Don’t touch me. Don’t tell me how beautiful my eyes are, how soft my hair is, how you love to hear my voice. Don’t. Don’t pretend you are falling in love with me. I know you are lying, and every word you say hurts even more. Let us just be friends, if we can start there. Can’t we? Can’t we at least be friends? Get to know each other a little? Before the wedding, and the bedding, when I will have to take you as my lord and husband?
Melissa de la Cruz, The Ring and the Crown
bethroted, empire, fiction, historical-fic, kingdom, love, marie-victoria, marriage, prince, princess, royalty, teens, the-ring-and-the-crown, ya