Soulmates AU: This Woman

This Woman
By Misha

Disclaimer- Not mine.

Author’s Notes- This is #4 in my May Soulmates challenge. Since we aren’t getting TRR today, I thought that at least we could get a TRR fic. This one is Liam/Eleanor and it follows “Free”. The premise of this is that soul marks appear the first time one partner’s bare hand touches the other’s skin.

Pairing- Liam/MC

Rating- PG

Summary- Liam has always played by the rules, done what was expected of him, until now, until this woman.

Words- 842

Liam has never been a rebel.

He leaves that up to Leo, focusing instead on doing what is expected of him and cleaning up his brother’s messes. Which is why he is not terribly surprised when he ends up becoming Crown Prince. Some part of him always knew this might happen, that if Leo found a way to escape, he would. And how can he deny Leo a chance to be happy with his soulmate?

Even if a part of him, a well-buried part, is resentful that he will never have the same chance.

After all, Liam is not Leo. He follows the rules. And the most important rule for a prince is that you never touch anyone without wearing gloves.

You can dance with women, flirt with them, even take them to bed, but you both must wear gloves at all times.

Liam has only broken this rule once, when he was 21 and Olivia begged him to take her hand, to settle the question once and for all.

“I need to know,” she told him, gazing up at him with tear-stained eyes, “can you at least give me that?”

At that moment Liam would have given her anything. Besides, he wanted to be her soulmate, maybe that bond would force him to feel something he didn’t but wanted to.

He nodded wordlessly and slipped off his gloves, waiting for her to do the same, then he took her hand in his, willing the universe to respond. But nothing happened.

Olivia yanked her hand back immediately, her jaw clenched. “Well, now we know.”

That had been his only moment of disobedience (and it wasn’t really, because if Olivia had been his soulmate, his parents would have been fine with it and would have just arranged a wedding).

He’s never even been tempted since then, has trained himself not to think about his soulmate and how she was out there somewhere.

Until he goes to New York and meets a woman who turns his whole world upside down. From the moment he sets eyes on Eleanor Sloane, he knows she’s unlike any woman he’s ever met and he’s immediately drawn to her.

But Liam reminds himself that he can’t have her. He holds her hand through his gloves, wondering what it would be like to feel her bare skin against his. He tells himself that he can’t, that he has a duty to his people. He can’t be like Leo.

So Liam forces himself to say goodnight and leaves, knowing he has to return to Cordonia and his people, though some part of him is sure that the memory of that woman and the what might have beens will haunt him for some time.

Then, he gets the surprise of his life when she shows up in Cordonia, a suitor for his affections. He’s never been more grateful to Maxwell, except he still cautions himself not to get excited. Just because she’s a suitor, doesn’t mean that he can choose her, but it means there is a chance.

Liam reminds himself of that throughout the first events of the social season, though Eleanor is surprising everyone by how well she is doing and making him more confident that maybe there will be a happy ending.

He invites her to join him the hot tub in his room at Lythikos and is pleased when she agrees. He intends to follow the rules and only touch her through his gloves, but then Eleanor smiles at him in the moonlight and he realizes he can’t do it anymore.

He needs to know because he thinks he’s falling in love with this woman and it really feels like she’s supposed to be his and he has to know for sure. Before he can talk himself out of it, he pulls off his gloves.

“Liam?” Eleanor questions, gazing up at him.

“I need to know,” he tells her quietly, “don’t you want to know? Know if you came here for nothing.”

“It wouldn’t be for nothing,” Eleanor counters, but she bites her lip, “I thought it wasn’t allowed.”

“It’s not,” Liam tells her, “not at this stage.”

Later, when the field is narrowed down to the three favorites, then he will be allowed to touch all three of their hands, just in case.

But he doesn’t want to wait that long, especially when his heart already knows the answer. It’s this woman. It has to be.

Eleanor nods and slips off her gloves, letting them fall to the ground.

Liam takes her hands in his and immediately feels the warmth spreading through him and watches in amazement as the red and blue mark appears on both of their hands.

Joy suddenly bubbles up in him at the knowledge that this woman is the one the universe chose for him. He knows it’ll be complicated and that his father and Regina will have a lot to say, but at this moment, he doesn’t care.

This woman is his and he won’t let her go.

Not now, not ever.

• End