A PROMISE OF OLD

JUST WHO ARE YOU?

"Please take this to my room for me, Anne."

The princess handed the gift from Prince Orpheus to her friend. It almost ached to hand it over to someone else. Zala couldn't think straight. Heck, she didn't remember the last time she thought straight. But at that moment her mind was a jumbled mess. Kevoy didn't come. It was all too clear at the moment. And although it hurt a little, she felt better when she looked at the jewelry box. She was reminded that Kevoy still remembered her and that he thought of her. She knew that she was being pathetic and foolish. But she couldn’t help herself. Zala didn’t remember when she stopped considering Kevoy’s promise as just a vow and started thinking of it as something that she wanted. She didn’t remember when she started craving it and when she couldn’t see herself with anyone but him. So why didn't he come?

"Come with me."

Zala practically jolted out of her skin when her father took her hand with a laugh and tugged her to the dance floor. She hadn't said a word to them since the whole Prince of Noctis fiasco. She was trying to understand things herself. So she really didn't know what to say, much less how to explain things to her parents. Not that she wanted to tell them about the male who had taken space in her head and heart since she first saw him.

"I won't ask how you are, Zala. You clearly don't look like you are enjoying this."

Her father spoke with a sad smile, putting his hands over her daughter's back as she wrapped hers around his neck and buried her face in his chest. The warmth and love from the man she called father, soothed her. And she moved to the beat of the music with him. She wasn’t enjoying it, but she wasn’t going to say it.

"I'm sorry." She sighed, tightening her hold on him. He stroked her back and they moved to the slow music.

"What are you sorry for?" He chuckled, then kissed her soft hair. "You know that your mother and I want only what is best for you. Nothing more, nothing less…"

The King, just like his son, had seen her interaction with the Noctis Prince. And more than ever, it made him realize that his daughter was not the little girl who would spill everything to her parents and would cry her heart out to them. She had secrets of her own now.

It made him wonder what mutual 'friend' she and the Prince had in common. How did she even know him?

"I'm making things difficult for you and mom. Even Leta and Valerie too." She whispered into his chest.

He hummed, pulling her tight against him. She wasn't his baby girl anymore. The thought was both unnerving and beautiful.

"I know that you agreed to this to please your mother and me." He stated. Maybe they should have given her some more time. He wanted his baby girl to marry the best. He wanted her to have the best of everything. But looking back at her interaction with the Prince and how she tensed at the mention of that 'friend' of hers, he had never seen his stubborn and seemingly unaffected baby as startled and …longing like that. He thought that maybe, maybe she wasn't as lonely as they feared she was.

"But if you hate this so bad, you can call it quits. Your mom and I won't hold it against you. We just want you to settle down and be happy before it’s too late." He continued. Even if it was with a man from another species, he thought.

The princess thought over her father's words. If those words were said to her an hour or two earlier, she would have jumped at the opportunity to throw all those pompous royals and nobles out. But it wasn't said before then. It wasn't said before she met Prince Orpheus. The words weren't said before she found out that Kevoy still remembered her.

And although she didn't like having the princes and nobles there, she realized that if she canceled then, it would bring shame on her family, and Prince Orpheus would go back to Noctis. She would lose her only chance of finding Kevoy. She didn't want that. The thought of that happening made her want to shamelessly grovel in front of the prince to tell her all that he knew. At least, she wanted to know if she still had a chance to be with Kevoy. Then, Maybe… she wouldn’t just give up.

"No. I'll keep going." She told her father, the determination and resolve in her voice made the king smile and kiss her hair.

"I need to know..." She softly whispered to herself with her eyes locked on the balcony. The door was not completely closed and she could see the silver hair that she now knew to belong to no one but the Prince of Noctis, dance with the soft breeze.

The Princess closed her eyes and allowed herself to be her father's baby girl once more. Taking in the familiar scent of the man who loved her like no other.

She danced a little longer with her father before sucking in all her courage and making a beeline for the balcony, ignoring all the other men when someone pulled her father into a conversation.

“You seem to have taken a liken to this place.”

Zala held back her nerves, lifting her chin into the air with feigned confidence as she closed the balcony doors behind her. She sucked in a breathe when ruby eyes turned to look at her. His lips tugged into a grin as Orpheus turned his body around to face her, his back to the night.

“yh.”

Alone with a wooden door blocking the rest of the world out and the chills of the night making her skin crawl with goosebumps, the princess unconsciously took in everything about the male that stood before her. He towered over her without a doubt, and the realization pleased her. So much that her lips tugged in a scowl.

Her gaze flickered behind him to see his back empty of those crimson wings that wordlessly spoke of the kind of being that he was. He was bored. She could see it as clear as the darkness that took over the sky.

“It is only polite to try and enjoy the party.” She continued, moving to stand beside him, leaning against the rails. Zala could swear that her knees were protesting against the nervousness that weighed down on her. She had no desire to make small talks with him, but she found herself doing it anyway.

