An all consuming, magical love story between a Prince who is hundreds of years old and the abandoned Count's daughter.
When Ava was 7 her Dad, the Count and leader of their magical Kingdom, disappeared without a trace. Not long after she met the Pr...
I sat in front of the mirror in my bedroom with Kira standing behind me, expertly putting my hair into a half up half down style.
It was the night of the Winter Solstice ball and I still hadn't gone back to see the Prince, Cyrus, if he was even still there and hadn't abruptly left again. I had spent many sleepless nights wondering if he had killed his fiancee, Hazel, but against my better judgement I refused to believe that had been what had happened. After noticing I wasn't sleeping Kate had reluctantly suggested I go to ask him about it. I couldn't do that though, it was bad enough we had snooped into his private life, I couldn't show up demanding to know what happened with his fiancee 500 years ago. Not to mention that if he had killed her, he was likely to kill me if I showed up asking about it.
When my hair was done Kira spun me around to begin putting my makeup on. She decided on a dramatic smokey eye with a dark red lip for me. Knowing that my makeup skills never surpassed basic, she kindly offered to do my hair and makeup for special occasions. For herself she chose a winged eyeliner and a natural pink lip gloss. Following this she curled her hair into her usual beach waves and added a headband with fake blue gemstones. Kate, ever practical, had shown up with her hair makeup already done; natural with a smart up-do. When we had our dresses, shoes and handmade necklaces on we took a number of pictures of the three of us and then headed for the door.
On the way to the ball we passed several crowds of people. A few looked hopeful for the evening but few looked genuinely pleased to go to the ball. The ball was considered a social expectation but there was no punishment for not going unless you were one of the advisors, the Count or technically in line for being the Countess as I was.
When I arrived a lot of people were already gathered in the ballroom. An orchestra to the side played mellow classical music and the people stood quietly chatting amongst themselves. Although the centre of the floor had been left clear for dancing, clearly no one had felt inclined to do so yet.
I felt very self conscious when I realised Will was standing in the far corner amongst his friends sending me a hard glare.
"Ignore that twat." Kira said, making a move to usher me out of his line of sight. "You don't need that entitled, prick."
I sighed. I knew she was right but I still felt conflicted. It was wrong of me to date him knowing I never wanted to take our relationship to the next level, I knew that now. It didn't give him any right to do what he did but he wasn't out of order to expect sex in our relationship.
"Let's just try and stay on the other side of the room from him, okay?" I asked.
"Of course!" Kate assured me.
Lot's more people had followed us in now so the ball was likely about to properly start. Lord Becket made his way over to a podium on the platform next to the orchestra. When he got there he leant down and spoke to the nearest member of the orchestra, which abruptly stopped playing causing everyone to turn and look. Lord Beckett cleared his throat and then began "Thank you for your attention. I would like to show my gratitude to you all for remaining strong, despite recent events. I hope you all enjoy the evening."
His short speech was followed by respectful claps from those in attendance and the orchestra began again at a more jolly tempo.
After some time I began to feel self conscious again. Kate and Kira had both been asked to dance multiple times and no one had even asked me out of pity. My friends had insisted that at least one of them stay by my side despite my attempts to convince them to just have fun. Kira was taking her fifth time across the dance floor when things looked to be about to change.
The room was suddenly filled with gasps, followed by people dropping anything they were doing and turning to look at the main entrance. Following their gaze I saw people trying to stand aside to allow someone to walk through.
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Oh... it's Cyrus! At first I felt exhilarated to find out that he hadn't left, I wanted to run up to him and pull him into my arms. Next I felt conflicted. I hadn't realised how important it had been to me that so few people knew that he had returned, I was special and now everyone knew. And then there was the matter of what Count Delaney had said, I still couldn't entirely trust that he wasn't a murderer.
He didn't look anywhere near as uncomfortable as I would have looked if everyone here turned to stare open mouthed at me. Instead he seemed to ignore them entirely, as though they didn't matter at all. Elijah had followed him in but had gone entirely unnoticed. I saw as Kate sneaked through the hoards of people and pulled Elijah aside. I had intended to sneak over myself to find out what was going on but I certainly wasn't expecting what had happened next.
My eyes wandered back over to Cyrus making his way through the ballroom to see that he was much closer to me than before. My eyes met his and the realisation that he was on his way to speak to me hit me like a tonne of bricks. For a split second I grew starstruck again but I snapped myself out of it, or at least tried my best to pretend I had.
"Good evening, Ava." he said with an engaging smile. People around the room, still staring, began to whisper.
"Oh, hi. I didn't think you'd be here." I returned. For a second I thought he looked hurt but his winning smile quickly returned.
"Why wouldn't I want to attend a ball with a beautiful lady?." he chuckled. He looked me directly in the eye again, lost his cocky smile and asked " Might you spare me a dance?"
I was shocked. People just didn't ask me to dance, let alone beautiful Princes. The concern that he was a murderer flashed up in my mind again but with one look into his eyes I pushed it far away. "I would love to." I accepted with the full smile of someone truly thrilled.
"Oh, I see we have a problem though." he began looking around, causing me a second of panic. "It would be fantastic if they started the music again." he said with a chuckle. Without even a pause the orchestra rushed to begin again. I don't think he meant it as such but I wasn't much surprised they took this as an order.
He took my hand and led me to the centre of the dance floor. My heart seemed to miss a beat as he put his arm around my waist and brought me closer to him. For god knows how long we waltzed across the floor, shamelessly staring into each other's eyes.
I felt a way I had never felt before. I was finding it hard to breath and I wanted to be as close to him as possible, to push my body against him. I was glad he made no attempt to begin a conversation because I'm not sure I would have found myself able to talk. I'm certain it was the most magical moment of my life!
I'm not really sure what happened next, it all happened so fast. I was pushed to the floor with a hard slap across my face. My eyes welled with tears as my face began to sting.
