Sofia the protected

chapter 23

The anniversary ball James' Perspective

I run my fingers through my hair and take a quick look about the room. Vivian and her family haven't arrived yet. I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight. The second I returned home from our walk, I picked out a beautiful engagement ring for her. It's a small silver band with a pink diamond butterfly.

I look to the left to see Desmond and Amber dancing. Over to my right, I see Sofia and Hugo. I don't really want to be a third wheel to either party, so I'm just going to stay standing where I am.

When I hear Vivian and her family announced, I turn to see her descending the staircase. Vivian looks different. Her peach pink tulle dress has a low v-neck, a broad gold belt. The dress itself is backless. Her hair is loose about her shoulders, the only thing to keep it out of her face is a gold headband the same color as her belt.

When she reaches the bottom of the staircase she comes directly to me.

"Hello, James." She curtsies and smiles up at me.

"Hi, Vivian."I smile at her like a goofball.

When she stands up I take her hand. "Follow me,"I whisper. I lead her into the small portion of the garden that we played in as children.

To be honest, I'm more nervous than I thought I would be. The words I told Desmond come back to me. ( "What's scarier? Losing her forever or asking her?")Time to take some of my own medicine.

Vivian sits on a singular stone bench."James?"

"Yeah!?"Vivian's words seemed to snap me out of my trance.

"Are you going to ask me to marry you or not?"Vivian looks boldly into my eyes as she speaks, but there's a whisper of a smile on her lips. I had not anticipated her to be so bold. Usually, she's very shy.

"HaHaHa.Well, I was going to get to it."I laugh. I sit down on the cold stone bench next to her and take her delicate hand in mine. I take a deep breath of the night air before saying what I have to say. Having had a good laugh, I feel much more at ease. I turn just to my right and look into her beautiful green eyes.

"Vivian, I've liked you ever since we were young children." I sunk off the bench and onto one knee in the grass.

" You're funny and sometimes you can be stubborn. You're a marvelous friend. And I think I just might love you."With my other hand, I reach into my waistcoat pocket and produce the ring box. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes.Oh, yes."Vivian looks up at me and the sweet plumpness of her lips is too much for me to resist.

All at once, I'm close to her. I put the ring on her finger and I kiss her sweet lips. It's a brief but perfect kiss. And afterwards she relaxes into me. Sitting on the stone bench with her head on my shoulder, I'm holding her hand and looking down at the engagement ring. Nothing has ever felt more perfect.

After a little while, I'm not sure how exactly long, Vivian grudgingly stands and offers me her hand. " We should probably head back." She says.

" And we have an announcement to make." I stand up and kiss her forehead briefly and take her hand. We make our way back inside together.

On our way to the center of the room, we pass the refreshments table. I pop a small tart in my mouth and grab a glass of champagne and a spoon.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, everyone. We have an announcement to make," I say clinking my glass. The music stops and everyone turns their attention towards us.

"No! I have an announcement to make."All the candles go out, and the biggest window in the room shatters as black and white butterflies swarm in through the hole. The warm golden light of the party is gone, replaced by cold dark screams. I push Vivian behind me quickly and reach for a sword that is not there.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sofia and Hugo in the center of the room saying something to each other. All around me I see nobles getting down and covering their heads.

"What do you want Ivy?!"Sophia yells out. She's one of the few left standing." Her red ponytail whips in the wind coming from the window.

A crazy lady in a tiara appears right in front of Sophia dressed all black and white."I want what I've always deserved. A kingdom of my own."

"Well, you can't have this one!"Prince Hugo shouts at her.

"I'll have this one and yours too!"Princess Ivy spreads her arms wide and more black and white insects flood into the room.

"O Sophia, you are such a dear you've gathered all the Royals of all the neighboring kingdoms for me."

I look around and see black and white dragonflies descending on people. All around me nobles of all ranks are falling to the ground. I turn around and push Vivian towards the nearest exit. Which happens to be the service stairs. I grab her hand and run all the way to the Armory. I take a sword.

"James, what do we do?"Vivian looks up at me, her eyes full of fear.

"You go find a place to hide. I need to get these swords to Sofia and Hugo."I say, taking more weapons to carry back into the fight.

"Okay. I love you."She nods before disappearing deeper into the castle.

"I love you too."I know she won't hear me. She's long gone.

I sprint back to the ballroom. Finding Sofia and Hugo barely able to fend off Ivy. Most of the nobles have been able to evacuate the area.

Sofia is in bird form flying around Ivy's head trying to distract her from doing any more damage. Hugo and the rest of my friends are behind a barricade of tables. Hugo has a chair leg in his hand. I have no idea what he plans to do with that. Amber has grabbed the knife from the beef roast and is chopping up pieces of the swan ice sculpture. I watched as she tosses them to Desmond who throws them like a pitcher to Hugo. I watch as the ice connects with Hugo's makeshift chair leg bat as it flies in a clear arc towards Ivy.

"Sofia! Hugo!"I throw the swords and watch as they spin through the air. Sophia catches hers but Hugo lands close to him. He dives for it and manages to grab it. Together they're on offense against Ivy.