Kalia is a modern day princess. Living with her parents and three sisters in their royal kingdom in London, she had convinced them to let her go to a normal school and live a normal teenage life. And apart from the occasional ball and family dinners...
The night limited Kalia's vision, intensifying every other scent. His body heat mingled with hers, his scent intoxicating, his kisses... This was so wrong, Kalia knew it, yet she couldn't seem to bring herself to say no.
Too soon he pulls away from her, the trail of kisses his hot lips had left on her cool skin only moments ago still burned, marking their presence. His pale eyes glimmer, illuminating the darkness. The glint of his toothy grin sends a spark down her spine, making her shiver.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Kalia's eyes rip open to the obnoxious sound, realising it came from her alarm clock when her ears followed the knell.
Sweat slicked long, sticky strands of dark hair to her forehead. She sat upright, slamming a hand down at the annoying clock.
***
Step three was the second last of all four steps, and coming to its time, Kalia still hadn't gotten anywhere with straying from any of them so far. Last night, she had still felt angered by his arrogance, his matter-of-fact attitude and his statement about "liking a challenge" - whatever he had meant by that - that it simultaneously fuelled and dismantled the fire in Kalia that was so against this proposal proceeding. Her dream definitely hadn't helped with that. Her inner princess not too far from the surface had tried to convince Kalia to accept it, that this wasn't a bad thing, but, in fact, a good thing; basically what everyone had been telling her so far. But a part of Kalia clung to London, to everything ahead of her and to the future she would have if she stayed.
This morning was a wreck. Kalia and her family had their big breakfast together as they usually did, with an array of teas from many countries, colorful macaroons, scones, and the like. But today, it was with the mixed company of the prodigies from the Kingdom of New York. But before that, Kalia had to endure about an hour's worth of hair and makeup, totally excessive if anyone was to ask her - they didn't - but of course she wasn't allowed an opinion in the matter. It took her stylist especially long to brush out the knots in Kalia's hair after her lack of sleep last night - and she was even a few minutes late to morning tea, so you can imagine how infuriated she was when she had seen none other than thee Prince Elec sitting in the seat across from hers, on time, hair in place and put together gallantly as if he hadn't just gotten out of bed. Not to mention how awkward she felt deep down after that dream she had - more like nightmare, she scoffed to herself - and she couldn't bare to look at him without her stomach twisting about.
And then, after all of that, she had to take another shower, go through even more torturous pampering sessions to prepare for the ball that night. The only thing Kalia was looking forward to was seeing her best friends, Lisa, Mia and Ana, at the ball tonight. Since she could admit that things were going horribly with her plan, she was positive that her friends would help make a change to that. The three of them were forces to be reckoned with, and she smiled at the thought.
***
Smoothing down the bottom half of the drained gold gown that equipped Kalia's body, she stepped away from the mirror, satisfied with how she looked. She didn't add any extra accessories this time besides her usual pair of studs and her every-day pendant, and whoever tried to pamper her up further would have been the victims of her already hardly contained wrath. Unfortunate for Kalia, the helpers and the rest of her family seemed to notice her sour mood, so she didn't have a chance to let out any of her built up anger. Her mother, however, decided to ignore it and keep up her chirpy attitude. That had also infuriated Kalia.
The ball had already begun, and of course, Kalia was supposed to enter fashionably late - being the 'star' of tonight's celebration. She was anxious to get down there and see her friends, but she was also nervous about everything else that tonight entailed. This was the third step, which meant that it was basically her last chance to do the opposite of impressing him... but it was hard when she knew nothing about the man than of his arrogance.
A knock sounds at Kalia's bedroom door and she stifles a groan. It took everything in her power not to make a Rapunzel-like escape through the window she had been eyeing the past half hour, and approach the door leading to her doom.
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