I twirled around in my silver dress with bright pink flowers decorating it's skirt. The chandelier in the large ballroom sparkled above me. It had been decorated as extravagantly as they would have the palace. Vases of lilies and tiers of the finest desserts graced every table. Fine art lined the walls. My heels tapped against marble floors. A large warm hand held my own pulling me through the symphony music. My dance partner, Leon, wore matching colors on his dress suit. The silver matched his hair and the pink broach matched mine. He’d been my dance partner at every dance since we were children. I counted him as my oldest friend in this life, a title I treasured.

He pulled me in close. I gazed up at his bright golden eyes. I was filled with joy. Today he graduated from the academy. After today I was supposed to be free. But I knew when the song ended and he leaned in and sprung a kiss on me I was wrong.

I wanted to push him away, but I was so furious that he decided to steal this life’s first kiss that I leaned into it instead. I wouldn’t let him ruin this for me. 

I didn’t close my eyes. It wasn’t romantic or short like he probably wanted it to be. I watched his face. So perfectly sculpted, like a character from a book. He was one. I watched his expression turn from surprise to enjoyment as my arms wrapped around his neck. I tried to enjoy the soft lips and the intimacy of being held in someone's arms.

When I finally released him his breath was hot on my own. I stared up at him expressionless trying to decide how I’d deal with him. I could feel the eyes on my back. And on my sides. And in front of me. This man decided to kiss me in the center of the ballroom when he knew all eyes would be on him. They always were.

“Aurora,” he said quietly so only I could hear.

I smiled. He likely couldn’t read the mischief in it. I touched his cheek and whispered in his ear. “We’ll talk about this later.”

I didn’t want to make a scene while others were also celebrating. I walked away before he could say another word to me. I beelined to the balcony so I wouldn’t have to answer questions from anyone. I could feel their eyes following me. I wouldn’t know how to answer them. I didn’t know why he kissed me.

Okay maybe I know why. Lust, desire, love, whatever. I just didn’t know. 

I’d known him for ten years, been engaged to him for ten too, and in those ten years he hadn’t said a word about liking me in that sort of way. To me he was still that little boy I taught to climb trees and laughed with in the leaves. I thought we were friends. I thought the engagement would end once he met his one true love, the main character of the novel I was in. I thought so long as I didn’t get on anyone’s bad side I’d be able to walk away free when the story was over, and it just so happened that story ended today.

When he didn’t end up with the girl I didn’t really care. Either way it looked like I had at least secured my life by befriending the lovely prince character of the novel. He’d been a good friend too. 

Emphasis on the friend part.

I groaned and leaned against the stone balcony. My bare shoulders were cold from the night breeze. The music continued inside without me. I sighed. I avoided death but now what?

I thought I could finally breathe once the story was over. Once I made it past that last death flag I thought I was home free. Tonight I was supposed to be denounced by my not so loving fiance, Crown Prince Leon Basile Avalore, banished to a work camp or something where I would inevitably die. If you can’t tell, that didn’t happen. I stopped it by being a decent person instead of being a despicable brat and bully to the female lead. 

But it wasn’t that simple. After all that I was left with the very mundane question of: What do I want to do with the rest of my new found life?

I never had to deal with that question before, even in my past life I expected death at my door like an old friend. So now what? I actually had a life in front of me. To look forward to…

Was marrying the prince now my only option?

I breathed in the fresh air from the academy garden below, that was enough anxious pondering for one night. I looked back to the ballroom and couldn’t believe what I saw. I crossed my arms, my mouth hung open as I watched Leon join me on the balcony.

He couldn’t possibly think this is what I meant by later. Really? Now people would be spinning even more rumors about our rendezvous on the balcony. The drama.

“Aurora,” he said, sounding as clueless as he was on the dance floor.

“Yes, Leon,” I responded, exhausted by the thought of having this conversation now. But he was asking for it, so I guess I would oblige.

He gave me a crooked smile. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re angry with me.”

“So you don’t know better.” I leaned back against the balcony again, keeping my stance defensive, but firm. How long should I let him dig his own grave?

He looked confused. Those cute little silver eyebrows scrunched up in concern. “Why are you angry?”

She’d give him bonus points for being direct. At least he wasn’t trying to be maliciously manipulative. He was just being dumb. But giving him the answer would be too easy. He wouldn’t learn that way.

“Is it because of the kiss?” He asked. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have kissed you infront of so many people. The timing seemed right but I was wrong?”

This is what made Leon so hard to hate. Despite being a prince he could apologize so sincerely. An apology was hard for anyone but not him. He could admit wrong and move forward. If only he’d hit mark though.

Sure, for most naive noble women kissing someone in a crowd was a nightmare, but not for me. For me the icky part was the lack of consent. I couldn’t care less where or when he had kissed me, but the fact that the kiss came out of nowhere was a problem.

I wasn’t given the chance to ask myself how I felt about Leon. If we could have that type of relationship? And being engaged to him since we were children was no excuse, we still needed to have that conversation before our relationship could go anywhere. It was the lack of respect for my feelings that turned the kiss sour.

I sighed. “That isn’t it?”

I didn’t want to get angry with him, but if he said another word about the kiss I would have no choice. I said I wanted to talk about it later. I still needed to sort out my feelings. At the moment the thought of it still pissed me off.

He got close again and held my hand gently. He looked down at me with that soft smile that could almost trick me into thinking everything would be alright. “What is it?” He asked.

I took my hand back. He just couldn’t wait. “What is it?” I asked back, throwing in a playful tone to my voice. “I wonder?”

“Aurora, I love your games but I’d like a direct answer this time,” he said, still smiling.

“Fine,” I said, giving him the glare he asked for. “Right now I’m upset you came out here.”

He looked taken aback. It wasn’t the first time he saw me angry, but it was the first time it was directed towards him. When we were children I’d gotten angry with his parents for not giving him attention. Yep, I had the nerve to scold the king and queen for bad parenting. I definitely had the nerve to scold the crown prince.

“Why didn’t you listen to me when I said we’d talk about this later?” I asked bluntly. “Were you confused? Did you think I wanted to talk about this now in the middle of a celebratory ball?”

“I wanted to talk about it now,” he admitted. “I don’t know what there is to talk about Aurora?”

I groaned at the response and looked out at the large garden beneath us. It was really the academy’s courtyard but the walkways were lined with flowers. “Okay then you can think about it,” I said in a chipper voice; I decided I’d still enjoy the night. “We’ll talk when we talk. Now I’m going to go enjoy the party. My family is celebrating my big brother’s graduation too, so I should get back.”

I walked past him, hoping this time it would be the end of the conversation tonight. He could ponder what he did wrong until I sorted out my feelings on the matter. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if we talked now. I’d just get angry and I wouldn’t stop with a little glare.