thought we were done with this."

"You and I can never be 'done', Kieran." She took another step closer. "I know it and you only need to realize it. We'll always be entangled with each other so come back to me before it's too late."

She held his face and kissed him on the lips.

It didn't even last a second because he pushed her back by her shoulders.

"Okay Debra, enough." There was a slight anger in his tone as he spoke, and when he looked at her, his cyan eyes were steady and full of certainty. "We keep going in circles and your stubbornness exhausts me, so listen carefully to what I have to say right now."

Nothing he had to say could possibly stop her from claiming him as hers.

"I love Elena," Kieran stated, and Debra's heart felt like it just got suspended on an a noose. "She's the only woman I have ever fallen in love with, the only one I will love forever. She is also the only one I want to love me, to touch me, to kiss me. My body has never been yours, but it will be hers. Actually, it already is, so you haven't the right to do whatever you please with me."

Debra was taken aback, though the shock and pain from hearing his words quickly transformed into anger. "No," she gritted out.

He scoffed. "No?"

"No, Kieran. No. I refuse to accept any of what you're saying. I don't believe you love her!" She glared at him, her fists clenched. "You're just confused because you've been away from me for so long and she took the advantage to steal you from me!"

"Nobody stole anything. I was never yours to begin with!"

"No!" Debra screamed. "She has brainwashed you, Kieran. How can you love her? How can you lie to my face so easily? She is so weak and useless, she can never do anything for you! I am what you need, Kieran. I'm the only one who can match your pace and you know it. Just come to your senses and leave that good-for-nothing other-"

"Stop!" Kieran roared, and his voice reverberated throughout the entire hall. His jaw tightened and a blazing fury sizzled in his eyes. "Not another word against Elena, you hear me?" he warned, enunciating each word.

Debra only glared back at him, her lips pursed into a thin line.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before letting it out. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer, but his tone still carried unmistakable anger. "Debra, you need to move on."

She shook her head. "No." Yet her voice wavered.

"Yes," said Kieran. "There is no point in obsessing over something that can never be. You need to let go."

"Stop talking," she ordered, but the waver in her voice remained.

"You cannot go on like this. You'll only keep hurting yourself," Kieran continued. "Forget about me, Debra, and live your own life. I'm moving on with mine with Elena. And I will do anything to keep her by my side, as well as shield her from your vindictiveness; even if it means severing the ties of friendship you and I have - completely."

He turned around and marched out of the hall.

Everything hurt; from her head to her toes and inside her chest. He was willing to throw away a friendship, a relationship of over fifteen years just like that, all for her - the other woman.

She really should not have let it get this far.

*****

One simply wondrous thing Kieran had learnt during dance rehearsal the past few days was that Elena was very, very flexible. Her body bent and stretched in ways he'd never imagined - ways he'd never thought possible.

It was quite mesmerizing.

And it bloody well turned him on.

He hoped she didn't notice how he was affected. Not that he minded her noticing. It was just that her cousin Alistair and his lady friend Olivia were with them, and he didn't need that public embarrassment.

He wondered whether Elena was attracted to him as deeply as he was to her. From past encounters, and even during their intimate dancing, he could gauge that she was. He could see it in her eyes and in her actions sometimes; except it was always fleeting, inconsistent. But those brief moments of tension let him know all wasn't lost - that maybe she did love him as a man.

She'd had to adjust her dress code to pertain to the acrobatics in the dance - a pair of black tights and a thin strapped white thigh-high free dress sufficed. She left her wavy hair to the wind and Kieran found it incredibly sexy the way it flowed and whipped about with her fluid moments.

At the moment, they were practicing the final bit of their routine, along with musical accompaniment. The tension was very much there. He lifted her by her waist so she could wrap her legs round his midriff. One hand slipped to the back of her neck and he lowered her in a dip. The tips of her long tresses swept the carpeted floor and he admired the elegant arch her upper body made. He swung her back up against himself and her hair bounced about them as he did, their noses brushing, their breaths mingling.

He could very easily kiss her.

Except he couldn't. It wasn't even part of the engagement dance.

Slowly she unhooked one leg and then the other, and they finished with the final step - the twirl and dip.

It took him a while to register that the musicians had stopped playing and that Alistair was calling out to him. He was too lost in her captivating blue eyes; too full with all the emotions she had stirred within him.

