“Of course,” I replied, taking a step back from Hayden. Now that everyone else was dancing, Hayden and I had fulfilled what was expected of us.
He still looked worried “Are you going to be ok?”
I nodded as the tune changed and dashed through the dancers to the edge of the great hall.
There were many people sitting in the seats around the edge of the hall, but he wasn’t among them. Where was he? Surely, he’d not turned up just to shake my hand and then disappear? What would be the point of that?
I was beginning to wonder if I’d hallucinated him for a second time when I noticed the doors to the balcony were open. Outside, the sounds of the waves of the ocean were now audible over the sound of the music playing inside. Our castle was situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean, which is where I got my love of the water from. I’d often sit on my own balcony and just watch the waves breaking over the rocks below or watching the seabirds catching fish. I headed to the open doors, full of expectation. I couldn’t help it. My heart was hammering in my chest at the thought he might be out there.
Tonight, the view was especially spectacular. The full moon shone brightly casting a thousand diamonds over the sea. I took a deep breath of salty air and looked around the balcony. It wasn’t a real balcony, as such, since it extended right down to the lower level of the palace via a set of steps leading out to our private promenade. It was empty. I gazed over the edge expecting to be disappointed, but there he was. Just standing there looking out over the ocean, the moon lighting him from behind giving him a kind of angelic aura.
I held back, unsure of what to do. To go down the steps and leave my own party would be considered rude by my parents, but not to, oh, that would be a thousand times worse. Sneaking a peek over my shoulder to see that no one had spotted me leaving the great hall, I took my first steps outside. I passed a guard who looked at me questioningly despite being trained to keep his eyes forward. “I’m just getting some fresh air,” I told him, though it was none of his business what I was doing outside.
Taking the first step was hard, but once I’d started, I knew there was no going back. It became easier with each step that I took.
The stranger had his back to me as I reached the bottom of the steps. His hair blew in the slight breeze.
“Hello,” I ventured nervously. Excitement coursed through my veins, pushed by my hammering heart.
He turned and smiled at me causing my heart to almost stop. What was wrong with me? I was positively giddy which wasn’t princess-like at all. I tried to rein it in, to appear nonchalant.
“I’m glad to see you here,” I began, taking in those eyes of his. Even with the moonlight to the back of him, they still sparkled, almost like the ocean. “I want to thank you for saving me the other day.”
He didn’t move, didn’t speak, just stood there looking at me, making me feel more self-conscious than I already was.
“I should apologize too,” I flustered. “I shouldn’t have asked you to kiss me. I realize now that you were doing CPR. I can’t begin to tell you how embarrassed I felt when I woke up and rememb...”
I had to stop talking midway through the sentence. He’d walked right up to me; his face was mere inches from mine, and I’d quite forgotten what I was going to say, or how to talk at all.
Seconds later, it didn’t matter. My lips were being put to better use than talking.
He leaned forward and kissed me lightly.
I couldn’t breathe from the excitement coursing through me. If I’d have known leaving my own party would feel so good, I’d have skipped the first dance with Hayden altogether.
He tasted like the ocean. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me. He was connected to it in some way; I just didn’t know how.
I leaned right into him, turning a light peck on the lips to something so much more. I think I surprised him with the voracity with which I kissed him, but he matched my urgency before eventually pulling away. I might have been mistaken, but there was a slight blush to his cheeks. I hated to think what my cheeks looked like; I could feel them burning with both shock and excitement.
He glanced up toward the balcony from which I could still hear the faint strains of music over the sound of the ocean. He took my hand and wrapped his other arm around my waist. Slowly, he began to turn me. I realized he was dancing with me. It was so unlike dancing with Hayden and his “groovy” moves or with my dance teacher, Stephan, whom my mother had brought in specially from Silverwood to teach me how to dance.
No, we weren’t dancing at all; we were moving on air. My feet barely touched the ground as he guided me effortlessly around. I’d never known it was possible to move the way he did, or the way I did with him. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. He smelled of the ocean too as if he’d just walked out of it.
When the song stopped, he stopped.
“There’ll be another song starting,” I said, desperate for whatever this was not to end. I barely knew the guy, and yet, the last five minutes of my life constituted the most exciting time I’d ever spent.
He shook his head, the corners of his lips rising slightly before he moved in to kiss me again. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as his lips touched mine for a second time. It felt as though I was drowning in him. I gave into the sensation completely.
And then he was gone. I’d not even noticed I’d closed my eyes, but when I opened them, he was nowhere to be seen. I looked along the rocky shore to my left and right, but the promenade was empty. It was only when I looked out to the ocean that I saw him. He was silhouetted against the light of the moon, standing on the rocks about fifty feet in front of me. I wanted to call out to him, to follow him, but he was taking his clothes off. As I watched, he peeled the last item of clothing off, folded it neatly, and dived headlong into the water.
I stepped out onto the first rock, trying to get to him, but my high heels were no match for the slippery algae and seaweed. I looked out into the calm sea, but he had already disappeared from sight.
Behind me, I thought I heard someone in the shadows. A small noise—a cough—gave them away; but when I turned, there was no one there.
