Four; puzzle

Long chapter :D. I would love to hear your opinions and feedback <3. Dedicated as a fun gesture :D.

Another day, he was working on a gadget again, a rather large one. There were cogs the size of my palm and pipes the size of my arm. We settled down in a silence, I was actually doing some reading for a class.

"No fruit today?" he asked, out of nowhere. I looked up and our eyes met. It truly seemed as if everything about him was tinted with a dangerous golden haze.

I shook my head without putting the book down. "I came straight from class. It is almost time for exams again."

He regarded me curiously and I went back to reading. I could still feel him stare.

"What are you reading?" he asked after a few paragraphs.

"Something about the design of cities in relation to environmentalism. It discusses how cities and their city-focussed policies affect the surrounding area."

"How the nature suffers for the treatment by humans – you study that?"

"More so the architecture and relational theories around it – but yes. Does that surprise you?"

He scoffed. "It is only surprising you can see the destruction you cause, as you all are blinded by greed."

"I know your opinion on humanity is not high, but there is sign of change. There's another climate march this weekend, thousands are expected to show up. Legislations are slowly changing to stop the draining of natural recourses and exploitation of people here and everywhere."

"Too late. Too much has been lost. I fear the civilisation of my people will never be the same, even if..." His voice trailed off. Anger and sadness were written on his face, a mean tension around his mouth and eyes that were normally so wonderfully golden. There was something else there too. Sadness? Regret?

I was silent to think of what to say. "I cannot imagine having to carry such grief on your shoulders... I'm sorry for the actions I have taken that have hurt the planet, and I – and many others – seek to improve things every day. You say we are greedy, but I am not so sure it is greed we are guilty of. Not to say we are morally righteous, certainly not, but the average human just wants to live and be somewhat happy in a society that is more complicated than we are built for."

"Is that the word you would use – complicated? You had plenty of chances to redeem yourselves, and even if you are right, there will be consequences. Things have been set in motion that will become unstoppable."

"What do you mea-" A loud, sudden buzzing accompanied by smooth jazz came from my coat pocket – interrupting our conversation.

"Oh!" I gasped, before turning away and fishing my phone out of the coat I put down on one of the crates. Flustered, I picked up before checking who called. "Yes! Hi!"

"Elise, hey!" the person on the other side said. "It's Brian, I wanted to let you know that I'm getting off work now, I know it's a little earlier than expected."

Stealing glances at Prince Nuada, I uhum'ed.

Brian continued. "So I since I was going to go straight to the café, I was wondering whether you'd be able to meet up a little sooner. Are you in class right now?"

Nuada crossed his arms in front of his chest, the emotion in his face changed.

"No, no, I'm not in class. I can be there in- what time is it?" I scrambled to put my coat on with one arm free.

"It's just half an hour earlier, no biggie."

"Okay, I'll leave in a bit. It's gonna take more than twenty minutes, but I'll be there. Yes, okay, bye, yeah I'm looking forward to it too." I felt myself mimic polite facial expressions as we hung up. Then I sighed and put the coat on properly. Fuck I was about to be late. From here to the café in the city centre is a way's off.

"Who was that?" asked the prince, now looking annoyed off in a whole other way.

I hesitated. "That was Brian."

"A man? You're meeting up with another man after what happened last time?" Nuada asked, his voice soft but sharp.

Not knowing what else to say, I just said. "I can't be afraid of everyone forever. What's it to you?" And risk developing my slight crush on Prince Nuada even further? I'd prefer the distraction, thank you.

"What's it- Because I ended up cleaning your mess." exasperated, he shook his head. "No, you are not going. Not without knowing how to defend yourself."

"It's in a café, other people will be there." I checked my phone for the time, then pushed in my pocket. "Well, unless you can teach me how to defend myself in ten minutes..."

He didn't answer with words, instead roughly shoved me into the wall, knocking the air out of my lungs. His anger from earlier rested just below the surface. We struggled, or rather; I struggled. I tried all tricks I knew of: jabbing him with an elbow, going for the groin, back of the knees... eventually I tried prying his hands off my shoulders, which didn't work either. It would remind me of my dream. My lower abdomen grew hot as his firm body pressed against mine. Nuada's biceps flexed as he held me in place.

"It's a surprise you managed to live last time." Nuada breathed. I let my back lean against the wall, chest heaving embarrassingly. His enchanting eyes were molten gold. "You're giving up already?"

"You're not teaching me anything, you're just showing me how strong you are," I huffed with another swat at his chest.

He jutted his chin forward and changed the position of his hands. "Give me your phone."

"No." I shook my head, followed by another fit of jabs at his chest and arms. Without much trouble, he captured both my wrists in one hand, pulled me closer and dug his other hand in my coat pocket. "Hey! Unfair."

He chuckled. That sound sent a tingle down my spine, along with how his arm pressed against my chest in his attempt to reach the depths of my pocket. "Cancel your 'date' and I'll teach you."

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief, since I expected him to back down after the struggle and not double down. At that moment he reached my phone and held it up triumphantly. My arms were tingling from being above my heart for that long, yet my body was heating up from our proximity.

"Do you even know how phones work?"

"It needs a password. Do I need to make more threats? Or do you want to call that boy?" Nuada's eyebrows scrunched up in disgust at the mention. Then his expression turned thoughtful. "What if we made a deal..."

Confused, I just looked at him, waiting for him to talk.

"You humans are so..." his voice strained. "Fragile, yet so greedy. So lustful."

He pressed his lips to my ear, I shuddered. His grip on my wrists faltered. Hot breath made the pulsating feeling between my legs intensify. I grasped his shoulders, felt coils of muscle move beneath the skin.

"For this once, I will make you an offer... You can go visit him, or you could take this opportunity to experience something truly..." his hand reached my jaw, holding it so I couldn't flinch away. His long hair tickled my neck. He finished his sentence: "Tantalizing."

My body jolted in surprise as his teeth took hold of my earlobe. It was too easy to go along with the ministrations of his hands – how the hand at the back of my neck gripped my hair, how his other rested at my hip. It felt too dangerous. I've been playing with fire, and this is much too close. Nuada isn't even human, christ, and I know nothing about him.

A blush crept on my cheeks when I realised I wouldn't be able to stop if I let this get too far. And for him it's all just some game, some power play. He's lived for so long, and undoubtedly sees me as weak. With a firm push, I created distance between our bodies.

More out of breath than I should have been, I said: "Maybe some other time, but thanks for the offer." and jogged off. His eyes were cold despite their ember glow.