To Fly With Destiny

One in a Million

Gabriel ran his hand through his hair. The silence was almost suffocating, yet he didn't know what to say to make her keep talking. "Why aren't you inside?" If he didn't lie to himself he was curious why she would be out here alone. Maybe she had someone she was interested in, but her family had made her come hoping to get close to the Royal Family.

Destiny felt her lips twitch at the question. She had the sudden urge to tell someone, anyone the truth, even this stranger that she had not even laid eyes on yet. It was almost a thrill, so without giving herself a chance to back down she let her heart spill her most inner thoughts into the night air. "Why should I be inside fighting over a single person? If I was to gain his favor, would that promise me a happy future? Would this man whom I have never met swoop in and save me when he knows nothing about me? Or once he knew me would he even want to save me?" She felt bitter as she thought of the way she was treated at home. Unfavored, practically invisible... Unloved. Or at least for the most part. She was sure her father loved her, at least in his own way, but he was blind to all that went on just under his very nose.

Gabriel was shocked into silence by her declaration. "What if you really could gain his favor?" He turned his body slightly so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye.

He saw her head shake slightly, and then her hand reached up as if to caress the moon. "I try to follow the words my mother taught me and always see that there is more than meets the eye, but I have this horrible thought in my mind. A preconceived notion that marriage is but an inconvenience and that love is fake. My parents seemed so happy, so in love, but yet my father so easily found him someone else... Do not get me wrong I don't want him unhappy, I just can not understand how it was so easy for him to cast away the years that he spent with her... Are all men that way? Or is it just beings in general?"

She dropped her hand back to her lap and stared into the surrounding garden. Every moment she had to fight the urge to turn and look at the mystery person who sat just behind her. What kind of expression did they wear as she spilled her innermost thoughts? Did they think she was crazy?

Even if Gabriel wanted to respond, words failed him. He couldn't even call her a cynic, as he didn't exactly disagree and he was not in a rush to be called a hypocrite.

They sat in companionable silence. Neither speaking, only digesting the conversation. Gabriel was unsure how long they sat there, but he had made two decisions. The first was that he was not going to pick a future wife that night, and the second was that he would like to talk to her again.

Just as he was about to ask her for her name an irritatingly high-pitched voice reached his ear. "Where did that wench go? I bet she left to try to meet his highness, how shameless." He felt the girl behind him tense up.

"You know a man of that caliber would never give her the time of day. You were the most beautiful girl there tonight." The voiced that answered sounded less shrill, but the unkind words did not give her any brownie points.

Gabriel was about to stand up to ask the women what they were harping about when he felt cool air rush his now exposed back. He turned quickly only catching the back of the fleeing girl as she darted around a corner. A moment later two women came into view from the opposite direction, their eyes lighting up with greed as they spotted him. He wanted to chase after the mystery girl but years of proper etiquette and such stopped him from ignoring the guests in front of him.

Were these two women the reason she fled? Did she know them or was she just shy? Or maybe she just did not wish to speak to him any longer. That last thought bothered him slightly. He did not think that he was bad company in the short time they had spoken, but maybe he had said something...

"Your Highness, what are you doing out here all alone?" The shriller of the two voices brought him out of his thoughts and now he could see it belonged to a young woman, beside her stood an older woman with enough in common that he could tell they were related.

Putting on an award-winning smile Gabriel squinted his eyes. His face may have seemed friendly but the words that came out of his mouth next were anything but. "Are you my keeper? Shall I tell you any time I wish to go somewhere?"

Bianca was at a loss for words. She did not want to get on Gabriel's bad side as that would stop her from climbing the social ladder and hopefully falling off and into his bed. "Your Highness, I did not mean to offend. It was only a slip of the tongue when I found that you, such a dignified person did not even have a guard with you." She gave herself an internal pat on the back for coming up with such an excuse, but Gabriel was not stupid, he could see through her fake smiles and come hither eyes.

Her eyes were like two tepid lakes. Deep with greed and only filled with half-hearted warmth. "The moon is beautiful tonight." He said the words and watches as confusion flickered across her face before that mask of flattery was back.

Bianca gave a slight giggle. It's volume low, but still squeaky. "The moon is so beautiful, when it is not full its brilliance does not shine as brightly." The woman beside her said nothing and only smiled as if she were the proudest person alive. Her face said "look at how smart my kin is, everyone should be proud of her."

Her words probably would have been an acceptable answer to anyone but Gabriel. For at that moment he thought that 'my mystery girl truly was one in a million'.  He stopped himself at that thought, calling her his was just a slip of the tongue...

Turning his back on the still rambling girl and overly proud woman Gabriel did not even pay attention to the words they were saying anymore. He wondered if he took to the sky would he see her again, and if he did, would she want to see him again.

A slight thrill ran down his spine making his wings tremble. Before he could even second guess his choice he pushed off of the ground and into the vast sky above. He ignored the shouts from below, not even letting the words register in his mind. The pair of women were nothing but insects to him. His sole focus now on the task ahead, he pushed himself higher until the atmosphere thinned, chilling his wings, and then swooped back down. Looking for that head of dark hair he made several laps of the garden before finally landing in disappointment.