Taking Down a (Wo)man

Chapter 1

          Where is she? Again I scanned the faces in the room. I scoffed silently to myself. Like I could miss her gorgeous flaming hair or her sparkling blue eyes. I smiled to myself. Maybe she's putting on the potato sack I had suggested weeks earlier. If you don't want me to be in love with you you're going to have to stop looking so lovely. First thing tomorrow I'm having your maids sew together some potato sacks for you.

          The musical sound of approaching heels jarred me form the memory. America. I glanced up at the doorway readying a teasing smile on my lips. She'd know I was poking fun at her tardiness.

          When I saw her, my smile dropped to the floor, along with my jaw. Widened, every eye in the room locked on America. I'm simply guessing; all I could see was her. The dress was a gorgeous red number, strapless and low cut. She gave an alluringly deep curtsy. On the way up, she locked eyes with me. My. Heart. Stopped. Her eyes peered into my soul. My silverware tumbled from my hand. She broke eye contact first, dropping her gaze to the floor. I wish I was the floor.

          I watched as she conversed with Kriss, not noticing how put off the brunette seemed. America's breathtaking beauty had captured my attention. I was now wonderfully ensnared in its brilliant clutches.

          She took refined bites. The perfect image of class and royalty. I smirked. And everyone thought that she was unfit to be Queen. I barely noticed the desserts had arrived, because she finally looked at me. Those eyes! I could drown in their icy blue. I would never need anything more in the world. I could live off of her eyes. I immediately tugged my ear. Any sane man would have done the same. I must see her tonight. I must have her affections. I must have her. It settled firmly inside me. I wanted her. She tugged back and looked away, shifting her stunning blue gaze to another lucky recipient.

          After sparing me one last heart melting glance, she excused herself. I nearly dropped my spoon again as I got a look at the back of the dress, or more accurately the back of her. She curved in all the right places. I so badly yearned to escort her out, to go up with her. But sadly I mustn't. I'll see her later tonight.

          Usually after dinner I head off with my parents, but the look in Father's eyes didn't necessarily make me want to follow them off. He concealed it well, but I could see him seething beneath his cool façade. He looked like he needed a punching bag. Tonight, it would not be me. I had a date with the most beautiful girl in the world. From a safe distance across the room, I waved goodnight to the remaining Elite and my parents.

          The Elite looked angry and possibly jealous. Why? My mother flashed me a pointed look before wrapping a loving arm around Father's hips and gently leading him towards their wing of the palace. Was that an amused glint to her eyes? And my father, he had looked angry but, that's not too unusual, especially lately. I walked through the doors towards the Selected's rooms, leaving the mixed sentiments behind. Why had they reacted so strangely?

          I straightened my tie as I turned the final corridor towards America's room, my heart pumping feverishly against my sternum. Why did I feel so... apprehensive?

          Pleasantly so, nevertheless, the electricity traipsing rampantly through my body was... different than the usual symptoms of being near America. She did things to me. Such wonderful things.

          My father had taught me to be unfeeling, to have an unflappably disinterested countenance in the face of the most distressing issues, but America somehow strips all that away, breaking though my false aura of calm, cool and collected. Her eyes see through the illusion, through the lacquered veneer of my father's imposed propriety and see only me.

          I've spent my whole life trying to please those around me, answering to every beck and call. But this vision with the sunset hued hair somehow embraced the me that even I had never known. The man that could make a difference, who could be a great king. But more than that she pushed me to be better, not in a way that made me hate her, like so many people who've influenced me.

          She pushed in a way that gave me strength. And I loved her for it. I stopped dead in my tracks in front of her door. As much as my heart had raced before, it halted with the realization. I knew my feelings for her were intoxicating, knee weakening, and when I was with her I felt that she cared for me just as strongly as I did her, but we had never let those words cross our lips.

I loved her.

          The assertion settled inside me, cooling the burning anxiousness in my body. I love her. Smiling sanguinely, I ran my hand through my hair, released a breath of air, and knocked on the door.

A/N I would say chapter two coming soon, but at this point who knows when I'll update. I sure don't.