The shock
After spending a good five minutes searching the surface of the sea, waiting for him to reappear, it became apparent that he wasn’t going to. He’d literally taken his clothes off, jumped into the ocean, and disappeared. It was the second time he’d done that to me now. I couldn’t understand why he’d done such a thing. Who leaves a party to go for a swim, and without their clothes, nonetheless? I could still see the outline of his tuxedo on the distant rocks. Behind me, someone called my name, making me jump. I had to get back to the party quickly before anyone realized I’d come down to the water’s edge. My parents would kill me if they knew. I took the stairs two at a time, trying not to trip over my gown, and managed to get back up to the balcony just as my mother stuck her head out of the door.
“There you are,” she beamed, heading over to me. I gripped the railing tightly, regaining my composure and trying not to show how out of breath I was.
Thankfully, the guard kept quiet about what he’d just seen.
Twinkling lights on the balcony that had been put there for my birthday celebration reflected in her eyes. For a second, I wondered if that’s what I’d seen in the stranger’s eyes, but then I remembered the lights didn’t extend down to the lower level.
“I came out for a little fresh air,” I lied. “It looked so pretty with the moon out.”
“Yes, it is beautiful tonight,” she replied with a distracted air. “Will you come inside? You are missing your own birthday party!”
Taking a deep breath, I looked back out over the ocean. Calm waves lapped at the rocky ocean edge. Half a mile to the left, past the docks, the rocks turned into a beach where people liked to spend their time on sunny days. But here, the ocean was met entirely with rugged coastline. The same rocky coastline I’d loved all my life. “I’ll be in soon. I’m just enjoying the s
olitude.”
She laughed her tinkly laugh. The one she never used in public, but I often heard when we were alone together in the palace. “Solitude? It’s your big day, and you are missing it.”
“Please, mom.” It was rare I called her something as informal as mom. I’d been schooled to call her Your Highness in public and mother in private. Still, I didn’t want to go back inside, knowing that I might never see him again. I had to know where he’d gone. Ever since I’d first seen him, I’d known he was something special and now... well, now, he was an enigma on top of all that. A puzzle to be solved. I had to know what had happened to him.
“Ok,” she gave in. She hugged me close to her. “I just want to let you know how proud I am of you. You looked beautiful in there, dancing with Hayden tonight. You two make a wonderful couple.”
I sighed. My mother had wanted me to date Hayden ever since we were little. She often told me stories about how we played together as infants while our mothers gossiped and took high tea. “We aren’t a couple. You know he’s dating Astrid Farraday.”
She made a pssh sound and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, that’s just a silly crush. It won’t last long. She’s a pretty girl, but not a match for you. Why would he want to date a commoner when he can have a princess? Maybe you should go back in there and dance with him again? Then he’ll see what he’s missing.”
“She’s hardly a commoner. Her parents have a high standing in Trifork, and she attended the same exclusive private school as Hayden and I. Besides, don’t you think it’s a bit classist to call her that?”
I knew she’d never use that particular phrase in public. I was quite surprised to hear her use it in private if I was going to be honest.
“You know what I mean. She’s not going to be queen one day is she?”
I shook my head and made a clucking sound with my tongue. “I think he likes her because she’s beautiful, kind, intelligent...” I could have come up with another thousand ways to describe her, but I could see my mother had stopped paying attention.
“She’s got nothing on you, dear.” She moved a stray lock from my face and tucked it behind my ear.
I didn’t want to have to tell her that it wasn’t like that between Hayden and me. Not again. I’d already had this conversation with her many times in the past, and it was beginning to get boring. He was dating Astrid because I didn’t want to date him. I was pretty sure that after about eighth grade, he wasn’t interested in me that way either. In fact, we’d had plenty of opportunities to date each other before Astrid entered the picture, and we hadn’t taken them. I could understand my mother being eager for me to date and to date someone who came from a family as well respected as the Harrington-Blythes, but she was barking up the wrong tree as far as Hayden and I were concerned.
I rolled my eyes at her.
“I know, I know, he’s just a friend.” She didn’t raise her fingers and make quotation marks in the air with them, but she may as well have. “Just don’t take too long out here. Your father and I want to give you your surprise.”
She kissed my cheek and wandered back inside, leaving me to dwell on the stranger once more. It was true that I’d never really dated anyone. I think a lot of people had imagined that Hayden and I would eventually get together and at some point in the past, I’d probably thought about it idly myself. But the truth was, I didn’t think about it enough. I’d thought more about the stranger in the past few days than I ever thought of Hayden in that way.
I paused and took one more look out onto the ocean. He had gone completely, and for the life of me, I didn’t know where. It was like he’d just disappeared into thin air. All I could think was that he’d swam along the shoreline and jumped up on some of the rocks further down. I just couldn’t imagine why.
I turned and headed back inside, perplexed. The last song was coming to a close, and the dancers were lining up against the walls, thanks to some of the palace pages, who were ushering people back. The orchestra lowered their instruments as my parents took to a raised platform at the end of the great hall.
