Hidden Princess

Chapter 17

*Amália is pictured above!*

"Nia," Alex says my name softly, but I keep looking down at where our hands are intertwined. "Nia, look at me," He says as he gently lifts my chin so that I'm looking into those green eyes of his. "I thought I made it clear how I feel about you the night I first kissed you and then at Xavier's house after everything came out."

"But just hearing about it is different than actually seeing it," I say softly, lowering my gaze again, only Alex doesn't let me look away from him.

"I like you, Nia," he says. "I don't like you for your title or the things that you have. I liked you before I knew about any of that. None of this," he gestures around us, "changes the way I feel about you." He cups my cheek with his hand. "I'm in love with you, Nia." With that he closes the distance between us and kisses me. The sparks between us are going haywire and are turning into fireworks as Alex deepens the kiss and caresses my tongue with his. 

"I'm in love with you too," I whisper when he pulls back from our kiss. He smiles and gives me another kiss.

We stay out in the garden for awhile before we decide to head back in. We say good night outside his room before I climb the stairs up to my room. When I get there, Cami is waiting for me on one of my couches.

"You look happy," she says with a small smirk.

"Yeah," I smile at her. "Alex said he loves me tonight, and I said it back." Cami's smile grows.

"Finally! He's been bugging me about when and how to tell you that for days!" She says as I sit down next to her. "He was planning on waiting until the ball on Sunday though, what changed his mind?"

"I asked him how he really felt about me after learning about all this," I say as I gesture around us. "Its been driving me crazy ever since we got here and I needed to know what was going on in his mind." I shrug. "So, how was spending the evening with my brother?" I ask, getting the topic off of me. 

"It was fine," Cami shrugs, but I see a slight blush tint her cheeks pink. "Remi had some work to do before he showed me the way back to my room, so I hung out in his office with him while he finished what he needed to do. We chatted a bit while he worked. That was about it."

"What did you two talk about?" I ask. She just shrugs.

"This and that, nothing too exciting." I decide not to push her anymore about it, and let it go. We chat for a bit longer before she goes into my closet to get a pair of pajamas and her outfit for tomorrow. "Thanks again for letting me just wear your clothes while I'm here." She says as she comes back from the closet.

"No problem," I say. "As you can tell, I have plenty of clothes."

We say good night as she leaves. I head into my closet to change into my pajamas before I shut off the lights in my closet and the front room, and heading to my bed. I shut the doors between the front room and my bedroom, and I shut the light off before I climb into my bed and pull the covers up over my body. I fall asleep within a few minutes of my head hitting the pillow

The next few days fly by in a blur as everyone is preparing for the coronation. I've noticed Lia and Xavier spending a lot of time together, and I've also noticed that Remi has been hanging around wherever Cami is. By the time Sunday rolls around, everyone is pretty much ready for the coronation.

Sunday morning, the girls and I are in my room getting ready. We each have our own stylist here to do our hair and makeup for us before we get into our dresses.

"Are you excited to see your dress?" Amália asks Cami while their stylists are finishing with their hair.

"Yes! I've never had a custom-made dress before." Cami squeals.

"You'll love it!" Lia says with a smile. "Lygia always has the best dresses made for us for these kind of things. Although, last time the dresses weren't the best."

"That's because Mamãe wasn't too excited for the party last time, so she didn't put in a lot of effort in having the dresses designed." I say.

"Why wasn't she very excited last time?" Cami asks.

"The last party we had here was supposed to be the announcement of my and Demétrio's engagement." I say. "Mamãe wasn't too happy about me marrying him, so she wasn't as excited when it came to planning the party and the dresses. And then Papai was assassinated and I had to flee."

"Oh. That sucks," Cami says. "At least this party is going to be better than that one anyways!" She smiles and I chuckle.

"Any party will be better than that one," Lia says.

After the stylists finish with our hair and makeup, they leave us to get ready ourselves. We still have a couple of hours before the coronation starts, so we snack on some of the crackers, chips, and mini sandwiches that were brought up to my room from the kitchen. When its time for us to get into our dresses, we go back into my closet. Our dresses are hanging up in garment bags on a movable rack that set right in front of my shoe wall.

Before I start getting dressed, my phone dings with a text from my mother.

You should let Cami borrow your second tiara for the coronation and the ball ;) I'm sure it would get Remi's attention.

I smile at my mother's text as Lia walks over to me.

"What is it?" She asks quietly, and I turn my phone so she can read it. Since the text is in Portuguese I won't have to worry about Cami reading it. Lia looks back at me with a wide grin. "Ooo I love it!" She whispers before we turn our attention back to our dresses. All three dresses are ball gowns. Mine is royal blue, strapless and has ruffles and its beaded across the middle. Cami's is red, off-the shoulder, with a sweetheart neckline, and the bodice is beaded, as well as the layers of her skirt. Finally, Amália's is pink, with a beaded bodice, and a halter neckline, with pickups in her skirt.

After we get our dresses on, the girls go out to the front room while I walk over to my jewelry chest and open it. I take out my tiara, the one that I got three years ago. I walk over to my vanity with it and I carefully place it on my head, being careful not to mess up my hair. When I have it placed just right I go back to my jewelry case and take out the second tiara that I don't wear as often before closing it.

"Hey Cami, come here a moment," I call to her as I'm closing the chest.

"What's up?" She asks as she comes back in.

"Close your eyes," I say and she does as I ask. I very carefully place the tiara on her head and make sure its positioned just right before taking a step back. "Alright, open them and then look in the mirror." Cami does as I say and when she sees the tiara sitting on top of her head she gasps.

"Nia, I can't wear this." She says, reaching to take it off. I grab her hand to stop her.

"You can and you will. Besides, my mother told me to have you wear it, and you don't want to argue with her when she tells you to do something," I say with a smile. Cami giggles at my comment.

"Alright, if you're sure its okay for me to wear it," she says and I nod. "Thank you." She pulls me into a hug before going back out of my closet. I grab my red sash from where it hangs by my jewelry case before following her out. Lia helps me put my sash on before the three of us leave my room to head to the coronation.