𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄 | ✎

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟏

I need to find the princess.

At least she was in my eyesight when she was on stage, but now she's nowhere to be seen. It's worrying me for many reasons, and I need to find out where she went.

In haste, I speed toward the stage, only to be stopped by a blonde woman. Her eyes are the same haunting, deep-brown ones that I occasionally see in my nightmares. Her cheeks are rosy, like always, with a tint that matches the color of her lipstick.

"Alexander!" Camille exclaims, waving her hands in my personal space. "Please, I need to talk to you. You don't understand how much I've missed you. I regret everything, okay? Come back to me. I'm begging you."

The look I give her is nothing short of the disdain and boredom I feel for her, but I quickly realize that even taking the time to stand in front of her is just entertaining her. There's no more time to waste, so I politely push past her and head out for the princess.

"No!" the blonde shrieks dramatically, yanking my arm toward her with a surprising amount of force. "Please! My life feels empty with you gone. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't—"

Cutting her off with a scoff, I shake my head. "Guilt tripping me back into your life isn't going to work, Camille," I snap. "I'm done. I'm over you. I have no clue why I even stayed with you and put up with your bullshit for so long."

"Bullshit?" Camille repeats, her voice growing colder as she looks up at me. All the warmth from her cheeks is replaced by a stern look, almost too intimidating for her own good. Her eyes narrow as she stares deeper into my soul, but I refuse to falter.

I open my mouth to give her another piece of my mind, but I catch a glimpse of beautiful honey-brown hair. Princess Elena has always been hard to miss. Like a candle in the darkness, she stands out from the crowd, her light shining brightly and captivating all who see her.

The princess is searching around the coronation hall frantically, but her sight never strays here. It's as if she's trying to find someone—trying to find me, maybe. She needs me for something, but what?

I need her too.

Maybe if I hadn't stared at her for too long, what happened next wouldn't have happened. Maybe if I hadn't looked at her the way I did—yearning for her and obsessing over her—things wouldn't have played out like this.

"Oh, I see what's going on here," Camille says, catching my gaze, and before I can tell her to leave me alone, she yanks my tie down to the point where I feel choked. My lips crash down against hers, and shock hits my body in waves.

It only lasts a fraction of a second before I push the crazy woman off of me, but that moment was enough to cause a grave amount of damage. Elena stands a few feet behind Camille, glaring at me like I've just murdered the one thing she truly loves.

She doesn't leave immediately, almost frozen with anger, but with her death stare burning into me with contempt, a cold realization sets in. She really believes that I just kissed Camille. She looks at me as if I'm a monster who just attacked her in her moment of need.