The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 43: Right Place, Right Time

"So what if I was?" Soleia retorted, crossing her arms. "What are you going to do about it?"

Orion’s eyebrow twitched and he grabbed her arm. He ended up touching her bare skin since the thornhound had so helpfully ripped through her dress. A strange look crossed his face as he stared at her; Soleia returned his gaze with a determined tilt of her chin before she wrenched his arm away.

Unfortunately, such an action exposed more of her skin to his gaze. The outer layer of the dress was hanging for dear life. Soleia could only thank her lucky stars that the thornhounds hadn’t ripped through most of the inner lining of the body of her dress.

If not, she would be standing in front of Orion in nothing.

Her pride wouldn’t be able to suffer such a blow!

"What happened to your clothes?" Orion’s tone changed. His eyes narrowed in on the pale skin, exposed to the harsh wind.

Soleia could almost imagine he was concerned. That was such a ludicrous thought that she had to snort.

"I ripped it off by myself, despite being in the freezing cold and surrounded by bloodthirsty creatures, because I clearly have so many outfits that I would consign this dress to the trash heap," Soleia said flatly. "What do you think, Your Grace?"

The corner of Orion’s mouth twitched faintly, as though he was trying to suppress a smile. However, his customary scowl took over his face as he remembered who Soleia had mistaken him for.

"You were waiting for Ralph. Was he supposed to be the one ripping your dress?"

"Oh, for the love of God!" Soleia lamented, planting her face into her hands, aggrieved.

This man had rocks in his mind! She wanted to scream, but she didn’t want to risk disrupting the snow. With her luck, an avalanche would fall right on her head.

"I was looking for Ralph because I needed a guard to accompany me when I did my business. And don’t tell me it wasn’t necessary!"

She pointed to the fresh thornhound corpses lying around her.

"If I didn’t have a guard, I would have been killed by those creatures in a state of undress!"

The thought was too humiliating to bear.

"There were plenty of guards that could have accompanied you in Ralph’s absence," Orion argued. "You didn’t need him."

"I trust Sir Ralph. I do not trust anyone else to keep watch," Soleia said firmly. "They are your men, not mine. And they seemed perfectly content with following your lead when it comes to ignoring me," Soleia muttered mulishly under her breath.

Orion clenched his fist.

"So you admit Sir Ralph is yours." A muscle twitched in Orion’s jaw, his anger present to anyone with a pair of working eyes. "I shouldn’t have bothered to save you."

Soleia personally thought he was being obstinate and making things difficult for her on purpose.

"If I detest you so, why did you bother to rescue me in the first place? You could have just let me be ripped to pieces," Soleia pointed out.

"You were screaming so loudly about thornhounds. It was disturbing Elowyn’s rest," Orion growled out. However, Soleia suspected that Orion wasn’t telling the entire truth.

Since he was enraptured by Elowyn, there was no reason why he should suddenly feel upset over her closeness with Ralph.

Unless... Elowyn’s influence was fading? Could it be due to proximity?

Soleia’s eyes widened. All the crystals were still buried in the snow in their shelter, but she had her selenite earrings on. Now that they were alone, she would get no better opportunity. Maybe this could be enough.

"Touch my ears," Soleia instructed.

Orion shot her an incredulous expression at the sudden change in topic, his anger transforming into befuddlement.

"We are still discussing Ralph―"

But Soleia was tired of wasting time. She immediately grabbed his hand and tried to pull it to her ear. Since Orion was made out of pure muscle, he didn’t budge an inch. The confused expression on his face grew.

As such, Soleia decided to press her ear to his hand instead, gripping his wrist tightly. If anyone were to stumble upon them, they would assume that Orion was cradling her head.

"Come on, come on..." Soleia muttered to herself, "Let this work..."

"What are you up to?" Orion asked, but despite his tone of disbelief, he did not pull away. "Are you so cold that you have to resort to such tricks?"

When the words left his mouth, he realized how foolish they were. Of course Soleia was cold. Her little dress barely offered adequate protection from the harsh elements when it was in one piece, let alone now when it was tattered and torn, revealing her pale figure.

Suddenly he felt the faintest stirrings of guilt stir in his belly. No matter how much she infuriated him, no matter how incomprehensible he found her, she was still his wife, and she didn’t deserve to freeze.

He took off his cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders, taking care to fasten it around her neck.

A welcome warmth enveloped her body. Soleia’s eyes widened and she lifted her head, only to meet Orion’s eyes. They seemed gentler than before.

"Orion, how are you feeling?" Soleia asked.

"Colder now that you have my cloak," Orion replied. The fact that he was serious about his answer made Soleia want to roll her eyes.

"Do you remember why you’re here?" she asked instead.

"I’m here because..." Orion frowned, his eyebrows furrowing imperceptibly. "Because you needed me." He glanced at the dead thornhounds and nodded. "And I came just in time."

"No, I mean in general, not at this very moment," Soleia corrected, trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered at his words. This was simply the result of his timely rescue, nothing more. "Do you remember why you’ve left the estate to begin with?"

Orion paused.

"I... I don’t remember. Are we on a hunting trip? You seem awfully ill-prepared if so."

"That’s because we’re not on a hunting trip," Soleia said, with what she thought was incredible patience. "We’re all here because you have decided to take a trip to the palace to see my father, in a bid to get permission to wed Elowyn. Does that ring a bell to you?"