And clearly, he wasn't the only one dazed.

**

After the rehearsal, Kieran sat facing Elena, with both of them crossing their legs under them. He could barely take the suspense of not knowing whether she loved him or not. And he was maximizing his brain cells trying to figure out a way to get her to confess.

"I remember when you use to tell me how you do not fancy dancing, and that you are not good at it," Elena said. "Look at you now. You make a neat dance partner."

Kieran gave her a small smile. "I am still not a professional at it like you."

"You do not have to be a professional to be able to do it. And neither do you have to be good at it to enjoy it," said Elena. "You know, from my experience rehearsing with you as well as from past encounters, I can confidently say that you like dancing. Particularly with me."

Well, she wasn't wrong about that.

"Even when you were not good at it at first, you wanted to learn and you put in a lot of effort. Now look how far you've come." She smiled at him. "This is one of the things I love about you - you are hard-working."

Kieran smiled back, then replayed her statement. "One of the things you love about me?" he echoed. "What else do you love about me?"

Elena sighed. "If I were to mention all the things I love about you, we would end up sleeping here tonight."

"That's not a bad idea."

Elena gave him a scolding look.

"So what you're saying is; there's a lot of things you love about me."

She nodded.

"And they're so many they basically make up all of me, right?"

She nodded.

"Do you know what that means?"

It meant that she practically loved him. If she loved all those things about him, and those things were him, then she loved him. She just had to say it.

Elena narrowed her eyes as she pondered. "It means..."

Kieran leaned in, eager to hear her say it. "Yes?"

She tilted her head to the side. "It means that..."

His heart started to pump faster.

"It means that I love you," was all she had to say. Straightforward and simple.

"It means that I..."

"...you...?" Kieran echoed, his eyes now wide in anticipation.

Suddenly she gasped softly and her eyes twinkled, like something had just dawned on her. A slow smile spread across her face and she looked at him in the eyes, as though she was mesmerized by them. "If I love all those many things about you, then it means that I..."

Kieran gulped, and he felt jittery all over. His chest was close to bursting open as the expectancy and thrill gripped his heart.

"...that I dislike only a handful of things about you!" Elena declared with a beam of triumph.

Kieran's face, as well as his spirits, fell. He hung his head lifelessly, unable to look into her delighted face. Trust Elena to have a completely different train of thought from what was expected.

"Oh do not worry, Kieran. They're just a few nitpicks; annoying habits, if I should clarify. For example, cracking your knuckles. You really should stop doing that, by the way. It's scary, and it will cause your fingers to fall off."

He was about to point out her horrid sleeping habits but chose not to. The main reason he had not slept that very first night when he returned to Rievelt was because she threw her limbs around everywhere on the bed. She'd slapped his nose a few times and attempted to straddle him in her sleep.

It was painful, in more ways than one.

But that wasn't important at the moment. What was important was-

"How many people do you love in your life?" he blurted out.

It wasn't exactly a subtle move, but he was running out of patience.

Elena gave him a suspicious look. "Random question," she noted.

Kieran shrugged. "Just curious. I wish to know all about the people in your life and how you feel about them. Since we're getting married and all."

She seemed to be assessing. After a short while, her features relaxed. "Well, okay. Should I mention them?"

"Please."

"Well, you already know my mother, my father, my sister Mara, my cousin Anne. Cousin Alistair, Olivia..."

She rambled on about her extended family, her friends who got married, and the story morphed into one about her precious hen 'Poody' - may her soul rest in peace - which she'd named after pudding because it loved to eat pudding.

Kieran's patience decreased till it was as thin as a thistle.

"What about my siblings?" he asked midway the story of how she simply adored her flower garden. He wanted to narrow it down and bring the answer to him. About him.

"But of course I love them," Elena replied in a tone that indicated he'd asked a silly question. "I love you all the way I love my sister Mara."

Kieran froze.

What?

Did she just lump him in with the rest of them?

"I beg your-I beg your pardon?" Kieran stammered, arching his eyebrows in incredulity.

She was smiling brightly. "I said I love you all like I love my sister. You all are like family to me."

Her confession felt like a whack in the face with an ice wet cloth. Granted she was his family, but not like this. She'd just called him her brother.

She loved him, like a brother.

What a calamity.

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