Love in the Little Kingdom

Love in the Little Kingdom Part 9

"Ben?"

His eyes snapped open. The curtain over his knothole window was pulled back and there Holly floated, sparkling like a star fallen to earth.

"Holly! What are you doing here?" He hissed, aware of his mother in the next room. Holly flew in and knelt on the end of his bed.

"I had a lecture from Mama this afternoon all about my responsibilities and obligations, blah blah blah. I had to get away."

"Holly..."

"She came to see you too, didn't she? Was it very awful?"

He looked down without speaking. Holly crawled forward.

"Let's runaway together, Ben. Right now."

He lifted his head in surprise.

"Runaway?"

"Yes. Let's go together, this very night!" Her eyes were dazzling blue as she looked at him eagerly. Moonlight sparkled from their depths and her pink rose petal lips were slightly parted with excitement.

"Holly..." he breathed her name and put his arms around her. She hugged him back and kissed him. He thought he would pass out from the joy of holding her. He forgot everything while they kissed and drank in the softness of her petal dress, her pearlescent skin, the taste of her mouth and the press of her body against his.

After a while they parted. He brushed hair back from her face and Queen Thistle's words came back to him. A wilted flower.

"I want to stay like this forever." He said, a quaver in his voice.

"Me too."

"But we can't." He sat up, pushing her gently away from him.

"Ben?"

"Would you really be happy to leave your family? And Nanny Plum? What about all our friends? We'd never be able to see any of them ever again."

"But they want to keep us apart. I don't want to live without you."

"I can't let you do it. If I took you away from the Kingdom, I would be the villain. You are the fairy princess, the kingdom needs you."

Holly didn't speak. Ben kept his eyes on the bedspread, knowing that if he looked at her, his resolve would crack and he would be lost forever.

"I see." Holly climbed off the bed and stood on the windowsill. She turned her head slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "I would have sacrificed everything for you Ben. It's a shame you couldn't do the same for me. Goodbye."

She flew off into the night.

"Holly!" He started up from his bed but she was gone, a whisper of glittering dust in the night.

He sat back down and held his head in his hands. It was all over, before it had even begun.