Within the Walls [NEW VERSION]

Chapter 23

I sigh as she ruffles my damp hair with a towel. "Yes. But it only ended in me wanting to wring his neck. I can't stand to talk about her with him."

She purses her lips, catching my eye in the mirror as she oils my locks. "I think you should talk to him again. Calmly. He thinks you will not forgive him."

I snort, rolling my eyes. "He couldn't save her. Neither of us could. There's not much else to it."

"He does care about you," she says, continuing to dry my hair with the towel, and batting a fan over me to blow air onto it. "He told me himself."

"You speak to the prince?" My stomach clenches as a strange airy feeling washes through me. "I didn't realise you were friends."

"Of course. We chat all the time." She finishes drying my hair, and combs it out, before pulling a handful of locks behind my head. A smirk quirks at her lips and her eyes shine. "He said he told you his name."

My cheeks burn and I open my mouth like a blubbering fish.

She laughs a wonderful, warm sound that draws a smile from me at once. "Prince Talin wouldn't disclose such a secret to anyone. I think our prince may have a crush.

I giggle like a schoolchild and swat at her. She leaps away and I chase her around the room, shrieking profanities until we both collapse onto the floor, laughing so intensely my stomach hurts and tears slip down my cheeks.

"You are ridiculous!" I say, voice shrill as I flop back into the chair.

"Maybe." She shrugs. "But I tend to have a feeling about these things. Plus, Prince Talin has girls flocking to him with big eyes every day. I have never seen him look at them the same way he looks at you."

My heart flips into my throat and I swallow. "Let's just get ready for the ball. Best not fuel the prince's already bursting ego."

A tread of footsteps rumbles through the door and we snap our gazes up.

"Is Elle in here?" a voice echoes through the hallway. Aston's voice.

Warmth washes over me. As if on instinct. My heart settles as the person I feel most at home with enters the bedroom, his brows knitted together as the Tranqs deposit him with us before they march away. His eyes widen as they land on me, and his easy smile quells my nerves.

"You look beautiful, Elle," he says, closing the space between us with a hug. His face brims with adoration and tears spring to my eyes as he pulls away. I wish he'd never let me go.

He is not wrong though. Larissa dressed me in a dark red dress that hugs my curves and accentuates my collarbone and breasts. The skirt spills to my feet and pools around me. She pulled my hair into a half-up, half-down style, braiding the locks around the back of my hair. Brown shadows dusted onto my eyelids sharpen my blue-grey eyes and chisel my cheekbones.

"Sit, Aston," Larissa says, snapping her fingers at the chair.

He throws his hands into the air, doing as she says. His pursed lips and raised brows coax giggles from deep within my belly. Larissa rakes a comb through his hair and wrinkles her nose.

"Did you bathe before you came here?" she asks, straightening up.

Aston clicks his tongue and lets out a small chuckle.

She rolls her eyes and points into the bathtub. "Clean yourself at once!"

Once spotless and smelling like the vanilla body soap, Aston sits back in the chair. Larissa combs his sandy blond hair, styling it with gel. She then instructs him to change into his suit. My friend mutters bewildered curses beneath his breath, before strutting into the bathroom to change once more. When he emerges, I smile. The black suit clings to his slim frame, reminding me of how acutely he doesn't have access to enough food. But that easy grin fills the dull room with colour.