Chapter 3
1465 Words
Three
The ballroom wasn’t just a ballroom.
It was part of one of the research libraries, and the second entirely consisted of collections donated by the royal family. Each room was labeled with a gold plaque by the door that told the visitor what its contents held.
Apollo didn’t stop until we were in the astronomy section. He pushed me in, forcefully, first, then slammed the door behind him.
“I told Mother it was a bad idea to let my sister room with an American,” he said tersely, “of course, no one believed me. If it weren’t for the fact that Everly seems so taken with you, I would have you switched out with one of our cousins in an instant.”
I glared. “If you’re trying to bully me, it won’t work. You have no control over me.”
He laughed. “On the contrary, Rose, I have all of the control. I am The Crown Prince of Coleum. I have more power than even my mother, and my sister. If you wanted to run, I could find you, hunt you down, and make you disappear with a single word.”
“Are you threatening me?” I said.
“It’s not my intention,” he admitted, “I don’t want to scare you. I just want to make you aware of the type of world you’ve walked into. People think this world is all ball gowns and gold, but there’s a lot of stakes to keep it that way. I won’t have some outsider doing that. Keep away from the revolutionaries, Miss James. That includes my dear brother.”
He snarled the last bit.
I had never hated anyone more in my entire life. What an arrogant, controlling, asshole! I clenched my fists, longing to slap him. But I couldn’t. His family controlled my scholarship, and I would have nowhere to go if I didn’t have Coleum.
“Fine,” I whispered, “I’ll stay away.”
“Good,” he said with a curt nod. “There’s one more thing, while you’re here.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
He took something off from around his neck. “You are a young woman on a college campus. I know that you are here to have fun, and I won’t stop you from that, but you are Everly’s roommate. There are those who would take advantage of that. Wear this, and everyone will know that you are underneath royal protection. My protection.”
I stared at him. “Why?”
He scowled. “Just f*****g do it. Turn around.”
“What?”
“So I can put it on,” he snarled, “must you be so stubborn?”
I glared. “If you insist on being an asshole, yes. What do you want me to turn around for?”
“To put it on,” he whispered.
“Oh.”
The necklace wasn’t terrible. It was held together by a rather large, golden chain. The charm was a sun, with rays that were pointed and sharp. Across the front was something in Latin.
“Adolebitque splendide,” I read, taking the necklace in hand, and running my fingers over the letters. “What does that mean?”
“Burn brightly,” he replied, “wear it, and everyone will know that if they touch you, they’ll get burned too.”
I bit my lip. Nothing about this seemed like a good idea, but he was so passionate, so angry it didn’t seem like a good idea to say no either.
He snatched the necklace back from me. “Turn around,” he ordered, “I won’t say it again, Miss James.”
Hesitantly, slowly, I turned around. He lowered the necklace down around my neck then I felt his gloved fingers brushing against my neck as he clasped the necklace together. It was cool to the touch, and heavy.
A little bit like him and his presence.
Roughly, then, he turned me around so that I was facing him. He placed his hands on either one of my bare shoulders. With his gloves on, you would have thought it would have made the gesture less intimate. It only made me more aware of their presence.
“Now, Miss James,” he said, “you and I are going to walk out of here together, with your arm looped through mine. We are going to go onto that dance floor, and together, we will share a single dance for the evening.”
“I…. your highness, I never said that I wanted to dance with you. I don’t know if you think I’m a fortune hunter or something, but I’m not after anything. I just want to go to school. I like Everly, and I would do nothing to hurt her.”
He smirked. “I know,” he said, “and for the record, Miss James, I never said that I didn’t want to dance with you. Now, come.”
He looped his arm through mine before I could stop him. In a daze, I followed him down the long stretch of hallway, and the stairs. It was the staircase that was where the intimidating part began. People were mingling by the front door, taking a break from the dancing. The students were dressed to the nines, and they all looked up to see me on the crown Prince’s arm. Wearing his necklace.
Everyone looked as stunned as I felt. I was a nobody, who didn’t belong there. But Apollo kept my arm snuggly looped through his and paid no attention to the stares as we walked through the crowd. He only stared straight ahead, which is why he was the Prince, and I was the pauper.
When I walked into the ballroom, I looked for Everly, who I quickly found standing in the corner, looking as shocked as felt.
She made a ‘what the hell’ gesture and I could only shrug helplessly. I had no idea what Apollo’s moves were, only that it seemed I had no choice but to follow along. Apollo led me to the middle of the dance floor, and everyone cleared at his presence. The band even stopped playing.
He walked over to the musicians and whispered something into the band leaders’ ear. The woman smiled and began to play a haunting tune. Apollo walked over to me, placed one hand on my left hip, then grabbed my hand. I stared into his eyes, which were blazing, and staring at me with such intensity I didn’t know what was happening.
He started moving, as did I. I had never waltzed, but Apollo knew exactly what he was doing. Where he moved, I moved, which I suspected was the whole reason for the dance. To declare some kind of dominance over me, for some kind of reason that I couldn’t figure out.
The music made everything fall away. Or maybe it was his eyes. Or maybe it was the glamour of the situation. I was a girl from the Midwest. I never dreamed that I would be dancing with a Prince, at a ball, or living with a Princess
He bent down, and whispered into my ear, “So it begins.”
I pulled away from him, the music stopping finally. “So, what begins?”
“Everything,” he said.
Then, before I could stop him, he reached up and brushed a single, stray, curl back behind my ear. Before I knew what was happening, his gloved fingers traced my lips, making my lips tingle.
“Until I see you again, Miss James,” he squeezed my hand, then left me alone, standing on the dance floor. Once he was gone, I was left on the ball room floor, staring after him along with everyone else.
Everly was at my side within a few moments. “Are you alright?”
“I…I don’t know,” I said.
“Is that my brother’s necklace?” Everly asked.
I shook my head, dazed. “Oh god. Oh god. What happened? Everly, what did I do? Did I just screw up majorly?”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the ball room. “I’ve got no idea, but we’re going to find out.”
- Writer