“What’s happening?” I whispered to Hayden, whom I’d just noticed taking upa place by the door.
“Not sure,” he whispered back. “Your father stopped the orchestra and asked for everyone’s attention.”
This must have been the surprise that my mother was talking about. I’d hoped for something discrete, like a puppy with a ribbon tied around its neck, but I could see that whatever it was, discrete was not something that could be applied to it. I could have done with a little heads up so I could prepare a speech.
“Erica, darling, could you come over here, please?” My mother beckoned me to the raised platform on which the royal thrones were placed. They currently sat empty as both my parents were standing, waiting for me to join them.
“Oh, and Hayden, please come up here too.”
All eyes turned to where we were standing.
Hayden looked at me in surprise, and I shrugged. Just next to him, Astrid looked awkward, and I could completely understand why. Hayden spent so much time with me because of our parents’ friendship, and it was often noted by the people around us, not to mention the Trifork media, that Hayden and I would make a good couple. Astrid was usually ok with our closeness, knowing that we were more like brother and sister to each other than anything else, but to have us both brought up to the stage at the same time at such an important occasion, well, I could understand why she wasn’t thrilled at this sudden scenario. As Hayden stepped towards the raised platform, I grabbed hold of Astrid’s hand as a last second thought and brought her with me. She was a good friend of mine and Hayden’s girlfriend. If my parents wanted to hand me a present with my friends beside me, Astrid should be included.
I stepped up to the platform just behind Hayden. My mother walked toward me and leaned in. I thought for a second that she was going to whisper something in my ear, but when I looked, she’d bypassed me completely and was talking in hushed tones to Astrid.
Astrid let go of my hand and headed back into the crowd quickly. If I wasn’t mistaken, she had tears in her eyes. What was going on? Lord and Lady Harrington-Blythe hurried to the other side of the stage. Hayden looked just as confused as I was at his parents being on stage with us, but they were best friends with my parents, and I had known them since birth, so I guess it made sense. I wondered if they’d helped buy me a present. Lord Harrington-Blythe was the Admiral of the navy. Maybe he’d arranged to replace the ship that had sunk. Thoughts of the captain and crew of the Erica Rose came to mind. They still hadn’t been found, and it was looking unlikely they ever would be. My heart felt heavy with pain, knowing that the ship could be so replaceable. I knew I’d wanted my own boat. It had been my lifelong dream, but to get another so soon after everything that had happened seemed tacky. I looked down into the crowd to see Anthony grinning up at me from below. Now that Hayden and I had come to the stage, the guests had moved in around the platform. Hundreds of eyes looked up at us expectantly, making me feel nervous. I tried to remember any one of my parents’ hank you speeches. They’d given enough of them in the past, and it looked like I was going to be called upon to give one now. Why was it that all words had left me when I needed them the most?
“Thank you all for coming here today to celebrate Erica’s eighteenth birthday,” my father boomed out, placing his arm over my shoulder. “As you know, the past week has been difficult for us, and especially for Erica, but we’ve prepared something for her that will make up for it. For those of you that don’t know, Erica was involved in an accident with her new ship a couple of days ago. She almost drowned; but as you can see, she is fit and well enough to be here with us today.”
My father grinned broadly as the hundreds of people broke out into a round of applause. He waited for the noise to die down before he spoke again.
“Now that Erica is eighteen, she will increase her studies to become a ruler of Trifork, to take over when it is her time. I have every faith that
she will do a magnificent job when the time comes. However, the queen and I don’t want her to enter into this alone. I was blessed to enter into kinghood with the queen already by my side. Now, I don’t expect to be dropping off this mortal coil any day soon, but I’m not getting any younger, and as a nation, we need to be prepared for any eventuality. Erica needs to be prepared to take up my mantle when she succeeds to the throne.”
I noticed my mother pushing Hayden forward.
“It is with this in mind, that I’d like to announce the engagement of our daughter, the princess, Erica, to Sir Hayden Harrington-Blythe.”
I looked over to Hayden. The shock in his eyes mirrored my own.
No going back
I could barely hear myself think over the rapturous applause. In front of me, all I could see were the happy faces of our guests, excited to be a witness to the royal announcement. At the back of the room, I saw a flash of yellow disappearing out of the main doors as Astrid took off.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled, jumping down from the platform and cutting through the crowd. Behind me, I heard my father shouting my name, but I ignored it. I’d be in trouble later, but right now, I didn’t care. The doors at the back of the great hall led to an entrance hall and to the large double-sized doors that were the main doors to the palace. One was open. I ran towards it and looked out. Astrid was running down the long driveway to the main gates, her yellow dress flapping about behind her as she ran.
Kicking my shoes off, I pelted down the stairs onto the drive towards her. Beneath my feet, small stones that made up the driveway cut into my soft flesh, but I didn’t slow down. Astrid was slightly taller than me and had longer legs, but she was also wearing five-inch heels. I caught up with her about a hundred feet from the main gates. Outside, hundreds of people had turned up to get a glimpse of royalty. There were always people outside with cameras, but because of my birthday and the fact that many of my guests were famous, there were more people outside than usual, desperate to see us.
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