A Royal Kiss

A Royal Kiss ♡ Chapter Two

Her hands touched the wood above her, held it tight and pulled her up. It squeaked underneath her feet as she carefully walked on the roof. It was high, but she liked watching the moon shine all her love on the empty streets.

If she wasn't able to catch her sleep she sat down on this exact spot, crossed her legs and watched the boy across the street get home. He was a Two; a wealthy actor who'd lived in a big house for his whole life. Once, he'd been her crush. Once, he'd been the one to keep her warm when the moon couldn't.

But this evening, he wasn't there. The streets were empty. She wondered where he could be. Maybe he'd stolen another heart and kissed it before he crashed it, she thought.

One night, about a year ago, she noticed that he walked straight passed his house toward the alleyway. But before he got sucked into the black shadows, Elondri saw a girl with long straight blonde hair. He kissed her. Just like he had tried to kiss Elondri the night before, when she said she wanted to wait. Elondri didn't want to be a second option.

"Still sitting here late at nights, huh?" he said suddenly. Elondri hadn't noticed he sneaked onto the roof.

"Keenan, you scared me..." Elondri mumbled. Keenan sat down beside her, his eyes focused in the houses before them. A long time, they said nothing. He let the sad tears dance and tickle her eyes when she thought about him. About the smooth ways he could let a girl fall in love with him and let her heart pound because he told them the 'sad' story of what had happened to him.

"Did you fill in that form?" he asked, breaking the silence that floated between them.

She sighed. "Every girl has... It's not really a choice anymore. You just do it."

They met when Jort wasn't born yet, in a small hospital for lower Casts. Elondri was 12 years old, and excited to have another brother. She ran up and down the hallway, not caring if other people liked it or not. Today was the day and no one could erupt that.

Until she bumped into a small, fragile boy. He looked about the same age, but she was taller than him. And that wasn't the only thing that made her question boys, because one of his eyes was a soft chocolate brown color and the other was dark blue.

For a while, they just stared at each other. She didn't want to be rude, but she was wondering how someone could have two different eye colors.

"Sorry..." he said before running past Elondri.

Elondri was still waiting when he came back. She sat with her back against the wall, and he looked at her as if he was wondering how the wall could handle that.

"Why are you here?" he said to her. He buried his hands confidently in his pockets.

"I'm getting a brother." She looked at the two different eyes. "What about you?"

He looked away for a second before looking at the white hospital walls. "My dad is sick."

"Oh," Elondri mumbled.

"He's going to be fine," he said.

Then her dad opened the door. "Elondri, sweety, come meet your brother." And gone she was, into the room, to look at her new brother she was sure she'd love forever just because he had these round soft cheeks.

Later that day, she saw Keenan again. Puffy eyes, a red nose, hands wrapped around himself. She heard his dad had died. Not long after that his mom died of sadness.

There was no one left to watch him but himself. From that day, everything changed.

A year had passed when she saw him again. She found out about the small hole in the roof and watched over the streets, when she saw a tall boy wearing black clothes. She wondered who it was and quietly climbed toward the edge of the roof.

The boy walked fast, he held his arms firm against his body. She thought he didn't see her, but he did. He turned his head when the roof squeaked a little. The next day he sat down beside her and said nothing until the sun appeared.

She remembered how he hid his sadness. And how he turned it into a new courage that helped him through life. His mind sealed love but his kisses destroyed them. One after the other had touched his lips. Those two lips printed him into their minds and made sure they'd never forget him.

She knew that once those names were called, everything would change. Her life would change if she got selected. But it would also change when someone else got selected. It was a girl she knew, someone she grew up with. That girl had turned her back to this old life, something Elondri had to do, too, if she got selected. She had to turn her back to Fennley. Maybe even forgot everything about what she went through here.

"You should stay here," mumbled Keenan. One arm was peacefully rested on his knee. He looked at a dead flower in his hand before throwing it away.

Elondri frowned. "What?"

He said nothing for a long time. "I'd rather have you here." This time, he looked at her.

Elondri shook her head. "No, you can't just say that."

"You were the one blocking every bit of contact we had. That doesn't mean I stopped loving you."

"You- you loved me?"

"I still do."

She knew now that he was never planning to leave her alone. He had always been waiting to crash down into her world like a torpedo, explode and watch how her world broke into thousands of pieces. And if she truly stayed here, he would be there; waiting to hurt her. Just like she had hurt him.

How could she ever think life would be easier if she stayed here?