A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Chapter 13

Madam Pavoni's lesson consisted of preparing for the season. "As our future Queen," she had said, "it is important that you know the work that goes into planning any sort of party."

We had an event planner who normally handled everything, but I saw Madam Pavoni's point. I'm still a stranger to this world and the only way I could possibly learn the rules or guidelines, as my instructor put it, was to help plan my debut.

I was in charge of the smaller things, such as picking out my invitations, color scheme and the dinner. When I asked about the guest list, Madam Pavoni explained that the event planner and the Queen went over the details, but I would be able to observe it so that I could know a little about who was coming.

When I had the list in my hands and looked it over, I didn't see any indication that there were foreigners attending and I was disappointed that "Dilan" wasn't present.

"Aria had mentioned that there would be foreigners?" I asked looking up from my list.

Madam Pavoni nodded. "They are on a separate list. There are quite a few of them. It seems that you have become very popular among the other kingdoms as well."

I nodded in understanding, relieved that Damien wouldn't stick out. However, I was concerned that he wouldn't be on it. "Just out of curiosity," I began, "how do you know which foreigners to invite?"

"They send us a letter of interest with their information and we perform a background check," she answered before taking a sip of her tea. I tense, but tried to hide my concern by mimicking her actions. "But," she began again, "if they live in the kingdom, which most do during Season, we have a list of the foreign residents and give them a invitation as a courtesy protocol."

"No background checks?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it would pointless," Madam Pavoni answered as she tucked a fly away hair behind her ear. It seemed her tightly wound bun was coming loose and by the deep frown she gave as she moved her hair, she was not pleased. "When foreigners apply to rent or buy a home, it is routine to perform background checks. They must pass it to be able take residence."

I nodded glad that I had the opportunity to ask. I wanted the plan to go down without a hitch and it was easing my nerves to know that it was going smoothly so far thanks to the new knowledge I was gaining.

*~*~*

Blithe was eerily quiet at training with the expectation of a few quick tips and commands, he didn't strike up a conversation like he normally did as Arista quizzed and lectured me. Normally, he was full of opinions on whatever subject I had been studying.

Arista, however, was the same person as ever. She drilled the information in my head as I practiced. She too seemed to notice Blithe's lack of opinions, but only indicated so with expected looks his way after she lectured about something she knew he would have an opinion on, but when he didn't say anything, her eyebrow was raised in a curious manner, but she turned away and continued on. I managed to do the same thing eventually.

It wasn't until our lesson later on in the evening that he said something. And when he finally spoke he surprised me and I had dropped the sword I was practicing with.

"What are you planning?" he asked. The question was what really startled me and made the weapon fall.

I whipped my head to face him after looking down at the heavy metal. We had been in a middle of a sparring match – his way of training to keep up my energy and build endurance – when he finally spoke.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, hopefully sounding confident and confused. By the look on his face, I hadn't.

"You are a terrible liar Elle." He picked up my sword and handed it back to me. "What are you and Aria up to?"

I took the sword and looked down at his shoes, feeling like I was betraying the people around me. "But I'm not," I told myself and I believed it. However, when I looked back to see Blithe's narrowed eye stare, I almost doubted myself.

I sighed. "She was helping me," I blurted truthfully. His eyes told me to go on, but I couldn't. "I don't want to talk about it anymore," I said instead. I was sure I sounded like a stubborn teenage girl talking to her parents.

His eyes softened. "Elle," he began in a more gentle tone, "I'm just looking out for your best interest. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'm not gonna get hurt! I know what I'm doing."

"Do you really?" he challenging, leaving me with the assumption that he knew something.

"Yes," I answered strongly without a hint of doubt. My anger was slowly rising and there was no way to contain the fire inside.

He scoffed mockingly. "Princess Ellia, you have a lot to learn if you think that a demon wouldn't hurt you." Heat burned my cheeks and I gripped the sword even tighter. "Whatever infatuation you have with this man needs to end!"

I didn't know how he knew, but at the moment, it wasn't import. His statement angered me and as much as I wanted to take it back, I couldn't stop the words passing through my lips.

"Damien would never hurt me!" I yelled. His jaw went slack and I continued in a lower volume, but just as confident. "Even as a human, he had never once hurt me. He was there when I needed him and as much as our two kingdoms despise each other, I will not let that ruin my happiness." It was then that it dawned on me. Blithe was the person who gave me those awful parents and it made me angrier, causing me to rant even further. "I deserve to be happy especially after you left me with those fucking people! Do you realize how terrible they were? Do you know how much I suffered because of you? Those people had a still-born for a reason and because of Dilan – Damien," I corrected myself, "I forced myself to move on and despite the fact he broke my heart because he had to come back here, it was because of him that I teleported here. So you all better fucking thank him! Because without him, I probably wouldn't have ever come back here!" I could taste the salt of my tears as one made its way into my mouth and it was then I realized I had been crying for the last few minutes. I wasn't ashamed, even after all my unlady-like language. Madam Pavoni was sure to have a stroke if she found out.

Blithe's jaw stayed slacked, but as I watched his facial features morph back into the composed person I knew all along, I knew he had finally processed the information I had basically thrown at him. His eyes softened and his broad shoulders slumped.

"I suppose we do owe him thanks," he finally spoke with a small smile. Then he frowned and casted his gaze downward before looking me in the eye again. "And I'm truly sorry. I wanted to take you away, but when I went to retrieve you, you're parents had disappeared taking you with them. We tried to track you, but we kept coming up empty handed." He took in a deep breath leaving the room in a thick silence.

"You can't tell my father," I demanded, "or anyone else about this."

Blithe nodded giving me a small smile. "You really love him don't you?" he asked with a gentle tone.

"Yes I do."

Blithe nodded again, his grin became bigger. "Then my lips are sealed."