The Battle Of Hearts A Choice Between Power And Love

Chapter 9 The Bonfire and Dance

Philip’s POV
I was with the prince – yeah yeah, it’s now just ‘Aditya’. We were flying
kites, which seemed to be a tradition here. It had been a while since I had
done this. My skills seemed a little rusty. I murmured a curse under my
breath in annoyance. Seeing this, the prince chuckled. But from the
moment this started, I realized that he had - truly - a competitive attitude.
The wind blew and the kites flew in the direction of the wind. The threads of
our kites got tangled.
“Now what Aditya?” I asked him.
“Now is the fun part that decides who is the winner!” he answered.
“The winner? So this was a competition?” I asked, puzzled.
“Yes it was, from the very beginning!” he smiled at my confused state.
“Either you use your kite and cut the string of mine or i do it. The person
whose kite falls down first is the loser and the kite which flies for the longest
is the winner!” he explained the rules of the game. I raised my eyebrows
with a shrug. I decided to give it a try.
“Ok fine, we do that then!”
Another breeze blew past us and I looked in the direction of the wind. I saw
her there, running in my direction. The wind blew her hair back and I saw
Amaia and the others following her. But my eyes didn’t leave her. My
heartbeat quickened on its own.
“There you are!” she said. She bent, with her hands on her knees, in
exhaustion from running. She then took a breath. Aditya chuckled

Why did you come running? Oh, to see this competition!”
“Of course Aadhi!”
“Did you come all this way to watch me win?” he asked with a smile.
“Now that's where you’re wrong! I came all this way to watch you lose!” she
giggled. She then turned to me. “Ok Philip, time to win!”
“Ah, I see! So we are a team now?”
“Yeah we are - and you listen to me now!” she asserted. I rolled my eyes at
her bossy nature.
“Ok princess, lead the way to our victory”
“Oh no! You can’t let Philip win Aditya!” Amaia exclaimed. “If he wins, he
will rub it on our faces! Do you want that?” she rused over to Aditya.
“Amaia! You should know better about your brother by now - I never lose!” I
said with a smile. She stuck her tongue out and helped Aditya.
“Look up Philip!” she said, holding the string of the kite from my hand. Her
body fit against mine. She stood between my hands. Her hands brushed
against mine.
“Concentrate now or my brother is gonna win!”. My mind went blank. I
could hear her voice clearly, as she stood so close. It sounded so soft and
rich, while it contained a undertone of authority in it.
“No! Arrey bagavan! No no, move it the other way Philip or we are gonna
lose!” she almost screamed into my ears

“Woman! My ears! Are you trying to make me deaf? At this rate you will
succeed beautifully!” I retaliated.
“Ok Philip, now we focus! Look at them! They have fully turned into a team
and we need to do that if you want that kite high up in the sky! Don’t let the
kite get close to his or he will snap the string out!” she warned me. I tried to
do as she said but instead of moving it away from the other kite, I
accidentally made mine go right next to his and I heard a snap. My eyes
went to hers in panic. Then both of our eyes land on our kite - and we see it
falling. “Oh shit!” we both said at the same time.
She bite her tongue as I ran a hand through my hair in defeat. I sighed. “Ok
ok, well done. We have a winner”
“That we do!” I turned to see Amaia and - to my disbelief – Aditya, in a fit of
happiness, lifting her up and spinning her around. I could hear her giggles
penetrating my eardrums. I was shocked by the scene playing out in front
of me. I looked at Annika.
“Did you see that?” I whispered.
“Yes” she replied, with a whisper. I clear my throat and the couple – aka.
my little sister and the prince - finally come out of their little victory bubble.
“Accha, I see what is going on with the both of you!” Annika raised
suspicion on both of them. Amaia blushed a bit, to my horror. In my
defense, I thought my sister would never fall in love, as idiotic as that
sounds, especially with a prince of the state I plan on conquering.
I tried to mask my horror from the others. I couldn’t help but wonder what
had Amaia gotten herself into. I had warned her to not warm up to anyone

and when I said ‘anyone’, the prince was no exception. Of all the people,
her eyes had to land on the prince? Unbelievable!
“Come on winners, time for the dance! Look! The musicians are here! They
are setting up the bonfire. Come on let’s go!” she grabed my hand and
dragged me to it. All of them follow us. When we got there, there was a
siting area set around the bonfire a small distance away from the fire,
where the musicians sat, playing the tunes for the dance and the royals are
sitting eagerly.
The queen and king encouraged Annika to dance. She dragged her friend
to the dance with her and some other people soon join. Then next to the
fire, the music increased in tempo. She swayed to the music. Her hair
swayed on her back. Her hips swayed to the music, as I stood there in awe.
This dance was different from the dances I had seen in my whole life. My
eyes focused on her.
All I could see was her, nothing but her in this moment. All that mattered
was her. She hypnotized me in a way I never knew was possible or real.
Her eyes met mine and that was it! In that very moment, even if the world
was on fire, it wouldn’t matter to me.
Unless her eyes left mine, nothing mattered.
As long as her eyes met mine.

Annika's POV

I felt his gaze on me. It made a small smile bloom on my face. The tempo
of the dance increased. We clapped our hands to the energetic beat. Aadhi
stepped into the dance. As everyone started dancing in pairs, we spun
around each other, our hands moving in rhythm, in sync. I giggled at our
hands and legs moving to the beat. I swayed my hands around me.
“This is fun Aadhi!” I exclaimed with excitement.
“Yes it is chotu! We’re good at this!” he winked. I chuckled.
“Ok, everyone is switching pairs now-” before I could complete my
sentence, a hand grabbed my waist and pulled me. I crashed right into
someone’s chest. I looked up. It’s him. It’s Philip.
“I thought you didn’t know how to dance” I asked.
“I never said that, now, did I? It’s just that your way of dancing is different
from mine princess” I heard his whisper, his voice deep as the ocean. My
head felt light. We were talking about dancing but suddenly it didn’t seem
that way anymore.
“May I have this dance with you, my princess?” he asked, with a small bow,
his hand outstretched. He waited for my answer with a little smile playing
on his lip. I placed my hand on his after a second and his large hand closed
up on mine. I looked back at him. His smile grew brighter and wider at my
gesture. It took me all I had to stand straight and not collapse and fall down
by his irresistible smile. Right in that very moment, he pulled me in against
himself, yet again. If it wasn’t for his strong grip around me, I would have
ended up on the floor.
The tempo of the dance slowed down. We just swayed together. I could
care less about the others dancing around. The eyes of the people around
us focused on us, like as if they were captivated by our dance. Right in this
moment his hands went around my waist again, as he lifted me up. I held onto his shoulders and he spun me in time with the music. I giggled as I
felt the air on my face and my hair.
“Philip! What are you doing?” I ask in between my laugh. He gently set me
down my feet once again, touching the floor. He tucked a strand of my hair
behind my hair.
“That was a beautiful dance, my princess. Thank you for the dance” he
bowed again.
“It’s ok, no need to bow and all that” I gave him a small smile. He took a
step closer and whispered in my ear. I could feel his warm breath on my
shoulder. I gulped and looked up at him. He smiled at my reaction.
“I love the way you dance. It’s simply mesmerizing” and with that, he
walked away back to the place he was standing. William came to get him
and the both of them walked off somewhere.

A/N: hey readers I watered to update this chapter yesterday but due to technical difficulties
I could hope you enjoy the read see u all soon 💕✨️✨️