The eudaeouro Prince didn’t hide his grin. “Like how you’re enjoying it?”

She frowned at the heat she felt on her face.

“It’s odd seeing a woman like you in this… setting.” He continued, making the princess’s head whip to her side. Their faces were just a few inches apart. She could smell him. And gods he smelt divine; like the sky on a warm sunny morning. She traded her reasoning for seconds of getting lost in his shimmering ruby orbs.

Zala cleared her throat, but couldn’t take her eyes off of his. It felt like she would lose something to him if she did. And the princess detested losing.

“What do you know about me?” She questioned. Annoyed at the audacity of this this … male to speak so fondly as if he knew her. She watched the smile slowly leave his lips. His eyes looked at her but did not see her.

“Yes, I don’t know you, the Princess of Esso.” His brows creased and an unidentifiable look flashed across his face. One she couldn’t put her finger on. “But neither do you know me.” He added so low that she almost missed it.

The wind whistled between them, filling the silence as they both lost themselves in their heads. Zala screamed at herself in the privacy that her muddled-up brain offered. She didn’t come out there to exchange secrets and spill her soul to him. She didn’t walk out into the coldness of the night to have a heart-to-heart with a man she didn’t know about who knows who and whatnots.

She returned her gaze to his, as he did.

Hesitation set in at the question on her lips, but she swallowed it down and asked,

“You know... Kevoy, right?”

Her question immediately caused his lips to pull up.

Gods help me!

She cried in her head when she felt her stomach flutter.

“That is true. I’m… familiar with him” He answered, leaning his elbows on the rails with his chin in his palm and his eyes never letting go of their hold on hers. Zala blamed her uneven heartbeat on the cold night, not how heartstoppingly gorgeous the male was. And she grasped that he was very aware of how he looked.

Zala opened the last bottle of courage she had, “Did he say anything about me?”

There was such vulnerability in those 6 words that had the prince staring thoughtfully at her for a moment. He admitted that she was inarguably gorgeous, and it didn’t surprise him when his body and heart reacted to the sound of her voice, the crease in her brows, and her scent as if she just bathed in a garden. But then, hearing the weakness in her soft, innocent voice, bugged him and pleased him all the more. Prince Orpheus knew that he wasn’t … particularly himself anymore, so his mixed emotions didn’t surprise him.

“He thought of you. All the time.” He whispered, clenching his fists to keep his hands to himself when her face beamed with a face splitting smile before she cleared her throat and tried to tow her excitement back. But he simply laughed, not once taking her eyes off of her.

She was obsessed with Kevoy, there was no denying that. He smiled and thought of how equally obsessed Kevoy was with her… just like he was.

He watched her smile falter and worry loom over her like a dark cloud.

“Did he ever have any intention of.. you know..”

Zala felt weird asking a stranger all those, but what choice did she have? She wanted to know everything concerning Kevin, and as it was, the Prince was the only way she would find it out.

“Yes.” The Prince answered, unwaveringly, “And he has every intention of fulfilling it.” He continued. The certainty with which he spoke surprised her and she began to wonder just how well the two knew each other. Who was this prince to her friend that he trusted him enough with words about her and their promises?

“Who are you really?”

She didn’t miss how he faltered and hesitated for just a second because of her question. He broke their gaze to stare at the sky he seemed to love so much. But then, he turned to look back at her just as fast as he looked away.

“Why don’t you ask what you really want to know, Princess.”

The way his tongue caressed her title caused a shiver to run down her spine. It was familiar. Very familiar. She pushed that thought into a mental box with questions concerning this prince, then did as he asked her to,

“It seems Kevoy trusts you immensely. So why are you here?”

She knew the answer to that question but wanted to hear it from his lips.

“The same reason as every male in there is here.” He didn’t hide his intentions. And it confused her all the more. Just who the hell was this male?! Before she could interrogate him further, the prince leaned back from the rails, looked down at her with a grin on his lips and his heat surrounding her like a blanket, shielding her from the cold breeze.

“If it’s okay with you, Princess, I’d like to retreat for the night.” He spoke. For the first time that night, Zala saw the earring dangling from his left pointy ear.

She wanted to ask more, know more. She wanted to ask why Kevoy wasn’t there. Why he went away. She wanted to know how he was doing. But she wouldn’t push. After all, as long as she was holding the competition, she knew that he’d be there and she would get more time to ask him everything she wanted to know.

“Very well.” She nodded her head and watched him leave with a final dip of his head her way. That night in the privacy of her room, Zala didn’t look at any other gift that was presented to her, her eyes were glued to the golden egg just like the smile fastened on her lips. She was grateful that her parents and Valerie left her alone that night but she knew that it wouldn’t last.

She squinted at the egg.

Now how do I open this? She fussed over it for so long that frustration set in before she saw the lock on it.

Great! Just great!

She groaned and rolled on her bed in frustration. This just gave her another reason to talk to that Prince the next morning. Although she didn’t detest the idea, she didn’t want to see him again so soon, much more on the day of the first competition.